Sam Kaufman, Vice Mayor of the city of Key West, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s been going on in the city.
A swearing in ceremony for the new mayor and commissioners happened today.
Kaufman said, “It’s an exciting time with the transition of leadership. Three of the seven members of the City Commission are being sworn in today, including Mayor Dee Dee Henriquez and Commissioner Doni Lee and Commissioner Monica Haskell and everybody is invited. It’s going to be a great swearing in ceremony today, at noon at City Hall.”
There is a runoff for District 6.
Kaufman said, “That was quite an interesting and exciting election night for District Six. At one point, I was watching the news coverage on the local television, and the race was called for, for Aaron Castillo, and then I woke up the next morning and the news said it was a runoff. So quite a close and exciting election there in District Six.”
The first meeting of the budget approval will be on September 5 at 5 p.m. and the regular City Commission meeting will be on September 12. Following that will be the second budget approval meeting on September 17.
Kaufman said, “So this new commission will have three opportunities to begin to learn how to work together, and get to know each other. I think it’s a really good opportunity for us as the elected leaders, to really have a lot of in depth discussions about the future course of the city and so many topics, such as our infrastructure, for example. We have the bond referendum still on the ballot in November, and we need to talk about how we’re going to repair our streets and our roads, and the Martin Luther King pool and the diesel plant and fire station three, I mean, some big projects that we really need to get going.”
The special meeting to address the city manager position has been postponed.
Kaufman said, “The commission has already put in place a process to begin to solicit applications from those who would be interested in serving a city manager. I believe our HR department has already received applications. So there’s already an ongoing process, and the new commission will have the option of rehiring Albert Childress, who I think was the utmost professional in doing that, and it will be hard to replicate what he brought to the table. But this new commission needs to decide what direction it wants to take, and I’m only one member of that commission, and I want to hear what the new members have to say, and we can only do that in the sunshine, meaning at a publicly noticed meeting. So I believe we’ll have that discussion first on September 5, which will be our first meeting, and that is the budget approval meeting.”
The state’s attorney did decide to subpoena texts and other communication revolving around the termination of Childress.
Kaufman said, “I think that it is good for the public and for those who work in City Hall to know that there is an investigation. I think that is important that the state attorney follows the process, and everyone involved in the termination of Mr. Childress has their due process respected and adhered to. So there’s a process, and we will go through that process, and we have to wait for the state attorney’s office to make its findings, but it’s premature at this point, I think, to assume anything until the State Attorney’s Office goes through those investigations. That being said, I think the new commission does need to work together to unify the city and restore public trust. I think there are a lot of people we had, remember from the meeting on June 26, we had dozens and dozens of residents who all supported Mr. Childress and were very deeply concerned about the process and what seemed to be at least, I would say inappropriate conduct by some members of City Hall, and so we need to work together. This is an opportunity. I’m really excited about it, because it’s an opportunity to work towards restoring that public trust, and whatever comes from the investigation we’ll address it.”
With the new makeup of the commission, will there be changes in priorities?
Kaufman said, “Probably, but without having had meetings with them, it’s hard to know exactly. I would say there will be, I think, a lot of stability, because Commissioner Lee was a former director of a department. He was the police chief, so he has a good, firm basis and experience in how the city operates from his experience. Dee Dee Henriquez has been in government for decades, so she also knows how the cities and local government operates. So I’m not sure that there will be a major shift change in policy. I’m not hearing that. But, we need to prioritize all the things that that we’ve been talking about that’s making sure our infrastructure is safe and working for our residents, and that our public safety is strong, continues to be strong and our police department and our fire department, etc. We need to work on affordable housing, which we’ve been working on and we need to push that as much as we can. So these are the things I think will continue.”
The Lower Keys Medical Center and the lease is another issue.
Kaufman said, “There’s a lot going on, and I’m very proud of the fact that we have started a task force. It’s an advisory committee to myself, as the vice mayor and yes, two weeks ago, at the last Lower Keys Hospital District board meeting, we learned that the hospital is, in fact, getting into the process of reestablishing cancer treatment at our local hospital, and that’s in addition to the CEO of Baptist Hospital saying they’re doing the same thing. It’s unfortunate that it took these hospitals a year, a full year. Remember, it was August of 2023 when cancer treatment was abruptly terminated by the private provider on North Roosevelt Boulevard. But at least now there is attention to that, and that’s the highest priority, and has been the highest priority for our task force, because those who are fighting the good fight against cancer do not need to be driving the four hours to get their radiation or chemotherapy. That’s just not acceptable and so we have been really pushing that issue, and we first learned about the new cancer treatment availability at our last City Commission meeting. So I was gratified that our task force seems to be making progress and by the way, the public should know that the new Lower Keys Hospital District Board makeup, with the appointees from the governor are really great. We have a really good Lower Keys Hospital District Board makeup and I’m looking forward to their next meetings. I spoke at their last meeting and am very pleased with the direction that this is headed.”
The first meeting of the new city commission will be September 5 where the group will talk budget.
Kaufman said, “Then we have our first regularly scheduled City Commission meeting on September 12. So it’s, it’s coming up fast. I’m really happy that the newly elected officials can celebrate today, but they’re going to have to hit the ground running, because they’ve got some big meetings coming up. We had a great Key West and Florida Keys with the Miami Marlins on Saturday, and our new mayor, Dee Dee Henriquez threw out the first pitch. She did a great job. I was able to take some photos to keep those memories. We had a nice turnout, and I’m looking forward to that next year. So everybody remember all those baseball fans and just want to get together with people from Key West and the Florida Keys. It’s a great opportunity up in Miami. It was a lot of fun.”