Key West City Manager Brian Barroso joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s going on in the city.
There’s a clean up going on today to celebrate Earth Day.
Barroso said, “We have some city teammates that are out there, but what a great opportunity to show the community and our visitors that we take this extremely seriously down here. They’re protecting our island, and what a great opportunity to build camaraderie and provide an opportunity to serve this community.”
Higgs Beach will officially be transferred to the city’s ownership from the county on May 1.
Barroso said, “What a major win for our residents, just the ability to have this local control, this local stewardship, not that the county was not doing that, but just what an opportunity for our team to really embrace this jewel, though, of the island that we have. So what we’re really encouraged about and going to lean into as we stand in our in stage upcoming projects, it’s just the financial transfer along with this property. So it wasn’t just land. We got a financial commitment from the county, which was a great collaboration with our partners there. So we have approximately 987,000 are going to be transferred to the city from Hurricane Ian insurance proceeds, about 500 and capital funding. There is about 834 in TDC grant funding, additional 568 from FDOT, 305 in TDC operating funds. And then we’re still excited about and this was a different partnership, but this is through our Hawk missile site agreement, but we’re getting the 2 million for a multi use field. So this truly gives the city the tools to immediately maintain, improve and protect just this beloved community space. So our team is extremely excited. We are actively programming and placing our next processes. But what communities should understand and should actually ask more questions about so we could delineate exactly what we’re doing. We’re going to use these proceeds to do the project. So there was a concern, or a concern, which is legitimate about where is this funding going to come from now that we have this asset? Well, we delineated exactly where it’s coming from. So as you see projects occurring, know that they’re sequencing and correlating to the funding that we receive from our partners at the county. So we’re very excited about this.”
There’s also rental revenue from Higgs Beach.
Barroso said, “Over the last five years Higgs beach operated in the black. So when you hear a statement that looks and feels like, oh, my God, this is costing us taxpayer money, I want you to pause, source the source, and just understand that that is not the data that I received, nor is it the data that was presented by the county. So we’re very excited about the operating mechanics of Higgs Beach. We believe that they’ve been doing a great job of operating in the black over the last five years, and we’re looking to augment that, but continue to strengthen the existing partnerships. We don’t want to come in as a new landlord and disrupt something that is in their normal operating business. So that’s not our intention. Our intention is to strengthen those partnerships, but then look to where we could plug in some and augment some revenue opportunities, where we can as a city, and that’s just what any new owner should be doing. That with a fresh set of eyes, what can we do, and how can we strengthen the existing relationship? So that’s our plan, and we’re very excited to get rolling on Higgs Beach and continuing to stride and make it a jewel of Key West.”
The budget session begins April 28 in Tallahassee and hopefully lawmakers will come up with a final budget soon.
Barroso said, “We are advocating aggressively and candidly, effectively for our local priorities. We have our individual local priorities that we’re fighting for. So I just want to make sure that we have an opportunity to outline exactly what is in the pipeline. Now, I want to preface this. It still needs to be approved. There’s some gap between the House and the Senate, but we believe that that’s going to be rectified. We believe that that’s just saber rattling. And then, of course, we need to get through the veto opportunity, which just speaks to relationships. You want to be viewed as an individual that continues to try to strengthen partnerships in both Tallahassee and DC, because you have that veto opportunity. So we’re excited that we have approximately 11 million in priority projects funded currently placed in the House and Senate. So I want to repeat that we’ve advocated, have placed, and have been explained to us that it is funded right now if approved in $11 million for local projects. So that’s exciting for us. That’s a nice number. So when they say, man, those people at City Hall, they’re raising taxes, I want you to hear this. Well, no, we’re advocating for 11 million in funding that we would not have to come up with local taxes. But that’s in addition to a million dollars that was already submitted by Representative Mooney. So that particular million dollars was already placed in there. So we’re very excited about what’s up there. And then we really are keeping an eye on the expected changes for property taxes. We understand that there’s some iterations that continue to occur. But our team, as we prep for our budget, in our opportunity to make sure that we are being amazing stewards of the taxpayers money, that we are definitely baking in that delta possibility of the property taxes or homestead taxes, for us, it represents approximately a 4 million delta if we see some iteration or change of that position regarding the elimination of property taxes. But right now, the city has additionally secured a 1.1 million from the FDEP. We have that designation of being a Florida Keys area of critical state concern, and that’s part of that grant program, and that’s for wastewater treatment facility upgrades, so we’re constantly pouring into our wastewater treatment plant, looking to continue to fund that in a way that is indicative of the importance for the community down here.”
The city also requested 3.8 million through the community project funding for Jose Martin resiliency project.
Barroso said, “That right now represents about half of what the obligation would be for Key West on this much needed project, which is going to start at the latter part of this year. So you’re going to see that project. It’s an FDOT project. It’s a partnership. But the responsibility or obligation to the city was around 7 million. So we’ve requested, it has been projected into the budgeting process at the federal level. We’re really excited about what we’ve done in preparation, but now it just boils down to, are we going to receive this funding? And that’s going to be the true report card. But we’re excited about where we’re at. You first have to ask the questions before you can get the funding that we’re looking for, both at the federal level and at the state level, we believe the partnerships with our our lobbyists are paying dividends, but let’s pause and let’s just make sure that we use the true funding to see how we effectively have done but we’re really excited about bringing this money home. It’s a representation of what we’re aggressively advocating for that will help continue to keep the debt obligation to our our citizens at the lowest possible level. We want to continue to be meeting with the right people in the right places, be in the right rooms, with the right people at the right time, asking the right questions. We believe that we’re doing that.”
There is also TDC funding for Mallory Square.
Barroso said, “This is a great example of just that, that Mallory Square is moving from like vision to reality. We’re very excited that what we’ve continued to do is take that master plan that our great men and women here at the city had put together with the partnership with Saski. This was an amazing collaboration of what Mallory Square could look and feel like, but right now we’re trying to bring that to reality. This is outside of any normal process. We were able to go back and leverage some communication, some collaboration and just advocating and stress the need for them from the TDC, who amazingly, have found the opportunity to approve 4.6 million for Mallory Square. Now this has to go to the BOC in June, so we don’t necessarily know that we have it, but we’re definitely preparing like we are going to get it. So we’re really feeling that this funding will support some of the major improvements at Mallory Square, like it’s just ensuring resiliency, accessibility and just enhancing that visitor experience. This is going to dovetail, if it is approved, with the beginning of the construction for the sunset pier, so that is slated to start late summer, and it’s expected to be about a 10 month project. So we believe that it’s going to be less than a year. So what we’re really trying to do, because we understand that the partnerships that we have with CPS and just the importance of that location, we really need to balance it with how do we maintain that while doing these much needed improvements. So we’re really getting granular with our partnerships and collaboration with our team to see how we could do that. But man, what a great experience to understand that if we can overlay the improvements from this $4.6 million grant with the construction of the sunset pier, what we truly believe is we’re going to be a great position of bringing this much needed Mallory Square renovation forward for our community. So again, excited about the partnership with TDC. We want to thank them, but also now the responsibility is to put this in place. We have received previous funding from TDC for Mallory Square, roughly around $2 million that we just for whatever the reason we could not bring that project forward. So we definitely, this particular leadership is very intentful on, if this is awarded by the BOC, then we need to get rolling. So we have all intentions of looping in the master plan elements of that master plan, so we’re going to bring that vision to reality. So stay tuned. Be excited, but know that we’re there’s a lot of projects that we are taking off the shelf and bringing forward for the betterment of this community and the visitors.”
Hurricane preparedness continues to be a priority.
Barroso said, “We intently work year round regarding our ability to stand up and provide the best opportunity to respond to any sort of impact to our community. But in this particular case, what the city plans to do is we’re going to run a full scale mock up hurricane drill. This is going to test our readiness. So we bring in a company that comes down and gives us a particular scenario, and then we go through an entire process in how we would go through the four elements or the stages of any type of impact to the community. So we’re very excited right now. It helps us get aligned with our teammates, like what teammates are going to be designated as ones that would stay and the manner in which they would respond. It allows us to ensure our partnerships with our individual location, which is City Hall, as our emergency management location. It activates and prepares our technology. There’s some alerts that go out. It talks about our ability to communicate with other partners. But everyone right now, should be checking in, preparing for hurricanes. Is your insurance in place? Is your evacuation plan in place? How are you planning to stay informed? It’s a shared responsibility. Understand that it’s not just the responsibility of the city to prepare, but it’s also the residents and the visitors alike. So this allows us, in our opinion, to really understand where we see our strengths, where are some opportunities, and not have to vet that during an actual impact. So we are in conjunction with our emergency manager from the fire department, and he is leading this exercise. So we’re very encouraged about starting this. But again, understand that this is something that we train, we educate, and we evaluate year round. So we could respond and support our community in the best way possible.”
The Realtors Roundtable happened recently in Key West.
Barroso said, “We truly feel that this is how government should work. It should be transparent, it should be accessible, and actually it should be responsive and we also lean into open dialog. It builds trust and it leads to just better outcomes. So in that spirit, we did a collaboration with our business community, which we believe that it’s essential for just a healthy and informed city. So the city and the Key West Association of Realtors held a well attended round table at City Hall. It was packed. They answered in depth questions regarding planning, licensing, permitting, city code and just the development process. So it really allowed, whether it was an individual example or just a granular or broad brush approach about clarity. It allowed for that open dialog between individual realtors and our team, plus it allows you to meet our team. That’s another thing that we were really trying to stress through our spotlights, through our social media and just our ability to continue to disseminate information. We really believe that the powerful connection is just come and meet our team and see their passion and desire to be in the service of others. So the session gave us a great chance to address concerns directly, clarify misconceptions. So that’s a real responsibility of our teams. Just hey, you may not be well informed, and at times you may be misinformed. So let’s just try to clarify that, and then it just strengthens the partnerships with the real estate community, which is essential down here. We want to encourage other entities that if you believe that that would add value, we want to continue and provide a cadence for this. We think it’s a great opportunity to host individuals here, meet our team, answer questions, and just give them access to our team. So despite what you may be hearing out there, like, I believe that we have a very accessible team, and you’re able to come in here and ask questions. If your intent is to seek to understand that we’re all open to it, if it’s to attack, I would say, caution, please, that’s not the medium in which we would like to do that, but we understand that we are in the service of others, and we serve this community, and part of that service and requires access and our ability to answer questions and concerns. But the city intends to continue hosting similar forums to keep the communication open and productive. That’s the key. Is the communication open? Is it productive? Are we moving things forward, and are we clearing up maybe some discomfort and distrust from past experiences? That’s the goal, and we want to continue to provide that opportunity. So please put your hand up if you would like that opportunity. And I just want to give a moment to say that there is, every other Tuesday, there’s Coffee with the CM available to anyone that would like an opportunity to come and do this exact process, and then the mayor still hosts her Monday, connects with with a standing placeholder for those individuals in the community that like access to the mayor. So we’re providing these opportunities. We want to leverage these opportunities, and we believe that we’re changing hearts and minds, which is what we need to do as we continue to build better forward together.”
The picnic at the amphitheater last Friday saw about 250 people in attendance.
Barroso said, “This was our annual employee picnic. It was a great opportunity for us just to pause and say thank you to the great men and women that continue to serve this community. We provided that for our team and teammates’ family members to come and join. So yes, we believe it was an amazing event. There was over 250 employees and family members. But I want to extend just a thank you to the individuals. There was some special recognition we did internally, but this is a global recognition that helped stand this amazing event up. So we did that through our internal communication. But again, you can’t put on an event like that to say thank you to others without the great help from our team to make it happen. It’s great to see from our teammates’ perspective and family members that our leadership is there supporting our team. So it was just a great event.”
A private donation secured funding for planting trees on Duval Street.
Barroso said, “We continue to have a master plan in place, so we have the blueprint. It’s just now, can we foster and fund and finish this project, which is the responsibility of our team. Just know that yes, we are starting some things. We started Bay View. We’re going to start Higgs. You’re going to see FDOT start the Jose Martin. Next year, we’re going to lean into our Flagler project. But in conjunction with the Mallory Square project renovation, we now have our Duval Street revitalization. So this is part of that master plan, but it really dovetails into the mayor’s beautification program. This particular individual has donated, and that number continues to rise, so we appreciate his ability to say, yes, I could do more and give more, but our plan now is to purchase trees that right now are going to be identified in locations that are missing, or they’re trees that are either in disarray or at the latter part of that tree’s life. So in conjunction with our arborist, we have identified locations in which this individual be purchasing trees down Duval Street. So we believe that this is going to be our first indication of us starting that renovation or that revitalization of DeVol Street. And then we are actively programming and looking at applying for EDA grant that you will see we’re standing up our ability to change out our lights down Duval Street as well. So those are the two projects that we are planning right now. Now the ambassadors leaned in at the 44 graduation. They leaned in with their project, which was going to be painting the trash cans on Duval Street. So we are really excited about starting that process. Know that we also have a grant in place. Part of that funding that we talked about from Tallahassee was the opportunity to fund a lift station down at Mallory Square to help for the flooding of Duval Street. So please know that we are definitely trying our best to go city wide on where we could continue to bring projects forward and what we can put in place, but great opportunity for this individual to be recognized in the manner in which he chooses to but great contribution from that individual in collaboration with the mayor. So excited about that. And the trees have been ordered, so they’re coming. So we’re excited about that.”