Ron Saunders, village manager for Islamorada, joined Good Moring Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM yesterday morning to talk about what’s going on in the village.
Saunders was recently elected as the new village manager and will begin his tenure on Monday.
He said, “It is exciting because I’m familiar with the area. Luckily, they had some out of town managers that took a while to get adjusted. But my legislative office was in Plantation Key which is in the village of Islamorada. I served that area for 14 years in state legislature. I had all of Monroe County and part of Dade County, so definitely know the people there and some of the issues, and I think it’s going to be interesting. It’s about an 18 mile municipality. It’s called the village, but it’s comparable to the city of Key West.”
How was the decision made?
Saunders said, “They had a process. They had about 19 people apply for it and they got down to about 16. Three didn’t qualify. Then they narrowed it down to about six, and then down to three. Then I was selected from the three applicants, and it was a 5-0 vote, which is always good to come in with a unanimous vote, because the longevity that office is not always the best. But I think that the fact that I’m familiar with all the council members, I know a lot of people the community, and then I represented them, as I said for years, in the legislature, I think will be helpful. We have a couple things going on. One is they’re going to rewrite of the Comprehensive Land Use plan, which is the principal for guiding development. In other words, the next 15, 20, years will be guided by what we’re doing today. They’ve got a consulting firm coming in, meeting with community, trying to get ideas of how to protect the quality of life in the village of Islamorada and that’s an ongoing process. Then in a couple months, we start the budget process for the village. I have some expertise there. I used to chair the Appropriations Committee for the state of Florida, when we did the state budget, so that gives me some background with that. So I’m looking forward to working on the budget and making sure all the dollars that are spent wisely and efficiently. Also there are ongoing issues. We have the Founders Park baseball field where Coral Shores plays. The school district has worked with the village on that. So there’s several issues going on that we’re working on, but it’s a challenge, but I’m looking forward to it.”
There are a lot of decisions in Tallahassee happening right now that can have direct impact on the Village of Islamorada.
Saunders said, “I was approved by the council last week, and they asked me when my starting date would be, and I said April 21. One reason I picked it was because the legislative session is kind of going into its final weeks, and I will at least have some input. Not that we’ll be able to get much more than we would have, but there’s a budget process going on which I’m very familiar with, and then there are always bills being passed that affect local governments. So I just wanted to make sure I was on board while the session was still in place, and also want to be part of that conference and Land Use Plan process. So I wanted to hit the ground running. I think there’s never a good time or bad time become the manager, but I think this was a pretty good time. I’m going to be talking with all the Council members on Monday, talking to department heads on Monday, just kind of setting out a plan of action, a strategy, and get the community involved, be very transparent, and make sure everybody has input on all sides of an issue, and move on from there.”
A workforce affordable housing citizen advisory committee will meet on Monday.
Saunders said, “Affordable housing is always going to be a problem. Traffic’s going to be a problem. I’ve talked to Greg Veliz, the head of the aquatic authority, and I understand the need for putting a new pipeline in. There’s never going to be a good time to halt traffic to do work, but we certainly want to work with the aqueduct authority and the sheriff’s department to make sure that the traffic moves there a little quicker, because I’ve been there several times, and being stuck in traffic like a parking lot is not fun, but it’s a situation you’ve got to deal with. I know the sheriff very well. I know Greg Veliz very well. We can all work together and see if we can do something to get that traffic moving a little quicker. So that’s just one of the things we deal with on a daily basis. Speaking of the sheriff, the village of Islamorada does not have a police department. We have a contract with the sheriff. So essentially, the sheriff is our police chief, and we have Captain Lisette Quintero, who I know very well. She is the captain in charge of the Islamorada station. So I think we’re starting off with some good relationships, and hopefully we’ll keep it that way and do what’s best for the citizens of Islamorada.”