Christine Hurley, executive director of the Monroe County Land Authority (for a little while yet), joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s been going on in the county.
The Monroe County Commission has tapped Hurley to become the next county administrator for Monroe County.
She said, “I’m very energized over it. I’ve had the opportunity to talk to each commissioner over the past couple of weeks at length about a lot of their priorities, and of course, I’ve been coordinating with Kevin Wilson, who’s been the acting County Administrator since Roman Gastesi left. I really, really think this is going to be good times at the county. The staff are wonderful that are there now, and they are all professionals. I really look forward to working with the citizens and our commission to implement their broad policy directives. I’m a person who is optimistic at all times and also wants to move forward. So I know we need to restore trust, and I hope that we can just get back to doing our normal work and make the citizens proud.”
What are the priorities as we move forward?
Hurley said, “There are a long list of priorities that I gleaned from the commissioners, but I know for sure, and can say that I think one of the main reasons they chose me is my experience when I was an assistant administrator with FEMA. They have some big goals there. They want to hopefully eliminate downstairs enclosures so that the unincorporated residents can be on par with Islamorada and Marathon. Those both allow downstairs enclosures, as long as they don’t become habitable space for a separate living unit. Then, of course, the ROGO allocation discussion that has really been dominating the news, rightfully so. It’s a big decision for our community. How many more units do we need, and can we support? And how do we maintain our quality of life and not impact our precious ecosystem? All of those things are very, very hard and complicated and intertwined, and that one, of course, has kind of a deadline that we need to come up with a recommendation by the end of the year, because at the state level, the committee meetings start in January. So we need to send a message to Tallahassee on what our desires are, because they are the ones who decide the actual number of units, and more importantly, whether or not to exceed the 24 hour limit for the maximum time we have to have to evacuate in an approaching storm. So you can imagine how complicated all that is. The county has been doing a very, very large outreach program over the past several months for the citizens, and I’m really looking forward to seeing those results. I think they’re on survey number four, and I know surveys one through three are under calculation right now with data, so we’ll start to see those results and see what the general community is thinking.”
Growth Management was Hurley’s first job with the county.
She said, “It’s been my whole life. I had to update my resume yesterday and I had to change my number of years of experience and when I counted on my fingers the number, I was like, oh my gosh, 38 years in this kind of work. But growth management in the Keys, if you really know about planning and growth management nationwide, the Keys are a leader in the whole nation, really, but mostly in Florida and have you know the most complex rules that I know of, and it’s on purpose. It’s to make sure that our space is protected, that our habitats are protected, that our people have a high quality of life, and of course, that we’re a tourist destination, so we have to find balance between all of those demands.”
As the director of the land authority, planning growth for the county was an important mission.
Hurley said, “The land authority’s role is to buy up as much land as possible while the county allows slow growth so that we someday, I believe, we won’t have any private property owners that are expecting to develop. So land authority, their number one role is to keep buying up as much as they can, preserve it and then find that balance.”
The County Administrator helps implement and run the county from a daily nuts and bolts standpoint.
Hurley said, “The hardest, in my opinion, part of being the County Administrator is when you’re managing a disaster. The good news is, I got to watch all of it and be part of it after Hurricane Irma. Honestly, it takes your breath away to be in that emergency operations center during the I’m going to say, the first five to 10 days after the storm. You don’t sleep, you’re managing lots and lots of coordination of all the wonderful fire and police and safety type positions that are out in the community, really, really, recovering so that people can come back in and helping decide when it’s time to let visitors back in. I think that’s the hardest part of the county administrator’s role, working with each agency. So my fingers are triple crossed that those little storms we’re seeing out there right now just disintegrate or move around, and we don’t have to deal with that in my very first month being here as county administrator.”
The new Emergency Operations Center will be a major help.
Hurley said, “Having been in this little building in Marathon during Irma recovery, it was a mess. It was so jam packed, because a lot of people come in from the outside to help with the recovery and that emergency operations center, kudos to how it got funded, and also to the fact that they will have a state of the art facility and really what I don’t think people understand that is so important, it’s right at the airport. So when we need goods and they start getting flown in, especially, when the military comes in to help, what a great coordination. We spent a lot of wasted time going back and forth between the airport and where the EOC was during Irma, and this is just going to, I know, help Shannon’s operation so much. So I can’t imagine how excited she is and how she feels about finally having the type of facility that she needs to do a great storm response.”
Some projects in the land authority will be coming to fruition in October.
Hurley said, “I spent about three years now at the land authority and the three major projects in Key West are finally at the point where they will go to the governing board, hopefully in October. I think it’s October 16, for approval. The Lofts are a really, really important project for Key West in Bahama village, there will be 28 units there for home ownership opportunities for low income folks that are part of the community fabric. Then two more projects, one by the Key West housing authority to add either 45 or 54 units over near Poinciana Gardens, which are sorely needed, and those units are expected to be for folks that are not at the lowest income level. They’re a little bit higher, and they’re hoping to really fill a niche need for people that are like public safety type employees or teachers in the community, and then a smaller project in Key West, near the same property for the continuum of care, or the nonprofits that Key West works with to provide a lot of special needs services. So I’m excited about those projects, and I know it’ll be under a predecessor over at land authority, but I probably will get to present them to the board and at least explain the ins and outs of the project and the funds that are needed to bring those things forward. I’m very thankful for all the support I’ve been receiving, not just from the Commission, but the public and co-workers and I look forward to getting started and as they all echoed, running the minute I hit the ground. Actually, I’m already running, believe it or not.”
Michael Stapleford of KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM added, “I don’t doubt that one bit, Christine, but we have complete faith and confidence in you. We are certainly grateful that you have agreed to step up to that position.”
“Thanks a lot, Michael,” Hurley said.