Sam Kaufman, Key West City Commissioner for District II, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s been going on in the city.
How has the transition been in City Hall with the new members after the election?
Kaufman said, “It seems like things are going very well with the transition and getting ready, really, for our first full meeting, which is tomorrow evening at five o’clock at City Hall. This is the first approval meeting for the city budget for fiscal year 2024 to 2025. The city budget covers from October 1 of 2024 until September 30 of 2025. It’s a $268 million budget overall, very large budget for a small town that we have. Thankfully, we are in a strong financial position given all of the property the city owns, including the Key West by the city Marina, all of the infrastructure across the island. What the public should know is that the city has almost zero debt, which puts the city in such strong position at this point.”
Could there be some changes to the budget with the new faces on the dais?
Kaufman said, “Some changes, but not major changes. Typically, the budget process begins in April with the department heads presenting their proposed budgets through the city manager’s office, and then in July, usually the third week of July, the City Commission holds the budget workshops, and the finance director, who does a great job, presents the proposed budgets for all the departments and different funds that are under the budget. Typically, after those two or three days of budget hearings in July, the budget takes shape, and then it’s finalized over the rest of July and August into the first week of September. But certainly the new commissioners and the commissioners ask for some modifications and then staff does the best that they can to incorporate those suggestions at the budget workshops and we get a final product. It’s been published, I think, since Friday, and the public can see it. The first reading of the budget is tomorrow night, at 5pm, that’s Thursday, September 5. Then there’s a second meeting to finalize the budget, which is September 17, also at 5pm. So even between now and the 17th, there still could be minor changes made as well.”
The bond referendum is also a topic of discussion.
Kaufman said, “Now we have a new commission and part of my thoughts during the approval process for those referenda was that we would have a new commission, and we should really consider what their thoughts are on this. As this new commission would need to present information, educational and otherwise, to the public, during the ballot initiative process. So we’ll see. It’s very interesting to me, because tomorrow night will be our first meeting with the new commission. So I think a lot of us will learn what the new members thoughts are on the referenda and the budget, because look, the referenda is a very important component to better understand how we’re going to pay for our city’s infrastructure needs. So tomorrow, I think will be a very interesting meeting.”
Additionally, a new city manager will have to be considered.
Kaufman said, “The City Commission voted on August 8 to create a selection committee for the next city manager, and tomorrow night, Commissioner Donie Lee is proposing a resolution, which I think is sensible, basically, to enlarge the eligibility potential for members of that selection committee to include people that live up the Keys a little bit but also work full time in the city. On many city boards, there are allowances for membership to include folks who live in the county, not necessarily in the city, if they have full time employment or businesses in the city, so that will allow the city commissioners to appoint members to that committee that may not live full time in the city.”
What has been happening with the firing of the former city manager Al Childress and his potential rehiring?
Kaufman said, “I see it as part of the discussion that the City Commission needs to take on. The main factors with respect to how we make this decision should center around job performance and job description, the expectations for the city manager, as far as day to day operations, communication with the Commission and the public, all the things that are expected of the city manager, and I think that many people will point to how well Mr. Childress did in those functions. So that’s a debate and a discussion we should have. My point of view is that if not Mr. Childress, it should be someone very much like Mr. Childress, in terms of the job function, because things were, in my view, especially on a policy level and major project level, with respect to the highest priorities of the City Commission, he performed very highly. So that’s what I would like to see, is us to select somebody, if not, Mr. Childress, somebody who could basically duplicate what he brought to the table.”