Key West Mayor Dee Dee Henriquez joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM yesterday morning to talk about what’s going on in the city.
The special City Commission meeting last Tuesday to talk about the 287(g) agreement between ICE and the city saw a full house.
Henriquez said, “It was a quite a long meeting, and we had a lot of public comments, which was great. I think it was over two hours of public comments, and it was in reference to the 287(g) agreement. So I think before that meeting, it passed to not sign the 287(g) with the chief of police because our interim city attorney said that it was invalid and void, and that’s why I voted against it, because I couldn’t vote for something that wasn’t valid. So we had to have another special meeting after we received a letter from our Attorney General, and so to be able to give direction to our city manager, to be able to go into an agreement with the 287(g) with ICE. So after lots of discussion, then it did get approved, voted 4-2 to reinstate the 287(g) agreement between the city of Key West and the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and just so everyone knows it’s just to allow our police department and our chief of police to assist with ICE. It’s not like they’re going out there and looking for illegal immigrants. It’s just it go out there and to assist. So we’re giving direction to our city manager to sign the 287(g) and be able to move forward. It’s federal law and state law. I’ve always been a rule follower for the last 31 years in my previous career, and I’m going to continue to follow the laws. Like I said, it’s only to assist. It’s not for our chief of police and our police department to go out there and look for illegal immigrants. It’s only to assist.”
Commissioner Haskell made a motion to possibly postpone the decision, but that was not approved, and it was moved forward for the vote.
Henriquez said, “I did vote against postponing the vote because it’s something that we needed to put in place. So it was the will of the Commission on a 4-2 vote to reinstate and give direction to our city manager to sign the 287(g).”
The city also decided to not move forward with legal action against the state.
Henriquez said, “That was not approved as well. We’ll see what happens with South Miami. I don’t want to join with a lawsuit. I’d rather let them see what’s going to happen with him, and then we could decide on what we want to do later. In reference to that letter that we received from the Attorney General, it did say that you could be suspended, removed and or arrested. That’s not why I signed the form. I would have approved it the meeting before, provided it was a valid 287(g) to support our chief of police. But because it wasn’t valid, I couldn’t vote for it. So then we had a special meeting, and that’s why I voted for it the second time. That letter it did say they could be suspended and or removed and or arrested, but that is not why I voted for it.”
A tree commission meeting is scheduled for tomorrow.
Henriquez said, “The assistant city manager who was Todd Stoughton, he did submit his resignation on Tuesday. The commissioners weren’t aware of it until Wednesday, in response to the recommendation from the grand jury report. So he is no longer going to be the assistant city manager and but he is going to still be part of the city of Key West. The city manager is working on a placement for him, because he does have a lot of knowledge and history and experience within our city. So it would be very upsetting if he left totally, but he was just terminating the position, not terminating the job.”
There was going to be resolution to extend the term for mayor from two to four years.
Henriquez said, “Do I want to still extend the two years to four years as mayor for the term? Absolutely. With the timing and everything that’s going on right now, it’s not the right time. So I created an ordinance to be able to change it from this election to next year, and it will be saving the taxpayer dollars, $70,000. So it is the right thing to do, and so that’s why I put it on the agenda. We have one more reading as far as the ordinance is concerned, and if that passes the second reading, then it will go from this August to next year, which is the right thing to do.”
Green Drinks is also tomorrow.
Henriquez said, “It’s a monthly social networking event that will be at the Sidebar Key West, and they’ll talk about and share ideas and collaborate on creating more of a sustainable future. Wednesday, we have the Art in Public Places, starting at 5:30 at City Hall. Thursday, we have the planning board meeting that starts at five. Then on Friday, we have the early bird cleanup, and that’s on Duval Street, and Rose Lane. Hard Rock is going to be sponsoring it, and that’s at 313 Duval Street. So go ahead and meet us down there this Friday at 8am. So as you can see, we do have business as usual and a lot going on. So even though with all the craziness and everything going on, City Hall is still moving forward, we are getting things accomplished. This week we’ll also be preparing for next week. We’re preparing for our budget meetings on July 22 and 23rd and then on the 23rd at five o’clock, we’ll have a continuation in reference to the RFP water quality meeting, so that should be very interesting as well.”