Key West Mayor Dee Dee Henriquez joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s going on in the city.
The weekend was full of festivities.
Henriquez said, “It was really nice to burn the flag to know that the hurricane season is over, and then I also participated right after that, we went to Bayview Park for the annual Key West Christmas tree lighting, and it was absolutely beautiful. What a wonderful event for our city and our community, and it is one of my favorite traditions. Then coming into work this morning, because I come in very early, and just seeing all of Bayview Park lit up, it was just absolutely beautiful.”
The parade will take place on Saturday.
Henriquez said, “We have a commission meeting tomorrow. There’s not a lot of items on there, but the items are on there are very important, and after our proclamation and our employee service awards, the next item would be appointing an individual to fill the district five commission seat. Currently there are six applicants, so hopefully we will be appointing an individual to fill that district five commission seat. Even though City Hall was closed on Friday, I interviewed four of them and the other two applicants, I will be interviewing today, so I will be well informed on all of the applicants to be ready for our commission meeting tomorrow.”
There will also be an update on the grand jury report.
Henriquez said, “The Grand Jury is report is 84% complete, so 16% are still pending. Then we’ll have a second reading on the whistleblower ordinance, which that item was postponed from last month. We’ll also have a discussion on beach weddings, and then in the evening session, there’s a presentation for the Duval Street resiliency and revitalization plan. So I’m very excited to see what the updates are for the Duval revitalization program. And then on Wednesday, there’s a contractors examining board meeting that starts at 3:30 at City Hall. Right after that, we’ll have the Bahama Village Redevelopment Advisory Committee, that starts at 5:30 in the commission chambers. Thursday is the building department quarterly stakeholders meeting starting at 7:30 in the morning and in the commission chambers as well. And then Friday, we have our plogging. This week we’ll meet at the GFS parking lot on North Roosevelt Boulevard. Mount Sinai Medical is hosting this week starting at 8am so we’re excited about that. Then also that evening is the Wesley House Family Services Holiday Village and BeLighted Bike Ride. So there’ll be some street closures, and that will be from five to nine, but the BeLighted Bike Ride will begin at 8pm so you’ll see a lot of bikes all decorated for the holidays. Then Saturday is our household hazardous waste drop off event. That’s the first Saturday of every month, from 8am to noon, and that’s at the Sonny McCoy Indigenous Park. So you have any hazardous waste, please go there drop it off. Our Community Services staff will be more than happy to take it, and then that evening, is the city of Key West annual holiday parade starting at 7pm and I believe Dorian told me that there’s approximately 119 entries. So it just gets bigger and bigger every year. I can’t wait for that. So as you can see, there are a lot of things going on this week, as far as business and then, of course, there’s a lot of holiday parties and events and just a lot of things going on. Today’s December 1, and the calendars already full.”
The vote for the District 5 seat will be in the morning session tomorrow.
Henriquez said, “It’s the first item after our proclamations in our employee service awards. Then when we start our business, other than voting on the Consent Agenda, that’s our first item would be to try and appoint someone. So like I said, hopefully we will be able to appoint. We will take votes. I believe the most that it’s ever come to a conclusion was like nine or 10 times. So after that, if we cannot come to an agreement, then it would go out to a special election. Hopefully we won’t have to do that, because then, that costs money.”
Will the sitting commissioners have time to interview the six applicants for the District 5 seat?
Henriquez said, “It was up to their discretion to be able to interview them. There were four applicants before we left on Wednesday, and I was able to interview them on Friday, and then Friday afternoon, two more came in in the afternoon, so I was able to reach out to them, and I’m going to be interviewing the other two today. We have a lot of talent out there. So we’ll see what the will of the commission is tomorrow morning.”
This is just an interim position until August 18, 2026.
Henriquez said, “I would like to invite everybody to participate in all the activity and events and meetings that are going on this week. That way they could be well informed. Our commission meeting starts tomorrow morning, at 9am and just have a great week and be safe out there.”