Key West Mayor Dee Dee Henriquez joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s going on in the city.
Division One baseball came to Rex Weech field on Saturday night.
Henriquez said, “Oh my goodness, yes, the Key West conch baseball. They had a historic night at Rex Weech field. There was nearly 1,000 fans that packed the bleachers to watch two talented Division One schools. It was FIU and UCF. They played 12 innings, and it was probably a little after midnight when they finished playing. But just to watch them here in our hometown, we had one of our very own, Anthony Lariz, who played for Key West High School, and his father is a captain with the Key West Police Department. Then we also had Brendan Rooney, who also played for Key West High School, and he was one of the coaches for FIU. So I would like to give a shout out to Ralphie Henriquez and Jackie Niles for all of their hard work for making it a very magical night.”
October 9 was proclaimed the 150th anniversary of Key West Fire Department.
Henriquez said, “I was able to actually ride in a fire truck. We had a little parade that went down Truman, down Duval, down to the Truman annex, and then we did celebrate the 150th year anniversary for the city of Key West Fire Department, and I was able to read the proclamation again out there. I’m just so proud of all the men and women who work so hard to protect us and to serve our community. So it was a great celebration out there. Then I went home, changed, and then I also attended the Navy ball. It was their 250th birthday, and so they had a big celebration and I would like to thank each and every one of them for their service and what they do to protect us. Then after that, I came home, changed again, and then went to the baseball game.”
The city commission also met last week.
Henriquez said, “It was very long and we had a lot of items, but we did get a lot of things accomplished, which is what I like. I’ve always said we like to continue to move forward. We did approve Mayanne Downs, her letter of engagement from the DownsAaron law firm, and she is to serve as our city attorney. It is at the rate of $495 per hour. I know that’s a little expensive, and it becomes effective today, actually, and it’s for a maximum of 18 months. She’s really experienced. I know there was another law firm, but I didn’t believe that they were a right fit for what our current needs are. Sometimes less is not always the best. So we did approve her, like I said, letter of engagement. So as of today, she starts. Then we also approved the contract to the consulting services, and that was for the implementation of our city’s water quality monitoring program. I’m very excited to finally have a program in place, and that was in the amount not to exceed $131,531 for a term of one year, and it’s with an option to renew for four additional years at a one year period. Now our staff will now be able to start the negotiations. It took a year to be able to get some water quality monitoring program in place. Another discussion we had was authorizing the reimbursement of city Commissioner Carey’s attorney’s fees in reference to the recall petition against her. That item was postponed per the recommendation of at that time our interim city attorney, and that is because the lawsuit is not finalized, and the lawsuit is basically not closed. So with that said, that item was postponed, and that amount was to reimburse, I think it was just a little over $6,000 and then we spent quite some time on the grand jury report, and we are more than half complete of the 27 recommendations. We are taking that grand jury report very seriously and some of the recommendations, as they take longer than others to complete, but the ones that we are getting done, we’re getting them done as quickly as we can.”
The first reading of the whistleblower ordinance was heard.
Henriquez said, “So as you can see, we are moving that grand jury report, moving that forward. Then the other item we did have some discussion on was the diesel plant, whether we should demolish it and make it a parking lot or go out for an RFP, so with a lot of discussion, we gave direction to our staff to let’s try an RFP one more time. I would hate to see it demolished and make it into a parking lot with all of the history and the machinery and everything that’s in there. So we gave them direction to go out for another RFP. We’ll see what happens. If nothing follows through with that, then we may have to demolish it and see what we’re going to do with that machinery. Like I said, it was a very long meeting, but we did get a lot accomplished.”
Vice Mayor Lee requested the United States Navy withdraw the objection to the proposed Wisteria Island mooring field. Did that move forward?
Henriquez said, “Yes, it did. It did not even get pulled from the consent agenda, which I thought it was going to but it was on the consent and it got approved automatically. So I was happy to see us be able to support that.”
Commissioner Haskell brought a resolution that was a targeted review of building permits issued between January 1 2020, and April of 2025, providing parameters to limit the scope of work.
Henriquez said, “That item did get pulled off the consent agenda. We had a little bit of the conversation in reference to those permits, but yes, that got approved, and our staff is continuing to move forward and verifying all of those permits.”
Key West High School homecoming parade is today.
Henriquez said, “That’s going to be really exciting. I believe that starts at six o’clock. It’s starting at Key West High School, going down Flagler, and they’ll turn left on Kennedy Drive. They’ll end up at the Tommy Roberts Memorial Stadium. Then each class will do their class spirits and who’s going to win this year, whether it’s the freshmen, sophomores, juniors or seniors. So that’ll be exciting.”
The Sustainability Advisory Board meets tomorrow and Art in Public Places advisory board meets October 15.
Henriquez added, “Plogging on Friday is going to be sponsored by the Berkshire Hathaway. So meet on Eaton Street, Eaton and Duval, and that will start at 8am and we’ll be ready to clean the streets right before Goombay starts, even though it’s down at the other end. But Goombay starts Friday as well. Victoria Street, will be closed from 7am until midnight on that Friday and Saturday. But Goombay actually starts at noon, and it’ll run all the way through midnight. So we’re looking forward to going down there and having a good time.”