Last updated: August 2, 2023, 3 p.m.
The prolonged battle between Key Colony Beach residents and city officials over the construction of a new city hall building is not over yet, according to a petition for temporary injunction filed on July 27.
Signed by attorney Matthew Hutchinson of Hershoff, Lupino & Yagel LLP on behalf of KCB resident Laurie Swanson, one of the main voices in the ongoing debate, the petition challenges the outcome of a vote by the KCB City Commission at its July 20 meeting.
With a 3-2 split, Mayor Patti Trefry, Vice Mayor Beth Ramsay-Vickrey and Secretary/Treasurer Tom Harding voted to award a contract for construction of a new city hall building to Hands On Builders, LLC at a preliminary price tag of $8.375 million. Commissioners Joey Raspe and Freddie Foster, along with several residents in attendance, spoke strongly against the decision. An agenda item requested by Raspe that would have called for a discussion and possible vote to pursue bids to repair the existing city hall was removed following the split decision.
“Although Key Colony Beach made some repairs to the (old damaged city hall) so that city officials could resume operations, the city never meaningfully pursued an option to make permanent repairs to the existing building and, instead, focused exclusively on the construction of a new city hall building,” the petition reads.
The document states that Swanson intends to “submit a referendum petition to reject the City Commission’s July 20, 2023 vote to move forward with demolition of the existing city hall building and construction of a new city hall building, and further intends to submit an initiative that the city pursue bids for the repair of the existing city hall building.” If the petition for injunction is granted, it would prevent the city from moving forward with demolition or construction activities for the time being.
Key Colony’s code of ordinances contains provisions by which its voters may reject a measure passed by the city commission via a referendum vote. A petition for such a referendum must be dated no more than 10 days after the July 20 vote, and must be returned to the city clerk within 45 days after official petition documents are issued.
If it is signed by 25% of KCB’s registered electors, the petition may serve to suspend the effective date of the July 20 vote. Speaking with the Weekly on July 28, Monroe County Supervisor of Elections Joyce Griffin confirmed that number as 650 at the current date, meaning 163 signatures will be required.
According to the code, if a complete petition with the required signatures is returned in time, the city commission will be required to order an election on the item in question, taking place between 30 and 45 days from the day the referendum petition is deemed sufficient by city clerk Silvia Gransee.
“We’re not asking for a huge ask,” Hutchinson told the Weekly on July 28. “We’re just asking (the judge) to give the voters just enough time to put together their petition.
“The legal part of this is such a small part. All the legal system is doing is providing the time frame so that the will of the voters can be heard. But this is really a political question to go to the citizens.”
Speaking with the Weekly on July 31, Swanson confirmed she had been in contact with city staff to initiate the petition for a referendum vote, but said she was frustrated thus far with the process of obtaining what she believed to be the correct number and type of petition “blanks.”
With tight deadlines spelled out in KCB’s code of ordinances and both parties dealing with an infrequently-used process, she said she was concerned the back-and-forth could prevent the petition’s success on a date-related or other technicality, going as far as to call the communication “harassment.”
“The language is wrong, the format is impossible, and they expect us to hand-write the ballot issue on every sheet of 200 or more petitions,” Swanson also wrote in an email to Hutchinson.
Hutchinson was more optimistic in a follow-up call on July 31.
“There are thousands of pages of ordinances, and this is one that they don’t deal with a whole lot,” he said, confirming that he had been in contact with KCB City Attorney Dirk Smits that day and that the two “will get it worked out, I’m pretty sure.”
“We’re working through it, and I don’t anticipate it in the long term being a big problem,” said Hutchinson. “I think it’s more just cracking the law book and seeing what it says.”
Speaking with the Weekly on July 28, Trefry said she was not yet aware of the petition for temporary injunction and could not yet offer a comment pending review of the document. In a follow-up call on July 31, she said she could not offer further comment as litigation was ongoing.
As of Aug. 1, Monroe County’s Clerk of the Court website listed the case as assigned to judge Mark Jones. There was no date listed yet for a hearing.
