George Garrett and Luis Gonzalez are both familiar faces about town: Garrett as a longtime planner for City of Marathon, and Gonzalez as a businessman and two-year councilman. In 2021, though, they take on new and key leadership roles. Gonzalez is taking his first turn as mayor of Marathon and Garrett was recently promoted to city manager.
The Keys Weekly sat down with both on Dec. 1 to take a look at the city’s direction. The number one issue, they said, is improving the city’s relationship with its citizens, or customers, as Gonzalez likes to say.
“The community, or residents, are our customers. Their issues should become our problems,” Gonzalez said.
Both hope to open the doors to City Hall as soon as it’s safe to do so, as it regards the pandemic.
Garrett agreed. “Part of this is just COVID. We need to find a way to open the doors and help our residents get service.”
“I look forward to working with the rest of the council to improve Marathon,” said Gonzalez.
Here are other priorities:
TALLAHASSEE
Gonzalez said Marathon has to maintain and expand its presence in Tallahassee to make sure important Keys initiatives receive funding: coronavirus recovery funds, water quality and home rule are his top three issues.
“It’s going to be another weird year because of the virus and Tallahassee essentially shut down. That’s why it’s so important that we have George on board. He’s walked those halls and has those connections,” said Gonzalez.
Garrett said he will be cheering for the renewal of the Stewardship Act. The money was cut from the state’s budget in FY 2020-2021 due to revenue decreases projected from the pandemic. In the four years before that, the Stewardship Act brought $34.3 million to the Keys for water quality projects ranging from wastewater to canal restoration to land acquisition. Garrett said he’ll also be watching how the state reacts to the county’s efforts to fund road reconstruction associated with sea level rise. It’s possible the county would seek the state’s permission for a referendum to add a penny to the sales tax to fund the $1.8 billion project.
BUILDING DEPARTMENT
Garrett said there are important changes already in the works to improve the efficiency of the building, code and permitting departments at Marathon City Hall. First, the city has hired an in-house, credentialed building inspector in Noe Martinez, who earns $205,920 a year.
Second, Garrett said, is the rollout of recently purchased software. In August, the Marathon Weekly reported that the Viewpoint software would cost the city $37,100 the first year, and has annual fees of $20,300.
Garrett said it would eliminate the need for a physical file folder that would move from desk to desk. Builders and permit runners would be able to access a project virtually to see exactly where it is in the system. Any action, or update, on the project generates an automated email for the next step.
INFRASTRUCTURE
FEMA has paid for just about everything it will pay for, in terms of refunds for money spent to recover from Hurricane Irma. What’s left, the city will have to pay for itself.
“I’ve walked all these properties and I know what’s needed. It’s time for action,” said Gonzalez. “These are things that we move off the back burner and make a priority.” Gonzalez listed the repairs needed at Oceanfront Park, replacing road signs throughout Marathon, starting and finishing the kayak dock on Grassy Key, expanding the park office to include more room for staff and a place for camp kids to get out of the rain, and continuing improvements to The Quay property.
“We have some unfinished business to attend to, like the splash park,” Gonzalez said, referencing the site plan presented at a recent council meeting. “The people of Marathon want this. We need to move forward.”
Garrett said this is possible to achieve in phases by moving the skate park first, and then constructing the splash pad in its place.
PERSONNEL
Garrett said there are about 15 positions open with the City of Marathon, some of them left open purposely to save money (see below). While Garrett said he doesn’t think he needs to hire a deputy city manager immediately — if at all — he will be hiring a planning director to fill the role he previously held. “And we need to work on redundancy, not by hiring extra personnel but by training staff to do each other’s jobs,” he said. He also said he’s looking to hire a grants manager.
ECONOMY
As of right now, the news is still good. Marathon’s ad valorem taxing value is holding and, by the end of the year, the city will have eight months of operating expenses in reserves to cope with the next disaster such as a hurricane.
