The Key West Chamber of Commerce on June 23 held the first candidate forum that asked questions and demanded answers from candidates for Key West mayor and three city commission seats in Districts 2, 4 and 5.
“This is not an easy election, and our chamber of commerce is very focused on making sure our membership has all the information,” chamber president Amber Shaffer told the 200 or so audience members and nine city candidates. She added that the questions, submitted by chamber members, pertained to the local business community and its relationship with city government.
Michael Stapleford, owner of Magnum Broadcasting and Keys Talk 102.5 radio station, moderated the event and broadcast it live on 102.5 from 6:15 to 8 p.m.
Mayor — Dee Dee Henriquez | Sam Kaufman
The Key West mayor’s race has been one of the most contentious in recent memory, with much of the vitriol playing out on social media among supporters of the two candidates.
There was a noticeable tension between the two candidates at the June 23 forum, with each throwing jabs at the other when answering questions.
In one of her answers, Mayor Dee Dee Henriquez pointed out the corruption and cleanup she inherited when she took office 22 months ago, while Kaufman has been a commissioner for more than 10 years.
Henriquez also chided Kaufman for always voting against tax increases, saying, “You’re the one who always wants to increase services, but not taxes. And you vote against the budget, because you know it will still have enough votes to pass, but you can take credit for voting no.”
Kaufman mentioned prior commissions and prior mayors, with whom he has served, saying there’s been a lack of leadership at the commission level since Henriquez took office, along with a lack of a strategic plan.
Here are some of the specific questions posed to each mayoral candidate and their answers
The budget was set at 4% above rollback. When the city sets a budget rate above rollback, what measurable benefits should taxpayers and businesses expect in return?
Mayor Dee Dee Henriquez
“When we ask our businesses and taxpayers to support a budget above rollback, we need to make sure our decisions have real results. Our tax dollars are committed to infrastructure. housing , public safety and quality of life. We also have to commit to the collective bargaining agreements. We also have to make sure we have strong financial reserves. Right now, we have 104 days. As your previous tax collector, I’ve always protected our taxpayer dollars. I want to make sure that when we manage our tax dollars, it is done with transparency, accountability and responsibility.”
As the city budget grows, what specific areas would you scrutinize, reduce or reform before asking residents and business owners to pay more?
Sam Kaufman
“Everything. We have not needed a tax increase as long as I’ve been on the city commission. I’ve voted against every budget. The mayor has voted, in the last two years, to raise taxes each year, unnecessarily. We have over a billion dollars in assets. What should the return on that be? What does a tax collector like to do? Collect taxes? Those who get elected, the pressure will be on you to raise taxes. Don’t go for it, because it’s not needed. We have healthy reserves if you add everything from the (Key West Bight fund) and our general fund reserves. When we have a commission with a strategic plan, we’ll have money in our affordable housing trust fund.”
What is the single biggest thing that the city government is doing that makes it harder to do business here and what would you change first?
Henriquez
“The biggest challenge is the fees and regulations. I agree it is our permitting. Businesses don’t know when they’ll have inspections or get approved, and timelines aren’t clear.
At the local level, there’s only certain things we can control and that we need the help of our state and federal government, which is why we’re working with our partners. But we do need to focus on what’s in our control.”
Kaufman
“We need a commission committed to not raising taxes. In fact, it’s a dream of mine to reduce taxes. We have such an opportunity to change city hall and actually make city hall work for us. We should look at the new grand jury report.”
The event included the candidates for the District 2 city commission seat, Mark Rossi and Bobi Lore. Each was allotted a one-minute introduction and two-minute closing statement in addition to the questions each was asked.
City Commission, District 2 — Bobi Lore | Mark Rossi
What is the single biggest thing city government is doing that makes it harder to operate a business here, and what would you change first?
Bobi Lore
“One of the things I would change is that we have a government that doesn’t always operate in the full daylight. We don’t have the transparency we need. I think our city needs to listen more to business owners, and to the working people … and understand more specifically the actual challenges that we face. I will research everything I can and I will listen to everyone I can, and I’m certain we will be able to find the best solutions.”
What is the single biggest thing city government is doing that makes it harder to operate a business here, and what would you change first?
Mark Rossi
“The first thing I’d do is go in and make sure our planning department and HARC and everything is working correctly. I guarantee you that I’ll take a workday, with the permission of the city manager, and learn the departments from head to toe. I am a victim of the planning department, and I wasn’t even trying to build a new building.”
City Commission, District 5 — Chris Massiotte | Greg Sullivan
(Both candidates said they would always support free parking for residents at Higgs Beach.)
Please name two topics that the city commission needs to stop discussing and two things they need to discuss and address.
Greg Sullivan
“The water quality decision should have been made two years ago, but it just kept getting kicked down the road. I believe in making a decision. I remember 12, maybe 14 years ago, the city and the county trying to come together with a plan for Higgs Beach and they could never get together. Now that we have Higgs Beach … I want to make Higgs Beach a beautiful beach that everyone in the city can enjoy. … I believe that 16 different departments (in city government) is a little much. I’ve learned … the building department tells you to do this, and the planning department tells you to do that and you walk out of there, and you don’t know what to do other than maybe hire an attorney and wait another six months. … So maybe we need fewer departments.”
“Do you believe Key West City Hall has a culture of helping businesses succeed, or a culture of regulating them? And what are two things you would change in that culture?
Chris Massicotte
“I want to give our businesses the tools for them to succeed. I want to make things as straightforward as possible when they go to get a permit or a license. … I think that we do need to make sure that we have a streamlined kind of government. The other thing we need to do is really focus on the affordability of businesses. … We disproportionately tax our businesses way more than we do our residents, and I think we should do everything that we can to make it more affordable for them to do business here. We don’t need to raise taxes all the time. … We own nearly a billion dollars worth of assets, and I want to make sure we’re getting a good return on that, because it’s all of ours. And I’ll give you an example: Mallory Square. There were two proposals that were each 150 pages long … and (the city commission) didn’t give it more than 15 minutes, then they awarded it to one person. That is a decision that’s going to be with us for 20 years. That’s one thing Greg and I disagree on. I think we should be making sure we make the right decisions, not just doing things because we want to speed them up.”
City Commission, District 4 — Sarah Compton, Juan Llera, Wayne Garcia
What is the single biggest thing the city is doing that makes it harder to operate a business here. And what would you change first?
Sarah Compton
“So the first thing I would do is make sure businesses aren’t paying exorbitant taxes. We’re looking at the state changing things on the property tax side of things. And then we’re charging businesses assessments on top of that. We have to make sure the business community is not taking the brunt of these. We also need to make sure the cost of housing isn’t going up on our workforce. There is more we can do to provide more workforce housing. We can look at making it easier to build accessory structures and help people create housing on their own property that’s raised and won’t cause any flooding issues.”
What is one city rule, process or ordinance you believe should be modernized because it no longer fits the reality of doing business in Key West?
Wayne Garcia
“As a builder here in Key West for the last almost 30 years, I know the building department has certain rules for certain inspections that maybe we can work with the building department and with the building officials to make it a little bit easier in the permitting process. Not to eliminate anything they’re doing, but just to streamline it. I think some of the inspections that are done now that hold us builders back a bit from completing our jobs in a good manner is that some of the inspections are redundant. So there’s things the city building department can do, along with the planning department to make things go a little bit smoother.”
Do you believe Key West is over-regulated, under-regulated, or about right, and why?
Juan Llera
“There is some overregulation, and I can give you an example. Two business owners reached out to me in preparation for this event. One has been trying for the last eight months to paint a facade on a building on Duval Street. He’s acquired all the permits and cannot get the clearance to go ahead and paint the building. The other has a successful business in Monroe County and is looking to open one in downtown Key West. He paid $3 million for the property and for the last three months can’t get code or permitting to come and check what they need to so he can proceed. He said he’s losing about $150,000 a month due to the city’s bureaucracy and some of the over-restrictions. We definitely need to work on that and get a committee going to revise some of the restrictions that are stopping the productivity of our workforce and businesses.”
