With city hall steeped in investigations, indictments and terminations, Key West officials heard an earful from some residents at their meeting on May 6.
The meeting kicked off with some members of the public urging the commission to choose an interim city attorney who is independent of city hall, such as Dirk Smits and his associated lawyers at the firm Vernis & Bowling, who were proposed by commissioner Sam Kaufman until the commission hires a new city attorney. Former city attorney Ron Ramsingh was terminated without cause last month, another decision that frustrated many residents, who had urged that Ramsingh’s contract be terminated for cause, which would have saved the city $112,000 in severance pay.
Instead, the commission voted 5-2 on May 6 to promote assistant city attorney Kendal Hardin to the interim position, despite her not meeting all of the criteria needed for the job.
The commission also decided to empanel an advisory committee to evaluate applications for the next city attorney, voting down a suggestion by Kaufman that the city enlist the help of a search committee run by the Florida Association of County Attorneys, which would have guided the search for $5,000.
“We have major issues,” resident Jeff Siegel told the commissioners. “There appears to be a toxic environment in this building. These are not normal times, and unfortunately, decisions seem to be made for loyalty over competence. This meeting now is where you have the opportunity to fix things and start to rebuild public trust. The proposed interim city attorney misses nearly all requirements for the job. History is watching and so are the voters. Do what’s best for the city — for everyone, not just for those who were born here.”
Former Key West planning board member Greg Lloyd told the commission of the promotion of Hardin, “Her primary quality seems to be that she’s willing and is a team player. That’s like putting a novice captain at the helm of a leaking sailboat in a Category 5 hurricane. We’re facing a storm of legal challenges. As we’ve become painfully aware, the city attorney position is perhaps the most powerful and influential in the city government.”
Business owner Joe Walsh spoke in support of Hardin, pointing out that she’s been doing the job and is familiar with the issues and players.
Resident Robert Jensen then laid into the commission, pointing out that on April 1, the commissioners had approved their own performance evaluations of attorney Ron Ramsingh.
“Fourteen days later he was indicted and arrested,” Jensen said, adding that Mayor Dee Dee Henriquez and commissioners Donie Lee, Lissette Carey and Aaron Castillo all gave Ramsingh marks of 4s and 5s, meaning he exceeded job standards on their evaluations of him. Commissioner Mary Lou Hoover and Monica Haskell’s evaluations were slightly less glowing, but didn’t indicate shortcomings.
“Commissioner Kaufman gave unsatisfactory marks in several areas,” Jensen acknowledged. “But some of you had already been interviewed by the state attorney’s office and/or FBI prior to completing your evaluations. All of you were or should have been aware of the problems mentioned in the Corradino Report. So when you signed these evaluations of the city attorney, did you believe the issues being investigated didn’t warrant comment on an evaluation? Or did you just perjure yourselves in interviews and testimony before the grand jury, FBI or state attorney’s office? These investigations are far from over. It’s reasonable to expect further indictments and possibly arrests of some former city commissioners, or some of you. When the investigations are over, I think you’ll be deemed a criminal enterprise.”
