Key West’s Oct. 6 commission meeting started with compliments about community cooperation in the wake of Hurricane Ian, but ended with questions, concerns and criticisms.
Randy Sterling, director of the Key West Housing Authority received significant praise for his quick response in addressing the 94 public housing units in Bahama Village that were impacted, 80 of them significantly. Many residents of the Robert Gabriel Apartments lost most of their belongings, along with refrigerators and hot water heaters in the floodwaters.
Sterling thanked the commission for their praise, and added, “It’s been a rough week for the housing authority. But I think I found every refrigerator of every size between Key West and Key Largo, so by the Monday after the storm, each of our units had some type of refrigeration. Before the appliances were secured, Sterling ensured that each apartment was provided coolers and ice, and helped set up meal and food distributions in the neighborhood.
Commissioner Sam Kaufman was the first to bring up a seeming disconnect between city officials, who repeatedly asked that a shelter be opened in Key West for liveaboard residents and homeless people, and the county Emergency Management officials, who repeatedly denied that request.
“We need a shelter for tropical storms and Category 1 hurricanes,” Kaufman said. “The fact that the county denied and delayed having that shelter opened at Key West High School — that can never happen again. I’m very concerned about this. If the county is going to neglect its duties, then we need our own policy. I’d like a formal response from the county.”
Key West City Manager Patti McLauchlin assured the commissioners, “We did advocate strongly for days for a shelter.” She added that she is meeting this week with County Administrator Roman Gastesi to review some of those policies.
Commissioner Greg Davila thanked County Commissioners Jim Scholl and Craig Cates for “doing their part on our behalf. But it seems there’s an issue with how things are structured.”
Shannon Weiner, Monroe County’s director of emergency management, said during one of the countywide coordination calls that opening shelters are not part of the standard operating procedure ahead of an approaching tropical storm.
Key West High School ultimately opened as a shelter, and housed 118 people during the winds, rain and significant flooding of Ian.
Greg Barroso, Key West’s director of emergency management, told the commissioners that a total of 366 units throughout Key West had been affected, mostly by flooding. The city established a needs-assessment hotline that will continue to operate through this week.
Multiple Key West residents spoke at the end of the meeting, and while many praised the city’s police and fire departments, Margaret Romero, Rick Haskins and Lissette Cuervo Carey questioned the city’s lack of communication during and right after the storm. Commissioner Greg Davila then echoed his own frustration.
“There seemed to be a lack of planning and coordination,” Romero said. “This is not a staff complaint. It seemed things could have been done better higher up.”
Haskins told the commissioners, “Riviera Drive. Jamaica. Sunrise. Rose. All those streets and many others were significantly flooded and I haven’t heard them mentioned once here tonight. I heard more from Instagram and Facebook than I did from you during the storm. There was a lot of good that happened, but we need better communication.”
Haskins suggested city officials use Facebook Live and a mass text alert system.
Carey, who is running for the District 4 city commission seat, told the current commissioners, “By the time you finish the needs assessment, those needs have changed. We have to respond quicker. I’ve heard that areas such as Riviera Drive, Rose Street and others are more affluent areas, and that renters should have renters insurance. People can’t even afford their rent, much less renters’ insurance.”
Kaufman and Mayor Teri Johnston responded to the public’s comments by pointing out that it’s easy to criticize when you’re not in the seat making minute-by-minute decisions.
“This was a prediction that was wrong, or that changed, so we had to pivot,” Kaufman said. “You can’t start pointing fingers. We’re all on the same team.”
Davila then said, “There is a lot of frustration out there, and I was one of those frustrated people. Our staff did a great job. I think the issue is our warning system was off. A lot has to do with the information we were given. Perhaps we need to educate people on how the county’s emergency operations center works, who controls it and how much input the city has.”
Commissioner Jimmy Weekley, who had already planned to be on vacation when the storm approached, lightened the mood by saying, “I felt like Senator Ted Cruz running from a disaster.”
Weekley and Commissioner Mary Lou Hoover suggested the city use this storm to critique itself and its response, and learn lessons.
