Editor’s Note: As of press time on Wednesday, Oct. 9, the Key West city commission is scheduled to meet on Thursday, Oct. 10 with a 9 a.m. morning session and a 5 p.m. evening session. That schedule may change based on the impacts of Hurricane Milton.
The new Key West city commission will discuss the ongoing search for a new city manager to replace Al Childress, who was fired in late June with a vote of 4 to 3.
A search committee was empaneled last month to review the resumes of 17 applicants. That committee on Monday, Oct. 7, approved a list of five finalists that has been forwarded to the city commission for their discussion this week.
Each of the five finalists — Brian Barroso, James Brownlee, Rod Delostrinos, Steve McAlearney and Mark Sohaney — has ties to Key West, whether through their birth here, past military leadership or current employment with the city.
Delostrinos is the city’s director of transportation. McAlearney has been the city’s director of ports and marine services and currently serves as assistant city manager to interim city manager Todd Stoughton, who did not apply for the permanent city manager position. McAlearney also served as commander of NAS Key West before his military retirement.
Similarly, Sohaney preceded the current Capt. Beth Regoli as commander of Naval Air Station Key West, while Brownlee was the executive officer, or XO, or NAS Key West until he retired in May. Barroso is a native Key Wester and a banker who currently lives in North Carolina. He previously served on several local boards, including the governor-appointed board of the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority.
At least one commissioner, Sam Kaufman, has expressed interest in rehiring Childress, but he acknowledged that such a decision would require four commission votes.
Also, Commissioner Donie Lee wants to reopen discussions with the US Navy at the local and federal level about the city’s workforce housing shortage, which is being exacerbated by the military’s demolition of 166 housing units at Sigsbee Park in 2021.
Lee will propose a resolution that urges the US Navy to build new housing on 18 vacant acres at Sigsbee Park.
“I’m a huge supporter of the military, but Navy personnel are unnecessarily taking up many units of workforce housing in the city because they can’t live on base,” Lee told the Keys Weekly. “In my opinion, they’re also artificially jacking up the rents for non-military workers because of the generous housing allowance they receive. An entry-level sailor gets almost $3,000 a month for housing, and it goes up with their rank, and many of them share an apartment with another sailor.”
Lee has requested meetings with local navy leadership, but said he understands the problem will require cooperation from higher levels.
“It seems like a no-brainer to build new, high-quality housing on the vacant 18 acres at Sigsbee and incentivize their folks to live on base,” Lee said. “The navy has the land. They have the money and most importantly, they don’t need to worry about ROGO and the Building Permit Allocation System that limits the number of units anyone else can build.”
“We need to reopen these discussions and get it to levels of leadership that can make these decisions and move forward,” Lee said.
The 18 acres are a result of 166 housing units that the navy demolished in 2021, after they had sat empty for 16 years after being heavily damaged in Hurricane Wilma in 2005. In addition, the navy closed two barracks buildings at Truman Annex in recent years, city attorney Ron Ramsingh wrote in a memo.
As a result, “Navy personnel were issued enhanced housing allocations to secure rental housing in the civilian market,” Ramsingth wrote. “The (proposed) resolution requests that the Navy and the federal delegation construct new base housing and incentivize current Navy personnel to move back to Sigsbee Park, thereby vacating existing non-military housing throughout Key West. This can result in increased rental inventory for the non-military residents of Key West. With more residential rental units becoming available, the likelihood of more competitive rental rates is probable.”
