Florida Keys leaders – and a wide range of residents – have united in full force to oppose the idea of consolidating Monroe County’s circuit court with that of Miami-Dade.
County Attorney Bob Shillinger plans to travel to Tampa on Oct. 13 to tell a state judicial committee – appointed by the Florida Supreme Court to consider the consolidation – that what they’re hearing is true: The Keys are overwhelmingly against consolidation of the 16th Judicial Circuit with the 11th Circuit.
Shillinger said at the Sept. 20 Monroe County Commission meeting that he wants the committee to hear from him in person at their meeting.
“It is the result of this community coming together in opposition to this stupid idea – those are my words – and express that to them, and say, ‘You’ve done something that is hard to do,’” Shillinger told commissioners at their regular meeting in Key Largo. “You’ve united the Florida Keys from Key West to Key Largo against this idea. That’s how bad an idea it is.”
Shillinger recalled that someone at the state committee meeting this month reacted to the number of surveys from Monroe County residents opposed to the consolidation proposal by doubting the data.
“They thought our numbers were skewed or fake,” Commissioner Michelle Lincoln said. “It truly angered me.”
Monroe County Commissioners on Sept. 20 unanimously approved a resolution in opposition to consolidation. But the local panel has no say in the decision-making. The appointed committee is tasked with making a recommendation to the state legislature in December about whether to pursue consolidation.
For starters, consolidation would mean Monroe voters’ choices for officials, including the local state attorney, public defender and judges, would compete with voters in Miami.
“We would lose a lot of access for justice for all of our residents if we were consolidated with the biggest circuit in the state,” said Holly Elomina, the Monroe County circuit court system administrator.
“Our votes would not stand a chance with the 2.7 million voters in Miami,” Elomina said.
Anti-court consolidation rally set for Oct. 8 in Upper Keys
Keys bail bondsman Albert Vigil on Sept. 20 announced a “Save Our Courts” rally set for Oct. 8, from 4 to 6 p.m., in the front parking lot of the Juice House, at MM 103 in Key Largo.
“It’s our right to vote on our judicial system,” Vigil told commissioners. “I’d be here talking if we were voting for a dog-catcher.”
‘Fix the road,’ say flooded Key Largo residents
After years of requests and trudging through standing water outside their homes, Key Largo residents continue to demand government agencies solve the almost decade-long wait for relief from street flooding in the Twin Lakes neighborhood and other areas such as Stillwright Point.
“It’s time to stop the eight years of persecuting these neighborhoods and do a simple flooding fix,” said Sandy Millhiser of Key Largo, reading from a prepared statement at the Sept. 20 commission meeting.
Millhiser was among the speakers, dressed in yellow T-shirts that included slogans like “Fix the road,” who blasted the county for failing to come up with what she called “common sense solutions” to neighborhood flooding.
The creation of county projects to address the flooding has only increased government spending, Millhiser said.
“What we the people don’t need is the perpetuation of the ridiculousness cloaked in the name of sustainability,” Millhiser said.
David Hughes of Key Largo said he and others had to cross through 3 to 6 inches of standing water stretching some 200 feet to get to the commission meeting at the Murray Nelson Government Center.
“We’re tired of this,” Hughes said.
“Specifically Shaw Drive, Crane Street and Adams Drive,” Hughes said, ticking off troubled areas where he said standing water threatens health and safety. “This affects all the low-lying roads from Key West to Key Largo.”
County Mayor Craig Cates angrily defended the county’s work on the flooding issues.
“What do you think you’re accomplishing yelling at us?” he asked one woman after she spoke. “Don’t act like we don’t want to do anything here.”
The county is in the process of designing a plan for Stillwright Point and is working to secure more funding for another area, Cates said.
“It’s not our fault the cost of construction has increased,” Cates said. “Have you heard of inflation?”
Cates said, “A billion dollars to fix all these roads, that’s the reality.”
Monroe County Commissioner David Rice, of Marathon, said, “These figures are getting so huge. If that’s the solution, we’re going to sit here and watch Monroe County sink out of sight.”
In Memoriam
Commissioners on Sept. 20 paid tribute to the late Sylvia Murphy, who was the District 5 commissioner for 14 years and named Mayor Emeritus of Monroe County.
Murphy, who served on the BOCC from 2006-2020, died in November 2022 at age 86.
“A champion of progress and community,” part of the inscription reads.
Murphy retired from the commission in 2020, after years of speaking her mind without hesitation on county issues and standing up for Monroe County.
The plaque was placed next to a framed photograph of Murphy that hangs in the lobby of the Nelson Government Center, the same building where she had her office.
“Her spirit is still here,” said Upper Keys Commissioner Holly Merrill Raschein, who now holds the District 5 office.
