A relatively quiet Marathon City Council session on June 10 saw the board lay the groundwork for addressing contractor issues, hire a new public information officer and address six figures in added costs for an ongoing drainage project on Sombrero Boulevard.
Contractor concerns mounting
Florida Keys Contractors Association president Armand Messina told the council that while local contractors saw improvements with Marathon’s permitting process following a May 2024 workshop to address delays, similar problems have recently resurfaced, prompting his request for another workshop in 2025.
“The best format for that is a workshop where we can discuss it, civilly,” Messina said. “This has been brewing for a while.”
Councilman Jeff Smith said he favored more frequent reports from city staff, which have seen several new hires and reallocations of job duties, over a meeting with council members to ensure compliance with a 48-hour mandatory response time to contractor concerns – a common thread in many complaints.
“I don’t know the value we actually bring, other than being someone to listen,” Smith said. “I think you all should be getting together with staff right away to make sure that we address these concerns, because these have been the same concerns for the last year. … We’ve implemented a program that had 48-hour turnarounds. If it’s not being done, we need to hold (staff) accountable.”
Messina called council members’ presence “absolutely crucial” to show support for FKCA members.
“We’re very pleased to see that you’re hiring more staff for planning, but it also comes down to a lot of other issues too,” he said. “We need to get them out in the open. … I can write them off for now as growing pains, but it’s time to resolve these things.”
Messina agreed to provide an outline of contractor concerns and monitor progress with newly-hired city staff, after which Mayor Lynn Landry and City Manager George Garrett said the council could establish a workshop if issues persist.
Change order scrutinized
In a 4-1 vote, with councilman Kenny Matlock voting against, the council approved a change order of $109,174 for the ongoing Sombrero Boulevard drainage system project.
It’s the second change order in as many months for the project, which requested and was unanimously approved for an additional $46,074 in May.
While last month’s expense covered relocation of two power poles by the Florida Keys Electric Cooperative, the new change comes as a charge for rerouting underground sewer lines, the depth of which conflicts with drainage pipes to be installed during the project.
“The total for change order one and change order two is about 3% of the total project cost, which in the engineering world is pretty good,” engineer Steve Suggs of Weiler Engineering told the council. “I don’t anticipate any more changes, but I can’t promise that.”
Matlock took issue with a $40,000 contingency fund built into contractor Charley Toppino & Sons’ bid for the project, stating the figure was unrealistic to address conflicts that were expected from the start with underground utilities, and well below other estimates for the same contingencies.
“I don’t know how many more of these projects we’re going to be going through with flooding our street, but hopefully we learn from this when we have to deal with this again on another road,” said councilwoman Lynny Del Gaizo.
Smith and councilwoman Robyn Still complimented work already done by Toppino, but said they shared the frustration of two change orders within weeks of the project commencing.
“It’s a learning experience for us to look carefully as we move forward on additional projects,” Smith said. “How much would it have cost us to go out there and actually locate (the utilities) before we finalized the contract? Probably less than we’ve spent on our change orders. That’s on us to learn those lessons and have better practices going forward.”
“I think this council pushed this project about as hard as the council can,” said Mayor Lynn Landry. “It’s not an excuse. But when you push constraints on projects, sometimes things happen.”
Garcia to serve as PIO
After discussion, the council unanimously approved the hire of Carlos Garcia, owner of Attention Media LLC, to serve as the city’s public information officer. His contract includes a maximum expense of $49,500 over a six-month trial period, after which Garrett said he hopes to extend Garcia’s services for at least a year.
The city’s adopted budget included an annual expense of $36,000 for PIO services – the amount paid to recently-resigned PIO Sara Matthis. Line items included in Garcia’s new contract include attendance at all city council meetings, research and writing of media releases for various outlets, content and maintenance for the city’s website and social media channels, production of informational materials, and photography and videography.
“I think this position increases transparency for our city, and I think we desperately need that,” said Still.
Responding to concerns from Matlock over the salary for the position, Smith said he was “pretty convinced we’re going to get a bang for our buck, because this list (of duties) is pretty exhaustive.”
In other news:
- Tuesday’s session opened with a Juneteenth proclamation, presented to Marathon resident and longtime community advocate Doris Hawkins to celebrate African-American history and heritage in Marathon.
- The council’s workshop, set for Tuesday, June 24 at 5:30 p.m., will focus on hurricane forecasting and preparations. The city will begin its budget deliberations at a July 22 workshop, and an August workshop will discuss the city’s comprehensive plan and land development regulations.
- A $15,000 donation in support of Fair Insurance Rates for Monroe (FIRM) was unanimously approved, with the intent to incorporate the annual expense in Marathon’s budget. The organization advocates against discriminatory, unaffordable property insurance rates for Monroe County residents, businesses and homeowners.
- In addition to Garcia, Garrett introduced Hank Kokenzie as the city’s new IT director.
