On a sweltering day in July, the Monroe County commissioners and staff met and tackled topics that no one, we can safely say, adores to discuss in our island paradise: hurricanes and floods.
Specifically, they voted to give out two contracts for hurricane debris removal — to AshBritt and DRC Emergency Services — and took suggestions from the public about enforcing the size of downstairs enclosures.
The debate for awarding the hurricane debris removal contract got a mite testy at times between AshBritt chairman Randy Perkins and county attorney Bob Shillinger.
Notably silent: Mayor Pro Tem Holly Raschein. Raschein is currently employed as the director of government relations at AshBritt, one of the six companies vying for the contract.
Shillinger assured the board that he has the Florida Commission on Ethics “on speed dial” and that Raschein is in compliance with its code of ethics by sitting out the vote.
County administrator Roman Gastesi and Shillinger had differing opinions about whom to award the contract to. Gastesi supported re-upping the contract currently in place with the team of nationwide disaster-response company AshBritt and Key West–based construction firm Charley Toppino & Sons, citing the experience that they have in the county already.
“I have a different view,” responded Shillinger, explaining that in order to maximize the chance of FEMA financial reimbursement, he’d like to follow selection-committee recommendations: their first choice was DRC, second was TFR Enterprises and third was AshBritt.
AshBritt had handed in higher price quotes for its services than DRC and TFR, which may, Shillinger implied, make FEMA blanche at reimbursement.
Perkins came out swinging at the speaker podium: “Bob, I don’t mean to make this about you and I — we have a personal history, and I’ll leave it at that.”
AshBritt sued the county just after Hurricane Irma in 2017. Monroe County had claimed that AshBritt was having trouble removing trash in the Lower Keys after the storm hit, and, with the assistance of the Florida Department of Transportation, had hired other contractors at higher prices.
The lawsuit dragged on for years and was only settled this past March. AshBritt sought almost $3 million in damages and legal fees. In the end, Monroe County agreed to pay the company $100,000 and said the contract would be put out to bid.
Perkins said that Shillinger was “factually incorrect about what FEMA would pay” and that AshBritt quoted higher prices than the five other companies making bids due to such expenses as employee housing, the cost of labor and equipment rental.
In the end, the board came to a compromise by approving not one, but two five-year contracts: selection-committee favorite DRC and AshBritt/Toppino.
The board moved on to another controversial topic later in the meeting: FEMA’s floodplain management.
County staff met with FEMA recently in Atlanta to discuss two items that had drawn the ire of Keys locals: a 299-square-foot cap on downstairs enclosures and an inspection-on-sale program for those enclosures.
“(FEMA) basically said, ‘What proposals do you have to offer as part of a revised remedial plan that would give us comfort that the county would not backslide into the position that we were in decades ago,’” said Shillinger, “when, quite frankly, we were paying lip service to these regulations. We found ourselves in hot water with FEMA.”
The county had been in danger of getting kicked out of the FEMA-managed National Flood Insurance Program, he explained. The county had agreed to regulations such as the 299-square-foot enclosure cap to get back into the agency’s good graces.
But, as speakers said in the board meeting, that cap didn’t always make sense.
Amedeo D’Ascanio of construction contractor D’Asign Source said that detached garages are legal, “but if it’s underneath your house, that’s not legal. So some of the logic doesn’t square.”
Shillinger said that during their Atlanta meeting, FEMA agreed to consider raising the cap.
Speakers from the real estate community had expressed concern about another FEMA-inspired regulation: an inspection that buyers and sellers are required to request upon sale of a property if there is an enclosed structure below flood elevation. Although work identified as unpermitted may not result in a code case against the current owner, it would affect the new owner’s ability to pull a permit later.
This inspection program has had an unforeseen effect: Buyers’ agents have begun to limit showings to homes in incorporated areas of Monroe County that do not fall under the same restrictions. Turnaround times for inspections by the understaffed building department are also affecting transactions that are on the clock to lock in a mortgage rate.
With this in mind, the board agreed to hold more workshops about these issues and approved a resolution to limit liability for home sellers and buyers who may be affected by the inspection program — a grace period that had originally been due to end on September 1 — through Jan. 31, 2024.
