The first vote at the first meeting of the reconfigured city commission was a unanimous approval — previously a rare occurrence.
All seven members — including newly seated Mayor Sam Kaufman and commissioners Chris Massicotte and Mark Rossi — started the Sept. 3 meeting by voting in favor of a new mural and beautification projects in the 700 and 800 blocks of Duval Street. The outdoor additions will highlight the legacy of Key West’s LGBTQ community following the state’s forced removal of the rainbow-painted crosswalks at that intersection in September 2025.
Kaufman opened the Sept. 3 meeting with comments encouraging respectful dialogue, tough questions and public participation.
“We won’t always agree, but we can listen to each other and respect each other,” said Kaufman, who was a city commissioner for 10 years before defeating incumbent Mayor Dee Dee Henriquez in the Aug. 18 election. To the public, Kaufman said, “This is your city government and you should always feel welcome to be a part of the process.”
Kaufman also announced that during his mayoral term, all discussion items on an agenda will allow for public comment. Previously, members of the public were not permitted to speak about discussion items that did not entail a vote or other official action.
The first discussion and subsequent action was the unanimous approval of upgrades in the 700 and 800 blocks of Duval Street, where a mural will be added to the facade at 801 Duval St., with the blessing of building owner Joey Schroeder. The city is also working with the Key West Business Guild and Art in Public Places board to develop additional tributes to the LGBTQ community, but time is of the essence.
Come Jan. 1, a new state law will prohibit the use of public funds on projects involving the LGBT community.
“We have a limited opportunity here to identify projects that can move forward before year’s end,” resident Jordan Upchurch said before the vote. “Our Bahamian, Conch, Cuban and LGBT histories all matter and together they tell the story of who we are.”
Commissioners Monica Haskell and Rossi additionally mentioned potential improvements to all of Duval Street.
“I really appreciate the positive attitude on this commission,” Kaufman said. “And we’ll definitely tackle the rest of Duval. It’s just that these blocks had a tremendous loss with the crosswalk.”
Planning for Higgs Beach
The city last year took ownership of Higgs Beach from Monroe County and is now working on a master plan for the beach and surrounding park area.
On Sept. 3, the commission decided to hold one or more public meetings at Higgs Beach on the weekend to solicit input from the community about their priorities for the park and beach. The city has budgeted $188,000 for architects from Bender & Associates to develop a Higgs Beach master plan that incorporates the public’s input from the meetings that will be scheduled between now and November.
“I want to make sure we have clear direction from the public to give to the architects,” Massicotte said.
Is there a lawyer in the house?
Following up on one of his campaign priorities, Rossi led the discussion about finding a full-time, in-house city attorney. For the past year or so, the city has been paying Orlando-based attorney Mayanne Downs $500 per hour on a contract basis to oversee commission meetings and provide legal counsel. The city’s legal department also includes Chief Assistant City Attorney Kendal Harden and two other assistant city attorneys.
The Downs contract was a result of the city’s corruption scandal and indictment of then-city attorney Ron Ramsingh, whose case is still working its way through the court system.
“We need to get this process moving,” Rossi said. “We’re sitting on our hands and we need to do this. This is one of the most important things we do.”
Downs announced at the meeting that attorney Kendal Harden will be out of the office November, December and January for personal leave. Downs offered to remain in place on a contract basis until January to provide stability. In the meantime, the commission will work on updating the job description and will begin advertising the position in state and national legal journals to seek a qualified and experienced city attorney who is a member of the Florida Bar.
Suit brings closed session
The city is the defendant in two lawsuits filed by the ACLU of Florida on behalf of residents Nicole Sohn and Linda Bagley-Sohn. The Old Town couple sued the city for First Amendment violations, claiming the city selectively enforced its city code, which requires that fences in the historic district be painted white, by targeting their rainbow-painted fence posts despite dozens of other Old Town fences being painted colors other than white.
The lawsuit seeks only $20 in damages to cover the cost of paint, but wants the city to allow the rainbow fence posts in Old Town and stop the alleged selective prosecution.
Chief Assistant City Attorney Kendal Harden announced on Sept. 3 that she will hold a private attorney-client session about “settlement negotiations and strategy” on Tuesday, Sept. 22 at 1:45 p.m. Those sessions, by law, are closed to the public.
There was much more discussed and decided at the Sept, 3 meeting. See keysweekly.com for the full report, including water quality monitoring discussions, the city’s use of license-plate reading cameras for law enforcement and the future of the Key West Amphitheater at Truman Waterfront.
