Compared to national politics these days, the Nov. 19 county commission meeting was downright jovial.
The commission chambers in Key West were packed at the start of the meeting, when commissioner Jim Scholl accepted the county mayor’s gavel from commissioner Holly Raschein. Scholl will serve as mayor for a year. The position is not an elected one, but rather rotates each year among the five lawmakers. The county mayor chairs the commission meetings and votes last as a tiebreaker on any contentious issues.
Scholl was reelected to the District 3 seat earlier this month, after Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed him in April 2022 to fill the vacancy following Eddie Martinez’s 2021 resignation amid personal and professional turmoil.
Scholl, Raschein and commissioner Craig Cates all were sworn back into office at the meeting. Raschein handily won reelection in the Aug. 20 primary, as she faced no Democratic opponents, and Cates faced no challenger.
Once the gavel was passed, the commission honored the woman who has helped make all Florida Keys elections possible for the past 40 years, Joyce Griffin.
Each of the commissioners offered praise and gratitude to the retiring supervisor of elections, who has guided each of them through the labyrinth of election laws during their candidacies and ensured fair elections in Monroe County.
Another retiree with 40 years of public service, Dr. Mark Whiteside, received a proclamation honoring his decades of service to the Monroe County Health Department, where he also served as its medical director for the past 16 years. Whiteside worked at the forefront of the AIDS epidemic and contributed significant research to that virus, as well as dengue, Zika, flu and H1N1.
Finally, talk turned to the bridges that connect the Florida Keys communities. Commissioner David Rice suggested, and the others agreed, to begin discussions with the Florida Department of Transportation about widening certain bridges once the state begins replacing them over the next 15 to 30 years. Currently, the county’s comprehensive plan, which regulates development, prevents four-lane bridges. But the commission directed staff to begin the process of changing the comprehensive plan and starting discussions with FDOT.
“These projects take years to plan, so I think the time to start discussing this is now,” Rice said. “I don’t have an opinion from a traffic engineer, but if this could help us expedite traffic, then we might consider it.”
