The first regular meeting of Key West’s newly assembled city commission saw the approval of regular, overnight visits by a small cruise ship to Mallory Dock — despite some lawmakers’ concerns and a potential derailing of a three-year agreement.
American Cruise Line, which operates domestically registered ships only in U.S. ports of call, arrives at Key West in the evening and spends 34 hours here, enabling its passengers to spend more time doing more activities in Key West, including fishing charters and nighttime tours.
The ship also leaves its dock for an hour or so each evening so as not to obstruct the sunset view at Mallory Square.
At the start of the Sept. 12 meeting, several speakers, including those from Safer Cleaner Ships, which for years has advocated for smaller and fewer cruise ships in Key West, spoke in support of a three-year agreement for American Cruise Line to use Mallory Dock.
“This partnership benefits local businesses that never thought they could thrive from the cruise industry in Key West,” local business owner Sarah Compton told the commission on Sept. 12.
She added support from business owners who could not attend the meeting, including tour operator David Sloan, whose nighttime tours at Fort East Martello are now available to ACL’s “high-spending passengers,” as Compton identified them.
The commission’s discussion questioned the wisdom of allowing ACL ships so much access to Mallory Dock to the potential detriment of other smaller ships that may want to visit Key West. But only one other small ship has expressed such interest and it only visits once or twice a year.
Evan Haskell of Safer Cleaner Ships commended McAlearney for negotiating the agreement with ACL, which could bring $500,000 of revenue into Mallory Dock the first year, compared to a total of $427,000 that came into the dock pre-COVID in 2018 and 2019.
“I think Steve did a great job negotiating a very favorable agreement for the city,” Haskell said.
Newly elected commissioner Monica Haskell, the mother of Evan and Arlo Haskell of SCS, had no formal role with the group. She did not recuse herself and voted in support of the agreement.
In other, slightly contentious, commission news, lawmakers voted to reappoint Bob Dean to the Key West Housing Authority board despite objection from commissioner Sam Kaufman, who said he wanted to see newer faces on the board, as Dean was first appointed 51 years ago in August 1973.
“Ultimately, I really believe we need newer people on this particular board, and ultimately to increase the communication and transparency between the housing authority and the city,” Kaufman said, recalling a dispute in 2021, when it was revealed that a public housing project was named for a local leader of the Ku Klux Klan. The community was ultimately renamed, but only, Kaufman said on Sept. 12, after he was made to feel “intimidated and unwelcome” by the board when Kaufman attended a meeting to request the name change.
“In fact, at one meeting, Mr. Dean asked, ‘Who is that Kaufman guy?’ I was vice mayor of the city commission at the time,” Kaufman said.
Commissioner Monica Haskell mentioned term limits when considering the reappointment of Dean to the housing authority board, but was told that the federal Housing & Urban Development department that oversees housing authorities does not call for term limits.
The commission voted on Sept. 12 to reappoint Dean despite a “no” vote by Kaufman. Five days later, at a short Sept. 17 budget meeting, Mayor Dee Dee Henriquez removed Kaufman’s title of vice mayor.
“I thank him for his service, and will create a resolution for the Oct. 10 meeting to appoint commissioner Clayton Lopez as vice mayor until the end of his term in November,” Henriquez said. “At the conclusion of his term, I will appoint commissioner Lissette Carey vice mayor, provided they both accept.”
The meeting adjourned immediately following the mayor’s announcement and there was no discussion. The vice mayor conducts public meetings in the absence of the mayor.
