Key West commissioners will convene a special meeting on June 25 to dissect the recent grand jury report and its scathing criticism of city government.
The 29-page report, released May 29, describes, “a pervasive culture of negligence, nepotism, manipulation and abdication of duty at the highest levels of city leadership” that was uncovered during an investigation into alleged corruption and criminal wrongdoing within city hall.
“What started as an investigation into possible Sunshine Law violations and various malfeasances of elected/charted officials and department heads rapidly developed into a wide-scale, multi-faceted investigation uncovering a network of nepotism, fraud, dereliction of duty and various criminal acts,” the report states.
The 16-member grand jury in April handed down indictments that led to the arrests of former Key West city attorney Ron Ramsingh; his brother, Raj Ramsingh, who was the city’s chief building official, and former code compliance director Jim Young.
Ron Ramsingh, the attorney, was terminated without cause in April. Raj Ramsingh has been indefinitely suspended without pay pending the results of an internal city investigation. Young retired days after his April 15 arrest. Each of the three men was initially indicted and arrested on April 15 for tampering with evidence after deleting or altering or withholding text messages that had been subpoenaed as part of an ongoing investigation.
Ron and Raj Ramsingh were subsequently re-indicted on additional charges.
Raj Ramsingh faces seven counts of official misconduct for allegedly falsifying building permits, closing permits without inspections being done and in some cases issuing a permit when one had previously been denied by another department. Raj Ramsingh additionally operated his own construction company, Strykker-Avery Homes, LLC while also working as the city’s chief building official, where he approved and issued his own company’s building permits in at least one instance.
“In just five construction jobs, CBO Ramsingh’s construction company’s gross revenue exceeded $1.9 million,” the report states. “Moreover, the evidence showed in a few of these projects, CBO Ramsingh was the one to approve the permits and furthermore neglected to require inspections. One can only wonder how many more properties/permits chief building official Ramsingh’s company has worked on, and he supplemented his CBO income with. It is the grand jury’s hope that the fraudulent course of conduct, having now been revealed, a further investigation is conducted and steps are taken by city leaders to prevent all of this from ever happening again.”
City commissioners at their June 4 meeting voted to have a third party independently review all building permits issued by the city between 2020 and 2025.
Additional actions are underway, or soon will be once the appropriate new ordinances are passed in the coming month, Mayor Dee Dee Henriquez told the Keys Weekly on June 11.
“At the June 25 meeting, we are going to go through all 27 recommendations made by the grand jury,” she said. “We have to do the work to rebuild public trust and while that report was very difficult to read, I believe that acknowledging the problems is the first step to solving them. Rebuilding that trust starts with actions, not just words.”
The mayor said that the public will hear on June 25 that several recommendations have already been implemented by city manager Brian L. Barroso.
“I hope the commission can present a united front and show that we take responsibility for good government to heart,” commissioner Monica Haskell told the Keys Weekly on June 11. “If the previous commission had implemented the recommendations in the Corradino Report, instead of burying it and firing the city manager, we might not be in this situation today, a year later.
Since I’ve been a commissioner, we have lost a number of good employees who finally gave up trying to make positive change. I welcome any and all suggestions and conversations with citizens between now and June 25 so I can truly be their voice.”
Commissioner Sam Kaufman, who called for the June 25 special meeting, said, “My intention is for the city to directly address the grand jury’s recommendations. This includes actions to strengthen ethics requirements for city employees and public officials, increase transparency and public participation, and reform the building development and permitting process to prevent future abuses. We will also identify necessary management reforms to improve the workplace environment, consider whistleblower protections and review recent employee resignations and exit interviews to ensure accountability and restore public trust.”
The mayor emphasized, “We are taking this very seriously” and will follow the recommendations and report transparently on their progress.
Two recommendations are out of the city commission’s hands, though. The grand jury recommends that assistant city manager Todd Stoughton and commissioner Lissette Carey resign their positions.
“As far as Todd, that will be up to the city manager, because Todd doesn’t report to the city commission,” Henriquez said.
“And as for commissioner Carey, that’s something she’ll have to decide — or it could be up to the voters in her district.”
District 4 voters consider recall election for Carey
Some voters in District 4, a largely residential district in New Town that encompasses much of Flagler Avenue and stretches nearly out to North Roosevelt Boulevard to include streets such as Seidenberg, Harris and Staples avenues, are already considering a recall election to remove Carey from office.
Social media posts and a new website are seeking input from Key West voters and outlining the process to recall a municipal elected official.
District 4 resident Jim Strebeck posted on the popular Key West Locals Facebook page, “One of the most damning passages in the grand jury report dealt with the conduct of Commissioner Carey, who was advised to resign. Her response made it clear that she has no intention of doing so, so it’s up to us, the voters of District 4 to make our voices heard.
“Key West ordinances and Florida statutes lay out the procedure for recalling an elected official, and as a first step, those of us in District 4 who no longer believe that Commissioner Carey remaining in office serves the community’s best interest are reaching out to see how many others in our district are of a similar mind.”
Strebeck said that 268 registered voters in District 4 are required to begin the formal recall process.
“Details about both Commissioner Carey’s misdeeds and the recall process are available on our website,” he writes, directing visitors to recallkeywest.com. The website contains links to the full grand jury report and to a statement Carey submitted in response to the grand jury report.
Her response states, in part, ““I have a thorough understanding of the role of a city commissioner, having served the city of Key West as the assistant to the mayor and commissioners for five years, and subsequently as senior deputy clerk for three years,” Carey wrote. “I take my responsibilities seriously and invest significant time in researching matters that come before the commission. … I believe it is unjust to characterize this single instance as reflective of my overall performance or commitment to my duties. … I remain committed to serving the people of District IV with integrity, dedication, and transparency.”
Carey, who was elected in November 2022 for a four-year term that ends in 2026, is a lifelong Key West resident and an employee of the Key West Housing Authority.
When reached by the Keys Weekly on June 10, Carey declined to comment on the proposed recall based on advice of her attorney. “But I hope to have an opportunity to do so at some point,” she said.
