A juicy agenda awaits Key West lawmakers when they meet on Thursday, Nov. 14 with a morning session that starts at 9 a.m. and an evening session beginning at 5 p.m.
The tail end of the morning session will include a discussion about pending investigations into actions by some city officials, including the chief building official, Raj Ramsingh.
Commissioner Sam Kaufman asked City Manager Todd Stoughton last month to identify an independent attorney to advise the city commission about those investigations and related matters, as City Attorney Ron Ramsingh is the brother of the building official.
Stoughton wrote in a memo prior to the Nov. 14 meeting that he has been in contact with the city’s ethics counsel, a business and government law firm, and he will update the commission at this week’s meeting.
Kaufman’s request was prompted by comments from a citizen, Robert Jensen, who has been working with the state attorney’s office on potential investigations.
“The citizen alleged and complained that the chief building official has issued permits to his own businesses,” states a resolution on the Nov. 14 meeting agenda.
Also on tap for the end of the morning session, the commission will decide on a new meeting schedule, and whether they meet on the first Tuesday, the third Tuesday or the second Thursday.
The morning session will end with a discussion of the search for a new city manager and the expenditure of tourism tax revenue on affordable housing. The state Legislature gave Monroe County permission to spend a $35 million surplus on housing for hospitality industry workers, and the county is asking officials in each of the Keys’ cities to discuss potential locations to build housing, or to identify existing properties that could be purchased and converted to workforce housing.
During the evening session, which begins at 5 p.m., the commission is expected to “postpone indefinitely” a request by the owners of the Casa Marina Resort to develop additional transient units, or hotel rooms, on Seminole Street, near the resort, where employee housing existed for hotel staff until 2005, when Hurricane Wilma flooded the buildings.
Those buildings have remained vacant and dilapidated since 2005 and the surrounding neighbors have strongly opposed the addition of new hotel rooms in the neighborhood, even if those rooms would subsidize the replacement of the employee housing.
The resort owners have had several meetings with the neighbors, and negotiations continue. The resort’s management has made several changes to its initial proposal to accommodate the neighbors’ concerns, and is seeking a postponement to finalize its latest plans with the neighbors.
For the full agenda, visit cityofkeywest-fl.gov.
