15 October 2024

Spared by Milton | Ugly displays at KW City Hall - Weekly briefing - October 15, 2024

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Spared by Milton. Hurricane Milton, which rapidly intensified from a tropical storm to Category 5 strength in about 24 hours, left few impacts in the Keys, and then closely tracked with the National Hurricane Center forecast to make landfall near Sarasota.  
Ugly displays on the KW City Commission dais. The Key West City Commission met and showed no signs that tensions that emerged with its firing of City Manager Al Childress will abate, despite lip service calls for unity in the city government and the community, and three new faces on the dais. The Citizen described the meeting as "volatile at times." 
Navel gazing at the BOCC. Monroe's Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) considered hiring a consulting firm owned by a former chief of staff to then Governor Rick Scott to review all county departments and their processes, in the midst of two ongoing government scandals. County Mayor Holly Raschein disclosed she has a "longstanding relationship" with firm owner Adam Hollingsworth. 
Two critical races at candidate forum. Keys Weekly and the Greater Marathon Chamber of Commerce partnered to sponsor a candidate Q&A forum. Video of the two hour event is available here. Voting by mail is already underway, and early voting begins Monday, October 21st
  • County Commission District III. Republican incumbent Jim Scholl clashed with Democratic challenger Chris Massicotte on issues of oversight and accountability in county operations, and fiscal responsibility. 
    • Massicotte stressed a need to divert additional resources for continuing audits of individual county departments, pinpointing “wasteful spending” to create a “culture of oversight."
    • Scholl spoke of a need for stronger top-down leadership, beginning with newly-promoted County Administrator Christine Hurley, and reminded viewers that “the legislative body doesn’t control day-to-day operations of the county – it’s the administrator’s job.”
    • The pair disagreed on the county’s future acceptance of additional building rights, with Scholl in favor of additional units bestowed by the state used largely for workforce housing, “as long as we get to control how they’re going to be issued out.” 
    • Massicotte said that while surveys and meetings to gauge resident sentiments on additional units were “okay,” he advocated for a temporary moratorium on additional units to allow completion of “an actual, real infrastructure assessment,” arguing that the threat of takings cases filed by property owners unable to build is “made out to be way more than our liability actually would be.”
  • Supervisor of Elections. Republican Sherri Hodies and Democrat Ron Saunders are contending for the SOE job being vacated by the retiring Joyce Griffin. 
    • Amid an investigation authorized by Gov. Ron DeSantis into whether the Monroe County Republican Executive Committee broke its own rules in April and committed campaign finance fraud in endorsing Hodies with a $20,000 donation ahead of the Republican primary, Hodies pushed back against labels given to her campaign, calling the complaint filed by fellow Republican Phyllis May, “frivolous.” 
    • “I think (the investigation) is an example where we need to stay on top of things and make sure things are run properly,” Saunders said. “If nothing’s wrong, that’s great, but it remains to be seen what will happen.
    • Referencing a May fundraising event in which she hosted retired Army intelligence officer Capt. Seth Keshel, a nationally-known election denier, Hodies said, “I am not an election denier, but there have been people at my fundraisers who have been labeled,” she said. Asked directly whether Joe Biden won the 2020 U.S. Presidential election, Hoodies stated: “In 2016, Trump won, and in 2020, Biden won, plain and simple.” But why would Hodies invite a nationally known election denier to raise funds so she can count votes in Monroe County?
    • Hoodies continued to blast May’s complaint in her closing statement.
    • Saunders closed by touting bipartisan supporters of his campaign, decrying recent attack mailers from the Conservative Family Alliance political organization as “full of lies and misstatements.”
One step forward, two steps back. Mark Hedden quoted a Bruce Springsteen lyric to help us understand the challenges of counting hawks.    

Our Eyes  


Good Morning - Alyson Crean


Previously in Key West Voices


Will it be Milton's Paradise Lost? On the heels of last week's devastating Hurricane Helene, Tropical Storm Milton formed in the western Gulf of Mexico and headed east. It became a hurricane on October 6th, and rapidly intensified to become a Category 5 storm on October 7Hurricane Milton's growth was nothing short of astonishing, as it strengthened from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in just over a day. Milton has the potential to be one of the most destructive hurricanes on record for west-central Florida.
Vote by mail (VBM) ballots are out. Several Key West Voices readers reported receiving their VBM ballots, which were mailed on September 27th.
  • Vote and mail now. Readers are encouraged to vote as early as possible, and to ensure that proper postage is attached (three Forever stamps does the trick). 
  • Didn't get your ballot? Check your VBM status at the Supervisor of Elections web site, and contact them immediately if there's a problem.
  • Early voting begins October 21st at the Supervisor of Elections office on Stock Island and four other locations in Monroe County. Note that you may no longer vote at Southard and Whitehead streets. 
  • Election day is November 5th. Why wait? 
Key West District VI campaign finance. Keys Weekly spotlighted the critical contest to fill term-limited City Commissioner Clayton Lopez's open seat, the only remaining seat to be decided in this year's election (note that the City's web site refers to both district 6 and district VI).  


Candidate forum. Non-partisan voting advocate Hometown! conducted its final candidate forum ahead of the November election, and posted its video of the event. 
Fire rescue chief finally fired. Monroe County Administrator Christine Hurley fired the Monroe County Fire Rescue Division Chief Andrea Thompson.

Hawkwatch. Mark Hedden returned from his travels in the northland to share his experience counting hawks and awkwardly avoiding small talk with strangers

08 October 2024

Milton | Key West District VI - Weekly briefing - October 8, 2024

Essential human-curated Florida Keys news, all in one place. 

Subscribe to Key West Voices for free. See something that should be in Voices? Click here to share it with us.

Our Community


Will it be Milton's Paradise Lost?
 On the heels of last week's devastating Hurricane Helene, Tropical Storm Milton formed in the western Gulf of Mexico and headed east. It became a hurricane on October 6th, and rapidly intensified to become a Category 5 storm on October 7. Hurricane Milton's growth was nothing short of astonishing, as it strengthened from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in just over a day. Milton has the potential to be one of the most destructive hurricanes on record for west-central Florida.
Vote by mail (VBM) ballots are out. Several Key West Voices readers reported receiving their VBM ballots, which were mailed on September 27th.
  • Vote and mail now. Readers are encouraged to vote as early as possible, and to ensure that proper postage is attached (three Forever stamps does the trick). 
  • Didn't get your ballot? Check your VBM status at the Supervisor of Elections web site, and contact them immediately if there's a problem.
  • Early voting begins October 21st at the Supervisor of Elections office on Stock Island and four other locations in Monroe County. Note that you may no longer vote at Southard and Whitehead streets. 
  • Election day is November 5th. Why wait? 
Key West District VI campaign finance. Keys Weekly spotlighted the critical contest to fill term-limited City Commissioner Clayton Lopez's open seat, the only remaining seat to be decided in this year's election (note that the City's web site refers to both district 6 and district VI).  


Candidate forum. Non-partisan voting advocate Hometown! conducted its final candidate forum ahead of the November election, and posted its video of the event. 
Fire rescue chief finally fired. Monroe County Administrator Christine Hurley fired the Monroe County Fire Rescue Division Chief Andrea Thompson.

Hawkwatch. Mark Hedden returned from his travels in the northland to share his experience counting hawks and awkwardly avoiding small talk with strangers

Our Eyes  


Two Great Egrets - Philip Dodderidge




Previously in Key West Voices


Hurricane Helene rapidly intensified from a tropical storm to Category 4 hurricane while passing west of the Keys, where the winds, rain, and isolated areas of local flooding brought anxiety, then relief to our neighbors. But utter devastation was visited on the Gulf coast and Big Bend areas of Florida, then on to Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, and other states. Asheville, NC, a favorite summer destination for some Key Westers, suffered 'biblical' flooding, landslides, and closed roads. A few friends of KWV in Asheville reported their safety on social media, but the toll of death and destruction is still being tallied. Millions across the southeast are still without fresh water, power, road, and communications access, and as many as 100 persons (so far) are known to have died. 
Monroe County Republicans go to war, with themselves. Keys Weekly extensively covered the feud within the Monroe County Republican Executive Committee (REC) arising from its decision in May to endorse one Republican candidate over another in the primary race for Supervisor of Elections (SOE), along with a $20,000 campaign contribution to candidate Sherri Hodies, that some local Republicans contend was illegal.
  • State attorney recused. Key West resident Phyllis May, a registered Republican, filed a complaint on July 26 with Monroe County State Attorney Dennis Ward (also a Republican and a member of the REC). Ward quite properly recused himself from the investigation, and prevailed upon Republican Governor Ron DeSantis to appoint another prosecutor. DeSantis appointed Amira D. Fox in an executive order
  • MAGA election denier. GOP SOE candidate Hodies was previously reported to be a MAGA (Trump supporter) and 2020 election denier. Hodies wrote, "If President Trump can get on his knees and his face and cry to almighty God, you should know he was sent by God to help us save this nation” in March 2020 on her Facebook page. 
  • Saunders cries foul. Democratic nominee for the SOE Ron Saunders posted on Facebook his reaction to the investigation, as well as responses to misleading campaign messaging from Hodies. 
  • Unprecedented endorsement. Current Monroe County SOE Joyce Griffin, a Democrat, endorsed Hodies’ Democratic challenger, Ron Saunders, for the position. Griffin is retiring, and recused herself from the canvassing board in the election to replace her. 
  • The bottom line. Leaders of the Monroe County Republican party want a Trump supporter and election denier to be the Supervisor of Elections here, while other Republicans are challenging that support. Some Republicans have quietly endorsed Democrat Ron Saunders for the SOE job. 

Fire rescue chief finally fired. Monroe County Administrator Christine Hurley fired the Monroe County Fire Rescue Division Chief Andrea Thompson. Thompson was among four county employees and contractors indicted in the ongoing scandal involving the 2022 theft of narcotics from the Trauma Star medical evacuation service. Former County Administrator Roman Gastesi was among those indicted.  

Florida lawmakers seek to politicize school boards. Florida’s lawmakers proposed Amendment 1: Partisan School Board Elections, on the November ballot. They claim the change will simply provide more transparency. 
  • Opponents are concerned about the impact of increasing partisan politics on local school board decision-making, and worry about disenfranchising the nearly 4 million Florida voters who aren't registered with party affiliation. Passage of this amendment means those voters would be shut out of closed partisan primaries to determine school board candidates.
Homeless protections being dismantled. Among Florida laws taking effect on October 1, one bars local governments from allowing people to sleep at places such as public buildings and in public rights-of-way. Another part of the measure will give legal standing to residents and business owners to file civil lawsuits against local governments that allow sleeping or camping on public property. That part of the law will take effect January 1.

Live on an analog island? Coincident with our near miss by Hurricane Helene, Linda Cunningham contemplated what life would be like in the Keys if we were cut off from the mainland.