Council Meeting Roundup: Green Issues, Policing and More

Key Biscayne Village Hall, location for the Council meeting Nov. 19. (Key News/Annali Hayward)

Tuesday’s Village Council meeting might have been quick, but what it lacked in length it made up for in meat.

Green issues were set to dominate Tuesday’s Village of Key Biscayne Council Meeting. Most were tackled without much deliberation and the meeting was relatively short. But by the time the final gavel fell at 9.25 p.m., we had witnessed much more than simple municipal decision-making, with exchanges on the dais that displayed both common ground and deep rifts.

Policing the police was the most surprising theme of the evening. Full coverage here.

Environmental issues scored some big wins, first with the proposed fertilizer ordinance proceeding to second reading thanks to a 6-1 vote.

Some of the kinks to be worked out before second reading Jan. 28 include the exact methods of enforcement for municipal and private contractors and homeowners. The driving force behind the ordinance, Council Member Katie Petros, worried that requiring those impacted to take a class about the harmful impacts of fertilizers would be “cumbersome” and asked Village Manager Andrea Agha to use the intervening time between votes to study other municipalities’ methods and best practice.

Mayor Mike Davey was in favor of leaving the education component in and also at some point considering herbicides and pesticides, though not necessarily as part of this package.

Council Member Ed London voted against the ordinance, with concerns including the irregularity of presenting regulations for approval that were not fully fleshed out or finalized and then changing them for second reading. He also chuckled at the fact that a landscaping item that requires zero maintenance – artificial grass – is banned in the Village.

Council Member Ignacio Segurola was also in favor of the ordinance and pointed out a horticulturalist may be on board by January who could be involved. The Council in general agreed the implementation could be done in a “Key Biscayne nice” way. As an example, Vice Mayor Allison McCormick said that the Village did a good job previously when reaching out to residents about rules governing Airbnb rentals.

The fight against plastics was also reinforced Tuesday, with an easy ‘yes’ to Segurola’s resolution on single-use plastics and other nasties, which supports a Florida Senate bill that seeks to repeal a statute preempting local governments from controlling such items in their municipalities.

Segurola briefly introduced the topic for the public’s benefit, saying that the City of Coral Gables banned single-use plastics a few years ago, winning at trial level against the state, only to lose in the 3rd District court of appeals. He said there is a “movement of municipalities to send a message to Tallahassee that we do want this power.”

What do plastics and fertilizers have in common? Arguably they would all benefit from being tackled by one, central expert within the Village administration – such as a Chief Resilience Officer.

Davey brought a job description for Council to discuss and inform Agha’s more formal search.

Council Member Brett Moss said finding one person who is good at all aspects identified would be hard, although he agreed with the proposal. Council Member Luis Lauredo advocated for finding someone local to the Key for the role, and McCormick agreed. Petros, like Davey, favored a more technical candidate rather than someone who is a career communicator, and to that end asked for more specific projects to be added to the list, such as undergrounding utilities, increasing solar usage in the Village and addressing water quality. Davey said the document is not exhaustive, and hoped it would give Agha a starting point.

She hesitated, saying she would “take that into consideration.”

“What does that mean?” asked Davey.

Agha explained that some of the items suggested are already part of some staff’s jobs – such as emergency management, for which Fire Rescue Chief Eric Lang is currently responsible. Moss helped mediate by thanking staff members for their existing resilience work and hoping that the role would work to support them. Agha will bring back a more detailed description of the roles, goals and expected results at a future meeting.

Rounding up the green issues was a last-minute addition from Vice Mayor Allison McCormick on sargassum seaweed, who wanted current beach management providers Beach Raker to come to the Dec. 10 meeting and explain their work. “It’s information all of us would benefit from,” said McCormick. McCormick and Petros also discussed how the Village and both its neighboring parks manage the sargassum differently. This led to an examination of the current status of the Village-funded study into the issue, which is attempting to pinpoint the source of the bacteria. Agha said she would see if the lead professor of the study, Helena Solo-Gabriele, could attend the Dec. 10 meeting to explain her process and possibly preliminary results.

Petros also asked for an update at every Council meeting on the status of the project to get the Village back into the Army Corps of Engineers program to replenish the beach with sand.

Everything else

The 2040 Vision Committee was given the go-ahead to send out a request for qualified firms to assist with urban planning, meaning costs are not yet known (that bit comes later). Despite Moss’s best efforts some still seemed “muddled” (to use Petros’ word) as to how the Village’s Strategic Plan, 2040 Vision Plan and regular year-to-year Action Plan overlap. Moss explained the Vision is meant to be a far-off gaze into the horizon, but Lauredo conjectured that in the end “it’s all about money.”

There was another tussle between London and Agha over how the Village procures services, such as the providers for the Winterfest event. A recurring theme of London’s is that the Village does not approach bids in a strategic or consistent way. This time he emphasized that every project should go out to a competitive bidding processes. Agha said she is working on implementing just that across the board, so that consent agenda items (those that are supposed to be rubber-stamped by Council) are “true to budget and process.”

The theme also appeared in the 530 Crandon discussion – spearheaded by an impatient Segurola. The beleaguered lot is still no further along on its journey to becoming a park, thanks to a request for Agha to value engineer the proposal and reduce costs. Despite a general sense of ennui with the issue, there was still a robust rehashing of previous discussions, ending up at the same conclusion: a schedule of values should be available by the Jan. 28 meeting.

The stormwater rate change is going ahead, with some clarifications from Council to the manager that wherever possible projects should include improvements in the filtering of stormwater, to help lessen impacts on beach water quality. Agha said they are seeking to “elevate our standard of treatment of stormwater beyond minimum requirements.”

Meanwhile

One of only two public commentators, Antonio Camejo took a chance to “clear the air” after his previous comments regarding Petros and the library issue. He updated Council that the judge has ruled allowing the Key Colony Homeowners’ Association to continue in their request to intervene in the case. He said Petros never “did anything improper,” and that he supports library renovations. He said the HOA’s concern is the possibility that in future Miami-Dade County could decide to sell the library property.

Community groups should get a workshop Apr. 28 in advance of the 2021 budget cycle, as part of proposed improvements from Segurola. Lauredo hoped this would help avoid another “fiasco on budget.”

And finally, during Davey’s plug for his State of the Village address Dec. 5, Lauredo held up a copy of local newspaper the Islander News, asking for them to be included and thanked for covering events like the recent Retro Bill talk “instead of just hard news or controversial news.” Key News covered that particular event Oct. 28 and the Islander News Nov. 14.