Monroe County completed its Hurricane Ian storm debris collection. In three weeks, Monroe County collected 866 tons, or 1.7 million pounds, including
All residents should return to the regular collection policy for yard waste, white goods, and appliances. As a reminder, yard waste receptacles should not weigh more than 50 pounds and should not be more than 12 inches above the container's rim. For vegetation over 50 pounds or bulk piles, contact your franchise hauler to estimate the cost for pickup/removal. Household items like couches or mattresses also require you to contact your local franchise hauler to arrange for a free pickup. It is illegal and can be a felony to dump household appliances, construction materials, boats, trailers, RVs, and vegetative debris on County-owned vacant land and County rights-of-way and streets. When someone illegally dumps, Monroe County taxpayers pay the extra disposal cost. The County is working on curtailing dumping at hotspots by adding surveillance to the areas. Call 9-1-1 for someone ACTIVELY dumping on vacant land or rights-of-way if you see illegal dumping in action. To report dumping that is not actively in progress, call the most appropriate Monroe County Sheriff substation for the area - do not call 9-1-1. Substation phone numbers can be found at www.keysso.net/locations. "The illegally dumped debris affects our quality of life, wildlife, and marine habitats," said Cheryl Sullivan, Monroe County Director of Solid Waste. "We must discourage this behavior and report it if it is seen in progress." Local haulers can remove many household bulk items at NO COST to the resident, like appliances and furniture, etc. Please contact your hauler to discuss your needs and schedule a pickup. Construction debris and large vegetative piles can be removed by contacting your local hauler for a fee. Call before you put it out curbside. Local haulers in the Florida Keys include:
Boats, boat trailers, RVs without motors, campers, and other oversized items can be disposed of at one of Monroe County's three transfer stations at a price per ton. To contact a transfer station regarding pricing, call:
For more information about solid waste, call 305-292-4323 or visit www.monroecounty-fl.gov/solidwaste.
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After looking at several alternative locations, the Monroe County Board of County Commissioners directed Monroe County Marine Resources to pursue permitting 100 moorings near the Wisteria Key area off the island of Key West.
A Preliminary Feasibility Study explored potential mooring field sites within one mile of the Key West Bight City Dock, which is required to make Florida Statute 327.4108 effective. The statute designates Monroe County as an anchoring limitation area. Data used for choosing the area included preliminary benthic and bathymetric data, existing shoreside services, and coordination meetings with the City of Key West, Florida Dept. of Environmental Protection, Army Corps of Engineers, and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Permitting will be required from the state and federal agencies before moving forward. “The City of Key West has been an excellent partner, and we look forward to further coordination,” said Marine Resources Senior Administrator Brittany Burtner. “The shoreside and upland services they operate meet mooring field permitting requirements, including existing dinghy dockage and shower facilities that could use additional upgrades to make the facility more user-friendly.” Monroe County Tax Collector Sam Steele presented $5.4 million in excess fees at the Wednesday Board of County Commissioners meeting. The total amount of the certified tax roll for 2022 is $366.5 million for all taxing authorities, about $42 million more than last year. The tax collector presented $5.5 million in excess fees last year, a historic high.
Florida Statute states whenever a tax collector has money in excess, he or she shall distribute the surplus to each governmental unit in the same proportion as the fees paid by the governmental unit. The fees in excess for Monroe County are used to offset the budget, benefiting taxpayers. The Monroe County Board of County Commissioners, Emergency Management, Fire Rescue, Project Management, and the Sheriff’s Office broke ground today for the new dedicated Emergency Operations Center (EOC) at the west end of the Marathon airport with the help of Congressman Carlos Gimenez and Rep. Jim Mooney. The project was made possible with federal and state funding. Construction is tentatively scheduled for completion in spring 2024.
The project consolidates several existing organizations into a new state-of-the-art 28,321 square-foot, 220-mile wind-rated facility that will include:
The design is based on a 500-year storm and will include:
“Hurricane Irma showed us that this was a real need for Monroe County, a long time in the making,” said Monroe County Mayor David Rice. To see the construction of the EOC in real-time on the site construction cameras, visit https://www.senserasystems.com/public/embed/3M8821448704 and https://www.senserasystems.com/public/embed/3M8826908703. Monroe County Mayor David Rice and the Board of County Commissioners declared the week of Oct. 16-22 as National Friends of Libraries Week in Monroe County. The Friends of the Library organizations support each branch of the Monroe County Public Library System and raise money that enables the libraries to provide resources for additional programming, much-needed equipment, support for children's summer reading, and special events throughout the year. "The Friends groups understand the critical importance of well-funded libraries and advocate to ensure our libraries get the resources they need to provide a wide variety of services to all ages," said Rice. The Friends volunteer their time for the community's betterment and often host book sales throughout the year. To learn more about the Friends groups, visit www.keyslibraries.org. Monroe County Mayor David Rice and the Board of County Commissioners proclaimed Oct. 21 as Be Like Mike Day in conjunction with United Way of Collier and the Keys’ project honoring the late “Mangrove” Mike Forster.
Forster was a dedicated citizen of the Keys, stepping up and helping the community from one end to the other during disasters. He was a former Islamorada council member and was a sitting county commissioner when he passed away. Forster believed strongly in paying it forward, and United Way’s project focuses on performing random acts of kindness. Kicking off last Monday, the nonprofit encourages the community to give back to Keys kids, be kind to the ocean, help our furry friends, and thank veterans and law enforcement. To end the week, “Be Like Mike Day” is this Friday, Oct. 21, and it was his birthday. The United Way and Monroe County encourage the community to “feed the Keys” by donating non-perishable food items to local food banks. Three local food banks include Burton Memorial in Tavernier, KAIR in Marathon, and Star of the Sea in Key West. On Oct. 3, Monroe County’s new all-online permitting system went live and had a busy first week as staff identified last-minute issues and processed workarounds or software fixes quickly and collaboratively. Paper applications or document submissions are no longer accepted at the building department since the system went live. Permit applications and permits processed before Oct. 3 will remain in paper format and will continue processing in paper format.
“Our citizens and contractors were able to enter 141 building permits successfully since it went live,” said Monroe County Permitting Administrative Director Ed Koconis. “The customers navigated their way through the intuitive software, received help from our customer service representatives, or reviewed the webpage for FAQs, checklists, or online video tutorials.” In gaining feedback from local companies who used the system the first week, the overall sentiment was liking the new system with limited to no issues. One company commented that they submitted 18 applications the night before, and it was nice to be able to do this in the evening versus the 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. building department schedule. “This week has gone well, and we still have a couple of busy weeks ahead as we see more of the permits move through review and inspection and those workflows get used,” said Koconis. “The review teams should be able to see the power of concurrent and joint reviews, allowing the permit turnaround process to be much quicker than turning in permits in person.” Permitting can be found at www.monroecounty-fl.gov/onlinepermitting. —30— ![]() Monroe County was approved in the Federal Disaster Declaration for IA (Individual Assistance) today. “We are grateful that our state and federal officials worked diligently to add us to this list,” said Monroe County Administrator Roman Gastesi. “Our residents are now eligible for the assistance many need.” Monroe County Hurricane Ian affected individuals and households can apply with FEMA in the following ways: • Apply online at www.DisasterAssistance.gov. • Or call 1-800-621-3362 (TTY: 800-462-7585). FEMA Individual Assistance can help with temporary lodging expenses, basic home repairs, and other essential disaster-related needs. Monroe County Administrator Roman Gastesi, Public Information Officer Kristen Livengood, and nine Monroe County Fire Rescue firefighter/paramedics and EMTs traveled to Hurricane Ian-devastated DeSoto County to work in the Emergency Operation Center and the community.
The nine firefighter/paramedic and EMTs are Andrea Thompson, Shelby Bosserman, Alex Baguer, Matthew Hill, Elizabeth Jacoby, Andre Castro, John Baird, Angel Chang-del Cuerto, and Morgan Anderson. Gastesi supported DeSoto County Administrator Mandy Hines with lessons learned from Hurricane Irma, Livengood trained the county’s PIO in handling media inquiries and press conferences, and Monroe County Fire Rescue continues to work out of Station 1, supporting the operational and safety needs of the community. Before the storm made landfall, the State’s Public Information liaison reached out to Livengood to see her availability. Gastesi and fire rescue followed closely behind. “Just as the other county’s supported us during Hurricane Irma, we are paying it forward and supporting them now,” Gastesi said. DeSoto sent resources to Monroe County during Hurricane Irma, even though they also took a hit from the storm. “It is an incredible experience to see how other counties do things. It makes us more prepared when we have a storm of that magnitude and sets us up as being good neighbors to our Florida counterparts.” After Commissioner Michelle Coldiron’s office began receiving calls from concerned citizens regarding trash receptacles at bus stops in the Lower Keys, she and her Executive Aide Jen Garcia worked closely with Monroe County Solid Waste Director Cheryl Sullivan and Waste Management District Manager Greg Sullivan to correct the problem.
The problem was that the cans were too small and too light, meaning trash was often overflowing from them, or an endangered key deer could easily topple them over to get the goodies inside. The week before Hurricane Ian, the four of them replaced 17 older cans from Big Pine Key through Stock Island with bigger and heavier receptacles, which also proved helpful in the winds produced by the storm. “I have much gratitude to Jen for responding so quickly to the feedback she was receiving from the public,” said Coldiron. “The teamwork between the County and Waste Management continues to be a great partnership for the community.” |
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