As a village we start every year with the hope that the coming year will be better than the last.

We must keep our vision clear and our voices strong.

This should be the goal of all Islamorada residents.

If we adhere to our values we will accomplish our goals.

Our efforts will  create a lasting impact and renewed energy to complete the projects ignored and put aside because they are hard to resolve.

May our advocacy inspire fairness, our persistence open doors in the face of difficult challenges.

Our agenda for 2026 - getting our critical concerns addressed: 

• Improved public engagement – a full house at every critical council meeting with loads of valuable and insightful public comment. For this to be accomplished residents must be educated on issues and be energized.

• Complete and activate the Comp Plan revisions that make our regulations current and more protective of our environment and residents.

• We must review our Village charter –  it  should be a collaborative community project to deal with elections and other items overcome by events.

• Implement the Wastewater System’s critical fixes with fair cost allocations to assure proactive maintenance. We have emergencies much too frequently.

• Should we even be operating and maintaining the wastewater system worth hundreds of million of dollars?  Put out an RFP to find a qualified operator. We must get competitive proposals.

• Find an appropriate place for public works equipment. This issue has been at the top of our master plan for years with no results. Time to get all the equipment out of Founders Park and out of our precious hammock preserves.

• Devise and implement a plan for using or divesting of village owned properties: $8.5 million spent on old church property, Island Silver and Spice and Machado property. We purchased these properties with no end game.  A series of poor decisions.

• Workforce housing – is it even realistic or just a talking point for developers looking for concessions on their projects?

• Addressing traffic congestion. we just ignore the traffic surveys that the Chamber and their minions don’t like and just keep on growing.

• Our government officials should  insist on a Florida DOGE review. It would help residents understand our budget. Expected result: more transparency and efficiency. Who would fight it? What are we hiding?

•  We should be insulted by those who claim we are a rich community and can afford an $85 million annual budget? Arrogance on speed. Reason to bring in Florida DOGE.

• Why don’t we follow our local and state purchasing regulations as to competitive bidding – assuring we get the best products and services at a competitive price. Examples – our ride share service may be great for those using it – provided at over $500,000 of taxpayer money without ever having been competitively bid. $108,000 for lobbyists – no competitive bid.  Wastewater services – millions to a single contractor without competition. This is wrong. And expensive?

• Equal enforcement of code. Why  do we play favorites and use code violations for intimidation and retaliation?

Here’s to a year where truth speaks loudly, unity grows stronger, and careful unbiased collaboration guides every decision—because our work today shapes tomorrow’s  Islamorada community.

Stay strong! Be involved.

Tom Raffanello