Since its inception, the Islamorada Community Alliance has been dedicated to the premise that we are duty-bound to inform and educate our residents of the factors that may hinder the Village Mission statement:

To Protect the Residents' Right to Quiet Enjoyment of Life

To Plan for Enhancing Our Village Character

To Preserve Our Community; Its People, Natural Resources, Pride

To Provide Basic Services to Support our Quality of Life

I believe the ICA has been very successful, in informing and educating. This is underscored by the fact that the ICA weekly newsletter has a viewership of several thousand. We thank those who honor us with their viewership. We must be doing something right.

I want to commend the Village Manager for responding to some of our inquiries and suggestions on how to better serve our public. I submit that this is the type of governance that residents want.

Residents want to be heard from and answered in a timely fashion by our public officials (both elected and appointed).

At one point, the Village Manager related that so few residents attend Council meetings because residents are totally happy with decisions being made.

I see that differently.

Many people feel that the residents have given up, but I am convinced that many pay attention to the issues but shun the spotlight.

In my editorials, I have often been quite tough on the council, manager and staff. It is our responsibility to point out their actions and decisions – and associated concerns.

It is important to remember, it is not personal, its business.

A couple weeks ago it was lack of follow-up by staff and/or council that I criticized with a long list of pending items that need to be addressed.

Again, I commend Manager Saunders and staff for listing the status of 5 or 6 items from my list of 20 in his weekly status report. This is a good start and we encourage more of the same. It is important to keep residents up to date with the Manager’s “After Action” report. Why not have an up-to-date “After Action” report, on the Village website?

That would be real transparency.

We voiced concern that the Mission Statement was removed from the Community Center wall. We understand it has been returned. We appreciate the quick response.

We have regularly questioned whether the village staff, and particularly the Planning Department, understands and cares about what residents of Islamorada envision for the future of the community.

In an effort to remedy this, “Plates and Plans” an April 15 forum, has been scheduled by Planning. Bravo! This is an innovative effort to begin a dialogue between residents and the Village Planning entity. We hope lots of residents show up with great suggestions to make our community better. We encourage members of council to listen to fresh ideas as well.

Together our voices can be a lot louder and then they will surely be heard more often.

My thanks to the Village Manager and Planning Department for this first of its kind forum.

We encourage all the additional Village departments to do likewise. i.e. code enforcement, wastewater, public works et al.

It’s good business. We want a united Village with common goals.

Speak up residents.

Tom Raffanello