Retirement of firefighters Robert Burley and Walter Mason acknowledged and longevity pins to other employees given out.

Coral Reef restoration presentation by I.CARE members Dr. Kylie Smith and Mike Goldberg and their work in “planting coral” as joint effort with Mote Marine. They do seminars for the public at 8:30 on Saturday mornings at Bud ‘n Mary’s Marina.

General Public Comment – A member of the public spoke during general public comment about the Waste Management request for a 7% fee increase for commercial customers – Tab 7 of the agenda. Councilman Dave Webb questioned why she was allowed to speak during general public comment about an item on the agenda. However, Tab 7 was tabled until the second meeting in July so we don’t understand why there was a restriction.  

Three ordinances passed 5-0 on second reading with no discussion: TDR density settlement, buffer yard standards and Water Conservation

BPAS nonresidential allocations – 4,358 sq ft of floor area requested for Sea Breeze Mobile Home Park and 2753 sq ft for the School Board, leaving 28,204 square feet of nonresidential floor area available. 

BPAS Affordable Housing allocations were approved for one property owner, Don Horton, following discussion about the potential special treatment in the handling of the permit processing. The planning department approved providing a reduction in the sewer hook-up impact fee for this property. Acting Manager Maria Bassett was concerned this should not be approved based on who the applicant is.

Two Land Dedications were approved, a process that provides an additional 10 BPAS points per lot to move applicants up in the BPAS priority list. Typically, the least environmentally sensitive lots get the highest scores, and thus the earliest permits, because those are the lots believed to be most suitable for development. Recently, the Village changed the incentive for those willing to donate land to the Village by increasing the points added for land dedication from 3 points to 10 points. Two members of council voiced their elation that the incentive works as these two property owners were already donating land and two more properties would be controlled by the Village. 

The negative: environmentally-sensitive properties will be jumping ahead of more suitable properties to get allocations while few allocations are available before the end of BPAS in 2023.   

A code violation fine reduction from just over $10,000 to $500 for a violation in Venetian Shores. A dock was built without a permit and while fines were accruing at $250/day, the property was sold and the new owner quickly applied for a permit. Therefore, the grateful council reduced the fine as a thank you to the new owner for fixing the problem. 

Calculation error apparently occurred in this fine. According to the staff report, the fines accrued for 167 days, but based on the start and end date of the violation, a 31-day month was not considered in the calculation, a $7,750 error. We are always concerned when mistakes like this are made.

Citizen Committees were on the agenda for discussion in an effort to improve the usefulness of citizen participation. This item was tabled until the new manager is aboard. 

Wastewater amnesty – This agenda item created the most controversy during the meeting. At the last council meeting, the council voted to end the amnesty program meant to help property owners who have not hooked up to the central sewer as of June 30, 2021.  As of the meeting date, there were 27 properties in question, 10 commercial and 17 residential.

Most accruing fines are between $200,000 and $500,000 with the total for all being over $5 million. 

Mayor Pinder was adamant that this was a very insensitive thing to do to people in our community, some not financially able to pay the cost of hooking up to the sewer. He believes we should be helping people fix the problem not creating unreasonable fines.  

Councilman Webb was equally insistent that it was unfair to the other property owners in the Village that these people are not contributing and continue to detrimentally impact nearshore waters by not hooking up.

New Manager Greg Oravec spoke up at the podium and suggested they extend one month so that he could study the issue once he is officially village manager on July 1 and develop a plan.

Public Comment: Pete Bacheler requested a discussion about limiting public comment but withdrew the agenda item -- but not before many in the community reacted. Click here for our opinion.

Attention Media – requested an extension to their contract for one year. The council seemed united in their praise of Carlos Garcia who has been providing videos of events, council, staff and public via social media and www.islamoradasocial.org. Whether to waive competitive bidding was questioned. They decided  to extend until the end of the fiscal year and during budget hearings, Oravec will make recommendations as he would like to further improve communications.

Refinancing debt: The council agreed to have the Village financial consultant move forward with an effort to refinance Village wastewater debt which may result in significant savings. loan refinance

Manager’s Employment agreement: The council agreed to a contract with Greg Oravec. The job  was advertised at $150,000 to $180,000. Oravec agreed to a salary of $169,500 with a $2,000 housing allowance starting the third month and a $13,500 one-time relocation cost, plus other benefits for a net contract of 266,933.30.

Additions to agenda: Dave Webb  added three items to the agenda

1.    Traffic report from countywide meeting held earlier in the week. He spoke primarily about the bus that brings many of the local employees from the mainland. It is contracted for by Miami-Dade County with no participation by Monroe County. The company with the contract determines the number of trips and the times. Miami-Dade is hoping to take over the schedule when they have a bus station available in South Dade.
2.    Parking issues on right-of-way in residential neighborhoods from commercial businesses nearby
3.    Blackwood Dr– where there is a public (Islamorada-owned) boat ramp at end of the street where boats are are put in and out of water at all hours. East Ridge Road has the same issue.

The meeting was adjourned at about 10:30 pm.