Residents spoke out about Key Colony Beach Commission Activity:
$250K Replacement for the Admin Area Slab
To: Mayor Foster, Vice Mayor Colonell, Commissioners DiFransico, Diehl and Harding, and Concerned in KCB:
Subject: Administration Area Slab and Pilings?It's curious that nobody seems to have asked how you figured out that the floor slab and the pin piles in the administration area were in such poor condition.
The replacement received a lot of attention "post-facto," but the new floor slab was already finished before that big reveal. That slab would have concealed the pin piles, all the welded plates, the pile caps and any steel reinforcement. So, what led you to conclude it was faulty?
It looks like this "discovery" has conveniently provided the contractor with an opportunity to pad both the cost and timeline for the City Hall project.
Given the history of announcements related to city hall, this certainly raises some eyebrows. Please don't include my name.
Name Withheld
Key Colony Beach
What did the City Commission do at the Special Meeting on April 1?
The city commission held a special meeting in Marble Hall and on Zoom to discuss going forward with the controversial FWC/FBIP grant application for the 7th Street boat ramp.
The correspondence ran about 7 in favor (with caveats) and 5 strongly opposed but another dozen in the audience were against it.The arguments in favor of restoring the ramp included
the need to launch and retrieve emergency services vessels;
the ramp predating the houses on 7th Street;
and the fact the Key Colony is a fishing and boating and beach town and should have access.
The arguments against cited
"This is a good idea to have one for the city. This is absolutely the worst place you could pick";
it would bring extreme traffic and parking issues to 7th Street;
noise, wear and tear, litter, and a general mess;
obstruction of the nearby property owners;
the imposition of a "new" use on those property owners;
the speeding boats in the canal;
the burden on taxpayers;
and the need to open the ramp to excessive use from outside the city.Dave and Beverly McKeehan not only wrote in strong opposition, he put his money where his mouth is, pledging $250K of his own money to repair the ramp for official use.
Sandy Bachman suggested buying the Causeway boat ramp (that property is for sale now).
Mayor Foster said, "It reminds me of the conversation, not my backyard. You're always going to have opposition to affordable housing, whatever the the subject is you are, but you also have to look at the community as a whole. I've heard both sides of this, and I'll be honest with you, I probably would feel the same way if I was you and it was next to my yard. So I understand that, and I do respect it... But we are in dire straits on that ramp, and I don't think Tom's going to give me the money to go and spend $250,000 to go fix it. Now the expense that we have here, and we have to have an operational ramp. There's no ifs, ands, or buts. We get a hurricane comes through here, you can bet we're gonna need it."
Mayor Foster said this vote was just to approve applying for the grant. He pledged to workshop rebuilding the ramp if the grant comes through.
The commission approved the resolution on a 4:1 vote.
Mayor Foster, Vice Mayor Colonell, Commissioners Diehl and Harding voted yes.
Commissioner DiFransico voted no.
What did the City Commission do at the meeting on April 16?
The city commission held a regular monthly meeting and a public hearing in Marble Hall and on Zoom on Thursday, April 16. Read the Zoom transcript for this meeting here.
Vice Mayor Colonell gave update #4 for city hall. April 16 was day 128 of 273. They have "used 46% of the time. The billings are about 10% so far. So he's used up a lot of time to get 10% of the work done."
The elevator pit has been formed, poured, and waterproof. "If there's a storm, you want to be in the elevator." The plumbing and some mechanical in the new addition has been installed. The grade beams are complete and stem walls been formed and poured. They poured the first floor slab Friday. The electrical bonding has been completed.
Testing all the concrete, the bulbs, placement of the steel, the concrete breaks has passed with the breaks coming in well above the design compression.
In the original admin area, the perimeter CMU walls have been hardened throughout. The floor slabs have been removed and pile caps were demolished. The pin piles were left in place. (King's Enterprises have notified their insurance carrier and they've been put on formal notice for failure to perform.) Public Works has a handicap ramp in progress for the post office and Marble Hall.
In paperwork, about 95% of the submittals approved.
Mayor Foster proclaimed that April 19-25 is Mosquito Control Awareness Week and encouraged all residents to learn about mosquito prevention, support the mosquito control efforts of the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District.
The commission held a public hearing about applying for a Small Cities Community Development Block Grant. Commissioner Harding reported that Florida Commerce has a fully funded grant available. KCB had a task force for public input. Upgrading and making more resilient the wastewater facility. They are targeting a $1.5 million grant. The application window closes in early May. The commission unanimously approved going forward with the grant application.Citizen correspondence and comments included opposition to the construction of another basketball court and concern about the loss of green space. A letter asked the commission to oppose maintenance access by her neighbor to her roof and property. There were ongoing resident concerns about the ICE agreement, urging the city to hold a workshop to discuss the matter, and encouraging the commission to vote against the ICE agreement.
Committee and Department Reports:
Chief Muro reported the US1 road construction is now doing the other side and is one day ahead of schedule.
Mayor Foster gave the police department the go ahead to buy new speed limit signs and to implement the license plate readers.
City administrator Bartus reported that the legislative session is going to be called for redistricting but not the budget on April 28. The Comprehensive Plan has been transmitted. The boat ramp repair grant is in.Action Items:
The commission awarded the tax-exempt loan financing to First Horizon for a 15 year loan.
Mayor Foster explained the request for qualifications for architect and engineering services so they could expand the work to multiple projects such as on West Ocean Drive and others. The RFQ is on the city website at https://keycolonybeach.net/2026/04/17/request-for-qualifications-rfq-no-26-001-professional-architecture-and-engineering-services.The commission discussed the safety hazard of stpring boxes of city documents in the police garage. Commissioner Harding reported that the budget already has "probably $30,000 per year for up to 3 years." After considerable discussion, they approved going out to bid for electronic document archiving.
After talking with Early Alert's William Wagner, the commission asked for pricings for a hypothetical storm with an initial short team, which is 2 or 3 people, and then scale from there if it's required.
The commission approved moving forward with the Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan.
Commissioner DiFransico "read the document. It has good words in it, a lot of good words. It's a rather wordy document." That lengthy document is available at City Hall.The commission ratified the ICE Agreement.
The service agreement between the DHS, ICE, and the Key Colony Beach Police Department states that KCBPD will perform immigration enforcement actions on any case approved by ERO in advance of the enforcement action and or any case specifically designated by ICE that was previously in the Office of Refugee Resettlement Custody, subsequently released, and unaccounted for. The agreement will remain an effect for up to 36 months unless extended.The commission will purchase a used mobile restroom for $25,000. It has a holding tank, a water tank and water heater but needs to be plugged in.
The trailer will not replace the construction of an additional bathroom at second street park or the pickleball court.The commission deleted "item I" to approve building permit extensions for several KCB properties because those permits were tolled by state law. They approved new items, to buy outdoor furniture for the golf course porch for up to $17,935, and to buy palm trees for the golf course for $12,000.
The bocce court paving project with the Rec Committee contribution of their remaining funds failed for want of a second.
The commission determined the polling location for the August primary and the November general election will be the Pro Shop.
The treasurer's report at the halfway point through the year shows it's very similar to past years and consistent with the plan. KCB has paid $472,745 towards City Hall "so we're starting to spend down our infrastructure funds." Law enforcement was over budget by about $100,000, partly the second truck purchase and partly "standard" overtime. The second truck will be reimbursed by DHS.
Wastewater and stormwater had very big bills although we're very close to the planned total revenue. April invoices will put us over budget. Sludge hauling was over budget by $30,000. It's going to be much higher.
Vice mayor Colonell led a discussion of the bombshell that the post office work can't be applied toward the Federal grant.
City Attorney's Report
City attorney Smits assessed the impact legislative changes will have on the KCB code. Senate Bill 180 requires amending our ordinances. Some of the land use and LDRs need a revamp. Senate Bill 954 changes milestone inspections for condominium and cooperative associations. Senate Bill 1080 and House Bills 913 and 551 require code amendments. Senate Bill 74 amends code for planning and staff. Changes to the website are needed. In general, "it's much more restrictive on government's ability to control things."
Although not on the agenda, Mayor Foster brought up "a pending case with Mr. Harper since we're in the sunshine." The discussion revealed that his home was damaged by Irma. The city posted a stop work order over three years ago, in January, 2023, and work has been stalled since. The owner has exercised his legal rights and things are at a standstill. The owner has come to the commission with an offer to discuss a settlement. Mayor Foster instructed the city administrator and building official to "mediate to the extent that they don't have decision power" and the city attorney to give them "guidance on what they can and can't do." See the city response and apology for a similar prosecution here.
Ordinances & Resolutions
The commission approved the second and final reading of an ordinance for sewage disposal rates and charges and the first reading amending the ordinance to prohibit fishing from the Sadowski Causeway Bridge and allow it from the Sunset Park Observation Deck.Commissioners' Reports
Commissioner Harding reported that a low amount of COVID is still in our wastewater and the flu is gone. RSV is hanging around. The recent rain brought the water levels back up in the Biscayne aquifier so the water shortage orders were rescinded.
Commissioner Diehl said that some of the Rec committee members are going to see how their home golf courses are run. He suggested three options: another person to rent and run the facility; a corporation that runs golf courses; or the city can take it over and run it. He asked all KCBers to send suggestions to the city clerk to "see what direction we can go with the future management of the course."
The seawall inspections have been completed and the results will be reviewed by a marine engineer. These inspections will now be done yearly.
He laid out a joint effort with KCBCA for the 70th Anniversary KCB Day celebration. He hopes to "squeeze in some other events, especially for the kids and maybe some more vendors... [to make they day] one to remember." Mayor Foster noted that "we're going to help out, and we'll probably budget money for it probably have some more events."Commissioner DiFransico recommended that the ethics training on the Florida League of Cities page is worth doing.
He also asked the Utility Board to come up with a comprehensive list of what the wastewater treatment plant needs, meaning a detailed analysis by an engineer or operator.
And he and the mayor discussed moving the commission meetings to the Key Colony Inn.Mayor Foster met with the city administrator did his review, giving him "his marching orders," He called on the other commissioners to review the department heads.
Read the entire Zoom transcript for this meeting here.
What did the KCB City Commission do at the special meeting on Monday, April 27?
The city commission held a special meeting to discuss a change order and a request to extend the time to finish city hall. Mayor Foster was absent and Commissioner Harding attended via Zoom.The commission approved Change Order #12 for the pin piles and new slab in the administration area for $143,798.35.
Vice Mayor Colonell said, "The contractor is very far behind schedule, We are six months into the job and we've got 10% of the job done. We have not been able to get him to give us a critical path schedule or a recovery plan yet. He's claiming several areas of delays that ... the city is to blame... He's pushing this job into December... So, I would suggest we authorize the dollars and that we've done our part as far as we could. We can't agree to 58 days on the schedule. We just can't." it was noted that the change order is not binding just by approving the amount.
The commission authorized Vice Mayor Colonell to negotiate the time with the contractor.The administration area concrete slab and pin piles installed just last year were defective and needed replacement. The floor slab has been removed and the pile caps were demolished. The pin piles were left in place. (King's Enterprises have notified their insurance carrier and they've been put on formal notice for failure to perform.)
What did the KCB City Commission do at the Fair Housing Workshop on Thursday, April 30?
The city commission held a special workshop to discuss federal and state fair housing laws and the seven protected classes, enforcement, common violations, plus fair housing in the KCB Municipal Code on Thursday, April 30.
Ovid Solutions consultant Kelly Gibson told the commission that "this is a brief, but very important component of the [community development block grant] application. Fair housing is an essential component for the application itself, but beyond the administrative requirements, it is about ensuring that every member of your community has equal access to housing."
The KCB Fair Housing Ordinance is found in Article 2, Chapter 13, sections 13-31 through 13-42 of the municipal code. A "Know Your Rights and Responsibilities" handout is also available from city hall.
What did the KCB City Commission do at the special public hearing on Thursday, April 30?
The city commission held a special meeting to pass a resolution to go forward with the community development block grant application on Thursday, April 30.The commission passed a resolution to move forward with the CDBG application for a fully funded, $1.5 million, Florida Commerce grant to upgrade and make the wastewater facility more resilient.To be eligible for funding, an activity must benefit to low-and moderate-income persons, eliminate slum and blight conditions or address an urgent need to alleviate a serious and immediate threat to those living in the area. The state has more information about the CDBG here: https://floridajobs.org/community-planning-and-development/assistance-for-governments-and-organizations/florida-small-cities-community-development-block-grant-program
What did the KCB City Commission do at the special emergency meeting on Thursday, April 30?
The city commission held an emergency meeting on Thursday, April 30. The meeting was held in person but no agenda was published and there was no Zoom transmission.
The commission took up two items:
1. Moving the switchgear from the west side to the east side of the building.
Vice Mayor Colonell reported that "Initially we were not going to put the switchgear on the east side because the amount of money and the wire and the conduit that it was going to take to come in the building go up the wall across the ceiling and back down was very expensive and a lot of work and we opted to put it closer to the panel on the west side as the mayor explained." That put the electrical panels right in the front entrance. The codes won't allow "hiding it with plants.
"Now that the slab is been removed it is more convenient for us to scratch out a trench in that floor before we pour it back and hide the conduit in the ground straight run and located on the Sadowsky side where all the other guts in the building are. The generator's over there. The air conditioning units are over"
Mayor Foster moved to move the switch gear at a cost not to exceed $50,000. The commission unanimously approved the motion.2. The ARB Air Reject valve had been damaged recently and needed a temporary repair. The commission approved replacing it for $36,216.27.
Read a partial transcript for this meeting here.