This letter came from a long-time and very active KCB resident with personal knowledge of the details. The writer asked to remain anonymous:
Hi Joe,
Thank you for keeping this in front of the public.
There are a couple of additional things you need to know.
First, City Administrator Moonis had a concrete slab Jack-hammered out of the center area of City Hall after Hurricane Irma in an effort to prove the floor sinking It had been installed many years prior to keep the drawers of the Assistant Clerks desk closed. The employees affectionately called it the "fault line" and would caution visitors to be careful not to trip.
Second, there were monies budgeted, several times, to pin pile the center section of City Hall but the project was never done.
And finally, Administrator Turner has recently sent an email to Commissioners regarding the 23/24 Budget in which he mentions the $450,000 Public Safety budget as he has ideas of saving tax dollars in this area?? Maybe, just a thought, he is going to pay for a new City Hall at the expense of the Police Department. Again, just a thought.
[For confirmation] you can check my statements with Ed, with Spook, and by looking at several of the budgets just prior to Hurricane Irma.
Again, thank you for staying involved.
An Active KCB Resident
May 12, 2023
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an update by phone:
The Commission budgeted money every year to put the pin piles in the office area and every year they otherwise spent that money on things like Sunset Park and the Causeway Bridge.
Infrastructure is funded by sales tax and often flies under the radar. The leftover money goes into reserves and from there, who knows. There is a consolidated outstanding loan to pay off Sunset and Causeway.
The City was insured to the max for flood insurance — $250,000 for the building. The flood insurance paid the City somewhere around $180,000 to $190,000 in damages. (I don't remember the exact amount.)
The City did not get any more funds from FEMA because the flood insurance adjuster determined the damages to City Hall to be only that $180,000 or $190,000 in damage. If the Flood insurance would have paid out the $250,000 against a greater loss, then FEMA MIGHT have paid for damages in excess of $250,000. There were a lot of other things that FEMA didn't reimburse the City for but that had nothing to do with City Hall.
As an aside, Dave Turner only received one (John DeNeale's) vote for city manager, but DeNeale pushed him through even though there were more qualified applicants.
The three year contract that we always had going with local companies to clean up after a hurricane stipulated that the equipment and refuse land be in place before the hurricane. We no longer have that contract and are now at the mercy of Monroe County for clean up.
All the minutes for the city are intact and should be available. (Most Commission Meeting minutes from 2016 on are available on the city website. Minutes before 2015 are not on the city website but can be requested from Sylvia Grantsee.)
