Ed Borysiewicz, April 17, 2023 at 5:54:00 PM +0000, Key Colony Beach City Hall Complex - Hurricane Irma History

To: Joe Schmidt <bigjoesbt@hotmail.com>, Ed Borysiewicz <plansfored@gmail.com>, "Gail B." <gir309@gmail.com>

Thread Topic: Key Colony Beach City Hall Complex - Hurricane Irma History

Good Monday afternoon Joe, Thanks for your email and since we did not talk on the phone I put together the following. I hope this document helps the City of Key Colony Beach.

  Hurricane Irma hit Key Colony Beach September 10th, 2017. Immediately following the storm surge, the same day,.....City previously approved contractors and City personnel were at work clearing the streets of debris. City Hall and the auditorium had approximately 24 " of flooding.

 All city hall interior damage was removed by city employees and a professional flood damage contractor who removed the damaged flooring, wall coverings and dried out city hall with specialty equipment, The auditorium was cleaned first and used as the city's home base of activities.

 All of Key Colony Beach debris was being collected off the streets and stock piled in our three FEMA approved city sites,.....Shelter Bay Drive, East Ocean Drive and West Ocean Drive. FEMA and the State of Florida were to reimburse our city for almost all clean up and hurricane related necessary emergency repairs. FEMA, State of Florida and City insurance company monies were not received by the city as planned and not in a timely fashion.

 Once approved by the City Commission, City Administrator Moonis hired an engineering firm out of Louisiana to manage our receipt of monies for all Hurricane related costs and repair of our city buildings including our City Hall Complex. The engineering firm had a full time crew in Key Colony Beach for numerous weeks and one or two stayed on board for months. The engineers had FEMA and State representatives in our city numerous times as I met with them along with the engineering firm and members of the city commission.

   The engineering firm and our administrator assured the city of huge funding that we would receive to cover all Irma costs AND build a new city hall complex. The engineering firm submitted their data and their calculations to FEMA to document city damage and costs.

  The City Hall Complex was NOT structurally damaged in the two story area, the auditorium and the post office area. All of these areas had concrete piling or pin piles.

 The area without piling or pin piles include the one story area of the city hall offices, old commission room, hallway and bath areas. These concrete slab floor areas have been settling since I was employed in 1987,...but also after Irma's storm surge. Public works and I drilled through this settled floor in a few areas and found voids under the slab up to 12 " +/-. The City approved engineering firm used this information to their advantage and may have exaggerated IRMA damage and unsafe conditions at city hall. A video of these city hall conditions was created and sent to FEMA, the State of Florida and the internet ( You Tube ). I was not aware of this video until a city resident shared the video with me. The video showed open wiring, voids under the floor and spoke of asbestos and mold. It was at this time the ground floor areas mentioned above were closed off due to the video's possible city liability issues.

 To make a long story shorter,......the City was promised enough funding to cover all clean up, repairs, associated Irma costs and a new City Hall Complex.The city was promised so much funding that Mayor DeNeale stated in a commission meeting that we did not require any further grant application work.

   Numerous documents were sent by our engineering firm to FEMA and the State of Florida,.......and soon thereafter the accuracy of these documents were being questioned by FEMA and the State of Florida.

  The promised funding did not arrive to our city and members of our commission and our administrator traveled to Tallahassee to discuss, but the visit resulted in none to little funding as promised. As a result, after 5 1/2 years ,...we have never received what was assured to our city.

 We never received funding for a new City Hall Complex that would have been a no cost to our city and easy decision to demolish and build a new City Hall Complex,...however this funding was never received.

 The city did hire William Campbell, P. E. of Marathon in 2019 +/- who submitted a report to the City stating repairs can be made and a local contractor submitted an estimate for these repairs for approximately $ 325,00.00. Our City Engineer in 2019 +/- verified our original perimeter pilings were still structurally sound. The City also has plans from our City Engineer Daryl Osborn from years ago showing the pin pile installation and repairs for our one story area of city hall that did not have pilings.

In conclusion,..following 5 1/2 years of numerous City studies...it is my personal , professional opinion that the City Hall Complex is not substantially damaged and can be repaired and flood proofed. I also believe the taxpayers and / or residents should decide if the City Hall Complex should be repaired or replaced.

Respectfully submitted,

Edward A. Borysiewicz Homeowner : 771-12th Street ( Retired City of Key Colony Beach Building Official 1987 - 2019 )