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SPECIAL: KBI Mayoral Debate LIVE

August 11, 2022 Tony Winton & Thom Mozloom
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SPECIAL: KBI Mayoral Debate LIVE
Show Notes Transcript

This is the audio version of the mayoral debate held August 9th at Crossbridge Church by the Key Biscayne Independent.

Sponsored by the Key Biscayne Community Foundation, the Key Biscayne Chamber of Commerce, First Service Residential. With assistance from the Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne Miami


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Thom Mozloom:

Welcome to the Key Biscayne Independent 2022 mayoral debate. My name is Tom moslem. I will be acting as your moderator this evening. I would like to take a moment to thank our sponsors without whom tonight would not be possible. That is the Key Biscayne Community Foundation, the Key Biscayne chambers of commerce and first service residential. I do want to point out that what they have done in providing us with resources and sponsorship is awesome and you guys are blessed to have them on the island. In order to ask questions tonight, we have assembled a panel of extremely experienced journalists. You guys probably know Tony Winton. He's a 30 year veteran of the Associated Press. He is currently the editor in chief of the Key Biscayne independent, which is the newspaper in your community that is putting on this debate. We have Alex Harris. She's the climate reporter for the Miami Herald. And she's covered issues of resiliency as well as education, crime and breaking news. And she has a host of experience. And just like it they alone made my life difficult because she texted me her bio. I'm teasing you covered crime courts and law enforcement for the Bradenton Herald for nearly a decade. She also covered local government politics, child welfare, welfare, COVID and breaking news. And she's worked at the Herald and Sun Sentinel previously, she's currently the general assignment reporter for the Key Biscayne Independnent. So you will be seeing Jessica around town. I would be remiss without pointing to the group all the way in the back at the control panel that is Theo Miller. He is our director this evening. He is a master academy graduate, and he's the student reporter for KBI. Our timekeeper is going to be bringing the candidates out over here. She is a colleague of mine at my company, her name is Sydney Vigil. She's a staff member at the EM network, and she will be the most powerful person in this room. And now it comes time to introduce you to your candidates. As I said before, I will ask you to hold your applause except for when they come on stage and when they are finished with the debate. So now would be your time to make noise. They were in the back. We've cast lots for both podium position as well as order and that order was decided that candidate A is Fausto Gomez. Candidate B is Joe Rasco and Candidate C is Katie Petros. Please welcome them to the stage. Thank you all for coming. All right, well, we are going to start with opening statements from each of the candidates in order. That means 90 seconds for each starting with candidate Gomez.

Fausto Gomez:

Good evening, Key Biscayne. My name is Fausto Gomez and I want to be your mayor. Let me first recognize onstage, my fellow candidates and thank them for joining us here. My wife and Alena and I have lived droid life and keep his cane since 2001. And I am a very proud husband, father, and most importantly a grandfather. I was born in Cuba and raised in Miami while my mother and grandmother. I'm a graduate of FIU and give back to the community by sponsoring a permanent scholarship in the political sciences. At 18, I began my professional career in the mayor's office of the city of Miami. From there I was recruited to head the Governmental Affairs efforts of FIU helping to make it the university it is today. After FIU I opened my own government affairs firm and successfully operated for 38 years. During that time, I represented Key Biscayne and brought to this community over $15 million. I'm running because I love Key Biscayne. I have a clear break from the personalities and policies of the past and have the skills to effectively meet the challenges of today. My approach is more seasoned and experienced it's time to turn the page. The village charter gives a unique role to the mayor to serve as the face of the community and my career provides a perfect template and network to assure keep his gains needs are met.

Sydne Vigille:

Time

Fausto Gomez:

from

Thom Mozloom:

Thank you candidate Gomez. We will now hear opening statements from candidate Rasco.

Joe Rasco:

Good evening he was saying. I'm Joe Rasco. And I'm running for mayor because I love this island. Let me tell you a little bit about myself. I've been here for 44 years. I'm married to Anna, my wife have also 44 years and together, we were able to raise three outstanding children here on this island. And today, I'm blessed to have two of my six grandchildren living here and growing up in Key Biscayne. But I need to tell you that the village is now at a crossroads. We have major challenges ahead. Let's talk about Rickenbacker causeway bear cut bridge, sea level rise and beach renourishment. solving these issues will be costly and Key Biscayne deserves a trusted leader to guide us into the future. Thank you for being here.

Thom Mozloom:

Thank you candidate Rosco. Candidate Petros?

Katie Petros:

Good evening. I would also like to thank the Key Biscayne Independent for hosting this event tonight, and giving us the opportunity to reach the residents of the island one more time. As I shared in the last debate, I'm a 30 year resident of Key Biscayne who served on your village council from 2016 to 2020. Professionally, I have worked in the private and public sector and have a strong financial background. This is our first primary in 30 years, it's an opportunity to vote for the candidate you believe is the most qualified person to represent the community, even if you make a different choice in November. Since serving on council, I've established excellent relationships with county, state and federal stakeholders. Our beach renourishment climate resiliency and new construction efforts have been made possible in part by my advocacy at higher levels of government. Indeed, many of our most important relationships are with leaders who like myself, came into these positions in just the past few years. Mayor Levine cava and Commissioner Regalado have been universally praised for their time and attention to our community attention that was sorely missing when our representatives were part of the old guard. As your mayor, I will continue my work to tackle the issues facing our village today with the integrity humility and hard work that keeps gainers deserved from their government.

Thom Mozloom:

Thank you Candidate Petros. It seems appropriate that we will begin tonight with the topic that actually proves to be an existential threat to the island and that is sea level rise and resilience. Jessica De Leon will read a email question from one of the residents of Key Biscayne each of the candidates will have an opportunity to answer that question.

Jessica De Leone:

MAST Academy has a goal to become zero net energy and zero waste school. Should that be a goal of the village?

Thom Mozloom:

Candidate Gomez?

Fausto Gomez:

Of course but does the difference between a goal and what can be achieved. Let's let's take a look at state policy. State Policy has a goal to have zero net. However, even though that is a policy, the implementation of it has been blocked. Now we are a small community. We're 15,000 people. We have I believe our village provides some resources to zero waste culture. Now, that is a goal and I think we should absolutely work towards that goal. And hopefully meet that goal. Question is by what by when do they want to meet the goal? I'm sorry? Did they give time

Jessica De Leone:

2030 30

Fausto Gomez:

by 2030.

Jessica De Leon:

Do you think it should be a goal then, sir

Fausto Gomez:

Of Course. I think it should be golden I think we should meet that goal and do everything possible to meet it.

Thom Mozloom:

Candidate Rasco?

Joe Rasco:

Absolutely. Yes, MAST Academy should set that goal and we should be participants in helping them achieve that goal. We have a special relationship with MAST Academy. We've done some excellent things. We have increased our ability to have our students go to MAST. This is something that has been worked on before by prior councils and it's been very, very successful. MAST Academy is about Key Biscayne . And so we absolutely under my leadership would encourage that.

Thom Mozloom:

Candidate Petros,

Katie Petros:

I also agree it should be a goal of our community. I think it's a difficult goal. I think that the I met with some master academy students last weekend. And we discussed one in particular, gave her a hard charge and did some research in middle school, about co2 emissions with the buses that are out there. And she actually was able to advocate for funding through the Volkswagen settlement to get money for the Dade County schools to replace their buses. Unfortunately, they still haven't replaced them even though they have the money. So these are some of the obstacles that we face in a community. In our community. Right now we have some quick and easy solutions that we can start to work on right away. We have very, we have responsible residents that have taken initiatives on their own. But as a community, we need to do better with our recycling around public spaces, we need to have another look at plastics. Unfortunately, the state exempts us from banning plastic bags. But I think the time may be right to look at that again. We also have dog waste bags that need to be improved. So yes to the goal, but there's a long way to go and we need to start immediately on small things and then tackle the big things at the same time.

Thom Mozloom:

Thank you. Alex Harris will now have a question for candidate Gomez.

Alex Harris:

Do you support raising roads to keep Key Biscayne dry? If so, why? And how? (inaudible) Sure. Yes, ma'am. Do you support raising roads to keep Key Biscayne dry? And if so, how high? What areas of the village where do you see that being most useful?

Fausto Gomez:

Well, let's take a look at the recent experience the city of Miami Beach, city member beach raised the roads. City Miami Beach currently is under lawsuit by significant number of the residents because what they're saying the residents is that the road crested and now is flooding their properties. Now, we obviously need to take care of our flooding issues on Key Biscaynbe. I am committed to that. I'm also committed to undergrounding our power, because when we open the streets, basically to take care of our flooding issues. We should underground our power. Now, obviously, we need to take a quick look and a detailed look about raising roads. Is it effective? Is it not effective? Has it worked on Miami Beach, it's worked on Miami Beach in certain areas, it has not worked in other areas. Our roads here on Key Biscayne are fairly narrow. And so therefore, our infrastructure is completely different than other cities. So my my answer to that is if it works in favor of raising the roads where it works, but there has to be a significant number of analysis. That's not a question you can say yea or nay without having an analysis looking or topography looking or infrastructure. And look if it's worked or not worked in other jurisdictions.

Alex Harris:

This is the process the village has been going through to determine exactly how high the roads would be raised. And where though. Have you been keeping up with that?

Fausto Gomez:

I disagree with you. Let me tell you the reason why. What the village done, the village hired AECOM, which is a consultant. They come come in came in with a $250 million tab eight zones at $30 million dollars a piece essentially for for raising roads and for taking care of the water. There has been some dispute even with the AECOM team and the city, whether raising roads or not raising roads is the most effective area. So if we're talking about about flooding, which is what we're talking about raising roads is not the panacea. There's a whole panoply of things that need to happen, whether it's basically putting pumps, because we cannot do gravity any longer. How many pumps are we going to put where the pumps going to be? And frankly, are we going to get sued by under Bert Harris act because of a pump goes next to a house and then the value of that home reduces? And you can have a Bert Harris Act claim. So there's a whole series of issues. The bottom line is this. Bottom line is I am fully in favor of making sure flooding issues are taken care of. I am fully in favor of undergrounding or utilities. The question you asked me needs a lot more examination than frankly 30 seconds on stage. Thank you.

Thom Mozloom:

Now Tony Winton will have a question for candidate Rasco.

Tony Winton:

Candidate Rasco the village council recently voted to set engineering targets. They set out a fairly ambitious standard to remove flood water very quickly with pressurized lines, pumps and other big changes. Do you agree with the council's targets that were set?

Joe Rasco:

Yes, I agree. We must increase our shoreline protection. We must mitigate flooding, improve our stormwater system and bury the utility lines. These projects we should take them on without overburdening our taxpayers financially. We will go after state and federal funding to help with these projects, we have passed $100 million bond, which we must use and utilize judiciously. And in addition to that we continue to secure funding for beach renourishment.

Tony Winton:

My follow up would be if it turns out that the cost of meeting these engineering goals moving a certain amount of floodwater in a certain amount of time, you know, certain rainfall amount. If it turns out to be too expensive, would you be prepared to trim those goals and do something less ambitious?

Joe Rasco:

We're going through that study now. Okay, so that will give us the information that we need to make those decisions. So if we have to fall back, because the costs are totally out of kilter, then yes, yes, that would be the answer. But I think that this is premature. We have an ongoing effort to determine what those costs are. And that's part of the K-8 basin, which you're familiar with.

Thom Mozloom:

Thank you. Now, Jessica De Leon will ask a question of candidate Petros.

Jessica De Leon:

If the storm water master plan shows that the best way to keep some roads and home safe and dry is to turn them into one way roads, would you support that?

Katie Petros:

Yes, I would support it with the appropriate study. They're looking at all kinds of things. And you mentioned raising roads. But there are other things that we need to look at first, which are the swales and how wide our swales are, as well as the fact that our stormwater drainage system was really built in the 50s, and is quite antiquated. So the benefit of what the village council decided right now was to put a pilot program out there at the K through eight and go back towards the bay. We don't even know for sure if pumps are the answer either, because we have to be very careful about the water that we're pumping down into the bay. And we have to have the right filtration. So there is a balance that has to happen here. And it may require a one way roads to get the swale that we need to have passive drainage so that we don't raise the roads too high, that would flood our low lying homes, which still are about probably 50% of the island, we need to care for the community as a whole. And the other thing I'd like to add is that the stormwater that was set or the the level of service that was set is to have all water off our roads in 24 hours after a storm, that would be considered a tenure event. And that may be too expensive. But that's why they're looking at it now. And that is where the council has to make decisions when it comes back when these contractors come back with decisions and costs. And then we can apply that throughout the village appropriately.

Thom Mozloom:

And a follow up.

Jessica De Leon:

I don't have a follow up

Thom Mozloom:

Or our next subject is one that touches every other issue we're going to talk about tonight and it is something that every future mayor is going to have to deal with. And one that has quickly taken center stage here on Key Biscayne and that is the topic of character and ethics. I believe Alex Harris has a question from a resident that she's going to read all of the candidates will answer.

Alex Harris:

So this is her all of you. What will you do to bring Key Biscayne back to Key Biscayne and heal the wounds if you are elected mayor of our island paradise.

Thom Mozloom:

Candidate Gomez.

Fausto Gomez:

So let me just say we are one community, we're one island, there's no us and them. We're one, I think everybody has to sort of take a deep breath, lower the temperature in the selection, and actually not demonize our neighbors. And what we're seeing right now is demonization of our neighbors on all sides. Frankly, I don't think we should call our neighbors who disagree with us a"CAVE," citizens against virtually everything that's demonizing them. So it's like I don't think the chats are helpful, either participant in the chat. We are a via mayor, I guarantee this is going to be a very civil, ethical, transparent government where nobody will demonize their neighbors. That's really what we expect as Key Biscayners. That's what you expect to population 15,000. Listen, Joe and Katie, right now are simply my political opponents, but they're my neighbors, and they're my friends. They will continue to be my neighbors and friends after the election is over. So that's not what we're talking about. What we're talking about is demonization of people in this community, for having different ideas or having different thoughts that has to stop, I pledged through As your mayor that will stop

Thom Mozloom:

candidate Rasco.

Joe Rasco:

healing the wounds is an important function after every election. I've been involved in three different elections. And we've been able over the years to do that. It is important that everyone realize that we are just volunteers here. We are people just like you neighbors, that are looking only for the best of for Key Biscayne, for improving our quality of life. And to do that, you have to have dialogue. And dialogue is something that's very important. One of my character traits is that I'm a listener. And listening is so important when we talk with each other. But it's really more important to listen to the other person before you talk. And that's something that I always do. We can and we will heal the wounds afterwards. I've done it before, because I have the character traits such as a consensus builder, someone who can collaborate with other people, I work with teams, there is no I in team, we have to work together to get the solve the issues that are before us. And I'm sure that we will, as we have in keep this game before.

Thom Mozloom:

Petrus.

Katie Petros:

I actually object a little to the form of the question because I really don't think we need to consider ourselves as a divided Island. And I think we're giving a little too much credence to a minority on either side. And we need to do a better job of tuning that out and staying focused on the intent of the whole community. When I was running for council, I ran on one island, one community. And I thought about doing it again. And I really believe that and I think it starts with trust. And hopefully the residents through this process will elect someone that they trust. And that trust will expand to the other people on council. And then the decisions that get made may not everybody may not agree. But if they trust that you went through the process, and you're open about how you made your decisions, and you study the issues intently, then I think it comes down the whole idea that there's mistrust. So it's something that I believe firmly in I don't need to overstate it, but it just doesn't need to be part of the dialogue in any campaign.

Thom Mozloom:

Thank you. Now, Tony Winton will have a question for candidate Gomez.

Tony Winton:

Mr. Gomez, much has been made of several ethics investigations, including one in which you resigned just before the county was about to ban you from doing work. Why shouldn't voters be concerned about your methods?

Fausto Gomez:

So here we go again, Tony. So I've answered the question to you on your radio show. And I'll answer it again. Number one, I am the most transparent person in the world. If you go to my website, Fastow for mayor.com From the very beginning, I laid out all the issues there, and they're right there. Now, let's let's talk about this. I've had to ethics complaints that were not sustained, not sustained. I've never been admonished. I've never been disciplined. I've never paid a fine. Compare that to our current council members who have had complaints filed against them who have been found guilty and who have had to pay fines. Now, I'll tell you this, they're honorable people. They serve us well. I'm not criticizing them. But I really don't understand the focus of your question, as you continue from first radio show and now here on the harp on decision when it's already been responded to. I'll tell you, I'll finally tell you this. Ethics complaints are part of the talking trash is part of politics. We've seen it in this campaign, where Joe has gotten negative mailers. I've gotten negative mailers as well. And when you're at a certain level in politics, that is a strategy that is being followed. I am proud that I was basically found

Sydne Vigille:

Time

Fausto Gomez:

not guilty of anything. Excuse me I think

Thom Mozloom:

Thank you, candidate. I have a follow up.

Tony Winton:

And the follow up is I've heard your answer. Why did you resign?

Fausto Gomez:

I continued serving Miami Dade County expressway authority, which is a part of Miami Dade County. So I did not resign from Miami Dade County. I simply shifted my focus to focus full time on Miami Dade expressway authority rather represented the county and MDX and if you look at the report, Tony now that you bring it up Okay, look at the report and look at the opinion of the General Counsel of Miami Dade County, who says MDX is a part of Miami Dade County. The chairman of MDX is the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Board of County Commissioners. Hopefully that answers your question. If not, please continue asking.

Thom Mozloom:

Jessica De Leon will have a question for candidate Rasco.

Jessica De Leon:

Mr. Rasco, you've been accused of having a role in an attempt to change a sales tax law that according to your critics, would have undermined local fire departments like that of Key Biscayne's. What is your response to this criticism? And would you have done anything differently?

Joe Rasco:

First of all, everyone knows that I would never work against the interest of our fire department, nor would I work against the interests of this village is categorically false. I've been involved from the very beginning of Key Biscayne, starting our fire service in 1993. We have saved hundreds of millions of dollars by having our own fire department in 1998 to 2002 when I was mayor, I also worked and led the effort to have our firefighters in a new facility. Our fire department now has a great fire station. All these years, I have fought valiantly to help our departments. So that is exactly what's happened.

Jessica De Leon:

But would you not have done anything differently? You wouldn't change a single thing what you did at that time.

Joe Rasco:

I didn't do anything. I did not lobby against our issue or this issue. And it was not a priority for the county. So there's really nothing there whatsoever.

Thom Mozloom:

And now Alex Harris will have a question for Candidate Petros.

Alex Harris:

Miss Petros, you worked behind the scenes for months on getting the Key Biscayne library replaced but some in the community felt excluded leading to legal action for buy a condominium. Now there appears to be consensus, but where your actions appropriate at the time?

Katie Petros:

Yes, my actions were appropriate. The county for a little bit of history, there's a there is a deed restriction on that land, and it's county land and it was deeded over by a development company called Fininvest that has long been extinct. And in order, the county was looking at doing something one of the deed restrictions was specifically about if you were to make substantial changes, or look to change the actual building that you needed to come before a board of three. And unfortunately, that couldn't happen because the development company was no longer intact. So as a result in the abundance of caution, independent of me, I had no idea that the county was making a decision to go and look for somebody that could represent that development company to make sure if they were going to invest dollars in our community for a substantial renovation or a new building, that somebody wouldn't come and say that they were violating this deed, they wanted to do it in the abundance of caution. And it wasn't something that I had anything to do with.

Alex Harris:

Do you believe that there should be greater community involvement and decisions such as that replacing key buildings?

Katie Petros:

I think there's been tremendous community involvement in replacing that library, and I think is a tremendous success for our community. And the fact that we have the people in key colony that are, by and large supporting it at this point and been very involved in the process. I also want to give a hats off to the county, who has worked with us and listened to our community and made changes to that building specifically on concerns and actually would go to key colony first, to have a conversation with them, as opposed to our whole community. So I think that the county was very diligent and I think there has been great public input on that process.

Thom Mozloom:

Thank you. We will now move to the critical issue of budget and taxes. Tony Winton has a question from a resident that all of the candidates will be able to answer.

Tony Winton:

Yes, this question from a resident what is at the top of your to do list for the first 100 days in office as mayor candidate vows to

Fausto Gomez:

Protect our village from the external threats that we're facing. Protect our village from the city of Miami wants to put a homeless encampment on Virginia Key. The issue is not over. They just simply said we'll address it six months from now. Protect our village From the privatization of the Rickenbacker Causeway, make sure that our sustainability and resiliency projects are well done, funded, and that we can do them within the budget parameters that are established. In addition to that, work with my colleagues here, and I want to do something different. I want to establish a Mayor's Council so that we bring the talent of the former mayors to assist the current mayor, and hopefully it will be me as to how we manage the village. The other thing I will ensure respect for citizens respect for citizens. Right now. The Mayor's office at Village Hall is a museum, the museum, the mayor's office has no hours, the council has no hours. Basically, you call Village Hall, many times your call is not responded to, and you don't get a call back. I'm going to change that. I'm going to be sitting at Village Hall one day a week, basically, for any citizen of Kivus King to come in. Talk to me in any issue, we'll try to take care of the problems. We're talking about a significant amount of dollar and infrastructure that we're facing. But we're not taking care of our current infrastructure. I'll do that through something I call the street by street program.

Thom Mozloom:

Thank you, candidate. And Mayor Davey, you don't get a rebuttal. So you'll have to do that afterwards. I'm sorry. I promised I wasn't going to joke around tonight, I apologize. Candidate Rasco.

Joe Rasco:

Yes. In a very short period of time, I would focus on what's most important, and that is protecting our causeway. So I would absolutely set up meetings with Mayor cava and Commissioner Regalado, who have been very helpful to us. And we need to nurture that relationship. And I would set the meeting up so that we can be very precise about what's important to us. And to hopefully have a timeline as to when the PD&E study, for example of the Bear Cut bridge is going to start. The other thing that is critical is and we agree is the protection of our driveway, which is the causeway, the protection of our bridge, which is the bare cut bridge, and the protection from the city of Miami who has not been a good neighbor to us, and has foisted a number of things on top of us, which we will talk about a little bit later. But these are the things that I would take on right away.

Thom Mozloom:

Thank you, Candidate Petros,

Katie Petros:

we will have recently passed our budget. So the first and foremost thing I would do is study the budget extensively and understand the decisions that were made by the mayor and the council before me. Secondly, I would meet with our manager and the directors to determine what their goals are, and why they established them and how they set the budget. And to determine what they plan to do for the next three months. Third, I would request and have meetings also with the mayor of Miami Dade County, and the Mayor of the City of Miami, as well as any commissioner that would take a meeting with me. And I think one of the critical things here is that we need to turn our page turn the page on how on our relationship with the city of Miami. And I think that if we could have a discussion about their vested interest in Virginia Key and the Rickenbacker and ours, and if we could come to a conclusion of how to present that to our commissioner, we may start getting some traction in a different way. And those will be my main things.

Thom Mozloom:

And now Jessica has a question for candidate Gomez.

Jessica De Leon:

Mr. Gomez, if you don't support raising the debt cap in this election, how do you plan to fund the villages sea level rise and resiliency needs?

Fausto Gomez:

First of all, is Please announce my position correctly. What I said publicly and I'll say it again tonight is I believe raising the debt cap now is premature. Not that I oppose raising the debt cap is premature.

Jessica De Leon:

expand upon that, please?

Fausto Gomez:

Excuse me. Why is it premature? Very simply, we have no projects. We have no cost estimate. As a matter of fact, if you're looking at the K eight project is probably eight to nine years old, frankly from Tallahassee, we got some of the money to do it already. Now, the village council just approved at the last meeting a consultant to sort of price out the cost of the eight zones. What I really why do I believe it's premature we can't I approve $100 million bond issue, which I voted for. Okay. And then say we're gonna raise the debt cap. Now, frankly, 1% is 1%. Enough? Do we need less? Do we need more? I think the citizens deserve respect. And I think that respect is, listen, these are the projects we're going to do. This is how much they're going to cost. So now let's all of us working together, figure out how we're going to pay for it. And in addition to that, we need to bring the federal and the state and local dollars to help us out. We're much we're part of a larger ecosystem, Key Biscayne cannot take care of its problems on its own. So I think it is premature to raise a dead cat at this moment, because there are no projects. Thank you. We don't know how much it's gonna cost.

Thom Mozloom:

Thank you, Kennedy. Alex Harris will have a question for candidate Resco.

Alex Harris:

Property values are soaring and keep his game but so as inflation Key Biscayne is one of a handful of towns that has not announced an intention to soften tax increases. In fact, out of 34 municipalities in Miami Dade Key Biscayne is one of only four with a tax increase exceeds the rate of inflation. Some say this is okay, because even with the increase, Key Biscayne has many different projects. And we still have one of the lowest property tax rates. Others say the budget needs to be cut to lower rates. What is your view and if you propose cuts, please be specific about how your cuts would reduce the rate.

Joe Rasco:

Let me say this, categorically I would not raise the millage rate, nor would I cut essential services. I do agree that property values are over are through the roof. We should not overly tax our residents. Specifically, if you absolutely have to cut something from the budget, we've talked about the approximate $1 million that will go for the expansion in the community center. And that can be deferred. We also have a very healthy working capital reserve of $10 million. So I think that the the council will have options, and they should consider lowering the tax rate the millage and if I'm sitting there, I would absolutely advocate for that.

Alex Harris:

Outside of deferring the expansion of the community or the redevelopment of the community center, what other specific policies would you say would be okay to cut?

Joe Rasco:

Well, as I said, there's also the revenue side. So there's the working capital reserve of $10 million. There's a $4 million reserve also for emergency services. We can and should look at all these options and bring the millage rate down. That's that's what needs to happen. I think that we overshot that we put it up a little too high. And it's going to be difficult to explain to everyone but this is the process that we follow. And therefore, cutting the millage rate at the end of this process is what needs to happen.

Thom Mozloom:

Thank you. Now Tony Winton will have a question for Candidate Petros

Tony Winton:

Candidate Petros, this is a follow up on the same issue of millage. Is it a false premise to concern yourself about millage rate, when for many homeowners the actual maximum tax increase is only 3%. Because of the cap in the Save Our homes constitutional amendment?

Katie Petros:

I do not think it's a false premise. And I recognize what you're saying, which is sometimes even when property values are going down. There's plenty of us here that have the homestead exemption, that will get a 3% increase. But I think that when you're looking at your budget, you need a ceiling and you need something to keep things in check and to work towards. And that's what our millage rate is. One of the things that hasn't been brought up is the council set a trim rate, they haven't set the millage rate yet. And last year, the trim rate was set at 3.367. And they reduced it to 3.199. This year, they've put the trim at 3.2881 of the things that I would suggest to residents if they really are wedded to trying to keep this millage rate the same year over year, which it was for a while. Get involved early and make that known to your council and do it in February. Do it in March because the first budget that comes out is set by the manager and then the manager the council has to work from there so it hasn't been set yet.

Thom Mozloom:

Let me apologize to you, Candidate Petros, we reversed your time you have 30 More seconds on this and then 60 For the follow up. That's on me ladies and gentlemen, I apologize.

Katie Petros:

You made me stop. The the point of the matter is and when I look at this budget and Mr. Roscoe here mentioned that community center. I agree with that. I also looked, if you look at an overview of what is how are our costs increases, you look at the percentage increase, I noticed that our fire departments asking for an 8% increase in in our police is a 4%. So that's where your mayor and your council needs to dig a little deeper and look at these issues and determine where the cuts can be made to try to get the most efficient budget for the community, given particularly that we're going to have big projects that may have a separate item on that millage rate called debt service.

Thom Mozloom:

Thank you follow

Tony Winton:

up. In a previous debate, you also identified the Community Center as a possible area for a reduction. What else would fall under the Katie Petros budget axe? And would you think about reopening the budget? Because the council can amend the budget for the previous council did?

Katie Petros:

What was the last part of that? I didn't know

Tony Winton:

Would you think about amending the budget. It's been done before that the previous council that's going to vote in September. Would you think about doing that?

Katie Petros:

I would think about it. But I would lean against it. Because again, I think that I wasn't personally involved in the the minutiae of that particular budget. And unless something grossly stands out to me, I wouldn't I wouldn't change it. Now, a budget is exactly that it's a budget, we can spend very differently than the budget, you just can't go above that. And you have to you only have certain dollars based on the property taxes coming in. So a lot of times our community actually spends less than they've budgeted for and brought in. And then we're able to use that for for projects for capital improvement projects. In fact, right now, in the budget, there is 3.2 million in a grant that came from the federal government to be used towards specifically for capital projects. And that's a two it's coming over two years. So there's a lot of opportunity to do things differently.

Thom Mozloom:

Thank you. We've reached the midway point I want to commend all of the candidates on on your demeanor and being very, very informative. Thank you to the panel. We're gonna move on. If you'd like to applaud now would be a good time to apply for your candidates. I think you did a great (APPLAUSE) job. But I will ask you to hold your applause until the end after this. We're on the homestretch. It'll be fine. We're gonna move to a contentious issue. And these issues have been in the headlines recently and are likely to stay there. We're moving on to the causeway and Virginia Key. Jessica Deleon has a resident question that all of the candidates can answer

Jessica De Leon:

From a local resident. If elected, what specific measures would you take to protect cyclists riding through Grand Boulevard in Key Biscayne?

Fausto Gomez:

Kennedy Gomez cyclists riding through Okay, so what we need to do is we need to take a look at the Rickenbacker causeway globally and not that specific question. Rickenbacker causeway is operated and owned by Miami Dade County, Miami Dade County does not know how to operate it does not want to own it. The last three mayors of Miami Dade County have tried to get rid of the Rickenbacker causeway. My specific concrete and concise answer is the Rickenbacker causeway should be owned shouldn't be operated by the Miami Dade expressway authority, which is the county's Transportation Authority. They have dollars, all the toll revenues from all expressways plus they have bonding authority. So they have the dollars they can bond total revenue all county wide to help us take care of issues like the bear could bridge and other improvements. Now, if you're talking about cyclists, and specifically I think there has to be great separation. And you also need to talk about the different type of cyclists that are on the bear cut bridge. You have the cyclists my wife and I will get on a bicycle on a Sunday and we sort of you know puff along and then you have the peloton my wife and I are going to ride on a bicycle lane which is state law today. You must ride in a bicycle lane. Today. The peloton will not and the peloton have made it clear that they will not sort of have you have great separation, they will not ride within the boundaries of the great separation. So it is really it is an enforcement issue. The key thing of the Rickenbacker Is it is it is multimodal, everybody has to be safe.

Jessica De Leon:

You say it's enforcement. So what specific measures in that regard? Would you take?

Fausto Gomez:

No. Well, not that I take basically our police departments take state law says that if you have a bicycle lane, you must ride in that bicycle lane if you're riding a bicycle of less than the speed of traffic at the time and place indicated. Now according to the folks that ride at the Tour de France, the highest rates of the goal is 28 miles an hour. Now Obviously, none of the people in the peloton so the Tour de France, so they're riding less. So they're riding at less than the speed of traffic under current state law, they must ride in a bicycle lane. Question is, obviously our enforcement comes to the edge of the village of Cuba scanning, then you have the city of Miami, and then you have Miami Dade County who have to enforce it. And frankly, up to now, they haven't enforced it very well. That is state law, state law needs to be followed.

Thom Mozloom:

Thank you. Candidate Rasco.

Joe Rasco:

Yes, the issue within the village is not as complex as it is outside of the village. But there are same principles apply, we need to have some separation. Going back to the causeway, I don't think the causeway should be handed over to private hands or to MDX. However, I do believe that we need a proper seat at the table. And by working with Miami Dade County, we shouldn't we can achieve that. And by having that proper seat at the table will allow us to look at all the issues and look at the concepts that are beginning to emerge, especially from the village on how to make that separation happen. We also need to make very clear to the county that those toll dollars belong to that Causeway and shouldn't be rated and they should not be taken elsewhere. And so that's also part of the conversation. I also apply oppose Plan Z. For the same reasons, I don't think it should be given over to private hands Key Biscayne needs to decide its own fate and collaborating with Miami Dade County is a very good start to have that seat at the table.

Jessica De Leon:

Okay, but you say separation is the answer. How specifically would you propose doing the separation between drivers and cyclists inside the village.

Joe Rasco:

Inside the village, I have been in Washington DC and other cities and there are small separate buttons and things that can be used to separate I've seen it work in the in this city, especially specifically in Washington DC, it's something that can be easily done to make that separation happen.

Thom Mozloom:

Candidate Petros?,

Katie Petros:

just to be clear, when you first asked the question, it's about the cyclists on the causeway or within Key Biscayne within a village within the village. Okay, so within the village, when I was on council, we actually looked at and had some state funding to create a green lane that's consistent with the rest of that causeway. And it was voted down. And our bike lanes right now are not even well delineated. And I do think as a community, we need to number one, repaint our bike lanes, and number two, remind people of when they should be using the bike lanes as opposed to when they should be on sidewalks. We also have issues with electric scooters right now. And our police force has done a good job of working with workshops was was students and well children of all ages and their parents to try to educate them on how to safely use scooters in our village. The vote hasn't we don't know yet whether it's working or not. But we now have cyclists. We have scooters, we have pedestrians. And I think in addition, when we look to restructure our word roads, that this might be something where we create a wider link for these different people and these different types of transportation because we want to get people out of their cars. So I think it's important to promote it but promote it safely.

Jessica De Leon:

So do you think a an education program is key to

Katie Petros:

I think it's a start? I think it's a start. And I think enforcement is also a really important part of this. We have been somewhat spotty at times with enforcement. But we I truly believe we shouldn't start with banning anything. And we have to start with an attempt to get everybody to follow the rules, but we also need the enforcement in place. So as your mayor, I would very much have a strong emphasis on enforcement of many things, not just our traffic laws in our community.

Thom Mozloom:

Thank you. Alex Harris now has a question for candidate Gomez.

Alex Harris:

Miami Dade commissioner Raquel Regalado said she was ready to file litigation to revert the deed that put Virginia Key under the control of the city of Miami. Do you think that's a good idea? Can the city of Miami be trusted to be a steward of Virginia Key?

Fausto Gomez:

Well, I think we need to take the politics out of politics. So Commissioner Rigoletto said that she is willing to try to get her colleagues to file a lawsuit against the city of Miami to exercise the reverter deed for the property that was owned by the county was given to the city of Miami They put a homeless center there. So I'm just reminded of Commissioner Ruggles father, Mayor Tomas Regalado, when the county attempted to do that previously. And his response was, we're going to file suit against the county and take back the Port of Miami. Because that is city of Miami land. I don't think the county nor the city of Miami wants to get into that brouhaha of who owns what? So let's, you know, that's a very good line. It's a political line. Let's talk about what's necessary. What's necessary is we need to look forward. We can't afford to say we were blindsided. We can't afford to say we didn't know what was happening. Commissioner Carollo in September of last year, publicly stated he was going to put a homeless encampment on Virginia Key, nobody paid attention. Nobody listened to him for the fact that life is he said it. It came now, a couple of weeks ago, suddenly passed on through to to boat. So the question is, how do we protect Key Biscayne? So that does not happen to us again. Number one is, obviously we have to deal with the city of Miami. Number two, and more importantly, we need to give the Rickenbacker causeway to the Miami Dade expressway authority. Why concurrence? Thank you, candidate,

Alex Harris:

you said deal with Miami? Do you mean improve relationships with the city? Or what do you mean by deal with Miami?

Fausto Gomez:

Well, my response follow up

Thom Mozloom:

you have 60 seconds

Fausto Gomez:

very simple. After this happened, I took a group of citizens leading citizens of Key Biscayne to meet with city of Miami commissioners, and we did privately not announced and basically trying to find where this Win Win solution was. We knew after those meetings that we had a series of meetings with commissioners leading citizens appear, what was going to be the game plan in the city of Miami. We did that quietly. That is how you basically affect public policy quietly, effectively not making noise and having the context to pick up your cell phone and call them and get an appointment immediately. That's what I bring. And that's what I offer. And one final thing, you need to look at the fact that Commissioner Russell is going to be out of office in November. Now the other who's going to replace him? Is it going to be a special election, or the people who voted for a homeless encampment on a boat to put a new commissioner there? Those are the sorts of things we need to look at. We can't say we're blindsided with no, we need to be on top of things. And we need to be proactive. And when it's done what Thank

Thom Mozloom:

you candidates, Tony Winton will now have a question for candidate Rasco

Tony Winton:

Many candidates, I think all of you said that you're opposed to privatization of the Rickenbacker causeway. But where else would the money come from? In the past, it's been suggested that Key Biscayne might get more of a role if it bought its way in with a large capital investment. This has been done on a smaller scale at MAST Academy in the school board. Would you support a large capital investment in the Causeway such as a bond, if it meant the island got what it wanted from the project?

Joe Rasco:

Based on your scenario? My answer would be yes, the if we want to collaborate, we have to step up. And that's the reason why it's important that we make these types of prudent investments that will help increase our quality of life. And if this is a possibility, we need to study it, we need to look at it. I don't see an issue there.

Tony Winton:

What would be effect on tolls, though, there doesn't seem to be any solution that doesn't involve going much higher than $24 a year, which is the current rate.

Joe Rasco:

We need to study the toll situation because obviously, if you make the tolls too large, you will probably lose revenue. So it's important that that be part of the solution that we look at what the total level should be. Will we have to probably pay something more probably let's be realistic. That's that's needed to keep that road, our driveway into Key Biscayne, we needed to be unobstructed. And those are the kinds of things that the village is already working on, is to accommodate stakeholders along the way so that we don't have traffic signal turns that we have to make. By putting two lanes in the middle of that median, we can look for a solution that allows us to come in and out with a throughput.

Thom Mozloom:

Now Jessica De Leon has a question for Candidate Petros.

Jessica De Leon:

Plan Z, a controversial plan to privatize the causeway, is back. The city of Miami recently formally endorsed it, but if you mentioned the word "plan Z" in Key Biscayne, some people recoil. On the other hand, Council Member Ed London suggested public forum forums with architect because he felt it was the plan most likely to win out in the end. Would you do the same? If so, why, and if not, why Not?

Katie Petros:

The first thing I would start with is education of the community of what the Z plan actually is. It doesn't reduce any lanes. And it separates cyclist. I think what our community was most upset about was the concept of the privatization, as well as the fact that there was a cone of silence. And it came out of nowhere with a surprise. There may be if we there may be a solution that looks very similar to plan Z. And I think we need to recognize what the city of Miami and Dade County what that area represents to them. They have many more residents, that that's their only beach, and they want them to have access to that beach as much as we want to have the freedom to go to and from our homes. So once we start to analyze what it means to them, and we recognize that, and then we ask them to understand what it means means to us, then I think we can have a more open dialogue. And I think that that would help us determine again, let's go back to trust. If you trust that your elected officials are looking at everything and protecting your interest, you can have those conversations and we don't have to have a knee jerk reaction.

Jessica De Leon:

Do you think that education can occur in such a public forum format?

Katie Petros:

Absolutely.

Thom Mozloom:

That's the shortest answer of the night. Congratulations, if I could give you an extra point. We touched on this in the the last topic, but we'd like to have the candidate speak more specifically about the topic of Key Biscayne's image and working with other municipalities. To start this topic, Alex Harris has a resident question that all of the candidates will be able to answer.

Alex Harris:

So this was an email from a resident. They said many council meetings become interminably long with some council members grandstanding going off on tangents fighting with each other and in general disincentivizing residents to listen to the meetings. How will you manage the council meetings to make them more efficient and more civil?

Thom Mozloom:

Candidate Gomez, yes.

Fausto Gomez:

That's actually a very good question. We have a void, a leadership void in Key Biscayne today. Frankly, the meetings are not handled correctly. Robert's Rules of orders are not followed. Council members speak interminably long. And I remember one specific example of a resident who had her three minutes and had to wait five hours, from six o'clock to 11 o'clock at night before her issue was addressed. And that and then it was frankly addressed, almost jokingly, there has to be respect to our residents. And today, there's a significant lack of respect from our village government, to the population of Key Biscayne that needs to happen. meetings have to be shorter. I mean, the discussions frankly, you sit there. Let's go back to plan Z for a second. When we started the plan Z issue, and I went and spoke in front of council for three minutes. And this that I think plan z is an existential threat to Key Biscayne. And I raised that flag initially. Council cut me off for three minutes. It's the right thing to do. Then they spent over an hour discussing whether we're going to name a park. Where are the priorities? Frankly, there are no priorities. We have a leadership void today, we will address that leadership board all of us working together.

Thom Mozloom:

Candidate Rasco

Joe Rasco:

As to the question of council meetings being too long, and having a disparate conversations there. I'm the only one up here who's had the experience of running meetings here on Key Biscayne. And as always, there are there are going to be conflicts, but with respect, and by listening to each other, we can achieve exactly that and make the meetings more efficient. When people look at me, and they see how I run meetings, they know that I'm going to be fair with them. I'm going to let them say their piece and talk about what's important. And that input is something that has worked for me in the community center, for example, when I was mayor in 1998, that allowed that exact footprint is what I use, I use the ability to bring consensus to two people. I was a listener, I allowed people to provide their input, but at the same time, I had a steady hand at the tiller. They're trying to get to where we eventually got it was the building a community center. As to going back to Virginia Key. I would like to say that Commissioner Regalado has our back on Virginia Key and she has drawn a line in the sand No. And I think it's important that we support her.

Thom Mozloom:

Candidate Petros

Katie Petros:

I think the first thing that people need to understand and remind themselves of is the structure of our government. The mayor is one vote out of seven, they do run the meeting. But they also have to show equal respect to all the council members. And I think if you set that tone, it helps minimize different conversations going in different directions. Also, the manager sets the agenda. And that may not be in the order of interest of the public community. So one of the things that happens many times is those agenda items get moved around. And that would be something I would use as much as possible to try to make sure that we moved the items that are of most interest to our community, to the front of people wouldn't have to stay there for that long. There are rules of order that have to be followed, and that unfortunately, by nature sometimes makes things go long. But I also think it's important not to put too many items on an agenda so that we can cover the items of concern appropriately. And if we need to do additional meetings to cut the agenda. We will do that. Obviously with the the agreement of everyone on council. It's a check and balance.

Thom Mozloom:

Thank you Now Tony Winton, will have a question for candidate Gomez.

Tony Winton:

Earlier this year, candidate Gomez there were big meetings over unhappiness with the K-8 Center.

Fausto Gomez:

I'm sorry, I didn't hear you.

Tony Winton:

Earlier this year. There were big meetings, well attended meetings over unhappiness with the K eight center, the island's main public school. A new principal is coming in. There have been calls for a charter school. Would you support a charter school on Key Biscayne, or similar situation like the village has with MAST, but for an elementary school?

Fausto Gomez:

Was the right support is having the best K-8 school available? Okay. I believe in public education. Bottom line, I think public to gauge the bedrock of our democracy, where everybody has an equal opportunity to be educated and then contribute to our welfare. I believe in public education. That doesn't mean I'm against charter. But this is our only school, that school is the heart of this community. That's cool is why parents move here. That school is why our property values are up. Okay. Now, the question is, we obviously had turbulence in that school for the last couple of years last year, with a principal we had that individuals been moved out. I understand our new principals here. And I understand she has been reaching out to the mothers and I think that things are going well. I spoke recently to the head of the PTA about it. What if I was mayor, what would I do? What I would do is basically the village of Key Biscayne should be more active, more active, not reactive to that K eight school, and how can we be more active? We have biannual meetings with the superintendent. We have biannual meetings with our principal. We have biannual meetings with our school board member to discuss how the village of Key Biscayne can collaborate closely with that kh school. And we put not only meetings but an agenda and follow up items. How are we going to follow up what's necessary? Can the village of Key Biscayne contribute? Or basically is it a responsibility to the school board to to improve the school in certain areas?

Sydne Vigille:

TIME

Fausto Gomez:

I'm fully in favor of Key Biscayne having a

Thom Mozloom:

Thank you, candidate now for a follow up.

Tony Winton:

The follow up is just to clarify your answer. You would be opposed to the village supporting a charter school in the manner of say Pembroke Pines or other communities where the village government itself actually operates the charter school okay.

Fausto Gomez:

So as you're want to do Tony, you want to put words in my mouth. Let me answer my way. Okay. Very simply this. I am in favor of a public K eight school. Okay. I am in favor of a public K eight school. I am in favor of us having core collaborative meetings with the leadership of Dade County Public Schools to assure ourselves that this will be the best K eight in the system.

Thom Mozloom:

Thank you, Kennedy. Now just please hold your applause. Thank you. Now, Jessica De leon will have a question for Candidate Rasco.

Jessica De Leon:

Key Biscayne residents woke up last week to hear of a plan to place the homeless on Virginia Key. It's one of several ideas for this island that have rankled residents. Mr. Rascoe, you're on? You're the chair of the Virginia Key advisory board. You said the board was blindsided. Why is that? And as mayor what would you do about it?

Joe Rasco:

There are many examples of issues that have not come properly before the Virginia Key advisory board as required by the ordinance that created this board. The city of Miami has never been a good partner to keep his game. They are constantly giving the village or Key Biscayne a raw deal. They are constantly putting things all the way back to 1992 when they have left the Marine stadium to crumble, when they brought Ultra to us remember the image of the kids going down the bridge, walking home on the Rickenbacker. Then we had the boat show. And then the latest installment has been the homeless encampment back, which I strongly opposed. Time and time again, the city of Miami has not been a good steward of this park of Virginia Key. And I believe that working together in this community, we will continue to fight to protect our interests.

Jessica De Leon:

Follow up how would you work to improve that relationship? So we are not blindsided again?

Joe Rasco:

Okay. The important thing is to try to collaborate. If they don't collaborate, then you need to protect the interests of Key Biscayne. First, what could happen, and this is something that, as chair of the advisory board, I started to work a while back was there is opportunities to collaborate between city of Miami and the village of Key Biscayne, especially in the area of sports fields. This is a dire and necessity that we have on Key Biscayne, an issue that I've been following for a long time and I've been very involved in. So there could be ways to collaborate by the very land that is being offered as a homeless encampment could become a park and a park where we provide these these fields, the sports fields, and

Sydne Vigille:

TIME

Joe Rasco:

the city then has the ability to use them.

Thom Mozloom:

Thank you, Candidate. Now Alex Harris will ask a question of candidate, Petros

Alex Harris:

Continuing off of that we've tonight we've discussed a lot of high profile conflicts between Key Biscayne and the city of Miami, the county, what would you do to repair or shift relationships with those municipalities? And how do you think they need to be shifted?

Katie Petros:

I think we need to do our best to work with the city and the county to come up with something that's a win. And I also think we need to pay better attention to the meetings that are happening at the city of Miami and the county level. Even when we don't think anything's going on that is of interest to our community. I think we need to think of ourselves as part of a larger entity. And one of the things that made our communities so successful is that we did fight for incorporation, and we isolated ourselves. And we got tremendous service and benefit from that fact. But that's not where we are today. Today, we need to work with people across the bridge. And we need to understand what Virginia Key and what the Rickenbacker causeway means to Dade County residents and city of Miami residents. We get to look at the water every day when we come to and from our homes. Many of those residents go once a week. And that is their beach. That's the beach we take our dogs to sometimes because it's the only one they can go off leash. There's just a different perspective. And I think we as a community need to know that. And if we start verbalizing that, we may be able to break down some of these barriers that have been up for a long time.

Alex Harris:

If elected, what would your priority issue to work with the city of Miami be? Would it be the homeless camp? Would it be the causeway what would be the first thing you'd want to tackle with the city?

Katie Petros:

The first thing would be the causeway as well as the programming and planning that's happening on Virginia Key the causeway is obviously the county. But the city has a vested energy, a vested interest as well. And in addition, the possibility of playing fields has been bantered about for about six years now, which is actually not where the homeless camp was being considered. So that area is this funny little spot that we went to visit near in between the bike paths and the actual Outing Club, which may or may not be part of the deed restriction. These are the things that we need to understand better, so that when we have our arguments, we haven't backed in knowledge, and we can have a discussion that makes sense.

Thom Mozloom:

Thank you. We have now reached our final topic of this debate and that is public safety. Tony Winton will read a question from one of our residents that all of the candidates will have the opportunity to answer.

Tony Winton:

Actually, we didn't get a resident question for this topic. We put moved it to the other section. So about that, but we can certainly pivot and do one or the other questions?

Thom Mozloom:

Sure. then Jessica De Leon. You're out out Tony. Jessica De Leon has a question for candidate Gomez.

Jessica De Leon:

Key Biscayne frequently ranks as one of the safest communities in the state. Just this year, it ranked as number 18 In a ranking of 143 cities by safewise, a home security firm. The village has authorized expansion of the police department and new cameras are going up. Still, an armed robbery last year rattled residents does keep us gay need to make major changes in policing.

Fausto Gomez:

We have a wonderful Police Department. We have a wonderful Fire Rescue Service. That is the those two are the jewels of our government. Now let's talk about police. And then I want to talk about fire. Police. We have 38 sworn officers, I understand the chief is looking for two more sworn officers in the budget. We'll take it up to 40. I agree with that London, we need community policing. Our police department is great. But the presence in our neighborhoods, even though we're a very safe community, we're the second safest community, the state of Florida. The presence in our neighborhood is lacking. Visibility is lacking. So what is my solution? My solution is a very cost effective solution. auxilary police officers these are individuals who carry a gun or the badge. They're certified by the state of Florida. And for some reason they're no longer officers have gone to another line of work or they're retired and they want to keep your certification. They need to volunteer with the department Bhakra Boca Raton does it Coral Gables? Does it Clearwater does it. We can have auxilary police officers at zero cost to us salary wise in golf, in golf carts traversing our neighborhoods so that we have more police visibility. Now ad London suggested for ad infinitum has been suggesting community policing. I agree with London. Okay, I'm not a police officer. I'm not I'm not a somebody who is adept at putting standards for policing. And I think the chief does it. But busy follow up.

Jessica De Leon:

So you're proposing essentially a reserve program? Is that who you would suggest do this community policing? Or would you propose community policing monks officers in the department?

Fausto Gomez:

Well, listen, it's not really deserve sir program. It's called auxilary police officer program. And other departments have them. What I'm saying is, visibility is key. We're a very safe community, extremely safe community. But there's a lack of visibility. So I would keep the force that we currently have, perhaps, sort of deploy them differently. So they they patrol in sectors and supplement that with auxilary police officers, for example, our police officers really don't handle traffic very much. We could have perhaps our auxiliary police officers handled traffic situations, or so it really is a question of deployment. It really is a question of how do we save money, or our chief wants to additional officers when there's a pool of certified officers licensed and approved by the state of Florida that can come and volunteer force.

Thom Mozloom:

Thank you. Now Alex Harris will have a question for candidate Rascoe.

Alex Harris:

The use of scooters and E bikes has proliferated in the village and has led to some accidents already should keep us gain regulate scooters or ban them altogether.

Joe Rasco:

I think the police chief is doing a good job of trying to make this work. I'm not ready yet to ban them. But if the problems persist, and we are not able to educate parents and the children, then that could be an option that I would use. I think it's important that we give the chief who's been here less than a year a chance to do that. But I have to tell you that we all need to work on this because the chief told me when I met with him that he had a workshop to try to talk to parents about this issue. And no parents showed up. That's unacceptable. We need to change that.

Alex Harris:

How would you balance the concerns of making sure the streets are safe and there are no accidents with these e bikes and scooters with the desire to have more people in a walkable community more people out of their cars that sort of vibe in this community.

Joe Rasco:

Key Biscayne lends itself very much to that pedestrian walkways, so that people can get out of their cars and and take a walk. I'd like to go back because it's it's about Kivus cane being the safest or one of the safest cities in Florida. This is part of what makes the village the greatest place in the world to live. As mayor I will always have the backs of our police and fire hire personnel and not cut these essential services. That means not the funding the police or the fire service. I've met with both the police chiefs and the police chief and the fire chief. These are professionals and I will trust their judgment. As far as personnel goes. I believe that the auxilary thing isn't something that's possible based on my conversation with the police chief, but you may be right.

Thom Mozloom:

Thank you, candidate. Now, Tony Winton will have a question for Kennedy Petrus.

Tony Winton:

Thank you. Collective bargaining with police and fire unions will be part of the council's policy agenda in the coming year. The previous round of bargaining was acrimonious and only ended when manager Andrea Agha left as well as you, Miss Petros and a new council took over. With inflation at more than 10% unions very well may be asking for makeup raises. One council member said that officers in Key Biscayne should be grateful they get to work here. What is your approach to collective bargaining with Key Biscayne's police and fire unions?

Katie Petros:

My first approach is to study our community study the benefits we have and study the salaries and everything else. The second part of this, which I did on council was to look at all the surrounding communities and communities that look like us throughout the state of Florida. I spent countless hours studying salaries and pensions. And most people don't realize how important this is, and also how difficult it is. Because when you make decisions on pensions, you're making decisions not only for the two or the four years that you're up there, but for the 30 years that the community has to absorb the policies that are set in that collective bargaining. When I first got on council, I've been involved with two collective bargaining things. And they had, when I studied the different pensions throughout the community, it became obvious that we were below average. And we worked hard to do two things. One was to put in place a pension system that could grow with inflation, and grow with the advancement of the employees. So we changed it from a hard dollar cap to a percentage cap, we increase the multiplier, we added benefits that made both our police and fire, very happy. Contract negotiations are never easy. And it's really important that your council members represent the community. The firefighters and the police officers, they have union representatives that last much longer than your elected officials, it's a really important decision to have members that understand that factor in that dynamic follow up.

Tony Winton:

One thing that happened in the last round of bargaining is that the manager removed the department heads from the bargaining, the fire chief and the police chief, and decided to just go straight ahead without the input at the table with those two top managers of those departments. Would you want to do that, repeat that?

Katie Petros:

I think that's probably the most effective way to do this. Because again, they the unions have their elected representatives, the management of the police and the fire are not part of the Union. So they have to walk in there and negotiate on both sides of this. And they're put in very difficult positions. And it undermines them with their staff, as well as with the council members potentially. So again, we have a lawyer that represents us, they have lawyers that represent us them and they have elected representatives in the collective bargaining.

Thom Mozloom:

Thank you. We've now move on to our closing statements. Now might be a good time to give our candidates another round of applause. I think you guys did all very fantastic. Closing statements candidate Gomez.

Fausto Gomez:

First of all, thank you to the residents of Key Biscayne for participating in this debate. And I would also like to recognize my colleagues on stage for joining us this evening. You each have heard us state our positions and our visions. You've also heard that my approach is a bit different, more seasoned and experienced and that I provide concise and concrete answers to the challenges facing us concise and concrete answers. I spend my professional life crafting solutions to difficult problems. Those were interests collided and everyone came to the table seeking advantage. That skill set translates to us working together to successfully meet the challenges of today. Key Biscayne is at a watershed moment, my friends. We are unfortunately no longer the village that our founders envisioned. We're a mature municipality. We're mature municipality facing external threats. The latest sample being the proposed His homeless encampment on Virginia Key. The skill set of yesterday no longer applies to the challenges of today. It's time to turn the page on the personalities and policies of the past. It is time for Key Biscayne to be respected and recognized by Miami Dade County, the City of Miami in the state of Florida and Tallahassee, you and I together can make that happen. The choice for the next leader of Key Biscayne now is in your hands

Thom Mozloom:

tThank you candidate Gomez candidate Rasco closing statements.

Joe Rasco:

Thank you. I like to thank our hosts crossbridge church, Key Biscayne Community Foundation, the KB Independent first service and also the Chamber of Commerce. I think it's so important that you're here that you're part of this process, that you make our democracy better by being informed. And what's important to remember is that this election is about our future, the future of Key Biscayne. And will you have a trusted leader to guide us into that future? I am that trusted leader that you can depend on and you have depended on me over many years. Today, I humbly ask you for your vote on August 23. This is an important election. Please come out and vote. Thank you and God bless.

Thom Mozloom:

Thank you candidate Rasco candidate Petros closing statements.

Katie Petros:

In the brief time I have left, I'd like to share a few key reasons why I am the right choice to serve as your next mayor. As compared to my opponents, I believe I possess the best combination of experience, knowledge and temperament for the job. Well, anyone can run for mayor, the experience of having recently served on village council has benefited me greatly. I have great working relationships with all of the current council members having collaborated with them on today's challenges. I have spent countless hours studying, analyzing and voting on issues of great importance in our community. Once on the job, I will hit the ground running. Finally, I have the temperament for this job. I'm tenacious when I believe in an issue and I have the drive to see it through. But I respect everyone and I work with I respect everyone I work with and you the citizens most of all, a little dose of humility is an asset. I don't claim to know all the answers, but I can promise that I will listen to you and invest the time and energy to find the solutions. None of these issues we've discussed tonight have easy solutions. The political climate we now live in requires us as public servants to have a thick skin. I'll work hard to improve that climate but I won't let it distract me. I believe in this community. I care about this community and I'm prepared to lead it with your input for the next two years.

Thom Mozloom:

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much. I'd also like a round of applause for our panelists, Tony, Jessica and Alex. And one last time I'd like to recognize the crew, Victor on camera, Theo in the back and of course our timekeeper Sydney vigil who is the most powerful woman in the room. Thank you to our sponsors, the Key Biscayne Community Foundation, first service residential and the Key Biscayne Chamber of Commerce. And finally, thank you, our audience. We really appreciate you being here.