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Anti-Social
We' not anti-people, just anti-social media. Interesting topics, with some logic, originating from the island paradise of Key Biscayne, Florida.
Anti-Social
Candidates Brett Moss & Michael Kelly -- and Kermit
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TEN CANDIDATES RUNNING - and we get to interviews number five and six with Vice Mayor Brett Moss and newcomer Michael Kelly to talk about the issues and why voters should choose them. Is it time for a youth movement in Key Biscayne politics, or will it take experienced candidates to lead the Village?
Plus Tony wants to talk about the latest controversy about something green -- and it's not the environment. You'll have to listen to find out.
The Key Biscayne Independ ent is pleased to bring you Anti-Social -- a radio show that typically attempts to make sense of the nonsense on social media. But for the past few weeks we've been in the midst of a special series, where we are interviewing candidates for Key Biscayne Village Council as well as candidates for other offices that will impact the Key. I'm Tony Winton.
Thom Mozloom :And I'm Thom Mozloom we're broadcasting today from the beautiful and socially distance friendly studios of the M Network. Joining us are candidate Michael Kelly and vice mayor and current candidate Brett Moss. Tony there, our fifth and sixth candidate to join us. But I understand four of the 10 candidates, we've extended invitations have not gotten back to us. In other words, have they completely ignored our invitation?
Tony Winton :Well, we did hear from one of those four candidates' treasurer, but we didn't hear from the other three. So I guess when we finish today, we'll have six out of 10. six out of 10 isn't too bad.
Thom Mozloom :All right. We'll argue about that later, I think.
Tony Winton :All right. Well, the candidates are here in our socially distant setting. They've got their masks on, we're going to get them there. They're going to watch how we're going to figure out who's going to go first. And what we have decided we're going to use a very high tech method called a coin Flip.
Thom Mozloom :Yes. Do you know what this is? Tony, do you know what I'm holding in my hand? This is an official Super Bowl coin that was flipped in Miami last year. And it's signed by Babe Ruth. Wow, that means that I'm lying about all this it's my sandlot thing. Anyway, I'm gonna flip the coin. This side here is heads. This side here is tails. I think newcomer Michael, you're gonna have to call this one. All right. (SOUND OF COIN SPINNING) Wow the drama
Tony Winton :It's amazing.
Thom Mozloom :It's a heads. Yes. All right. Mr. Vice Mayor.
Tony Winton :Yes, you'll get to walk outside to our soundproof not really soundproof booth
Thom Mozloom :hermetically sealed.
Tony Winton :Yes. for your protection.
Thom Mozloom :Yes. Okay. What was that show? Do you remember that show was the show where they put them in the soundproof booth? And they couldn't hear the answers?
Tony Winton :No, I don't.
Thom Mozloom :All right, somebody somebody tweeted me with a
Tony Winton :concentration? Oh, I can't remember what it was. It was a $50,000 question? It was something like that. And yeah, it would be better if there was a dunk tank. Don't you think?
Thom Mozloom :We should have a dunk tank? That would be great. No one would ever come on the show. All right, sitting in the hot seat. Michael, who are you?
Michael Kelly :Great question.
Thom Mozloom :I don't mean to be rude about this. But, you know, we tend to be diligent about doing our research and there's scant information about you on the internet. You are either a spy or in the witness protection program. Those are my Those are my choices. You might use your headphones
Tony Winton :Listeners. Do you see what I have to deal with on a daily basis? You just heard it right there. Okay. You have to put your headphones on.
Thom Mozloom :Yes, you might want to put him down. It's a little loud on his side. Okay, we're live radio in action. All right.
Tony Winton :Is that better? way better. Okay, good. Okay, you can sit on your head just go ahead.
Thom Mozloom :It's sort of like torture it Tony likes to read
Michael Kelly :too loud. Just No, it's perfect. It's perfect now.
Tony Winton :Okay, good. All right.
Thom Mozloom :So tell us a little bit about who you are and, and more importantly, why are you? Why are you running?
Michael Kelly :Alright, I'll answer the first one and
Tony Winton :stay close on the mic. There you go. Beautiful. So you have different dulcet tones. So you get really close. Yeah, okay.
Thom Mozloom :Tony Winton is radio University.
Michael Kelly :So, alright, a little bit about myself. I was born and raised here in Key Biscayne. I am the son of two Nicaraguan parents. So don't let my last name for you. I am actually Hispanic. Believe it or not. I'm a lawyer. I've been practicing for roughly two years now in House Counsel, so I don't litigate Thus, I won't be arguing with you on the radio station. Excellent. I'm a die hard sports fan. So shout out to the heat if any of the heat players are listening and on the weekends. I am a beach bum. You'll find me Friday, Saturday and Sunday hanging out by the beach. Obviously weather dependent so not today during the tropical storm.
Thom Mozloom :So you're not a surfer. Those are the guys who out in this
Michael Kelly :I actually just got into windsurfing, okay, and kite surfing.
Thom Mozloom :So most most guys who are who are insurgent candidates or newcomers run on a position of there's something broken and I'm the person that could fix it. What's broken
Michael Kelly :I think it's time to fix Key Biscayne, not inside or on the island but on the outside I am extremely pro bond. I don't know if it's just the tree hugger and my generation all that stuff but look, Key Biscayne has been great to me. It's made me the person I am today. I mean, I my friends growing up are all from the key the community as a whole specific people the culture it's it's made me the person I am today and it won't be here in 20 years unless we do Something down. So I, I have to run from generation to give it a voice. So people my age can come up to me and ask me a question and they won't say he or she is too old or he or she won't understand. I think council needs someone to represent. There needs to be someone on council representing my generation, because in 20 years, keeps getting won't be here unless we do something now. So I think that's what's broken.
Tony Winton :That's an interesting take at first one, we've heard it's a generational take. Do you think that the way the island has been run has been ignoring that generation?
Michael Kelly :Yes or no? Right? Because, I mean, the parents, everyone in Key Biscayne has the best interest for the island as as a whole. Right? So I can't say no, in its entirety. But there are a lot of times where my generation wants to say something and I don't know if it's from fear or just constant. being ignored. It's just yeah, I answer that question. Is it I think it is a generational thing, but no, it's They haven't just ignored us completely. Key Biscayne is amazing place for anyone.
Thom Mozloom :So you've mentioned the the resilience, resilience bond, you've said your pro bond 100%. I imagine you've been following the discussions and the heated debates about it. Right. I don't want to get into the bond itself. Right now I just want to talk about the tone and tenor of the conversation. What do you think about it?
Michael Kelly :Can you be more specific on the question?
Thom Mozloom :Yeah, the way people are talking about it
Michael Kelly :, oh, I I'm not understanding the whole political arguments. And I don't understand what's going on. It's, it's a it's, it's on the ballot. If it gets passed, it's just authorizing council to get up to $100 million. It's still gonna have to go through the supermajority. It's going to be voted on throughout the entire process. I don't know what I what happened here. I don't know who were people making up something "the blank check." all that stuff. It's I honestly I don't understand how this became so political. Do you think there's an agenda behind just "vote no?" Is there an agenda I'm not sure I understand that. Yeah,
Tony Winton :I mean, I guess the question is, is it is it really a financial argument that's being made? You said blank check. And I have heard that. Is it a financial argument is being made, but that's really not the case. There's another agenda, like perhaps denial of the problem or the problem is sea level rise and resiliency. Maybe the viewpoint is it's not really serious? It's that's what I'm getting at.
Michael Kelly :Oh, I see.
Tony Winton :Is it is it a smokescreen. is what I'm asking in your view?
Michael Kelly :No, it's not in it's not it's a smokescreen in its entirety. But, I mean, right now, we're going through some crazy times, right? I'm financially
Thom Mozloom :I know what do you mean, crazy? What?
Michael Kelly :Not everyone is financially stable. No one knows what the future holds. We're all going through this together. So I could see why people are scared now to issue 100 million dollar bond. It's a lot but we're not going to be issuing 100 million dollars all at once. It's that's not how it works. And yeah, there might be some smoke screens here and there, but - I don't know. We're so divided as a country right now. And I think people just want to back up their point of views and they hear a better one and they want to back up their point of view. And I there is a lot of smokescreen right.
Tony Winton :I'm trying to say if you're opposed to it, because you don't believe that sea level rise is real or that it's going to go away. Why don't you just say that instead of saying, you know, that guess I guess that's what I'm getting at.
Michael Kelly :I see. A I mean, I mean, sea level is real I look, I'm not a scientist. They are and they're saying it's real. The experts are saying are three I, I feel like I don't want to call out the older generation, but they tend to be stubborn with with modern day science.
Thom Mozloom :I'm looking at the Key Biscayne population pyramid right now. And it shows me that the vast majority of Key Biscayne the median age is 42. And the vast majority of Key Biscayne's voting population is 40 and above. So in order to win this election, just from from a guy who does this for a living, you're going to have to broaden your approach. How are people say you know, old, like Tony going to I'm sorry to
Tony Winton :you can't see the eye roll on radio but it was a classic
Thom Mozloom :I could hear it. Okay. How are you going to get that vote out for you?
Michael Kelly :First of all ages just a number right so we live in here. Secondly,
Tony Winton :well said
Thom Mozloom :don't
Tony Winton :Well said, Sir.
Unknown Speaker :And look everyone 40 especially the parents, I'm trying to help their kids and their grandkids. So hopefully my message gets across and obviously I want to help everyone now but I'm thinking long term. So hopefully I get my message across to the older older generation older than me. Not that they're old. Older is look I'm I'm trying to protect Key Biscayne for the next hundred years. Not just for tomorrow, not for the next six months, not 2021 for the next 40, 100, years, whatever It takes it's it's a barrier Island, it won't be here for much longer unless we do something now. So it's if you want your kids to live here in Key Biscayne and their grandkids and you want to come back and visit, the only way that's going to happen is if if we do something about it now,
Michael Kelly :let me transition from the bond question to some of the other than a related financial questions because there's a lot of debate about this. The and it is I think, somewhat perhaps generational. There is a generational component, and that's about the village budget is being debated right now when we'll talk a little bit later on the show about not one but two village council meetings this week. One was about the budget and one was about -- Is Key Biscayne overtaxed? Are the taxes too high? Are the services not? We're spending too much on police and fire there seems to be quite a bit of focus by some candidates, some of which have not been on the show here. I'm not sure why. But they seem to be making that argument. What do you think? You get what you pay for right? For the most part, and yeah, high taxes. Yes, we do have that in Key Biscayne, but I mean, look, look how lucky we are in Key Biscayne. It's such a beautiful island. We've got one of the best police departments Fire Department. I know taxes are high, right? I mean, I haven't been paying taxes as much as you know, the older generation. So they've, they have a longer background history in it. But, I mean, I live in Key Biscayne, I got to pay the taxes as well. And it's just high taxes, better stuff, better quality, you can't put a price on safety.
Tony Winton :Does the pandemic play a role, though? The economy is obviously in a completely different place than it was you know, at before the beginning of the year. That's some of the argument that you hear. We're in a pandemic, the business community is hurting very badly. There's unemployment is high. What What about that that this is it this is not a time to think about spending more money.
Michael Kelly :islandThat's that's a good I know. It's a tough situation. It's, it's, it's different for everyone. We're all in it together, but taxes aren't gonna be increased tomorrow or in six months. It's it's a long term thing. So the terms are great. Interest rates are great. I know right now it sucks. It's hard to look into the future. We don't even know what the future holds. If we're human, we think per second rate or per day, so to think in the future is hard. But the taxes won't be getting increased tomorrow today, like it's so i'm in favor of of increasing taxes if it if it means saving the island. And if it means having safety, better schools, better roads, better infrastructure. So
Thom Mozloom :have you paid attention to the village council meetings lately?
Michael Kelly :I tried to as long as I can, and sometimes it gets a bit chaotic.
Tony Winton :That's a very polite word.
Thom Mozloom :Um, what do you bring to that table thats different and better than what's already at it.
Michael Kelly :So you look at the other candidates, and I have one 10th of the experience they have, right? I'm 27 years old. I've been practicing for two years. As an attorney. I have internships and stuff like that little things. So no, I don't have this financial background like everyone else does, or whatever they bring to the table, but what I do bring is some level level headed, just calm, relaxing approach where I am not trying to seek Power Authority, I think by electing me, it brings the rest of the Council which it calms 'em down, right, because I'm gonna have to rely on the experts. I'm gonna have to rely on the scientists, the financial advisors, even the attorneys. I mean, I do in House Counsel, I do transactional stuff. I don't do stuff relating to village village oriented stuff for other words, and so I bring this level headed approach. And I think I think that's what, mainly that's what I've been bringing to these, quote unquote chaotic council meetings.
Tony Winton :And I and I want to ask because you mentioned it earlier, you talked a little bit about how we're very divided nation. Do you see that your, you're a key rat, right? Do you see that happening on Key Biscayne that the island is kind of becoming more divided than it was perhaps a few years ago? What do you What? What does it feel like to you?
Michael Kelly :Yeah, unfortunately, the answer is, yeah, it has has been more divided than, in my opinion than ever, right? I'm not sure if that's going from the federal level all the way down. I've been at ever since I submitted my application to become a candidate. I've been added to about five whatsapp group chats, and they have been just super divided.
Thom Mozloom :It's how we started the show. We started the show based on those conversations
Tony Winton :on those chats because we're trying to like have conversations about the issues instead of just you know, Shooting back and forth each other on chats
Michael Kelly :in everyone's defense. It's been a tough year. So everyone's frustrated working from home. I did it for a month and I couldn't stand it. So I think people, a lot of people release their energy. And now they the anger and frustration on the whatsapp group chat, which is unfortunate. But look, everyone's entitled to their opinion. And we're obviously always going to have two different opinions no matter what the topic is, right? Someone would like to argue just for the sake of it. But to answer your question, yes, we I think we are divided more than ever.
Tony Winton :I think it's time for the question. Tom, what do you think?
Thom Mozloom :I have one more question. Okay. One question. I will I will ask my question, then you could ask that question. Okay. All right.
Tony Winton :we have like a little code? Yeah.
Thom Mozloom :When I have been running with or around young candidates, the question always comes up. Is this just a stepping stone race for you? Is this this Start of a political career in which you would like to move onward and upward, or are you going to be sticking around the community?
Michael Kelly :I will not go past Key Biscayne. I am not a huge, huge fan of politics. I am running for council because I believe it's non partisan. It's mostly the issue at hand. Right? And it's, yeah, obviously, it's gonna be republican versus democratic sometimes, but it's
Thom Mozloom :always 100% of the time. You could call it whatever you want. You could call it tax, no tax, right. You could call it responsible government versus
Tony Winton :irresponsible government? Why isn't there an irresponsible government party? I mean, really it's such a false choice. I'm tired. I'm sorry. Now we're getting the the bounces. go ahead.
Thom Mozloom :Yeah. Go ahead. I apologize.
Michael Kelly :Where was I? I
Thom Mozloom :I understood you were the part of the irresponsible government.
Tony Winton :Yeah, it's like Monty Python with the silly party. I'm dating myself, but That's at that point.
Michael Kelly :But to answer your question, no politics ends here in Key Biscayne, for me.
Thom Mozloom :All right, Tony.
Tony Winton :All right. That's a promise.
Thom Mozloom :You know, we're holding you to it.
Michael Kelly :Pinky promise.
Tony Winton :Senator Kelly 600. Le US Senator, future US senator from Florida, Michael Kelly. Now the last question and we ask every candidate, you have 90 seconds,
Michael Kelly :only 90
Tony Winton :only 90 seconds closing are your closing argument, why should people vote for you?
Michael Kelly :As I mentioned before, I bring this young, energized approach to council, this modern philosophy. I think I'm the only candidate was actually born and raised here in Key Biscayne. So I've grown as a ch..., my whole childhood was Key Biscayne. adult life has been Key Biscayne. I know what it is. I know what the youth needs. And I'm starting to become, Oh, I'm sorry. My friends are trying to become parents and I understand what family means in Key Biscayne and again, I bring this level headed approach where I'm not going to Take advantage of the power of I've been giving all right, I don't have as much expertise as any of the other candidates. So I'm gonna have to rely on the financial advisors, the attorneys, accountants, everyone. But I think a lot of times we jumped to to a decision just because we had the power. So I bring this level headed approach. And again, I mostly want to represent my generation. I want Key Biscayne to be here in the next 20 years.
Tony Winton :Michael Kelly, candidate for village council, Key Biscayne. Thank you for joining us on anti social.
Michael Kelly :Thank you appreciate it.
Tony Winton :And we'll be back with our next candidate in just a moment. This is anti social on WSQF-LP Key Biscayne
Thom Mozloom :And we are back on anti social alive on WSQF blink radio. Beautiful Key Biscayne.
Tony Winton :My name is Tony Winton.
Thom Mozloom :My name is Thom Mozloom. And now in the hot seat is the vice mayor now we there's Vice Mayor Moss we have a question about what vice means. And Tony wants to know what vices you have to earn that title. That was the first question he wanted that yes, but But what are you just preparing you before?
Tony Winton :Yes, yes, but we already know. Just so the audience you have to tell the audience in radio what you're seeing it's because you can do a lot of stuff with the mind.
Thom Mozloom :He's got my vote.
Tony Winton :He's he came in with the right t shirt.
Thom Mozloom :In fact, I'm gonna take a picture of it. I'm gonna post it to Twitter on my account @mozloom
Brett Moss :I couldn't not wear it.
Tony Winton :Yes, it's
Brett Moss :how can you not wear this when you're listening to this Show me It's too hard.
Tony Winton :Yes, it's a great
Thom Mozloom :stand up for me.
Brett Moss :You got to see the whole thing. All right.
Thom Mozloom :Yeah. All right. That's great. All right.
Tony Winton :All right. All right going to and what is what does it say? It says anti social social club. So right off the bat that's called ingratiating with the radios. Yeah. Good. Good job.
Thom Mozloom :Nice job sucking up. I love that.
Brett Moss :Vice number one. Vice Number two is, I can't say no. To being involved. That's my vice. Number two. So
Thom Mozloom :well, that's that's usually our lead. Question is, you know, you've been on Council, you're running again. Most incumbents have to run on their track record. Yes. So tell us what you've done to deserve another term.
Brett Moss :Well, I can tell you from experience we've had one of the kind of most interesting four years, we were we went through a major hurricane. We reformed Some of our pensions, we went through lawsuits with city of Miami, the NMMA for the boat show, we had ultra festival now we're facing a pandemic that we haven't seen for 100 years. So the learning experience up there about what when these issues come in and how that affects each of our residents and our businesses is something that I think that I can bring and carry with me to the next four years because we don't know what's going to happen. So that I think those are so some very, very important things that we're going to be that we might be seeing and I think that's something that will carry through to the next to the next election or to the next term
Tony Winton :Well the council in the in the middle of a budget cycle. So um you know, it's a positive and a negative right so you you have a record to point to, but you also have an ongoing issue and what we'll get to that right now which is (a) you've got the budget to approve, and you have the classic debate that happens every year about taxes and spending happens in Key Biscayne, happens at the national level. Just a thing that happens in government. And you also have the two meetings this week there was one involving. We'll start with this one. There were two meetings on one. This involves the stormwater drainage system. And it was a meeting that had already been postponed. So this is now the second time, and the manager Andrea Agha actually spoke at length about it. And she got, I guess it might be fair to say a little bit heated about trying to get the council to act on it. Here's what she said,
Andrea Agha :Now's the time. Now is the time to make these decisions and move these things forward. And we have spent several months negotiating off an RFQ process that this council had approved, and we're ready to move we're trying to move, and I strongly recommend that we move forward on all of these. And I think any more that we cut and cut and cut away, the more we open ourselves up to the risk of not getting it right. To increase change orders, to reopening the streets multiple times increasing the disruption and having a final product that is sub par. And to me, not acceptable.
Tony Winton :pretty strong words
Thom Mozloom :for the for the record that sounds a lot like my wife when she's talking to my teenagers.
Brett Moss :And I talked to Andrea about that. And she even told me she's like, I felt like I was maybe a little too strong. I said, No, Andrea it's good. That's what you believe in, you need to stand up and you need to be strong. I said, unfortunately, I wasn't there with you. But, you know, I understand where you're coming from. My issue on that that topic was that, you know, we were not being presented the entirety of the project, which I you know, I have a an item in front of me that's approving $500,000. And this item is extremely important to me, I need to I want to move these projects forward. But for us to make a vote on $500,000, not knowing and I was told at one point that was only one 14th of the entire project. Now, there might be combination to them. And I don't know what the whole project is. So what when it comes to stormwater, there's a few things that we need to make decisions about before we can even get into that design criteria, we need to know what the parameters are. And the parameters that we're looking at is how fast we want the water to drain and how much water at a time. So we could say that you know what, in a category five hurricane we want it to drain into in two hours. Well, that costs us $10 billion to build. Well, unfortunately, we can't build that. So what are we what are what are we what is acceptable, acceptable to our residents of what we want to see? And what can we afford? You know, how much is gonna cost us the entirety? So we could start off with what Andrea is recommending, start off with doing a pilot project. But I don't know what design criteria we're designing to. And we're not going to find that out until the first work order, which was kind of a revamp and gap analysis of the original master plan that we've had,
Tony Winton :which was not -- the original master plan did not account for sea level rise
Brett Moss :It did not
Tony Winton :in 2011 and 2015. And that was all brought up when the RFQ was approved.
Brett Moss :Yes.
Tony Winton :So I guess what I'm asking is ...
Brett Moss :that was approved by the way Why is this a surprise? This is You guys have already voted on it. Yeah. So that as well the master plan was approved. in that meeting, that was the first thing that we did approve. So that is moving forward. Step number one for me, because I need to see the whole project and find out what parameters we're working in. Then we go to step two, which is then, you know, taking on the first design criteria, which is going to be connected to the entire island and how what, you know, what level service that we're going to want to see. Once I have that in my hand, you know, I'm ready. I'm with her 100% we got to move on this. We got to make these decisions, and we got to we got to move forward. So
Thom Mozloom :one of the frustrations voters have in public opinion is the speed of government.
Brett Moss :Yep.
Thom Mozloom :It's like wading through mud. We're sitting in the M Network studios, high above the streets where we're having a tropical system come through that storm drain system that you're talking about would be really nice to have right now on Key Biscayne. And it's delay after delay. How can you possibly speed this process up to ensure That your community is getting the service they need in a timely manner.
Brett Moss :Well, I think that it really comes down to our administration and our manager to understand how to take their councils through this process. The first time this came up was in August. We got it on Friday, and we saw it on Tuesday. I mean, a project that we're estimating could be up to $30 million cannot come to us that quickly. I did have a meeting after with Jake, who's our director,
Tony Winton :Jake Ozyman, public works,
Brett Moss :Public works. And so with Roland, also Samimy, who's our resiliency officer, and I sat with him I told him my concerns, and then the presentation that came again on Tuesday was the same presentation nothing had changed from my discussions with them. And I have concerns and they and they understood I took talk to them afterwards they get it they you know, and when I'm starting, you know, is this the chicken or the egg? And I get it. You know, when I ran the first time, actually ran twice already and every time we ran is what we want to get projects done. We need to move faster. But it's it's everybody needs to work at this, the administration needs to work correctly, the council needs to be working correctly. Right now, I think we're all a little bit disconnected. And we need to get better at all of us coming together. So, you know, if I was manager, I would be making for one, making sure that all the council members are behind it, and understood it fully before I brought it up for for consideration. And if they didn't, I would make sure we go through the right processes. And I've talked to Andrea about it. And she agrees and I think that which is what we're going to see and we should get everybody on board
Tony Winton :And it's scheduled for October 27. Five days before election day, right?
Brett Moss :It is but but I don't know if they're going to be ready for it or not by then. So it depends on what they can bring up now. Going back to the level service and what Key Biscayne needs. What we need right now is actually maintaining what we already have and I've witnessed it firsthand and watch them clean up some of the wells. And we got to do that first to make sure our stormwater system is actually working. The stuff that we're planning on now is for future and Incorporating things like sea level rise, that's for a future. For me, it's not this Dire Straits that we're in about drainage at this moment, but we will be in it. So we need to do it correctly. She's 100% right on that when you do this correctly, but we need to do it in the right process. But we're not going to all of a sudden flood worse because we haven't done this. But what we do need to do is maintain what we have now and you're going to see much improvement a level surface and what the systems that we have.
Thom Mozloom :Our last guest talked a lot about generational differences. young guys versus old guys. Tony was highly offended by the way, you know, I felt great about one another one sucking up to you, Tony, that's awesome. He wins. He's got the he's got this shirt and
Brett Moss :Nobody beats the shirt and
Thom Mozloom :never gets awesome. But what I'm suggesting is that this might be a a new style of government leadership whereas generations past sit on the village council. Take the word of The commission that they put there, and if you say so that's what we're doing. We trust you, you're the expert, our job is to make sure the right experts are in place and vote. Whereas It sounds like you and several of the other candidates are significantly more curious. And more questioning of those, those various different committees. Do you think that is part of what slowing the process down? Or is that a necessary part or? I mean, do we just not have the right committees in place?
Tony Winton :Well, how about having any committees because they actually the council doesn't actually have any committees. There are advisory boards that have members of the public sit on them. But there are actually no committees. It was an effort at the beginning of the last election cycle to create committees like public safety Public Works, didn't go anywhere.
Brett Moss :Yeah, I was actually very, very much agains the committee's and you're talking about the committees of council members, like three council members forming a committee. So I've been very against that and one of the reasons why I'm against it because I see that it can really turn into bad politics. And you see this in larger governments. And and first of all, the mayor gets to decide who's on a committee. And if the mayor doesn't like you, you might never get on a committee. And that might be an issue for somebody. And why is that an issue because you get three council members to sit inside a committee and discuss something together. And when they bring it up to the actual Council, they only need one more vote. It could be the mayor. And then the other council members are left out of getting, you know, being able to hear it in depth before it moves forward. So I thought that this could turn into favoritism. And I have all types of issues up there that I felt we could get into ugly politics. I'm all for and I tried to push this to have like a finance committee, but a committee not as council members, but putting together people in our advisory boards to help us look over and have it like a citizens Oversight Committee.
Tony Winton :It sounds like you guys don't trust each other. You really don't. When I hear an answer that it's going to be this and two guys against this and everything else. It really sounds like there's some dysfunction. going on is that is that a fair observation?
Brett Moss :There's dysfunction going on, yeah. I thought I thought there was dysfunction and the first time I was up there and then it gets there's definitely dysfunction.
Thom Mozloom :So how do you get past that dysfunction without putting so much pressure on the individual council members to know so much? Under the current system, You guys all have to be experts on stormwater drainage because you're not trusting the people who are bringing you the the data on stormwater drainage
Tony Winton :and don't ever use a consultant because consultants aren't good, right?
Brett Moss :Yeah, no, I don't...
Thom Mozloom :I mean, we're right we're in this we're in this catch 22 where we're going to elect people who all need to be unbelievably knowledgeable about every single issue that is going to face the village. I think that's just as dangerous, no?
Brett Moss :Maybe maybe it's a Key Biscayne thing. I don't know if how other governments do it. But when I
Thom Mozloom :play the theme song,
Tony Winton :We like the theme song. song is good.
Brett Moss :Sorry, but you know, if you want to Yes, vote for me. I need to know what I'm voting on. For instance, Tony, you live in Key Biscayne, you walk up to me say, what did you just vote on? If I tell you I don't know, that's a problem with me. I need to know what it is. It's not that I don't trust just informed me inform me what it is. So I understand what what we're looking at. And I think every council member needs to do that. I mean, that's what you're electing. You don't want somebody go up there and say, Oh, well, the manager says important -- stamp. Yes. What did you wrote on? I've no idea $500,000 for what, how much is gonna cost us? Is that a good or a bad, right? What is it? I have no idea if I don't know, I can't get behind it. And I told Andrea, you got to bring this stuff forward. You got to bring this so we can really understand these things, especially when they're big. We're talking about a lot of money here.
Tony Winton :This is a fair question. And the newcomers we you know, we it's not the same because you're you're been there for a while. How would you evaluate the administration and specifically the manager, that's probably aside from setting the budget. It's the next biggest thing that the council members do is, they hire the manager.
Brett Moss :It is and I was involved in the last time I hired the manager. My biggest thing about hiring the manager was the budget process. That's first thing I asked every single candidate that was coming in for management and I wanted, and I still am working on trying to get that process better. But with our specific manager, I think, you know, I personally, I work very well with her. I think that there's, you know, she's very good on accountability. And she she really works on getting our finance department worked turned around, I see that we do have issues on the communication side. And and that is Case in point of what happened on Tuesday. I mean, I think they think, you know, sometimes they communicate too much or not enough and they haven't found that right balance. And that's the art of an administration and a manager is how to find that balance and and what you need to do in order to get something accomplished. And it's difficult. I, you know, I tell every one of these candidates, I don't know why you want this job. I really don't I mean, it's, you have seven bosses, this is hard. This is really hard to deal with. So, more, you know, hats off to them, but I'm going to continue working with Andrea how Improve the and we keep you know, the better for the for the community at home.
Thom Mozloom :We have to ask you about the resilience bond and the debt cap issue
Brett Moss :only if you play the $100 million.
Tony Winton :We're not doing 100 million you want fine, you're gonna get James Bond. Okay. All right.
Thom Mozloom :My name is bond. Resilience bond. Yes.
Brett Moss :So what was your question on the bond?
Thom Mozloom :Well, we have to ask you about it on on that on the on specifically on the debt cap issue. You are Yes. Then you are no.
Brett Moss :Yeah.
Thom Mozloom :So So who got to you? And what did they say?
Brett Moss :Nobody got to me.
Thom Mozloom :I'm from Trenton, I have to say,
Brett Moss :people don't understand that when you go through a ordinance. You may vote yes. To continue the ordinance. The second reading. That's what I did. I had questions. I was not sure at that time, but I wanted it to move to the second so I had time to do my own. Research and anybody who knows me up there, I do my due diligence I research I analyze. I even wrote an article in favor of the bond at that time. And actually, when I was writing that article, that's when it hit me about the about the debt cap. And at that point, I did not feel the debt cap was necessary in nowhere in my head, is it necessary at this exact moment? It may be necessary at some time, and if it ever does become necessary, we'll cross that bridge at that time, but it's not now. We're not asking for 100 million dollars right now, we're only asking for the ability to finance at a better rate, as long as we could pledge the revenues that we're collecting in our millage on our taxes. So, you know, from from my standpoint, it wasn't needed. Second, we do have a proper way of going through our charter amendments we do we're there will be a charter amendment committee that will be put together and will will have to and that's one of the things that I'm sure people were gonna ask questions is the debt cap, right. Is that is that the right number? Should it be lower? Should it be higher? I'm sure that that discussion is going to come up. So let that come up. You know, and then I think that is the more proper way to to look at a deck. How
Unknown Speaker :can I make summarize and say, do you just think it was too much to put on one ballot?
Brett Moss :Oh of course Its already confusing enoug. Just the one
Unknown Speaker :yeah,two major, remember getting getting at is that you wind up. Basically, I think you actually made this point that you wind up risking both measures. If you put both measures up at the same time,
Brett Moss :of course, of course, and one's not needed right now. I just don't see it as needed at this moment. So if you put both of them up there, you know, let's wait, let's let's go through the right process. So yeah, I think it was I think that was the right choice. And I think that the even the language of the bond referendum is difficult. I tried to get that change. By the way. I called the attorneys I was trying to get a special meeting going because I there's some wording in it that makes it very confusing. If somebody doesn't know about it, it is difficult to understand. But, you know, I can give you my take on on the bond itself. If you want but
Tony Winton :You're here.
Brett Moss :Yeah. I mean, you know, I've heard things of it's a line of credit, which is absolutely untrue and misleading. Because we have access to the money right now we can borrow $60 million, pledging our revenues. It some people are thinking that this is a green light to do these projects, we already have the green light to do these projects. There's no green light we're asking anybody for, we're only asking that when we do go out to borrow when we do have these projects ready, and we get a 5-2 vote, at least, up there. We want to know if we can just pledge the money that is coming from our revenues and and be able to get a better rate and a longer term, which is very important. The longer term if if we can get a longer term, it will reduce the costs on everybody's tax bill by quite a bit. And I did a scenario over 12 years of $60 million. And it was it came out about 60% less or no only 60% more if you went through a revenue bond for 15 years, or if you went for a 30 year G.O. bond. So the question is to me , one, is why Do you want to pay more on your tax bill on your annual debt when we do these projects? If you do want to pay more, vote no for the GO Bond. If you don't want to pay more on a yearly basis, vote yes for the GO bond. The second one is Do you trust your councils and make the right decisions? I mean, you can see on Tuesday, I was uncomfortable $500,000 because I don't have all the information. And you know, what, if a council ever does go rogue and the most the majority the people don't want a certain project, there are ways in our charter that you can actually request a referendum and and block something so you're not forfeiting any rights that you can't, you know, control down the future. So, you know, those things, it comes down to simple as that I I trust our government our setup, I trust that the people elect the right people to decide on what type of projects and they will spend the amount of time which is going to take years to put these types of projects together. And and I want a lower tax bill, you know, on a yearly basis,
Tony Winton :let's pivot to a couple of other issues. We're running out of time and I want to make sure you're asking all the candidates these questions and there it's more than just No, these resiliency projects as important as they are. There's a debate about the budget itself. There's a debate about the amount of service level, there was a lot of discussion on at the both meetings about community groups, which is only 2% of the budget, instead of the some much larger drivers of the budget like police and fire. Do you think that their level of taxation is too much too little about right, kind of like Goldilocks? Or do you think that And do you think that the services that we have police and fire are where they need to be,
Brett Moss :I think police and fire for me is where they need to be if there can be efficiencies, that I'm all open for that study, but it has to be done by a professional that knows exactly what that is if we want to independent if we want to outside of our our side, but I'm not going to take a council member telling us that we can cut half of this thing because he did a calculation, it doesn't make sense to me. I need someone who knows how public safety works and and and it could be that we need more people I don't know. So I would always be open for that. You know, based on whether we get taxed At a fair rate, it all depends. I mean, I look at it from a different side, I look at it from a budget side. So I start with the budget and I and you know, and there's certain things that I want to see. So, for instance, we talked about the community groups. You know, we spent what, two hours the other night on this, I thought it was absolutely ridiculous. Talking about community groups, community groups are probably the one the least expensive thing that we have, and get the most out of, I mean, these are initiatives that we have economic drivers that we bring in, we don't have an economic development department. These these people are volunteer during their time to host events that brings economics to our businesses. We have culture that we want to preserve historic, you know, we have education and leadership that we want to put out for children and, and different things like that. I mean, these are initiatives that we want to make sure that Key Biscayne stays great. And I just don't know why we want to turn this into this big political thing of charities and all this kind of stuff because we are getting services from them. You know, we are and so I guess we're probably going to get in this debate again, but it's very exhausting the being up there and listening to this
Tony Winton :and collective bargaining, you're in negotiations now with the municipal unions, police fire and the and the General Staff, the village has come in with a pretty strong position of zero. Where do you think that's going? And where do you stand on that? Well, I don't think that anything's on the table right now. We're, we've pulled everything off the table. And now we're back into developing another proposal that we're going to bring up. You know, I get it. I mean, there's this is a time that, you know, in the private sector, I, you know, I know my employees are not expecting a raise coming up this year. It's a difficult time they understand it. And you know, I think that's what our Ask was, and I don't know that we just never got a response. It was just no response. So we pulled it off the table. We're gonna we're gonna come back, I think they told you negotiators, they were disappointed I think that did come across
Brett Moss :but they didn't come back wi h a counteroffer and then come back with anything so you know, I mean, I love the guys that work there. They do a great job. Negotiating is very, very difficult and but we have to do it. One of our responsibilities. So so we have to do that.
Thom Mozloom :All right. A letter to your younger self. What do you tell you? before the first time you ran, you get to go back in time you get to talk to that guy. And you get to say, Okay, I need you to be prepared. Yes. Or
Tony Winton :and only do it, yes, it could be doing to it. Don't do it.
Brett Moss :I'm still trying to figure out why I'm here. Right? Um, you know, I think that I think you have to concentrate on a few things. You can't try to do everything. I think that's one of the biggest thing, everybody wants to get up there. And they want to change this ship, you know, on this ship to turn it is really, really heavy. And
Thom Mozloom :clearly,
Brett Moss :yeah, one person can't do it. But everybody, you know, goes out and says, I'm gonna come in here and I'm going to be fiscally responsible, which everybody says, By the way, and I don't even know what that means. And I don't know anybody who's not fiscally, responsible, responsible. But everybody has a different outtake on that but I think you just need to concentrate on one or two projects to try to get done. And I think on the other side is the budgeting process really threw me in took me a while to get there. And, and I'm really working on that process and hopefully working with all my colleagues on developing that process much better.
Tony Winton :All right. It's that time of the interview, the 90 question, 90 seconds only. Why should people vote for Brett Moss?
Brett Moss :Well, I think that dedication and involvement I've been very involved I've lived here for since for over 15 years. People know me, I've chaired many Key Biscayne boards, and community and groups. So I, you know, I think that not just being involved, but being dedicated and being there and actually taking part of it is really important. I carry that through in the last four years. I have been liaison of the underground utilities. I've been part of the vision board, liaison there. And so I continue to be involved as much as I can. There's four things that I really want to focus on if I do get elected. One of them was the budgeting process. And we have to go through the right strategic planning and SWOT analysis strengths and weaknesses to really develop our, our goals correctly. But I also want to stretch it out so we can look at historical and, and, and projected what the path that we're going into. I think that's really important for us to make those policy decisions. I also want to focus on some of those major projects that are coming up, which, you know, I've gone I've gone up to Tallahassee, you know, talk with FPL, you know, gone gone really gone in depth on those types of projects. One of my big ones is getting our assets under control our public works of really want to work with our, our counsel, our manager in developing this process that we really take care of the stuff that we already have putting the proper inspection, repair maintenance program together, that is regularly inspected on daily basis, weekly basis, and there are repair mechanisms that once that is put forward, things can be taken care of. So you know, those are some of the the big things and just so you know that you know, I'm a long term person As a person that thinks about vision I think that we can't be looking at our toes we need to be looking at the horizon when we're making these decisions. You know and i think that more important than anything is that council members really need to understand what makes Key Biscayne great you know, it's not all about property values beaches and stuff like that. You know is what is the people so is how we're being neighborliness friend friendly friendships and, and all right, you're off. Yeah, you're
Thom Mozloom :right. That's way more than 90. Yes. Okay.
Tony Winton :About to hit the get Jeopardy music to think about like the timer. It only runs 30 seconds.
Brett Moss :I have too long of list. That's my problem. Sorry. Good.
Thom Mozloom :That's okay. Well, thank you for coming. It was great having you with us here and I look before you leave, Tony, I I found it.
Tony Winton :Oh, awesome.
Thom Mozloom :Absolutely. This is gonna be our new thing. We're gonna even get you another one. Yes,
Tony Winton :that is that is great. And we're talking about the anti social social club.
Thom Mozloom :The T shirt. I found it online. Vice Mayor Moss came in with it on and it's incredibly impressive. So that's gonna be our new uniforms.
Tony Winton :I think I think that works. All right, Brett Moss. Thank you very much. Thanks for being our guest. We'll be back in just a minute. And we're back on anti social. I'm Tony Winton.
Thom Mozloom :I'm Thom Mozloom and Tony those two guys couldn't be more different. Could they?
Tony Winton :Very much so absolutely.
Thom Mozloom :I mean, that was total contrast. I mean, Michael Kelly, you know He's a nice guy and he's gonna have he's gonna have a tough road to hoe running for the youth vote on Key Biscayne. When I was looking at the demographics, I'm not lying median age is 42 the vast majority of the population is 40 plus until you until you get below 10. And they can't vote.
Tony Winton :Right and we know the history historical trends not just in Key Biscayne, but really just generally about the percentage of turnout by age.
Thom Mozloom :Yeah, the super voter is usually over 60 I mean, that's that, you know, that's the super voter. So I mean, he better really get out there and energize his base to get to the polls or start mailing in those ballots. And Vice Mayor Moss you know, you could sense the frustration in his voice you could you could hear that he's getting too much information to distill in too little time to make good decisions.
Tony Winton :Right. It is an interesting point, though about about the committee's and and it is something that other municipalities do use committees effectively. I'm not sure I completely understand that. And that's why I followed up with a question about trust because a committee system, basically everyone says, you're trusting the system to vet things. So when it comes in front of the Council, the tough questions have been asked,
Thom Mozloom :right. Absent of that trust, though, you're asking the voters to vote for candidates that are versed in depth on every single topic that will ever come before the village council. Nobody's qualified. There's nobody who's notified to do that.
Tony Winton :And it means you have giant committee meetings, what happens is instead of it being a committee, you have a committee of the whole as we would say, in Robert's Rules, the entire council talks into a committee so instead of moving efficiently through the business, and people taking whatever position they want to take and making their debate succinct and to the point, it means that you're you're having two kinds of meetings going on at the same time, and investigative interview meeting where you're asking questions, which of course you just heard, and I'm sure all the candidates feel the same way, and you're also trying to actually move stuff through. And what happens is, you get bottlenecks. You get gridlock. And four and a half hour meetings.
Thom Mozloom :and frustration people yelling at each other because at some point, even the best of us our patience wears thin. So, there was another topic that you wanted to talk about. I don't know that you you had the opportunity I did. I'm in the dark on this.
Tony Winton :So you know, it's it's kind of a musical topic. At least it made me think of one...
Kermit :It's not easy. Being green.
Tony Winton :No, I'm not talking about Sesame Street.
Thom Mozloom :We talked we talked about the resiliency bond. We got that.
Tony Winton :No, we're not talking about the resiliency bond.
Thom Mozloom :environmental issues -- green. I don't
Tony Winton :No....this is something in one of our very first shows we talked about,
Thom Mozloom :dude, I can't remember the first segment.
Tony Winton :Okay, the first show. All right. We're painting the bike lanes green in Key Biscayne. Yes. And it's been decided and re decided and decided again. And apparently, it was one more attempt at the meeting on Tuesday,
Ignacio Segurola :I would again ask this council to reconsider. Number one, painting the bike lanes green. I don't think we need it. And I definitely don't think we need in this calendar year, and especially when we're going to be paying to improve a road that does not belong to us belongs to the county. That's $200 or $200,000. Right there we can save. And I would also ask the council to reconsider the entirety...,
Mike Davey :Council Member, respectfully, these these things have been voted on Chad, you can you can start.
Ignacio Segurola :I understand that. I understand they've been voted on I'm saying not fund them as part of the budget. So yes, we voted on - they passed. What I'm saying is don't fund it.
Thom Mozloom :Now. You can't wait, stop.
Tony Winton :Okay, stop that. We stopped it. That was -- I'm sorry. That was Councilman Ignacio segurola and the Mayor, Mike Davey.
Thom Mozloom :Okay. Well, this is an issue that's been voted on.
Tony Winton :Yes. More than once,
Thom Mozloom :more than once. Can we get Vice Mayor moss back in here? I mean,
Tony Winton :he's probably he's probably out of here so fast.
Thom Mozloom :Oh my goodness. Yeah, this is exactly what he was talking about their vote. And then the answer is okay, so the two objections is that two ways around it is we don't need this on a county road.
Tony Winton :Right.
Thom Mozloom :But they're your residents who are riding on the county road right?
Tony Winton :Yes. and also Visitors to the key.
Thom Mozloom :Did you just have a another fatality another bicycle fatality just
Tony Winton :Yes, there are fatalities that happen on a very sadly a very regular basis. It's a tremendous spot for cyclists. It draws people not just to Virginia key but all the way into Key Biscayne as well. . And you know, there was a horrible, tragedy That led to a fatality not not not too long ago.
Thom Mozloom :And the answer is no, no, let's not. We don't have to go back and vote again on it. Let's just not fund it. But isn't that what voting on it actually means? It's not like we're going through the Congress. You know, that this senate votes? Yes. And the Congress says, Well, we control the purse strings. That's not how local government works.
Tony Winton :It's a division that keeps coming up. And I'm not really sure what the purpose is. It doesn't seem like there was an attempt to just persuade anyone. None of the facts changed since the last two times it came up
Thom Mozloom :and is this is the is the village so strapped for cash that it needs to find these chunks of money to strip out of the budget this year?
Tony Winton :Well, we that's part of the debate that's going on here. The village of Key Biscayne has a very low millage rate, in part because the property values it's an affluent island, the property values are high, but the total amount of taxation, whether you look at it in terms of millage or whether you look at it in a per capita basis...
Thom Mozloom :I get it, but projects like this and correct me if I'm wrong are usually match funded. So
Tony Winton :yeah, they're state funding that that helps with this. Yeah,
Thom Mozloom :correct. So it's not. So you already voted to accept state funding and now you're going to what give it back to the contract
Unknown Speaker :as I understand it, that we would have if we didn't go forward with it. We would have to extricate ourselves, "we." the village would have to extricate itself from the contract.
Thom Mozloom :Wow. It's it's amazing to me that these issues are circular. Like I like these are the issues that you and I have talked about seem to me to be circular. They come they they come and they go and then they come back and they come back. every issue. Everything that is passed is a boomerang bill. We'll vote on it now. And we rate comes back right at Yeah, you know, six months later,
Tony Winton :right. Well, we're looking at this, as you heard from our our candidates here, it's a divided in the case of Councilmember moss, the Vice Mayor. There's some dysfunction going on in the village council. So now you heard from candidate Kelly, you know that there's that he feels the division seeping into the island. And coming up ahead, we have the in the background of what would normally be a competitive process for council, 10 candidates. We have the bond issue, the bond issue, and two big things coming up. Just to tell our listeners about that will we will be following up on future episodes. One, we told you that a political action committee has been formed, protect kb paradise.org. They've already launched a website, their videos up there. So we've got one set of folks definitely pushing the bond. And we've learned that the Key Colony Homeowners Association on Monday will be holding a meeting to the Board of Directors will be they'll be asked to formally oppose the bond on behalf of the condo association. And the interesting aspect there is that Louisa Conway who is president of that association is one of the candidates and we're hoping Ms. Conway and the other some of the other
Thom Mozloom :Yeah when is she coming on
Tony Winton :I have had not not No response from Ms. Conway. You have the right information? Yes. We have been sending the correct addresses. We have been putting the invitations publicly in the chats. And Ms Conway. Mr. Chapelli. The other two candidates have not been on must have not not been on as well.
Thom Mozloom :Interesting. Interesting.
Tony Winton :I'm sorry, that would be Jennifer Allegra. And Mr. Figueredo. none of them -- Mr. Figueredo, his campaign manager did get back to us. And we're waiting to hear back so hopefully we'll get that person on right.
Thom Mozloom :But the condo thing is sort of disturbing. They're going to ask the entire condo association to oppose a measure that a candidate for village council opposes.
Tony Winton :Monday we'll find out what happens. And does she hold some position on the condo board as well? She is a director from one of the four buildings in Key Colony, and she is was elected by her colleagues on that board to be the president. And the resolution that's going to be considered --at least As of now, it could change-- would grant the president of that great leeway to basically do anything that was necessary to oppose the bond
Thom Mozloom :it's the key colony takeover of the key. That's what's going on here.
Tony Winton :Well, you know, I I think it's this
Thom Mozloom :great mystery
Tony Winton :Yeah, there's that there are other names for that for that but that's that's that's that's I promised folks I won't use the one I I not gonna use it. No. All right.
Thom Mozloom :I guess this is concludes another
Unknown Speaker :show. This concludes another show of antisocial the program where we we love social media. We just don't like the smart parts of it. The dumb parts of it rather. No, I'm tired.
Thom Mozloom :Yeah, I think it's time for lunch.
Tony Winton :It is time for lunch. But you know what, let's de-fund it.
Thom Mozloom :Yeah, I'm not paying for it though.
Tony Winton :This is WSQF-LP 94.5 blink radio, Key Biscayne. Peace out, Everyone,
Thom Mozloom :be safe.
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