Two on BOCC want a PR guru
BY ANN HENSON
Citizen Staff
The Monroe County
Commission should hire a communications expert to help it gain community
support on controversial issues, two board members said in the wake of
two particularly contentious issues.
Public dissension over
the county's proposed purchase of the Hickory House restaurant and
potential approval to relax height and density restrictions on
affordable housing projects left Commissioner Dixie Spehar saying she
wants the county to hire a public information officer to help the board
educate the public.
"We need someone who will
be proactive. It has to be clear and concise so there is some trust in
what we are doing," she said.
The county has a public
information officer who is responsible for updating the county's Web
site, answering questions from the public and media, and distributing
press releases on county events and accomplishments. Spehar said Public
Information Officer Jonathan Weinshank reports to County Administrator
Tom Willi, who does not always share commissioners' opinions. She wants
someone independent of the county's internal politics who can explain a
project, answer questions and counter rumors with facts.
Spehar cited the board's
failure to respond to criticism over the height and density issue as the
reason why a developer scuttled plans to build four work-force housing
projects throughout the
Florida Keys.
Lloyd Boggio, CEO of Carlisle Development Group, told The Citizen he
abandoned plans because the
County Commission
postponed the public hearings to increase the allowable height from 35
feet to 44 feet and double the density for units smaller than 750 square
feet to 12 per acre.
Boggio said he took the
postponement from the October meeting to the November meeting as an
impending rejection. Commissioners said they and the public needed
another month to digest the issue.
"We didn't do a good job
of educating the public," Spehar said.
She also blamed the
county staff for "not getting their act together" and scheduling the
public hearings without making the background material available until a
couple of days before the October meeting. "This is not acceptable," she
said. "If we are going to do something, staff has to work with us. They
just dragged their feet."
In the Hickory House
case, Spehar said a widely circulated e-mail criticizing the purchase
"makes the public feel that we are trying to do something shady." She
said a new rumor claims the county plans to hire a local restaurateur to
operate the restaurant without going out for bids. "We have to go out on
bids," she said. "I will do nothing else."
The county plans to buy
the restaurant for $3.1 million. The price was controversial because the
county had agreed to pay $3.7 million before receiving two appraisals —
one that said the property was worth that amount, and one that said it
was worth $1 million less. Rather than seeking a third appraisal or
having a third party determine which appraisal was more accurate, Willi
and new County Mayor Mario Di Gennaro negotiated the price.
"The reason I've been
quiet lately is it looks like I'm whining," Spehar said. "A commissioner
is not as powerful as a [public information officer] who is working
separately from the commission where it's not like me trying to convince
you of my thought." The information has to be unbiased and keep
personalities out of it, she said.
Di Gennaro agreed with
Spehar.
"There's been
miscommunication between the press and the commission," he said Friday.
"I think hiring a public information officer is a pretty good idea."
Two commissioners said
they do not think hiring another public information officer is
necessary, and one is skeptical but open to considering Spehar's
proposal.
Commissioner Sylvia
Murphy said she believes Willi does an effective job of providing public
information.
"I think our public is
very well-educated and is becoming more so over time," she said. "I do
believe that if county staff, including commissioners, do their homework
and act in the best interests of Monroe County, that is public
information enough."
Murphy, who attended a
recent Workforce Housing Task Force meeting, said board member Jim
Saunders was tapped to do some public relations for the group. "But I
feel that until they stop talking about raising the height limits, they
are not going to get people behind them," she said. "People don't object
to affordable housing, they object to the way it will affect the Keys.
When you hit a roadblock four times, that should tell you something."
Commissioner George
Neugent, who also attended the meeting, said he walked out scratching
his head.
"Someone made the
comment, with straight-face impunity, 'We need a PR person because the
residents don't understand when they speak of overdevelopment in the
Keys.' The hell they don't," he said. "Many feel this task force has
been led to look at only one narrow view of the affordable housing
issue: going vertical, increasing density, reducing parking, while
facilitating the removal of truly affordable housing" by replacing
mobile-home parks with pricey condos.
Commissioner Sonny McCoy
said if he — an architect who has studied height limits — cannot convey
why the height limits should be raised, "do you think someone else can?"
"I haven't heard anything
more about it," he said of Spehar's proposal. "When she brings it up, I
will listen to her concerns."
ahenson@keysnews.com |
