The Islamorada Village Council agreed to interview five candidates seeking to become the town’s 10th village manager during a special call meeting last week. One prospect, however, bowed out the
A battle has begun in Islamorada about the citizens right to attend Village Council meetings in person and the cityâs handling of public records requests.
Islamorada village government representatives said they are being overrun with public information requests at a time when the Village is also limiting attendance at council meetings because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Maria Bassett, Islamoradaâs acting village manager and finance director, shared a partial list of public information requests to illustrate the volume and complexity of some of the requests. Some are real estate-related generated by builders, permit technicians or Realtors seeking site information, ownership or lien information; others are residents investigating a topic.
Islamorada is limiting attendance at council meetings.
Maria Bassett, Islamoradaâs acting village manager, sent an email to those who attended the December village council meeting in person that concerns have since been raised about the number of individuals physically present at the council chambers in the Founders Park Community Center.
âWe are committed to minimizing these numbers for future meetings in an effort to protect Village Council members from potential community spread of coronavirus, which may result in death especially for individuals older than 65 years of age,â she wrote. âUntil the Village Council meetings are conducted fully in-person once again, as a result of the threat of Coronavirus to minimizing human life, please plan to participate in future hybrid meetings remotely via the Zoom application.â