KW MAYOR WORKS THE ISSUE IN ACQUISITION OF GLEN ARCHER MIDDLE SCHOOL JULIO AVAEL
TALK SHOW HOST KEY NEWS
CC:Tere’s been movement. Originally when we had that referendum, the property on Trum- ble Road was in the deal.Te city commission took that out. Tey didn’t want to trade that property. I had to go back and adjust the dea. Tere’s a piece of property we have on Stock Is- land that we could possibly trade the interest of the school board for a piece of property, because they want to move out of Trumble Road and move the school buses to another location and get rid of that property in the future. And there’s another option in there that we’re talking about — possibly remodeling it and possibly lease it back to the city for 100 years. It still stays in the taxpayers hands. We remodel the whole thing. Tey can move right in their offices and won’t have to put out any money.
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A N I N T E R V I E W W I T H Key West Mayor Craig Cates
JA/Julio Avael: You are now listening to the morning news with special guest Mayor Craig Cates. You’ve had a number of issues last year that you took the bull by the horn and one of the primary focuses was acquiring Glen Archer Middle School. Tell us about the events that led to your decision to acquire the school. Craig Cates/CC: When I was running for elec- tion, they were talking about rebuilding the City Hall down at Simonton and Angela streets for $18 million and then needing seven to nine vari- ances to put it in that location. What a massive building just taking up the whole block there. I think that because we have some beautiful his- toric buildings around Key West, we should use one of them and restor, especially when we lost Harris School. Tat broke my heart to sell that off and now it’s just sitting vacant trying to rent.
JA: Yes, it is. Te Key West city Commission lis- tened to your proposals and supported you by voting to have the city negotiate with Monroe County School District to acquire Glen Archer Elementary School for use as the City Hall. It appear this very critical issue has died. So what is the status of your negotiation and who is negoti- ating for the city and for the school board? CC:Te commission put a deadline of the end of March to come back with some kind of deal to approve. Te ones that are negotiating are Shawn Smith, City Manager Jim Schull and As- sistant City Manager Mark Finnigan, myself at the meetings, Superintendent of Schools Joe Burke and their attorney Richard Collins and construction engineer Fred Sims. Tose are the ones that we have met. We’ve been trying to come up with a deal that both sides like and can take back to the school board and the commis- sion for approval.
JA: Has there been any movement with regards to your negotiations?
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JA: So that’s on the table at the moment? CC:Yes. We’re talking about that. Our attorneys are trying to work that out. When we get closer we will bring it to the commission and the school board.
JA: Interesting you did mention the turn of point property in that the recent vote of referen- dum reflected 70 percent approval by the city’s vote as to have the city commission begin nego- tiations with the Monroe County School Dis- trict. Overwhelmingly support of your proposal must have made you very proud, Mayor. CC: It really did, because I was getting turned down by the commission like it wasn’t a good idea and wasn’t a good deal.
JA: It must of frustrated you not to have support from your colleagues. Are there any road blocks to this acquisition? CC:Te road block is the commission. Some still think a new building is better then restoring an old one. I have stressed so many times that our history here in Key West, our historic build- ings, are one of the big draws for tourists to Continued
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