City Manager Patti McLauchlin, during Tuesday’s City Commission meeting, brought back an important honor by naming Jacek Witczak the Employee of the Quarter.

Witczak came to work with the City in 2007 in public works. He was quickly promoted to the Facilities Maintenance Team, where he continues to keep the air conditioners running.

“Everyone who works for the City knows Jacek as the rock star,” said McLauchlin. She noted that he works many extra hours and performs many jobs above and beyond his job description. When the City needed lifeguards, he got certified.
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“You’ve done a great job,” she told him. “Thank you for your outstanding dedication, service and commitment to the City of Key West. We appreciate all that you do.”

The Florida Keys Council of the Arts is seeking Monroe County artists of all genres (visual, music, dance, literary, etc.) and Arts Organizations to apply for two grant opportunities. The deadline for Artist in Schools and Special Project grants is June 30 at 5pm. Applications are accepted online, and can be found at www.keysarts.com under the grants tab.
 
 The Artists in Schools Grant program invites teaching artists in the performing, visual, literary or historical arts into the classroom. Teachers and teaching artists are encouraged to collaborate on creative projects together to enhance the existing curriculum or to teach a new topic integrating the arts. All Monroe County public and private schools, as well as other organizations that serve children ages 5-18, are eligible to be partners for the teaching artist. This application is for the Fall 2022 semester. Artists in Schools grants are up to $2,000 per request.  
 
Special Project Grants are intended for arts organizations or individual artists in Monroe County. The grant is to provide short-term support to vital, creative projects that do not fit into the other grant categories. Special Project funding is limited to once in three years, up to $2,000 per request.  
 
Contact information:
Please call the Florida Keys Council of the Arts for suggestions and assistance at 305-295-4369 or by email to director@keysarts.com.  
 
The Florida Keys Council of the Arts is the leading arts and cultural organization in the Florida Keys. As the non-profit local arts agency in Monroe County, it connects audiences from around the world to galleries, theaters, museums, festivals, dance, music and more from Key Largo to Key West. The Council makes grants, supports Art in Public Places, and promotes the destination for its rich and diverse history in art and culture. The Arts Council provides services to visual and performing artists, arts organizations, students and the public, striving to instill a passion for and participation in the arts.  

 When long-time Monroe County Historian Tom Hambright retired earlier this year, the community wondered what would be next for the library’s Florida History Department. Monroe County welcomes veteran Florida Keys historian Dr. Corey Malcom of Key West as Lead Historian in the Florida Keys History Center (FKHC). He will continue the tradition of stewardship, knowledge, and understanding of the historical, cultural, and ecological diversity of the Florida Keys. The FKHC debuts later this summer with refreshed walls and furniture. He will join archivist Breana Sowers in the department. 
 
“Dr. Malcom is a world-class historian,” said Hambright. “His work with Spanish wrecks and slave ships is phenomenal. I look forward to his successful tenure at the Florida Keys History Center.”
 
Malcom specialized in researching the maritime past of the Florida Keys and the Bahamas. For many years, he served as Mel Fisher Maritime Museum’s Director of Archaeology, where he participated in shipwreck research projects, including the 1622 galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha, the 1700 English slaver Henrietta Marie, and the 1827 pirate-slaver Guerrero. He was also instrumental in bringing the Key West African Cemetery on Higgs Beach and its story to light.
 
“We welcome Dr. Malcom to the team,” said Director of Libraries Kimberly Matthews. “With his prestigious background, passion for our community, and exciting ideas for the future of the FKHC, the sky is the limit for what can be accomplished.”
 
Malcom graduated from Indiana and Nova Southeastern universities and earned a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Huddersfield for his historical and archaeological study of the wrecked 1564 galleon Santa Clara. Malcom is president of the Key West Maritime Historical Society and a Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary’s Advisory Council member.
 
Visit https://keyslibraries.org/fkhc/ for upcoming FKHC events and announcements.

​“Thanks for the memories!”
 
That’s the sentiment, and the thematic, of the 2022 Royal Campaign of Fantasy Fest, which will be the last to benefit A.H. of Monroe County (AH).
 
The AH Board made the decision Friday, May 27th to return the Campaign to the Tourism Development Association (TDA), who will choose a new direction for the King & Queen Campaign in 2023.
 
“The event itself is not concluding after this year,” stated Scott Pridgen, AH Executive Director/CEO, “and we also want to ensure no one misinterprets this as a conclusion to Fantasy Fest. That’s why we chose ‘Thanks For The Memories’. Our gratitude stretches across decades of Royal fundraising. This only alters who benefits from the Royal Campaign.”
 
“What an amazing partnership we have shared…and a legacy for the A.H. of Monroe County organization…and all who have run and been crowned Fantasy Fest Royalty!” TDA Board director Diane Schmidt remarked.
 
“We’re quite proud that the Agency has become more self-sustaining. It’s only fair that, next year and going forward,  another worthy organization reaps the many rewards of this over-the-top fundraiser,” offered AH Board of Directors President Rebecca Balcer.
 
Since 1989, the Royal Campaign fundraiser  (more commonly known as the King and Queen Campaign) also promoted awareness for those infected with, or affected by, HIV/AIDS, as well as the Agency’s programs like housing and emergency services.
 
Why now the change? It’s been suggested in the last couple years, but pandemic event closures placed any resolution on-hold. But even those years offered hints of how it could evolve, including the involvement of other local nonprofits in the ‘Community Wins!’ pivot staged in 2020.
 
“Our Board felt the honorable exit strategy was to announce our intention before Candidate Informational Sessions and not after The Royal Coronation,” Pridgen explained. “Everyone loves a TV series finale. This way, our rockstar Candidates and everyone who came before can go out in style.”
 
Christopher Elwell, Board member and himself King of Fantasy Fest 2010, also adds that “the legacy continues. Our Royal Family, which we call ROQK (‘Royal Order of Queens and Kings’) will continue to promote local philanthropy in their visibility.”

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The City of Key West wants to remind the community what is recyclable and what is not to improve our recycling rate and reduce contamination.
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Acceptable recycling items include paper, cardboard, clear, brown, or green glass bottles, plastics number 1 or 2 (Water bottles, soap, and shampoo bottles), clean aluminum foil, ferrous metals, soup cans, juice boxes, and cereal boxes.  If you're disposing of cardboard boxes, please break them down.  And used pizza boxes must have the greasy bottom torn off and put in with regular trash.

Plastic bags in the recycle bin are the number one contaminant.  If you package your recyclables in plastic, it makes them trash and contaminates the entire bin.  All of the blue bin contents will be disposed of as trash. 

When they reach the sorting plant in Pembroke Pines, plastic bags are like gum in the machines.  The plant must close the sorting machines for one or two hours daily to remove all plastic bags caught in the moving parts.  The main causes for sorting issues and jams are hoses, electrical cords, and metal hangers, which can cause fires.  None of the items that cause machine jams are recyclable. 

Other trash in the bin will also contaminate the entire load.  If the bin is contaminated with food, Styrofoam, or trash, it has to be picked up by the trash truck and cannot go into the recycling truck.  Plastic pump bottles can be recycled but are sure they're clean and disposed of the pump mechanism into the regular trash.
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Remembering these simple tips helps the community reach its recycling goals and keeps Key West beautiful.

​The Leapfrog Group, a Washington, DC-based organization aiming to improve health care quality and safety for consumers, recently released new Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades, which assign A, B, C, D and F letter grades to hospitals nationwide. Lower Keys Medical Center has maintained a “B” Grade.
 
“Last fall, Lower Keys Medical Center improved from a C Grade to a B Grade in the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades,” said David Clay, CEO of Lower Keys Medical Center. “We continue to strive for greater excellence in patient safety and pledge to honor the trust of our patients by being transparent about our progress while working toward the highest possible standards of safety and quality.”
 
Developed under the guidance of an expert panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assigns grades to approximately 2,600 US hospitals twice per year. It is calculated by top patient safety experts, peer-reviewed, fully transparent and free to the public.
 
About: Lower Keys Medical Center accreditations include The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval for Acute Care Hospitals, The Joint Commission as a Primary Stroke Center and for Laboratory Services, The American College of Cardiology as a Chest Pain Center, The American College of Radiology for Mammography and the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission for Echocardiography Services. The hospital has also been recognized with the American Heart Association’s “Get With The Guidelines”: Stroke Silver Plus Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll.