Mayor Teri Johnston and the Key West City Commission honored Dr. Jonathan C. Carey, who recently received the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his 5,000 hours of service to the United States of America through community development and emergency services.
Dr. Carey is a minister, author, certified life coach, an Assemblies of God USA commissioned chaplain, and the lead pastor of Glad Tidings Tabernacle in Key West. He has served as chair for the faith based juvenile justice program for Monroe County, served as disaster response chaplain throughout the country on a volunteer basis, and served as a volunteer counselor during the aftermath of the George Floyd killing. Dr. Carey taught crisis and trauma care for debriefing purposes. He has volunteered as a worker during rebuilds after storms, developed a food assistance program and served in it, and served as a counselor on Native American reservations. He has also served as a member of Key West Cares, and as a junior league baseball, football, and soccer coach. The President’s Lifetime Achievement Award was initially established by President George W. Bush as the President’s Volunteer Service Award. It has become the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award and is the most prestigious national recognition of extraordinary service. “It an honor to live in the greatest city in the greatest nation and to add value to the greatest people on the earth,” he told the commission as he accepted the award with his wife Shena.
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Mayor Teri Johnston and the City Commission, in recognition of his 100th birthday, have proclaimed June 15th Frank Toppino Day.
Mr. Frank, as many of his friends call him, was born on June 15, 1923 in Winter Park, Florida to Charley and Orsolina Toppino. Charley Toppino and Sons was established in the 1920s and moved to Homestead in 1933. As a teenager, Frank worked his first job driving trucks from Homestead down to Marathon, delivering potable water to contractors building bridges over the overseas railroad via ducts after the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 washed away the tracks. By the 1940s, the family and business relocated to Key West. Mr. Frank enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1941 and spent 15 months in China. He was honorably discharged as Staff Sergeant in 1945. Back in Key West he married Betty Rose in 1947 and they had three children, Daniel, Ramona and Richard. Mr. Frank has been an active and generous member of the community. He has as a member of the Florida Keys Educational Foundation, Mel Fisher Museum, Military Affairs Committee, Monroe County Contractors Association, and the Sunrise Rotary. He served on the Board of Trustees of the Florida Keys Community College, served as President of the Key West Chamber of Commerce, and was appointed to the Key West Housing Authority Board of Commissioners in 1991 by former Mayor Dennis Wardlow and has served continuously for 32 years. His service and generosity have been acknowledged by many awards and recognitions. Mr. Frank was the 1993 Chamber of Commerce Hall of Fame Award recipient and he won the Florence Spottswood Humanitarian of the Year Award. The Frank P. Toppino Poinciana Gardens Senior Living Complex was dedicated in honor of him in recognition of his outstanding dedicated service providing for the housing needs of the community. This 100th milestone was celebrated during the June 8th City Commission meeting where he was greeted with a standing ovation and a chocolate cake. The community will see some changes in the way the City of Key West conducts City Commission meetings. Beginning with the June 8th meeting, there will be a morning session to address the consent agenda, presentations, discussion items, and proclamations. This session begins at 9 a.m. at City Hall. The evening session, which begins at 5 p.m. the same day, will include ordinances and other public hearing items. The Mayor and City Commission will have the ability to move any item from the morning session to the evening session for discussion. Public comment will be part of the morning session. However, evening commenting can be requested of the commission. In addition, the commission will continue to accept and take into consideration the e-comments submitted by the public on the City’s website. By resolution, the Commission voted to approve the change in procedure. Instead of meeting twice a month, they will meet on the second Thursday of the month. There will be no commission meeting in the month of August. Key West Division Chief of Emergency Management Gregory Barroso convened a briefing of the City’s emergency management command staff on the first day of hurricane season to ensure everyone is refreshed on hurricane plans and preparedness. After the briefing, Barroso and City Manager Albert Childress met with the National Weather Service’s Meteorologist in Charge Chip Kasper and Warning Coordinator Meteorologist Jon Rizzo for a discussion of protocols. Key West City offices will be closed on Monday, May 29th in honor of Memorial Day. During the day, there will be several services honoring the men and women who have died serving our country in the U.S. military.
The Navy League will host a ceremony at 9 a.m. at the Key West Cemetery at the USS Maine Memorial. At 10 a.m., a ceremonial laying of the wreaths will be held at the Veterans Memorial at Bayview Park. At 11 a.m. there will be a ceremony at the Southern Keys Cemetery on Big Coppitt Key. The City of Key West wants to make tenants and landlords aware that a new bill signed into law in Tallahassee overrides a tenant-protection ordinance passed by the City Commission in August of 2022. House Bill 1417 supersedes any local government regulation of landlord-tenant relationships. In August, the City Commission passed an amendment to Section 18-710 of the City’s Code of Ordinances that would require landlords to provide sixty days’ notice before ending a month-to-month rental agreement or increasing rent by more that 5 percent. However, the new state law reduces the notice period to between 15 to 30 days. The commission gave staff direction to start the process of rescinding the moot ordinance. The state law goes into effect on July 1. City Manager Albert Childress, Commissioner Billy Wardlow, Retiring City Manager Patti McLauchlin, Capt. Timothy Anson, Richard Estevez, Clerf Alexandre, Albert Munzanarez, Danna Correa, Natalie Arguello, Jasmine Cisneros-Montes, Ernest Liz, Eric Sellers, Jacob Rookey, Nathan Bremer, and Fire Chief Alan Averette. A group of dedicated Key West High School students graduated this morning from the Key West Fire Department’s Firefighters Academy. Proud families, members of the Key West Fire Department, and City officials were on hand during the ceremony to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of these students who have invested two years of training for their future careers as first responders.
These students earned certifications in Firefighter I, Emergency Medical Responder, and Hazmat Awareness. Capt. Timothy Anson, who leads the academy, praised the group for the tenacity it requires to finish the academy, noting that they would do their grueling physical training in the early hours before heading off to a full day of high school. Fire Chief Alan Averette congratulated the students and said he hopes they pursue a career in firefighting and EMS. He pointed out current members of the department as graduates of the academy. “But whatever career you pursue,” he said, “these skills will always be with you. I look forward to welcome you if you decide to become of part of this department.” Among the attendees of the graduation ceremony was retired Fire Chief Billy Wardlow, one of the founders of the academy and now a city commissioner. The two-year fire academy trains future firefighters while they’re attending their final two years of high school and provides them, upon completion, the equivalent training of a Certified Firefighter I, which puts them halfway through the training required to become a Key West Firefighter. Commissioners Mary Lou Hoover and Lissette Carey, Clinic Coordinator Myriam Carter, Regional Vice President Maureen Dunleavy, Mayor Teri Johnston, Vice Mayor Sam Kaufman, Office Manager Doreen Mobley, Case Manager Supervisor and Therapist Megan Davidson, Program Coordinator Carol Dochow, and Commissioners Clayton Lopez and Billy Wardlow. Mayor Teri Johnston and the Key West Commission, during Tuesday’s regular meeting, proclaimed this week as National Mental Health Awareness Month.
“The City of Key West takes great pride in recognizing agencies who strive to better the lives of our residents through continuous dedication and commitment,” reads the proclamation. The Guidance/Care Center provides the full continuum of behavioral health care to the residents of the City of Key West including a 24/7 hotline to mobile crisis response as well as community-based services at schools, jails, and the regional juvenile detention facility. The organization provides residential mental health at The Heron, an assisted living facility for adults struggling with mental illness, an inpatient unit for detox and crisis stabilization and the Personal Growth Center Clubhouse for adults. This year the Guidance/Care Center celebrates 50 years of providing comprehensive, integrated community behavioral health services to people of all ages. “The Guidance/Care Center has helped thousands of Florida Keys residents with mental health and substance use issues,” reads the proclamation, “by helping people cope and change, by maintaining their family structure, by assisting them in obtaining housing and by helping residents find ways to contribute to the benefit of our community.” “We love what we do for this community,” said Regional Vice President Maureen Dunleavy. “Mental health and substance abuse treatment have never been more important. Thank you for this honor and recognizing our 50th anniversary.” In recognition of the vital role that our merchants and seamen play in Key West’s history, culture and economy, Mayor Teri Johnston and the City Commission proclaimed May 22nd Maritime Day during this week’s meeting.
In times of war and peace, the American Merchant Marine has been dedicated to the orderly flow of goods and materials to and from the shores of our nation. May 22nd marks the anniversary of the day the SS Savannah sailed from U.S. shores in 1819 to Liverpool on the first successful crossing of the Atlantic by a ship using steam propulsion. “Each year on this day,” reads the proclamation, “men and women from all our United States currently serving in the American Merchant Marine are honored, along with those who served with such dedication and valor and those many seamen who lost their lives in our wars and conflict.” Propeller Club Port of Key West President Ron Demes accepted the proclamation on behalf of the Propeller Club and the Maritime Historical Society. Key West each year pays homage to the 250,000 merchant mariners who served in WWII, 6500 of whom lost their lives. Hundreds were prisoners of war. Over 800 ships were sunk or severely damaged. On May 22nd, said Demes, members of the Propellor Club will lay a wreath on the sea in honor of the lives lost. |
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