Item M12
ADD-ON
Rev 2/95
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY
Meeting Date: March 15-16, 2000
Division: DISTRICT I
Bulk Item: Yes
No
x
Department: Commissioner Harvey
AGENDA ITEM WORDING: Consideration of a waiver by the Board of
County Commissioners for the filing of the TDC application by the
Key West Botanical Garden Society for the Special Bricks and
Mortar/Capital Projects.
ITEM BACKGROUND: The Key West Botanical Garden Society's
application for the Special Bricks and Mortar/Capital Projects was
rejected by the Purchasing Department as being a few minutes late.
See attached.
PREVIOUS RELEVANT BOCC ACTION:
STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
TOTAL COST:
BUDGETED: Yes
No
COST TO COUNTY:
REVENUE PRODUCING: YES
NO
AMT. PER MONTH
YR
APPROVED BY:
County Atty
OMB/Purchasing Risk Mgmt.
W~ G--. ~
Commissioner Wilhelmina G. H ~
DIVISION DIRECTOR:
DOCUMENTATION: Incld:
To Follow:
Not Required:
DISPOSITION:
Agenda Item #: A. l~
-- .-..-- ----.------..-..--..-..-..----
To: Anne Hurlock, 293,8109
From: Joanne Meyers
March 9110 TOC appJicatlon
About 2:45, three of us, Paul Haye5, his secretary Mary. and I, were putting the
last of 20 copies. of the appliration Into envelopes. We were running that late
because the copfer, apparently as a result of overf'lf~atjng, had started Putting
t~ pages at a time through the machine, thus skipping a page. We had taken
t,me to make copIes of those pages and insert them 'nto the applications.
We were WOrkIng at La Oris., across from Smathers Beach, not that far from the
County Building. We sealed the 'ast envelopes and , set off with them at about 8
minutes to three. Many times f have driven the South Roosevelt route In no
particular hurry from my Own home on Grinnell Street near Seminary to the
Canr.er Center in exactly 15 minutes, so . rtattzed r (ouldn't dawdle but r
thought there was plenty of time.
I walled about 20 seconds before beIng ab'~ to turn left Gilt of LaBrls8, , did
exceed the speed limit on South Roosevelt (45 MPH), and I made the light at
Flagler, but had to wlit probablv J/l minutes to make my left turn onto Colfege
Avenue. I turnM Into Aguerro Drive, parked straight ahead at the rear and
hurried Into the rear door Opposite the Botanical C.arden's shed. , looked down
the corridor and did not see the sIgn "Purchaslng" where I had thought it was. ,
asked the lady who sits in the office to the right where purchasing was. She
prOMptly told me that It was at the end of the half, go right, and then it would
be on my right again. That probably took 1 5 seconds.
r hurried down the halt, found Purchasing, and was pUZZled by the room
seeming to be unusuaUy dark.. like the lights having been turned out. (J don't
know whether the lights were out or not-' was too upset by what followed to
take notIce.)' wafk.-d imo the room. paused for a few seconds, observed no one
thp.re, walked farther In and saw three or four women standing and talking
towards the rear of the office.
One asked. 'What do you want?" J explained that J had a TOe appUcation. Heads
shOok and' was informed that the appflcatlon was 'ate and that they could not
accept Il. They pOint<<!d to a clock high on the wall behind where I was stand'ng
that by that tIme read three minutes after three, I believe. Ilaoked at my watch
and it read les5 than One minute after three. I protested that that wasn't the
time I had to which I was told that wasn't acceptable. That wall clock and only
that clock '5 the measure oftfmeliness, , was told.
I am poor at f'@membering faces, but f believe one of th. women was Maxine
whom I had talked to at roc. I didn't even look at the other5 to see If I knew
them.
I explaIned that we had been done in sufficient time and would have been there
earlier if the (opl@r had not staned giving problems. They told me that neIther
that nor traffic was a valid excuse. , allowed that traffic had been somewhat of a
hindrance but did not elaborate.
'was really upset when Maxine scolded me for our leaving things to the last
minute. Wf! had started work, on the application as soon as we got the
paperwork and had worked throughout the Intervening time. We had not
delaved work; there were a lot of decisions to be made, several estimates to
nbtaln, and many confirmations to get from supporters and donors who were
frequently difficult to reach-but' did not say that. I Just looked daggers at her
and didn't say a word.
I think we had a second go-round about the tim~. I got no further than I had the
fjrst time.
When I started to gather up ttte envelopes to leave, they started falling. Maxine
kindly grabbed some of them and ar.ked If a box would be helpful. I said. 'Yes"
and one of the women produced a large box. Maxine helped me put the
envelopes In the box If J rp.member correctly. I left carrying the heavy box.
:~~nt bac~k to laBrtsa and ~Id my helpers what had happened, cleaned up, and
, !..-I..yt4-.L/ rh..t,Y..J.A~-d.J
Joanne Mrs
3/14/00
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."" I S M.~2 ,
To the Board of County Commissions:
I hope you can all find in your hearts to hear my plea on behalf of the
hundreds of people who have donated their time, resources and money
for the completion of the TDC application to benefit the Key West Botanical
Gardens.
Our volunteer, Joanne Meyers, was told she could not to drop off our
application at 3:02 p.m. on Thursday, March 9, 2000. She personally
carried in over 1400 a es of ocuments that were diligently worked on
and contain 0,00 worth of match services from our community.
This bid was for a NON - PROFIT grant of great stature for the benefit of
both the County and the TDC, versus a FOR PROFIT bid.
And what a great project this is!
Imagine the wonderful payback to the state, County and city for restoration
of both a historical and environmental site that was a gift by the Federal
government to our community in 1934.. and with all volunteer effort.
This is just Phase One of a five Phase project that will make the Key West
Botanical Gardens one of the premier environmental tourist attractions in
the Florida Keys. It is the largest frost free Garden in the Continental U.S.
This project has been on the table since December and everyone was
aware of our recent efforts to bring this "diamond in the rough" back to life
for the community and tourists to savor. To deny all this hard work over a
few minutes seems so meaningless to the intent of this whole matter.
We fell that we have substantially complied with the filing deadline
requirement.
To deny this organization just the opportunity to show off months of
unselfish hard work and loyal dedication by a group of volunteers
representing a cross section of the community to a public land project
would seem unfair because of the mass effort to get to this point
We appeal to your sense of fair play and trust that that the balance and
your wisdom will result in accepting our application for the TOC Bricks and
Mortar Capital project.
On behalf of all of the volunteers, donors, and friends of the Garden, I
thank you once again for your time and know you will do the right thing.
Respectfully submitted,
A[. I~
Carolann Sharkey
President
P.O. Box 2436, Key West, FL 33045 · (305) 296-1504 · email: KWBGS@aol.com