“Thrilling” and “exciting” were two of the adjectives Betty Sime Conroy could offer after learning that the referendum spearheaded by the Key Biscayne Neighbors Association officially gained enough signatures to earn a spot on the Nov. 3 ballot.
“I’ve never seen a community come together so quickly, so positively,” she said. “It was a beautiful thing.”
The referendum for Village of Key Biscayne voters — the first since the $100 million General Obligation Bond passed in 2020 with a 56.54% approval – would require a vote when it comes to $50 million-plus (over a three-year cycle) infrastructure projects, like the current stormwater proposal being considered.
Sime Conroy, a former two-term Council member, said she was told Monday that 913 of the 1,151 signatures that were collected by a group of 35 volunteers were approved by the Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections. The goal was 839, or 11% of the Village’s 7,628 eligible voters.
“We are officially, legally sufficient and on the November ballot,” she said Monday evening, although the Village Council still must give the customary final stamp of approval as to the proper ballot wording.
The volunteers were stationed at Winn-Dixie on weekends, or at the Golden Hog, or even canvassing their condo neighbors, for example.
“Very definitely it was a grassroots effort,” Sime Conroy said. “So many people did a tremendous amount of work. Some people brought in 50 or 60 names, even 70 or 80. It’s a lot of work.”
Betty Sime Conroy, one of the community members spearheading the referendum efforts.
First, the 35 “circulators,” or signature gatherers, had to make sure the person they interviewed was an actual Key Biscayne resident who also was a registered voter. Some needed further explanation, while others knew about the current project.
Then, after gathering a dozen signatures, they would have to be notarized.
“When you hire a (outsource) company, it would cost like $23,000 just to get 800 signatures,” Sime Conroy explained. “Here, we have residents, our volunteers … it was such a wonderful community effort. We did it in 44 days!”
She also said the 35 volunteers did not experience any negativity while conducting the search for signatures.
The Key Biscayne Neighbors Association did hire a municipal attorney, Amanda Hand, from Miami, as well as consulting with Village Attorney Chad Friedman.
“There’s a certain procedure (to follow),” Sime Conroy said.
The “issue” that led to the referendum is that some say the Village has been overspending, especially when it comes to the stormwater rebuild to thwart flooding from high-impact storms and major rainfalls.
Earlier this spring, Sime Conroy told Islander News, that with $8 million having been spent on consultants and a Zone 1 project estimated “around $83 million, but that’s without a shovel in the ground, so that’s always more,” the concern is additional spending.
“The problem is, it’s really unknown. They are just estimating,” she said.
In the current context (ballot wording will be much shorter), the petition reads, in part:
This change shifts the ultimate decision-making power for major multi-million-dollar drainage and flood control investments directly to the residents, ensuring taxpayer oversight on the Village’s most expensive infrastructure commitments.
The amendment requires that any large-scale stormwater or flood prevention efforts must be approved by a majority of voters if the total cost is estimated to exceed $50 million over a three-year (budget cycle) period.
With the recent Council approval to choose an injection well pumping system from GIT Consultants, LLC over a more comprehensive plan proposed by AECOM’s engineers, “We don’t know how much it’s going to cost (without the final plans),” Sime Conroy told Islander News last month.
The Nov. 3 ballot for Key Biscayne residents, at least, could include a mayoral race; three Council seats are open; Gov. Ron DeSantis’ just-announced property tax reduction proposal; the open State Representative District 113 seat; Maria Elvira Salazar hoping to retain her Congressional seat; and now, the local referendum.
“November should be quite an election,” Sime Conroy said, laughing.
First, though, she wants to do something to celebrate the great work by the volunteers and those who signed.
“Of course, we still have a lot of work ahead of us,” she said, about further educating the public as to what the ballot wording means. “That’s a whole other project.”