The Islamorada Community Alliance has a long list of areas of local government we’ve covered over the last two years.  We are proud of our efforts and the opportunity to keep residents informed. Click here for a partial list of concerns we addressed.

Our long awaited election is over and the results are in:

Ana Richards-Seat 1

Steve Friedman-Seat 2

Sue Miller-Seat 3

Don Horton-Seat 4

Sharon Mahoney-Seat 5

There is only one new council member: Sue Miller, but don’t think for a second that it will be “business as usual.”

Can one person change the outcome of Village decisions?  You bet she can!

I have had the pleasure of working closely with Sue for the past several years. She is always prepared, has historical context of council decisions, and knows the facts.

Decisions can and should shift when people encounter new information.

This is not a new premise, it has been a time tested method of making the right call.

A strong leader, armed with all the facts, often influences the others.

It may not be easy, since old habits are hard to break but much needed change is in our future.

I checked the voting records for 2026.

 

The Islamorada Council, through October, passed 119 resolutions.  Of those all but 6 resolutions passed by unanimous vote.  That’s 113 unanimous votes.

I question the thought process.

Do we record dissenting opinions made by council members on measures where a vote is necessitated? Shouldn’t they be in the minutes? Let’s institute this practice.

Ordinances demonstrate a similar trend with the council of 2025 and 2026.  In 2025, 21 ordinances were passed.

 All but two were unanimous votes.  19 out of 21.

The 2026 ordinances showed similar trends – 11 ordinances approved only one that wasn’t unanimous: 1 by a 4-1 vote.

 

Group think is contagious.

The members of council for the last two years certainly seem to have differing opinions about many important issues.  But then vote together a vast majority of the time.

Council: Do not approve an issue you don’t agree with in order to curry favor with your other council members. That is a betrayal of your pledge to residents.

Have your reasons for dissent published in the record.

Your principles should trump “going along to get along.”

Fight for your dissenting opinion, based on research and facts.

Certainly the Council must struggle to keep up with 800-page agendas!

 All of the council members in the last two years have other jobs.  Most of them depend on staff briefings behind closed doors to understand the complex agendas.

This approach seems to often leave the public to guess why decisions are made.

Unfortunately, Council members rarely seemed interested in the public’s concerns.

Perhaps our new member will usher in a new trend, a knowledge of issues and determination to get to the facts.

I believe that a council member armed with researched facts and a viewpoint carefully articulated can prevail. 

In Sue Miller, council members will have a collaborator to assist in gaining a majority vote on concerns they believe in and campaigned for.

I believe that decisions based on the facts will improve public participation in protecting the fragile environment, lowering taxes and addressing infrastructure needs. 

I have been writing editorials for this newsletter since March of 2025. and I have learned a great deal.

Council-member-elect Sue Miller has been writing the newsletter for quite a few years, covering so many ways we could improve our local government.

Here to fore, those needs have often been ignored.

Now Sue Miller will have a voice…  and a vote.  And I know that she will make a difference.

For most of the editorials I have written over the last two years, I closed with “elections have consequences.”

Let’s hope that proves to be very true in Islamorada over the next two year.

Tom