KPFD Commissioners to Host Town Hall Meeting

The Key Peninsula Fire District 16 Board of Commissioners will host a town hall event Sept. 14 at 6 p.m. at the Key Peninsula Civic Center to show how two Key Center properties the district purchased in 2021 fit into their strategic plan.

The need for the town hall stems from comments and online chatter that the property purchases were the primary reason KP voters failed to renew the $800,000-a-year Maintenance and Operations Levy in the Aug. 6 primary election.

Commissioner Stan Moffett proposed the town hall to “let everyone know what transpired with the property purchases, why (they were purchased), how we got to where we are today, and where we go moving forward.”

Moffett plans to present plans for the properties the district received from architecture firm Rice Fergus Miller in May 2023.

The town hall will be an opportunity for the public to ask questions of the commissioners and give feedback about what the district should do with the properties.

During the Aug. 13 bimonthly board meeting, Commissioner Cambria Queen asked for a second town hall in October (details were not available by press time) to discuss the M&O levy with the community before it once again appears on the Nov. 5 ballot. Another failure could result in the district losing up to six full-time firefighters/paramedics and the closure of one KP fire station, according to KPFD.