NORTH CAROLINA MAN DIES WHILE DIVING THE DUANE WRECK OFF KEY LARGO

pronounced dead. Foul play does not appear to be a factor. Autopsy results are pending.

According

Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, 65-year-old Perry Lane Anderson was diving the Duane wreck off Key Largo when the incident occurred. Other divers assisted the man back to a Rainbow Reef Dive Center commercial dive boat at about 9:40 a.m. where CPR began immediately.

Anderson was taken to Mariners Hospital in Tavernier where he was

The Duane wreck is located 100 to 130 feet beneath the surface off Key Largo.

— Keys Weekly staff report information so we can provide you (the council) sound policy and guidance.”

Some council members, including Mayor Buddy Pinder, said he learned about the April 13 item when he received his book with agenda items. He told Yates he would have liked a briefing before discussion at a meeting.

“I would appreciate it if you (Yates) and Dan would have called me and said, ‘Hey, help me understand this.’ I’d like to understand what we’ll be voting on,” Pinder said.

Yates said his door’s open every week for a briefing.

“I reached out to everyone at the beginning of the week to talk about the meetings we had. I’m happy to spend as much time as you guys want getting briefed on this,” Yates said.

The dais elected to pull the item from the agenda. It was never brought back.

Fast forward to May 18. Gulizio told council members that he went to work weeks before only to be advised by a staff member that he was about to be fired. He came in another week and was advised by another staff member that he was “resigning today.”

“I didn’t come from New York and say, ‘Hey, you need to change everything.’ What I did was come and read what the area of critical state concern says in terms of the 10 goals and read the comprehensive plan and its goals, policies and objectives,” he said. “Planning is a process of gaining information, analyzing that information so that I can provide you, the council and community members, with the best possible recommendation. I don’t vote on things. I’ve always been respectful of my position that I make recommendations. I don’t approve anything.”

Gulizio said the idea that the village shouldn’t gather information because members of council aren’t sure what that information would be used for speaks to a lack of trust or faith in the department.

“I’ve heard from members of the community speaking before the council saying ‘why are they proposing all these changes? We don’t need these changes. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it,’” Gulizio said. “The only thing I tried to communicate to the council in my time here is that while the process may not be broken for a handful of people who benefit from securing permits through this process … when I look at the data that’s out there, whether it’s the amount of groundwater we’re consuming, which is 240% more than we consumed in 1976. … those are a failure of the regulatory process from my perspective.”

Gulizio said he’s happy to do whatever makes the most sense for the community and council. He told the dais at the meeting that he’d be more than happy to stay and fight for the issues or step down from the position the next day. But he said he couldn’t perform the duties satisfactorily in an environment of uncertainty and angst over whether he’d be fired.

“My office is always open. If someone has a problem they can come talk to me. But the idea that I can propose something as a recommendation and never have a conversation with somebody but they make 14 phone calls riling people up on it, it’s not a functional environment for me. I don’t work well with the coconut telegraph. The idea that we have this secret communication system that runs around and I find out things from staff members of what’s being said, that doesn’t work for me.”

It’s unknown whether Gulizio’s position will be filled, as Yates said that discussion hasn’t taken place inside village hall. For now, the village’s planning director, Jennifer Deboisbriand, will take over the department. She was hired last December. The decision to bring a new person on is up to the village manager.

“It’s part of our responsibility to run the day-to-day operations here,” Yates told the Keys Weekly. “When we look at situations like this where we lose individuals, we try to look at the department as a whole to determine where our needs and gaps are and take an opportunity to build a department that’s most effective for servicing our residents.”

Council members received word of Gulizio’s firing Tuesday morning just before 10 a.m. Councilwoman Elizabeth Jolin expressed her disappointment in the decision in a phone call to Yates.

“I did try to get a better explanation for the reason and was dissatisfied,” she said. “My experience with Dan is that he has been nothing but professional with an ethical and moral compass that is sound and the village is in desperate need of that type.”

Councilman Mark Gregg said he didn’t know Gulizio’s departure was coming. But Gregg believed the breakup between Gulizio and the village was inevitable.

“To use his very own words in his statements at the meeting on the 18th, he might not be a good fit. He said the current situation was unsuitable. And if it was the right thing he said he would happily step down,” Gregg said.

Gulizio and Gregg met following the May 18 meeting. Gregg said Gulizio’s statements during the sitdown were similar to the ones made at the meeting.

“It just looked like he was headed in one direction and we were heading in another,” Gregg said.

The Keys Weekly reached out to Pinder for a comment and didn’t receive response before press time.