MILTON — These items are on the consent agenda for the regular City Council meeting set for 5 p.m. Tuesday at city hall:
1. Honoring fallen military members. Mayor Wesley Meiss asked the council to consider finding opportunities to honor Pfc. Brandon Austin Banner, a Milton High School alumnus killed last week, along with nine other soldiers, during a training exercise at Fort Hood, Texas. Meiss said a moment of silence to honor the 22-year-old will be held during Tuesday’s regular council meeting.
Banner entered active duty military service in March 2014 as a motor transport operator and was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 16th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, according to the Northwest Florida Daily News. He’d been at Fort Hood since July 2014.
Banner also played for Milton High School’s Panther football team and graduated in 2013, according to a council member.
Councilwoman Mary Ellen Johnson also suggested looking for opportunities to honor Capt. Jeff Kuss, the Blue Angels pilot who died last week during a training exercise jet crash in Tennessee.
Watkins said city staffers will explore options in honoring both men and update the council at next week’s meeting.
2. Courthouse referendum fact sheet. The council voted in favor of informing residents with a fact sheet regarding a potential new county courthouse being built in downtown Milton adjacent to the current courthouse location.
The fact sheet would be sent before the Aug. 30 primary election, which will feature a referendum for a half-cent sales tax to fund the judicial facility.
Watkins said the fact sheet cannot advocate for a position on the referendum, in accordance with state law. Attorney Heather Lindsay will review a final draft before the letter is sent. Watkins estimated a 2014 mail-out cost the city around $5,000.
3. Sewer and utility work near Cedar Street. The City Council approved sewer main and service connection rehabilitation work worth $45,000 along east Cedar Street, Munson Highway and Sellars Drive. City officials want to replace 2,700 linear feet of terracotta sewer main using pipe bursting before considering road repair and repaving work on Cedar Street. The funding would be taken from the city’s water and sewer reserves.
4. Liberty Partners atop Milton’s lobbying firm search. After being narrowed and ranked by city officials, the council voted in favor of having City Manager Brian Watkins begin negotiating with Liberty Partners to serve as the city’s lobbyist firm. City interests include obtaining state funding for the downtown Riverwalk or a new wastewater treatment facility.
5. Accepting bid for Milton fire rescue vehicle. The council voted in favor of accepting a $239,342 bid from Sunbelt Fire Inc. for a fire mini pumper rescue vehicle. Watkins said the department’s current mini pumper needs replacement, adding “It spends more time in the shop as it does on the street.” Council Member Alan Lowery agreed. Sunbelt Fire was the only company to submit a bid.
Fire Chief John Reble said the mini pumper is essential to the fire department’s first-response fleet.
“It’s a very maneuverable vehicle that does not occupy the whole highway, and it serves our needs,” Reble said. “All we are doing is upgrading the cab to a four-seater as supposed to a two-seater we currently have, eliminating the four-wheel drive, (and) it will be an automatic.”
6. Little Free Libraries Project. The council voted to donate $125 toward one of four little free libraries to be located within the city as part of a local Eagle Scout project.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: City to honor fallen service men, consider referendum fact sheet