Commissioner questioned after removing Navarre welcome sign

MILTON —Santa Rosa commissioners won't change direction from replacing the old Navarre welcome sign bearing the slogan “Florida’s best kept secret." This follows Santa Rosa County Commission Chairman Rob Williamson’s decision to remove temporarily placed signs while the new one was being repaired.

On May 25, Williamson removed the two, 5-by-12-foot signs with the new slogan after several negative comments from residents who preferred the original sign and its slogan. In a Facebook video, he explained he thought it would be better to have no signage than the “thin, cheap” metal signs temporarily placed.

Monday morning, Williamson said he was trying to respond to the will of the people and that doing something was better than nothing.

“It’s like the Hollywood sign to us,” resident and business owner James Calkins said. “The new sign has no artistic value to it.”

Commissioner Don Salter was absent from Monday’s meeting, leaving Commissioners Bob Cole, Lane Lynchard and Sam Parker to respond.

“The only comment I have is you did what you should have done,” Cole said. “You stepped up to the plate this morning and took your lickin’s and I believe we should put it behind us.”

Cole later clarified he did not condone Williamson’s actions to remove the sign.

Lynchard said Williamson’s actions hurt the previous months of work developing the new ad campaign with the county’s advertising company, Paradise Advertising.

“I disagree with the action of taking the sign down in the middle of the night based on unilateral decisions of one commissioner, based on Facebook comments,” Lynchard said. “We operate as a board. There are four other commissioners that have been dealing with this for the last week and a half. We didn’t have any signs at the entrance to Navarre Beach for Memorial Day weekend. This morning there are still four white posts sitting in a flower bed at the entrance to Navarre Beach.”

While not moving to do so, Parker suggested the board find a way to get the will of Navarre residents on the matter rather than relying on Facebook comments and email.

No one made any further motions nor took other action so the previous board decision to move forward with the new signs stands.