With the recent decision from the Santa Rosa Board of County Commissioners to put a new county judiciary center in downtown Milton, elected officials with the City of Milton took the time to recognize the city’s Courthouse Committee during this week’s regular council meeting for advocating on behalf of the keeping the courthouse in downtown Milton.
“This Courthouse Committee was created by the former mayor and was appointed by the former council and then was conformed by the current council,” Messick said. “This committee has performed judicially it’s duties, so therefore we felt like it is fitting that the committee members get honored for a job well done and then be released from it’s appointment by the council.”
Mayor Wesley Meiss also voiced his appreciation for the committee.
“You put a lot of hours in,” Meiss said, adding the committee experienced adversity in the process of advocating for downtown.
“It was almost like a roller coaster, because there were definitely ups and downs, there were highs and lows, but you did the work,” Meiss said.
Meiss also mentioned the City Planning Director Randy Jorgenson and Council Member Ashley Lay for attributing to the committee.
In return, Jorgenson recognized the city staff, including City Manager Brian Watkins.
“I want to thank the people that I work with each day, because I drew all of them into this effort and they all do a wonderful job each and every day,” Jorgenson said. “The credit must be given to them, rather than myself.”
Bradley G. Johnson, who co-chaired the committee with Matthew Hargraves said the committee worked to address any misconceptions about the downtown location, along with working with Jorgenson and staff in disseminating information from HOK, the firm responsible for designing the new courthouse facility, to the council.
While the committee may have completed their goal of keeping the courthouse downtown, Johnson said there is a lot of work still to be completed mainly finding a funding option in order to pay for a new facility.
Johnson said there could be a possibility to form another city committee or commission in order to seek support in funding the much needed facility.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Milton: Elected officials thank Courthouse Committee