With 2014 days from ending, local officials take a look back at the year and offered their thoughts and insights on what citizens can expect for 2015. Historic weather events and another attempt to build a courthouse pervaded their responses.
County Commission
County Administrator Hunter Walker does not have a vote on county issues, but is responsible for day-to-day operations of the county government. Walker’s held this position since October 23, 1995. For 2014, Walker said the standout accomplishment for the year was the changeover for recycling transportation to Emerald Coast Utility Authority.
“In April we got our recycling delivered to a quality place. Ultimately, that will be the success story, I hope, of 2014,” he said. “The obvious disappointment,” Walker went on, “is the lack of resolution on the courthouse. It’s an unresolved matter, quite frankly, the board is going to have to deal with. It’s the biggest challenge coming up in this next year. How do you take another run at it and try to learn from the past so we can be successful? It’s certainly the biggest ongoing challenge and will be until we resolve it.”
In addition to reviewing the courthouse situation, in 2015, Walker said, “We’ve got the planning session coming up in late January to deal with the Navarre Beach lease fee issues, the ongoing funding for beach re-nourishment, replacement of the radio system, just some long term issues that are manageable.”
While the election saw new faces on the Board of County Commissioners, Commissioner Don Salter became chairman for the third time. He was first elected to office in 2000.
“2014 continued to be a year of recovery from the recession we had been in for the last four to five years. We saw new construction coming back, which helped offset somewhat the $12 million we had lost from our budget from the previous four years. So, that was one of the best things that happened to us. The recession continued to decline and we started to see positive growth again. We saw some recovery in 2013 and in 2014 got even better.” Salter said.
The new year would start, he said, with the aforementioned planning workshop. He said his first goal in the workshop would be to examine the budget.
“Are we funding the operations of the county with the right types of funds? Personally, I think we're too dependent on property taxes when there might be other alternatives out there,” he said. Salter mentioned looking for sources of revenue for transportation projects and law enforcement. “We don't have those things in place where we'd take the pressure off property taxes,” he said.
Salter said the workshop would also go over major capital improvements for the coming year such as a judicial center. “That will not go away. We need to see what alternatives are out there and we might go and present it back to the public.” Salter also brought up the need for a new radio system for first responders, a $7.2 million project.
Salter also said, “Tourism was good in 2014. We’ve got to make sure we're doing what's right going forward.” A part of beach beauty, he said re-nourishment will be discussed, but has a big price tag. Additional in economic development, Salter said, “I truly want the board to pursue building Whiting Aviation Park 'cause that is truly the future of this county, aviation type jobs.”
County Commissioner for District 1, Jayer Williamson, is not the newest member of the board, but was appointed to the seat by Governor Rick Scott following the passing of Williamson’s father in June. Williamson said, “We were able to keep the millage rate the same and still able to give the county workers some well deserved raises, or bonuses. I think that will probably be the best thing of the year.”
For the new year, Williamson also touched on the courthouse. “The best thing is to take it right back up and see where we go from there.” However, due to a $150,000 price tag, he said he would not support a special election. The Pea Ridge site received the least support next to the downtown Milton and East Milton sites. Williamson said, “A couple things were clear to me. One, the citizens do not want a major land purchase. Even though not the perfect site, downtown had the most support as well. It's clear by looking at the numbers. You have to definitely take that into consideration.”
As for his own district, Williamson said, “I'm excited about some things we're going to do in the Pace area in the parks.” Namely, he discussed making Benny Russell Park compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. “That will be something we'll see before the end of next year,” he said. Williamson described a scenario of children with and without disabilities playing in the same park seeing how similar they are.
County Commissioner for District 2, Bob Cole, won his 2014 primary by a hair’s breadth before going on to win the general election. Cole’s take on the courthouse situation was being proud the location question made it to the ballot. He said it was his job as a commissioner to give people “their say-so on the courthouse and the sales tax.”
“Of course, the flooding last year, putting people in misery and harm’s way, was one of the less happy moments in 2014,” Cole said, “probably the worst of them all.” However, of the ice storm, Cole said, “It was a little bit catastrophic, and in other ways it was kind of joyful. Some people could think I'm crazy, but I found it kind of different, neat, seeing the different ice formations in that two-day period.”
As to the new year, the two items Cole brought up were beach re-nourishment and storm water management as long term issues while the Garcon Point Bridge toll increase is more immediate. The bridge, with one end in Cole’s district, may see a toll increase if trustees continue with their proposed plans up to $5 for cash transactions. Cole said he’ll be working with Florida Representative Doug Broxson on the problem.
County Economic Development
Shannon Ogletree is the director of the Santa Rosa County Economic Development Office. He’s worked for the county since 2003. Ogletree said, “With over 3,000 counties and parishes in the United States alone, standing out is key.” He said his favorite accomplishments include helping three companies expand into new or existing facilities within the county: Gold Ring Gulf Distributing, TPR (Turbine Parts Repair), and Navy Federal. Additionally, Ogletree included laying the groundwork for the site certification of two area industrial parks. See the December 13 story, SRC industrial locations attract interest at srpressgazette.com.
The first item Ogletree mentioned for 2015 was moving forward with Whiting Aviation Park. The Board of County Commissioners, he said, believe the county should go after funding from the state to help develop infrastructure in the park. Ogletree said he’s looking forward to completion of the site certification in the county as well as developing a new retail strategy to attract a new kind of business.
“In the past we have always focused on industries companies (Base-Companies) that generate more than 50 percent of their revenue from outside the State of Florida. However with our population growth, I am receiving calls/inquiries from developers wanting to develop parcels of land for retail development,” he said.
As Ogletree continues working to attract business to Santa Rosa County, Julie Morgan, brand new to SRC, is tasked with bringing in tourist dollars as the new Tourist Development Office director.
“My focus now is to increase bed tax revenue for Santa Rosa County. That's number one,” she said. Morgan said her aim is to build strong partnerships with those in niche markets like group tours, travel writers, the international market, girlfriend getaways, destination weddings, and outdoor adventure clubs. An upcoming development Morgan said would be getting her staff directly in touch with tourists. “We're going to start doing it in January. Our office is going to be represented once a month on a Friday at the I-10 welcome center. One of my staff will be there to greet guests and hand out literature.”
She went on to say, “SRC deservingly is one of the best features in the panhandle. I think we should be getting our fair share of the market and I think it’s possible we can. It’s going to take a lot of hard work to get there. I understand the need of tourism in SRC because it's so diverse, makes it very unique compared to surrounding counties and that is a bonus for us. I honestly think SRC has a very bright future ahead. I honestly do.”
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: County officials look back on an eventful 2014