Dear Editor,
I'm seeing where local government officials are speaking out on the courthouse vote and what it means. Now that the vote again went down in flames at the fault of the county commissioners, maybe the Santa Rosa Press Gazette will they truly look at the reason for the downtown choice. The SRPG had numerous letters sent by me explaining the reason the tax vote would fail but printed none of them. The downtown location was picked only because it was the only property the county already owned if the tax vote passed not because it was the best location. The location is a traffic bottleneck of which I am sure they will spend 20 times the money if not more of what is needed to alleviate the problem. That still leaves the parking problem and no room for future expansion. It's time local government has an adult conversation with the people and taxpayers. Again, the BOCC sold the property out from under the taxpayers at the Sheriff's Office – Jail industrial park location. They could have incorporated the courthouse into the planning moving the State Prison father back onto the other two parcels of land which are now virtually unusable but chose not too. The BOCC never wanted to have an adult conversation on this topic; they had an Obama Administration conversation controlled by them. They have again wasted money, ($10,000 minimum), on studies of the other two sites, the partial cost of an election and wasted every body’s time. They now have two more years to grow up and listen to the people. First thing that needs to be addressed are the laws that govern the BOCC, which allowed them to sell the original property designated for the courthouse, and correct those laws permanently, so it can't happen again. This creates accountability, the best result for a future generation, better than a courthouse. Second, the money for the property needs to come from the county coffers, say $2 million from the BP oil spill money, instead of spending it on a river walk extension to Carpenter's Park. The City of Milton can throw in on this since it has designs and wants the county courthouse property, buy it ahead of time. Third, a public apology from each of the BOCC for its past and present underhanded actions will go very far.
Do these three things before doing anything else in regards to the courthouse and then work with and not rule over the people and the government will get a new county courthouse. The voters and taxpayers will even bow tie it. Fail on any aspect of this and you might as well look at remodeling of the old courthouse. Local government now has a plan for success or failure, use it or ignore it at again your own demise of a future courthouse.
Stephen King
Milton
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Election results and what it means