The Milton City Council unanimously passed a resolution in support of the Pensacola Bay and Perdido Bay estuaries in this week’s regular council meeting. The unanimously passed resolution shows the city’s support in making the Bay Area Resource Council or BARC as the entity for the estuary programs.
Milton Mayor Wesley Meiss, who serves as a member of BARC, proposed the resolution during the mayor’s report.
As part of BARC, which is part of the West Florida Regional Planning Council, Meiss represents the city of Milton on a council which also features elected representatives from Gulf Breeze, Pensacola and county commissioners from Santa Rosa and Escambia counties.
BARC would like to oversee incoming RESTORE Act funds, which would be used for environmental projects regarding the environmental improvement of the estuaries.
“We have a plan to get together and be that entity that funnels those funds out,” Meiss said.
Traci Goodhart, who in addition to serving as an environmental coordinator for the WFRPC also serves as a staff member of BARC, said the BARC could prioritize environmental projects for the coastal ecosystems which would need approval by the board of county commissioners.
Like Milton, Meiss said the other BARC representatives have brought similar ordinances before their city council’s and county commissioning board.
Milton City Manager Brian Watkins said the city of Gulf Breeze and the board of Santa Rosa County Commissioners recently passed a similar resolution.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Milton: Council passes resolution in support of coastal estuary programs