The pacts consist of a $500,000 donation agreement with Coastal Conservation Association Florida and a $1.5 million interlocal agreement with Visit Pensacola.

The partnerships between the county and the two organizations “will foster amazing adventures for generations of visitors and create a tourism economy that will benefit the state and the entire Northwest Florida region,” County Commission Chairman Paul Mixon said today in a news release.

In early 2026, the 990-foot-long and 101-foot-wide SS United States is scheduled to be deployed in the Gulf and become the world’s largest artificial reef. The ship will be deployed about 22 nautical miles southwest of the Destin East Pass and 32 nautical miles southeast of the Pensacola Pass.

In 2024, county officials paid $1 million in tourist-development or “bed tax” money to buy the long-dormant SS United States. It eventually was towed from Philadelphia to Mobile, Alabama.

County officials earmarked a total of $10.1 million in bed-tax money to purchase, tow, and remove hazardous materials from the vessel, and create an on-land museum for the ship.

The museum might be established on the former Red Lobster restaurant property next to the Santa Rosa Sound in Fort Walton Beach.

This past spring, the county officials purchased the property for $3.5 million in county bed-tax money. While plans have not been finalized, county officials said the nonprofit SS United States Conservancy would manage the museum.

Money from CCA Florida

The $500,000 donation from the nonprofit, Orlando-based Coastal Conservation Association Florida toward the artificial reef project will be provided in two annual installments, starting Jan. 1, 2026, and ending Jan. 1, 2027, according to county Tourism Director Jennifer Adams.

In recognition of the donation, the county will provide the association with various in-kind benefits, including:

• Prominent logo placement and hyperlink on the county’s SS United States Project website and printed materials in perpetuity
• Public recognition through a dedicated social media post, inclusion in related posts and press releases, and acknowledgement at all major project events
• Museum exhibit representation, including a display at county-operated exhibits and coordination for a permanent feature with the SS United States Conservancy
• Commemorative items and access privileges, such as 10 aluminum portholes from the vessel, guided access/tours for documentation, and opportunities to participate in sendoff and deployment events
• On-site recognition, including a donor plaque mounted about the ship and banner space on the deployment vessel for media visibility
• A speaking opportunity at the pre-deployment press conference.

“CCA Florida is proud to once again partner with Okaloosa County, building on our long-standing collaboration on artificial reef projects and redfish stock enhancement,” CCA Florida Executive Director Brian Gorski said in the news release. “This partnership demonstrates how coordinated efforts between public agencies and nonprofit organizations can effectively serve our communities while advancing the health and resilience of our marine ecosystems. This project is particularly meaningful, as it represents the largest single donation in CCA Florida’s 40-year history. It is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to contribute to the creation of the world’s largest artificial reef.”

Money from Visit Pensacola

In the county’s agreement with the not-for-profit Visit Pensacola, the destination marketing organization will, within 60 days of deployment, pay $1 million toward deployment costs and will contribute $100,000 annually for five years to joint marketing efforts.

According to Adams, the county and Visit Pensacola will adhere to a marketing plan to maximize exposure, tourism, and regional collaboration.

Visit Pensacola will participate in progress meetings, inspections, deployment events, and join promotion efforts, and the county will manage permitting, compliance, monitoring, and full project execution.

Both parties agree that public announcements and promotional events will be coordinated to ensure alignment in messaging and marketing, according to Adams.

Visit Pensacola is set to approve the funding agreement in December.

“Visit Pensacola is thrilled to partner with Okaloosa County on this historic initiative,” Visit Pensacola President and CEO Darien Schaefer said in the news release. “With the addition of the SS United States and Pensacola already home to the USS Oriskany, Northwest Florida is becoming one of the world’s most extraordinary destinations for divers and marine exploration.

“The transformation of the SS United States into the world’s largest artificial reef creates a rare opportunity to elevate our entire region on the global stage. Together, we’re bringing unmatched environmental value to the Gulf while creating new tourism and economic opportunities that will benefit our destinations for generations. This collaboration showcases what’s possible when our region works together with vision, purpose and a shared commitment for sustainable growth.”

Girard, who was appointed to the clerk position by the council on Nov. 15, 2021, did not name the council members involved. At previous council meetings, councilors Doug Capps and Ryan Bullard were the most vocal council members to express concerns about different aspects of Girard’s job performance.

In a 4-1 vote, the council on Monday accepted Girard’s resignation. Councilor Shannon Hayes cast the lone “no” vote.

“I’ve been very pleased with our city clerk,” Hayes said. “I’m not accepting her resignation.”

Looking ahead, City Attorney Jon Holloway plans to work on a separation agreement with Girard. The council agreed to have Deputy City Clerk Natasha Peacock serve as interim city clerk.

This past summer, the council agreed to have Girard undergo training from the Florida Association of City Clerks as part of a council-approved 90-day “performance improvement plan.”

A big part of the plan called for her to undergo public records training after city officials received some complaints about her handling of public records requests. Among other issues, some councilors expressed concerns about Girard being resistant to feedback from the council and her colleagues, not sufficiently following up on information technology issues, not coordinating with other city departments, and being defensive when concerns or suggestions were made.

At the Oct. 27 council meeting, Bullard and Capps supported terminating Girard at the end of her current contract, but Hayes and councilors Dusty Allison and Brandon Frost did not.

At that meeting, Girard told the council that, among other sessions, she completed the Florida Ethics, Public Records and Sunshine Law training session for 2025 provided by the Florida Institute of Government at Florida State University, as well as a long University of Wisconsin training certificate course on training and development.

The council had planned to discuss the performance improvement plan, as well as Girard’s annual performance evaluation, on Monday. Neither discussion occurred following her announcement about her resignation.

For the past four years, “I have taken great pride in fulfilling my responsibilities, ensuring transparency and accessibility of city records, acting as the compliance officer, promoting public engagement through timely official notices, and preserving the history of our community with integrity,” Girard told the council.

She said despite multiple requests for individual meetings with council members, “I’ve only had two council members meet with me to provide feedback for my annual evaluation. The lack of communication has made it increasingly difficult to carry out my responsibilities effectively.”

That’s when the commission unanimously approved Cooper’s appointment as the new fire chief of Dorcas, an unincorporated area that stands northeast of Crestview.

Cooper, who is a Marine Corps veteran and currently serves as a county EMS lieutenant and paramedic, has public safety experience dating back to 1977, county Public Safety Director Patrick Maddox told commissioners before they approved the appointment.

Cooper “has more than 13 years of fire service experience total, with four years as a deputy chief, five years as a chief in Nassau County – a hybrid fire service similar to that which we intend to create in Dorcas,” Maddox said.

Fifteen candidates applied for the fire chief position, and four of them were chosen for interviews by a hiring and selection committee.

Cooper “was selected as the best fit for the role unanimously; individually by each evaluator,” Maddox said.

The County Commission began serving as the Dorcas Fire District’s governing board in June 2024, after District 4 state Rep. Patt Maney, R-Shalimar, reported that the district had not filed an audit for three years and needed more oversight.

On June 13 of last year, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a Maney-sponsored House bill into law, changing the district from an independent special district to a dependent special district of the county.

Shortly after the bill took effect, the commission agreed to temporarily suspend the operation of the district. Since then, fire coverage and medical services for Dorcas have been provided by the Crestview Fire Department and the North Okaloosa and Almarante fire districts.

This past September, the commission approved a fiscal year 2026 budget and the addition of a fire chief and a fire captain for the Dorcas Fire District. As fire chief, Cooper’s annual starting salary will be $90,000. A fire captain is anticipated to be hired next March, at approximately the halfway point of fiscal year ’26.

Cooper and the fire captain will be responsible for command level evaluation of assets and needs, the fire station, equipment and operational readiness, recruitment of volunteers and standing up the operation while the current interlocal agreement with other fire service providers draws down, according to Maddox.

“I want to pledge that we as a team revitalize, reorganize and restore the faith and trust of the community that we’re going to provide fire service for,” Cooper told commissioners. “I know that we can do that.”

The potentially improved roads would help ease traffic congestion in the Hub City and support growth along the future southwest Crestview bypass, city officials said.

Among other potential upgrades to Rasberry Road, city officials are considering improving and paving the dirt portion of the road just west of Lowe’s.

The eastern end of the paved section of Rasberry stands between Applebee’s and Burger King off State Road 85 and just north of the Interstate 10 interchange. The paved section runs 0.6 of a mile to the southwest before it turns into a dirt road, which currently is a private road and not maintained by the city.

This portion of Rasberry runs about a half mile west to Retta Lane, which is a dirt road that extends less than a half mile north to Fallen Heroes Way. Fallen Heroes Way, which connects to SR 85 just north of the Crestview Commons, is the bypass’s two-lane, east-west “connector road.”

In addition to making potential upgrades to Rasberry, city officials are considering making Retta Lane a paved road.

First, the bypass

Crestview officials plan to have the planning, design and engineering tasks for the potential road projects started sometime after the construction of the Okaloosa County-led portion of the bypass is completed.

The county-led portion is on track to open by the end of this calendar year. It includes Fallen Heroes Way and the four-lane, north-south and currently unnamed section of the bypass that runs between the future, state-led I-10 interchange and U.S. Highway 90. The new interchange could open in late 2026.

Once Fallen Heroes Way opens, it will be maintained by the city. The north-south section of the bypass north of I-10, as well as a connecting road that runs from this part of the bypass to Antioch Road, will be maintained by the county.

‘Trying to stay ahead’

Any money left over from the $500,000 that the city has set aside for the upcoming planning, design and engineering tasks would be spent on the construction aspects of the potential Rasberry Road and Retta Lane projects, City Manager Jessica Leavins said on Wednesday.

Looking much further ahead, Retta Lane could someday be part of a new route that extends all the way north to Duggan Avenue, Leavins said.

Improving roads such as Retta Lane is part of a long-term plan to ease traffic congestion, she said.

“If we don’t start now, then when we need (new and/or better roads), there’ll be houses everywhere,” Leavins said. “That’s a lot of the complaints that we get in this town: People go, ‘You didn’t plan accordingly 25 years ago.’ So, we’re just trying to stay ahead of the game now. While traffic is a long-term situation, it is something we’re thinking about and we’re trying to work on it.”

The Okaloosa County Commission today unanimously approved an interlocal agreement with Santa Rosa County for the study project. The Santa Rosa County Commission approved the agreement on Oct. 9.

For many years, officials from both counties have talked with Florida Department of Transportation, Hurlburt Field, and Eglin Air Force Base officials about traffic congestion on U.S. 98: In particular, the section of this four-lane highway between Navarre and Hurlburt Field is overcapacity, and funding to widen the highway is not imminent, according to Okaloosa County officials.

Through the ongoing talks, officials from both counties have identified potential alignment upgrades off U.S. 98 that could improve traffic options through the corridor, according to Jason Autrey, Okaloosa County’s deputy county administrator of development services.

Specifically, Okaloosa County is working on the “98 Parallel Collector Road,” which would run parallel to U.S. 98 from the area north of Green Drive east to Solar Drive, Autrey said in a report to the County Commission. If all goes as planned, this collector road would be about three miles long.

“Included with this alignment is a second ‘back’ access point to Hurlburt Field,” Autrey said in the report. “Creation of this alignment will provide a new access option for residential areas along Hwy 98 and more importantly relocate the school zone for Florosa Elementary from Hwy 98.”

He said the 98 Parallel Collector Road project currently is in the Project Development and Environmental study phase.

In their jurisdiction, Santa Rosa County officials have a similar concept known as the “Navarre Community Access Road,” which also aims to identify an east-west corridor that’s parallel to U.S. 98, offering a different route for access, according to Autrey.

He noted that a gap exists between the two project locations. The $4 million study will look at whether connecting the projects is feasible and, if so, what alignments can be created.

District 4 Okaloosa County Commissioner Trey Goodwin, who at today’s meeting made the motion to approve the interlocal agreement, said going forward with the study is appropriate.

“I’ll caveat my motion to approve with all the safeguards that we’ve talked about before: that we’re being respectful of private property rights as we do this,” Goodwin said. “We’re not looking to force anyone out of their property or anything like that. That’s not what this is. We’re moving to approve this as a coordination effort, but … there’s no government strong-arming any of this. This is a benefit to everyone, and we’re looking for the most-effective path with the least impact to the people that live there.”

“I appreciate that, and we are so far away from knowing what, or if that corridor is even possible,” Autrey said. “This is the absolute very first step, but I think those words are very well heeded.”

That’s when the commission, in a 3-0 vote, approved the park’s master concept plan, which was developed by Kimley Horn & Associates, county staff, and input from residents who live by the park. Commissioners Carolyn Ketchel and Trey Goodwin had excused absences from the meeting.

The Patriot Park site is on a part of the now-defunct Shoal River Country Club property located southeast of the Live Oak Church Road-Shoal River Drive intersection. It’s also a quarter mile east and upriver from the Cox Bridge and the county-managed Shoal River Wayside Park.

The park property covers 165 acres of land – mainly lowlands – that Patriot Ridge LLC donated to the county in January 2024.

Patriot Ridge LLC is the developer of the huge Patriot Ridge subdivision between Airman’s Memorial Road and Shoal River Drive. The land donation helped the company satisfy concurrency requirements for parks and recreation as provided in the county’s land development code.

Patriot Park will be developed in two phases. County officials have earmarked a total of $1.6 million to develop the park, with $800,000 set aside in this year’s budget for the park’s western portion and $800,000 budgeted in fiscal year 2026-2027 for the park’s eastern portion.

The park will have a west trailhead by the Live Oak Church Road-Shoal River Drive intersection, an east trailhead near the Timberline Drive-Shoal River Drive intersection, and a total of 1.6 miles of paved and unpaved trails for walkers and runners. Peters noted that county workers have already replaced many of the old, former golf course bridges at the park.

In addition to trails, the western part of the park property will have a parking lot, playground, pavilions, restrooms, a dog park, and open spaces. This part of the park might be completed sometime next spring.

The eastern part of the property that will open later will have trails, a parking lot, a pavilion, restrooms, open space, and pickleball courts. Also opening sometime after the western part of the park is completed will be various obstacles and challenge structures, scenic overlooks, benches, and educational displays.

The overall park site later could provide public recreational access to more than 2,200 adjacent acres of county-owned and currently undeveloped land.

That’s according to information from the Engineering Division of the Okaloosa County Public Works Department. While the Freedom Walk property stands within Crestview’s city limits, Old Bethel Road is maintained by the county.

Plans call for Freedom Walk to have 474 single-family homes on 156 acres south of Old Bethel Road, east of Normandy Road and west of Jones Road.

The sharp curve on Old Bethel Road stands half a mile west of Davidson Middle School and 0.7 of a mile west of SR 85. A portion of Old Bethel Road in front of and next to the school often gets congested with vehicles at the start and end of each school day.

The owner of the 156 acres is RL Prop 2012-1 LLC, of Pensacola. Plans call for Freedom Walk to be developed in three phases and have two roads connecting to Old Bethel Road, two to Normandy Road and two to Jones Road.

Construction of the subdivision is anticipated to start in 2026 and last until about 2030.

“The development has proposed improvements to the curve east of Davidson Middle School as their traffic impact mitigation requirements,” county Public Information Officer Nick Tomecek said on Wednesday in an email to the News Bulletin. “Their final design isn’t quite completed yet, but the developer’s engineers are working on it. The developer intends to construct the improvements to Old Bethel unless the construction cost exceeds their mitigation requirements of approximately $500,000. In that case, they would contribute the dollar amount of their mitigation and turn the final design of the curve over to the county. Public Works required that both lanes of travel remain open, barring any short-duration closure, for the duration of the project.”

Tomecek added that the county currently has no plans to widen Old Bethel Road between the Freedom Walk site and SR 85.

This past April, the Crestview Planning and Development Board and the City Council approved Freedom Walk’s preliminary plat, or drawing of the subdivision’s layout. In July, city staff issued a development order for the subdivision.

At the P&D Board meeting in April, Board Member Joseph Warren asked city Planning Administrator Nick Schwendt about the potential traffic impact from Freedom Walk.

“My question is on a subdivision being that large in size, being on the north end, what’s the impact for our roadway infrastructure to be able to support it?” Warren said. “Because you do the math on 470-something (planned homes), just at a guess you’re adding another 1,000 vehicles to the roadways.”

Schwendt noted that Freedom Walk’s developer, or the county using money from the developer, would improve Old Bethel Road’s sharp curve.

P&D Board Member Bryan Follmar said at the April meeting that he is pleased that plans for Freedom Walk call for two road connections apiece to Old Bethel, Normandy, and Jones roads.

The developer “went with entrance and exit points versus putting in other houses on lots,” Follmar said. “I know there’s concerns about Old Bethel, but when you have multiple ways in and out of the neighborhood, you’re going to distribute that traffic, depending on which way they want to go.”

To the south and southeast of the Freedom Walk site stands the 121-acre property of the city-approved White Wolf Run subdivision, which is now under construction and will have 332 single-family homes.

The White Wolf Run property will include a realigned portion of Jones Road. The north end of Jones Road will continue to connect with Old Bethel Road.