LAUREL HILL — The City Council on Thursday voted unanimously to seek Okaloosa County's help in paving Sunnyside Avenue and a portion of Steel Mill Creek Road.

Councilman Larry Hendren said the Okaloosa County Commission responded favorably to his letter requesting road repair assistance.

"The county said the letter was fine with them, with the exception that they wanted us to add specific streets for the fiscal year," he said. "Then, every year after that, we simply redo the letter simply by adding different streets."

The city would cover the cost of material needed to repair the roads, whereas the county would provide equipment and labor, under Laurel Hill's proposal.

Click here to see the resolution, in full.

Sunnyside Avenue, from State Road 85 to 3rd Street, was the first road added to the letter.

Councilman Robby Adams proposed that a portion of Steel Mill Creek Road be added.

The council then voted to add Sunnyside and the portion of Steel Mill Creek Road to the letter.

"I make a motion that we add Steel Mill Creek on, if there is enough in our budget," Councilman Clifton Hall said.

The council during a workshop last month discussed using $83,000 from a reserve fund on road repairs.

If the two streets extend so much that would cost that amount, the matter would be raised at the next council meeting, Hendren said.

Engineer may also write grants

In addition, Thursday, council members voted in favor of advertising for an engineer who could aid grant writing of a Community Development Block Grant, or CDBG.

The council last January voted to pursue the grant, which would give the city $600,000 for road repairs.

The city came close to obtaining the grant money last year, but fell short after a permit missing from the application eliminated Laurel Hill from consideration.

Hall suggested searching for an engineer capable of grant writing, which would preclude the need for a grant writer, too.

"We would be killing two birds with one stone," he said.

Candidates with grant writing experience would have an advantage in the selection process, Mayor Joan Smith said.

The council decided to give each finalist a chance to make a presentation at the next scheduled council meeting, 6 p.m. April 4 at City Hall. 

Budget approval

The council voted to approve its budget, which includes moving $83,030 from reserved funds to a checking account for fuel tax revenue. The account's funds would be used for roadwork.

Another change included adding $200 to the payroll budget for each fiscal year.

"The $200 is covering the 2 percent increase in costs in Medicare and Social Security costs," City Clerk Nita Miller said.

Council members also unanimously voted to change council meetings to 6 p.m. on the first Thursday of each month. The council had been meeting on the first Tuesday.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Laurel Hill Council selects first roads for repairs, approves budget

Anderson currently has offices on Eglin Air Force Base and Fort Walton Beach, Crestview, Niceville and Destin.

He said he has wanted a location on Hurlburt Field since he took office in August 2011.

“Here they are Special Ops, and they are shipped in and out, and in a moment’s notice they’re gone,” Anderson said. “We should be delivering our services to them instead of making them come downtown to us.”

As tax collector, Anderson has the authority to open satellite offices where he sees fit, but because his office also collects county revenue such as business and property taxes, he must have the approval of the Okaloosa County Board of Commissioners.

Commissioners are scheduled to vote on the proposal Tuesday at a meeting in Crestview.

“It’ll be a full-service office that we provide out there,” Anderson said.

Those services include driver license renewals, vehicle registrations, hunting and fishing licenses and property tax payments. The office would hold daytime hours Monday through Friday.

“I am honored and I am humbled that we will be on base at Hurlburt Field working in a partnership with the military,” he said. “They’ve located a facility to put us in, but they have a little bit of remodeling they want to do for us.”

Anderson said he anticipates the office will be open by mid-March.

“It’s a convenience to the military, but it’s also a neighborly outreach to recognize and appreciate economically what they mean to our area,” he said.

Contact Daily News Staff Writer Kari Barlow at 850-315-4438 or kbarlow@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KariBnwfdn.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Tax collector to open office on Hurlburt Field

CRESTVIEW — Linking historic downtown Crestview's shopping and dining with Twin Hills Park's recreational opportunities would maximize use from two existing city resources, City Councilwoman Robyn Helt said.

Helt has presented this concept — of a pedestrian and bicycle corridor joining Main Street with the park — to the city's Community Redevelopment Agency, which should have the funds to make it a reality.

Noting the CRA has a cash balance of about $1 million, she said, "my goal is to make sure we're utilizing the resources that we have, to put them back into the CRA district as they are intended to go and do so in a way that will benefit the most number of people."

Downtown's historic, well-defined early 20th-century business district is conducive to strolling and shopping, she said. Extending that classic model along a proposed corridor past the Amtrak railroad shelter on Industrial Drive and into Twin Hills Park at its southwest corner will offer a "continuity of theme," Helt said.

She likened it in concept to Disney World's Main Street U.S.A. that links the theme park's entrance with attractions beyond.

"Connect the two to make it feel serene and safe," Helt said. "There are ways to do it and carry the theme of downtown," including matching Main Street's historically inspired street furniture — such as streetlamps, planters and benches — along the foot and bike path.

Add picnic tables and shelters to the underused portion of southwest Twin Hills Park, couple it with proposed skate and dog parks on the north side, and link it with downtown's resources, and "we, I feel, have the potential to capitalize on the properties we currently have," Helt said.

Helt said she envisions parents strolling over to Main Street to eat and shop while their children play at the skate park or ball fields in Twin Hills Park. Pharmacy students at Florida A&M University's Rural Diversity Healthcare Center could take their lunch over to the park to eat and study outdoors. During downtown festivals, a pedestrian link to a site offering more parking also would be beneficial, she said.

"It also helps the parking situation because you use all the parking in the park and downtown," Helt said. "It's also a very short distance over to our new parking lot."

The Amtrak shelter, closed after Hurricane Katrina track damage caused suspension of the Sunset Limited's service east of New Orleans, could have new use in the concept, Helt said.

"When you're aggressively looking at ways to beautify your downtown, the last thing you want is to have something boarded up," Helt said. "It is the cutest little thing. That could be even turned — if there's not another suggestion — into a public restroom."

CRA board members agreed with Helt's recommendations.

"That is a lot of good information and we want to be good stewards of that area," board member and City Councilman Tom Gordon said. "My concern is security."

Helt noted that boarding up the Amtrak station was necessitated by vandalism "because there was nothing going on around it."

Creating a vibrant, busy corridor between Twin Hills Park and downtown would deter crime and vandalism, she said.

"If you go to Disney World and there was nothing between Main Street U.S.A. and Frontierland, there would be a lot of vandalism and tomfoolery."

Using CRA funds to maximize residents' use of the two areas would be a responsible use of money that by law can only be used on projects to improve the CRA district, Helt said.

"We have a little over a million dollars which is not general fund money," she said. "This is money that is earmarked specifically for the CRA and we have an obligation as the CRA board to utilize that money rather than just letting it sit there. I think as a whole we should develop a strategy and plan and cohesive vision. A lot of these things are not large scale in terms of cost."

Cal Zethmayr, chairman of a Historic Preservation Board committee studying the feasibility of recreating Crestview's original railroad depot as a multi-purpose downtown public facility, praised Helt's concept.

Several components she suggested complement his committee's vision, including the foot link between downtown and Twin Hills Park, he said.

"This isn't a new idea," Zethmayr said. "There's already an asphalt path there. When they built the Amtrak station, they had money left over and built a footpath along the original Yellow River Railroad route. We also wanted to open up the woods to have a picnic area."

"I think if we were to undertake any of this, we can't undertake just a small piece of this," Helt said.

Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Councilwoman supports Main Street-Twin Hills Park pedestrian link

Whether it’s Orange County Commission members texting lobbyists in the audience at their public meeting for speaking suggestions or Team Santa Rosa getting cited for “repeated violations” of the law and receiving less than a slap on the wrist, Petersen has seen about everything.

Since 1995, Petersen has been advocating, sometimes “as the only squeaky wheel,” for open government.

This year, she told members of the Daily News Editorial Board on Monday, she wants to recruit more people — a lot more people — to her cause.

“I’m a little weary of being the only squeaky wheel when, in fact, everybody needs access to good information from government,” she said. “This year, I want to get everybody in one place at the same time to agree on a set of principles we all agree we need for reform.”

At an event on March 16 at St. Petersburg College, Petersen intends to engage groups from across the political spectrum — “ACLU to Tea Party Nation” — in an effort to establish a broad-based set of principles to take to Tallahassee with a request for Sunshine Law reform.

“We all agree there’s a need for reform. This is so I can say, ‘It’s not just me, it’s 123 others who feel we need open government,’ ” she said. “I’m trying to make everyone understand that good open government laws benefit everyone. People say, ‘Oh, it’s just the media,’ but that’s not true.”

Petersen said she sees in state Senate President Don Gaetz, state House Speaker Will Weatherford and Gaetz’s son, Rep. Matt Gaetz, stronger advocates for open government than she had to work with last year.

She said she wants to work with Don Gaetz in 2013 on two legislative priorities: ensuring the public’s right to speak at public meetings and developing an accessible website that increases the transparency of state government.

“Those are personal priorities of mine and priorities I share with Speaker Weatherford,” Gaetz, R-Niceville, said Monday.

 After Escambia County’s Community Maritime Park Association board decided it could hold meetings without providing an opportunity for citizens to speak, and the Court of Appeals upheld the decision, Don Gaetz and state Sen. Joe Negron sponsored legislation in 2012 to incorporate into law the public’s right to speak.

The legislation got “smothered in private” in the House, said Gaetz, R-Niceville.

This year, Negron, R-Palm City, said his bill has a strong sponsor and “is viewed much more favorably in the House.”

Petersen also wants to see the Florida Legislature create a public-access website that allows the state’s citizens to look at budgets, contracts and proposed legislation.

Under Senate President Mike Haridopolos, last year senators entered a $5.5 million contract with a private company to create a “transparency” website, Petersen said. The site, as it turned out, was available only to senators.

Gaetz has canceled the contract and has promised to this year build a website accessible to the public for much less money.

“I’m pleased Barbara Petersen is pleased with some of our efforts,” Gaetz said. “Those are two important priorities but not the only parts of a broad-based ethics package I expect the Senate to pass and the House to seriously consider.”

Petersen will also advocate again in 2013 for the state to force local governments to charge “reasonable fees” for public records.

“One woman told me she had to make a choice between paying her mortgage and paying for public records,” she said.

State fees for records are frequently a barrier preventing the public from seeing what their government is doing, and in a world of electronic communication, that shouldn’t be so, Petersen said.

She said the state needs to define “extensive use” in regard to billing for public record searches, to provide a consistent hourly rate to charge for record retrieval and eliminate employee benefit charges included in the retrieval cost.

“Everybody understands government records ought to be easier to get,” she said.

Petersen said she would also continue this year to advocate for better enforcement when violations of the Sunshine Law occur.

She cited Team Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa County’s now defunct economic development arm, as a group that was taken to task for multiple law violations but not prosecuted.

“State attorneys are either reluctant to get involved or see no evidence to warrant prosecution, so they don’t prosecute,” Petersen said.

The high cost of litigation is likewise preventing newspapers and private citizens from taking agencies to court for Sunshine Law violations, she said. City and county governments also typically use taxpayer money to cover the cost of litigation.

“The weakest, weakest part of our law is no enforcement,” Petersen said.

Contact Daily News Staff Writer Tom McLaughlin at 850-315-4435 or tmclaughlin@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomMnwfdn.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Advocate: It's time to reform Sunshine Laws

CRESTVIEW — Two downtown events have combined into a feast for the eye and the palate.

The Spanish Trail Cruisers have teamed up with the Main Street Crestview Association to add the Taste of Crestview restaurant crawl to the annual Average Joe Car Show on April 20.

Mike Turman and Ellis Conner, presidents of the car club and the Main Street association, respectively, announced the collaboration at Monday's city council meeting.

Turman requested the city's assistance to close Main Street for the event, provide portable restrooms, barricades for side streets and security by the Crestview Police Department. The council unanimously approved the club's request.

Some 100 vintage vehicles from throughout the Southeast appear at the event, drawing thousands of spectators. The Cruisers traditionally pour the proceeds from car show registrations into the community, a favorite charity being the local food bank.

"They do a lot of charitable things for our city, including taking care of our very needed Sharing and Caring," Councilman Charles Baugh Jr., a Spanish Trail Cruisers honorary member, said. "I'm looking forward to it, especially if it is as big an event as I think it's going to be."

Considering past Taste of Crestview events' popularity made the collaboration an easy decision, Conner said.

"We started this dialogue about three months ago," he said. "We have all the details worked out at this time. This will hopefully make a good event even better with the addition of the food."

BREAKOUT (with Crestview Blue screen):

Lately, the Crestview City Council:

•Unanimously directed city staff to create a document showing taxpayers' cost for granting non-profit organizations' free use of city parks for their events. Krystal Jackson, the local Relay for Life cancer fundraiser's event chair, had requested free use of Old Spanish Trail Park for the annual all-night walkathon.

•Learned that Wave express bus rides between Crestview and Fort Walton Beach are down 9 percent, according to Councilman Charles Baugh Jr.

"If you're riding the Wave, you gotta have the numbers or they're going to take it away from us," he said, referring to the County Board of Commissioners' aim to cancel this area's bus service.

"The good news is routes 11 and 12 are up 2 percent, he said, referring to routes that specifically serve the city.

•Unanimously appointed Mayor David Cadle as the council's representative to the Supervisor of Elections Canvassing Board. The city clerk typically fills the seat, but with City Clerk Betsy Roy being a candidate for reelection, she cannot serve on the election board.

•Unanimously appointed Main Street Crestview Association member Cal Zethmayr to the Historic Preservation Board on Council President Ben Iannucci III's recommendation.

Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Downtown car show and restaurant crawl combine for April 20 event

FORT WALTON BEACH — An unprecedented $974 million in state funding is headed for Northwest Florida transportation projects, Sen. Don Gaetz announced Thursday.

Gaetz, the Republican from Niceville who is the Senate president, said negotiations he spearheaded to fund 10 new projects in the region ended Thursday morning.

The plan includes setting aside $44.5 million for widening State Roads 123 and 87 and moving their construction dates up, Gaetz said at a meeting at the Greater Fort Walton Beach Chamber of Commerce. The projects are now slated to begin in 2015.

More than $600 million also has been set aside to build a new three-mile U.S. Highway 98 bridge between Gulf Breeze and Pensacola, Gaetz said. The long-sought project will be publicly funded and will not require tolls, as some people feared.

Gaetz said the Northwest Florida legislative delegation negotiated with Department of Transportation officials and Gov. Rick Scott to make sure the funds were secure in the state’s work plan.

“Not as a hope, not as a maybe, not as a might be, but … we’ve been able to get the money moved up and we’ve been able to get the schedule adjusted so that these activities will begin within the next 24 months,” Gaetz said.

He said DOT officials told him the $974 million is the largest single transportation initiative for Northwest Florida in history.

It’s been a long time coming, Gaetz said.

“Those of us who live in this community have been grinding our teeth for some time,” he said. “Right or wrong, we’ve had the perception that we haven’t got our fair share.”

Gaetz was named Senate president in November, which may have helped him direct the money to the region. He said DOT officials pay more attention to him now.

The SR 123 and SR 87 projects were already in the DOT pipeline, but until Thursday’s agreement funding hadn’t been assured, Gaetz said.

“They were in the thinking stage,” he said after the meeting. “But now we have a commitment for funding, a commitment that they will be built and an aggressive upgraded timeline.”

The SR 123 expansion and improvement project had been planned for 2018 if funds could be secured. The project is now slated to begin in 2015 with $20.6 million set aside for it, Gaetz said.

He said keeping traffic moving between the north and south parts of Okaloosa County has been an increasing priority, especially since the arrival of the Army 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) south of Crestview.

“We know that it’s important to have those arteries move seamlessly back and forth,” he said.

The state has also set aside $23.9 million to complete the widening of SR 87 in Santa Rosa County to four lanes. The new lanes will run from the boundary of Eglin Air Force Base to two miles south of the Yellow River.

None of the new projects will be tolled, but state Rep. Doug Broxson said people should expect future transportation efforts to include tolls because of funding shortfalls.

“We have done our best to make sure we dodged that bullet on these projects,” said Broxson, R-Midway. Rep. Matt Gaetz, Don Gaetz’s son, said the state’s decision to invest nearly a billion dollars in Northwest Florida is a testament to the area’s importance and success as an economic generator.

“To get these folks to agree to make this kind of investment means you are doing your job,” he told the business leaders gathered at the Chamber of Commerce.

He said he believes the $974 million will open the door to the potential for future infrastructure improvements. He said everyone could probably agree that more must be done to ease congestion on U.S. 98 and that opening a pass to the Gulf of Mexico near Navarre Beach would be a boon to the economy there.

“These are things that could also be on the horizon, but know that I think this is an excellent start. It’s an excellent opportunity for us, and let’s go seize it,” the Fort Walton Beach Republican said.

Don Gaetz agreed that the investment will create more opportunities, not only for future infrastructure projects but for the region to continue to grow, draw more businesses and connect Florida to businesses nationwide.

“I am absolutely convinced — and so are our colleagues — that the road to the future of Florida runs right through here,” he said.

Contact Daily News Staff Writer Lauren Sage Reinlie at 850-315-4443 or lreinlie@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @LaurenRnwfdn.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Record road spending approved for Northwest Florida

CRESTVIEW — A sports complex's proposed site appears inadequate and might generate a $400,000 annual loss, but that doesn't mean death to the project.

Click here for a clear image of the proposed conceptual plan.

The city still is researching feasibility of such a facility, said Council President Ben Iannucci III, who raised the concept of a sports complex — built and operated by a sports management company at no expense to Crestview taxpayers — early last year.

In addition to providing sports and recreational opportunities for locals, the complex would attract out-of-town traveling sports tournaments, he said.

He reported on recent communication with the Institute of Retired Professionals, tasked with conducting a feasibility study, at the Jan. 28 council meeting. Among preliminary findings, the group questioned the suggested location, an 18-acre city-owned tract of land behind the Brookmeade Drive public safety building.

"Their determination is it may not be big enough for what we're proposing," Iannucci said.

The group's early estimates indicate the facility would cost between $1 and $3 million.

"There are ways to get this paid for that won't come out of the taxpayers' pockets," Iannucci said.

The retired professionals estimated the complex itself had the potential to lose up to $400,000 a year, but it would generate revenues between $5 and $10 million annually for the city's hospitality industry, including hotels, restaurants and service providers.

The north county could use a sports complex, Councilman Charles Baugh Jr. said.

"We don't have enough recreational opportunities for our youth," he said. "Roughly, there's 40,000 people living in this area, and this is the county seat, so maybe we can get some partnership from the county to make this happen."

The project has drawn support from the county Economic Development Council.

"You've heard before that this would be an excellent development for the city and would contribute greatly to the quality of life in the area," EDC interim President Kay Rasmussen said.

RESTORE Act money — from BP's fines for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill — might apply to the sports complex project, Rasmussen said.

The institute will meet next week and soon will deliver a formal report on its findings and recommendations, Iannucci said.

Former Okaloosa County Tourism Development Council Director Mark Bellinger addressed the city council and the Community Redevelopment Agency in the spring of 2012 to advise on funding the project with a Crestview tourism development tax, or "bed tax," levied on guests at area hotels.

A sports complex that attracted more visitors to the community would be a permissible use of the tax, Bellinger said.

"The bed tax is a very strong option for you in the future if you decide to go down that road as a funding source for this type of development," Rasmussen said.

While researching the concept, the institute requested copies of a proposal for a combined community arts and sports facility presented to the agency by Rae Schwartz, representing Friends of the Arts and the Okaloosa Arts Alliance's Crestview area committee.

Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Sports complex feasibility report coming soon to city council

CRESTVIEW — Expected residential growth in northwest Crestview is leading the city’s two water utilities to launch water drilling projects within a few miles, just months of each other.

For the last two weeks, motorists rounding Blueberry Curve north of Crestview have noticed a newly erected derrick in front of Victorious Life Worship Center near the State Road 85-Lake Silver Road intersection.

The derrick — topped by an American flag waving in the breeze — marks the spot where Auburn Water System officials hope to drill the utility’s eighth well.

“It will just be a well and a well house; no tank,” Auburn Water General Manager Doug Sims said.

The Crestview City Council at its Jan. 14 meeting also approved a contract to begin drilling a water well on Old Bethel Road, to be located on city-owned property across the street from the historic Old Bethel Cemetery. Drilling should start within a month.

Bob Baker, account manager and geologist for Layne Christensen’s Pensacola office, said the worldwide water management firm has started preliminary work at the Blueberry Curve site.

“At this point, it’s simply a test well,” he said.

“They’re going to be sure the water we’re going to get is adequate in both quantity and quality before we do the permanent well,” Sims said.

Auburn’s water network is designed so wells and tanks can supplement each other if one fails due to a storm or mechanical problems. That helps assure customers won’t be without water in the affected area, Sims said.

“All of our wells and tanks are grouped together,” he said. “This one is being put in place to make sure we have adequate capacity in the future, but also if we have a well go down, it will still supply capacity. It’s serving a dual purpose.”

During Hurricane Ivan, although many north Crestview neighborhoods lacked electricity for a week or more, Auburn Water’s system did not fail, due in part to this built-in redundancy, Sims said.

The new well would be more likely to keep working, even during an electricity outage.

“It will have a natural gas generator,” Sims said. “All our other generators are diesel. In an emergency, diesel can be hard to get. In an emergency, we will be assured of a better supply of external power should we need it.”

If the quantity and quality of water found during the test well digging meets the utility’s standards, he expects the permanent well to be online within six months. The well should produce 750 gallons of water a minute, Sims said.

“We’re really hoping this well will come out just fine and we can get it online soon,” he said.

“It will be good to know we have that extra capacity online and the natural gas generator to back it up.”

Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: New well building supplements Auburn Water capability

CRESTVIEW — The local U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service has announced four initiatives that can help north Okaloosa County farmers improve their operations.

A list of these initiatives is as follows:

•Help producers install conservation practices on USDA-certified organic operations or those working toward organic certification.

•Help producers install high tunnels — "in layman's terms, a greenhouse," Williams said— designed to extend the growing season, increase productivity, keep plants at a steady temperature and conserve water and energy.

•Help producers conserve energy on their operations.

•Help private landowners improve longleaf pine forest ecosystems' sustainability and profitability.

The initiatives offer "an additional chance … to improve water and air quality, build healthier soil, improve forest lands, conserve energy, enhance organic operations and achieve other environmental benefits," according to a USDA news release.

While farmers yearlong may apply for most USDA programs' funding assistance, March 15 is the deadline to apply for conservation technical assistance and possible cost-share funding opportunities for the four initiatives, the release stated.

No north county farmers have participated in the high tunnel initiative, though producers in neighboring counties have erected several such tunnels, local district conservationist Darryl Williams said.

"It (the high tunnel) has to be located on cropland. You can't just go locate it anywhere," he said. "That's not to say urban individuals couldn't apply if they have an agriculture exemption on your property.

The high-tunnel initiatives can help boost a crop's longevity, Williams said.

"It helps our farmers, ranchers and gardeners that are growing a crop sustain the growing season into the winter months. It assists those who are certified organic farmers to extend their growing season. Basically, the initiative would help you purchase the materials."

Congress' recent September 2013 extension of the 2008 Farm Bill made the new initiatives possible, the release stated.

Learn more

For more information on the producer initiatives, conservation assistance or other programs, contact the U.S. Department of Agriculture's local Natural Resources Conservation Service office, 938 N. Ferdon Blvd., at 682-3714 or visit www.fl.nrcs.usda.gov.

Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: USDA offers four initiatives for local farmers through March 15