NOIRMOUTIER-EN-L'ÎLE, France — Crestview City Council President JB Whitten was barely in Noirmoutier 24 hours when he was presented with one of Crestview's Sister City's top honors.

During his reception for the 24 visiting members of the Crestview Area Sister City Program, Noirmoutier's mayor, Dr. Noël Faucher, conferred on Whitten the Medal of Noirmoutier, making him the third Crestview recipient of the honor.

During his remarks, Dr. Faucher praised the 23-year-old relationship between the two communities, welcoming the Crestview delegation to "your home in France."

Monday evening, Whitten joined Sister City Program President Brian Hughes and Crestview Police Investigator Shawn Temple at Dr. Faucher's private dignitarie' dinner at one of the island's most fashionable restaurant.

"The hospitality we have received so far is outstanding. I can see why everyone who has been to Noirmoutier is eager to return," Whitten thanked his host and said afterward.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Councilman receives medal from Crestview Sister City's mayor

LAUREL HILL — The search for Laurel Hill’s next City Council member continues following Daniel Lane's Aug. 3 resignation.

The city has received three applications for the position. Residents Shawn Cogan, Jacob Locke and Charles “David” Williams applied for the council-appointed seat. The council voted on the nominees during the Sept. 7 meeting; however, the council was unable to make a unanimous decision.

Councilman Scott Moneypenny and Councilman Mike Blizzard voted for Shawn Cogan; Councilman Johnny James and Councilwoman Debra Adams voted for Jacob Locke, tying the vote 2-2.  

According to Adams, the council will vote again at the Oct. 5 meeting. Residents can still apply for the position; if the city doesn't receive additional applications, the council will vote for the same nominees again.

SHAWN COGAN

Shawn Cogan, 41, has lived in Laurel Hill for 2.5 years. He graduated from Fort Walton Beach High School in 1993 and retired from the United States Air Force after 23 years. Cogan’s experience includes three years as a resource officer of a unit of more than 300 people.

Cogan said he has attended approximately eight or nine City Council meetings in Laurel Hill this year. The issues he would like to see resolved include water rates, more research done for grant applications and building better businesses, festivals and attractions.

“This is my home; what man would I be if I did not try to make it better,” Cogan said. “I believe I can help the four other council members make our home better.”

JACOB LOCKE

Jacob Locke has lived in Laurel Hill for more than 20 years and owns Jacob Locke Construction. Locke’s experience includes more than 20 years as a business owner working with the public and government agencies and their policies.

According to Locke, he would like to serve on the council to help ensure the sustainable growth of the city of Laurel Hill. The concerns he would like to see resolved include problems with the roads — he proposes to do this by applying for grants and other assistance; issues with drainage and culverts; water department revenue; and water supply infrastructure.

CHARLES WILLIAMS

Charles “David” Williams has lived in Laurel Hill for one year and four months. Williams has years of experience with multiple construction companies in other states and in Okaloosa, Walton and Santa Rosa counties.

According to Williams, he was called to ministry at age 60 and graduated from the District School of Ministry Bible College. He currently serves as pastor at First Assembly of God in Laurel Hill. He would like to see Laurel Hill get better roads, promote the importance of cleaning residential yards, and focus on drainage problems, create new jobs to grow the economy, and add benches to the city walking track.

“As a local pastor and resident of Laurel Hill, I have a desire to see the people of this area prosper and excel in all areas of their lives,” Williams said. “I feel that the experience that I have gained as a result of my years of work in the building industry have given me an in-depth knowledge of roads, drainage, codes, safety procedures, etc. that would be helpful in making decisions that would help move the city forward.”

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Laurel Hill council member search continues

CRESTVIEW — The Charter Review Committee, along with Mayor David Cadle, on Thursday discussed the mayor's duties under a proposed new city charter.

The list of powers and duties currently outlined in the proposed charter for the mayor are: to be recognized as head of the city for ceremonial purposes; to participate in city council meetings with authority to participate in discussions but have no vote; to present recommendations to the city council; to exercise veto power over ordinances adopted by the city council within five days of adoption; to see that provisions of the charter, laws, ordinances and rules of the city are complied with and enforced; and to hold no other elected public office. The proposal notes that the mayor may be removed from office.

“One of the things I thought was very important that I lobbied for the last time around is that the mayor remains a non-voting member of the council,” Cadle said. “This gives the mayor the opportunity to speak individually with each member. That’s been very helpful. One thing I did suggest, and the council approved that, was that the mayor would moderate the meetings.”

Currently, Council President J.B. Whitten moderates city council meetings. In many communities adjacent to Crestview, the city’s mayor is in charge of council meetings and only has a vote in the case of a tie.

According to Ellis Conner, the committee’s chairman, the new charter relieves Cadle from heading the police and fire departments, giving him more time to oversee the entire city and its operation.

Andrew Rencich, the charter committee’s vice chairman, asked Cadle what he believed were the pros and cons of the mayor’s current oversight. According to Cadle, lacking a strong chain of command structure for department heads to answer to is a disadvantage. This is where a city manager would come in, which would cause more cohesiveness, according to Cadle.

Cadle said 80 percent of Crestview residents don’t realize that the city doesn’t operate on a strong-mayor form of government, where all key policy and management decisions flow from the mayor's authority.

Nearly every day, residents call Cadle with concerns ranging from mistakes on their water bill to a street light that is out, Cadle said. According to Gene Strickland, a charter committee member, reasons such as that are why there needs to be a city manager.

Cadle agreed to review the powers and duties section of the proposed charter and return to the next committee meeting with any input or additions he would like to see put in the charter.

The Charter Review Committee will meet for the last time on Sept. 7, when the city attorney will look over the draft of the proposed charter and make any necessary adjustments.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Charter Review Committee reviews mayor's duties

Editor's note: The original story stated that the cost for the CRA director's yearly cell service would be $15,000. The correct cost is $1,500.

CRESTVIEW — The Community Redevelopment Agency board reviewed the tentative 2017-2018 CRA budget during a special meeting Thursday.  

According to Teresa Gaillard, Crestview’s growth management director, the budget can be changed prior to the final approval at a Sept. 21 CRA meeting. If the board would like to make changes to the budget after the approval, budget amendments will need to be made.

According to the tentative budget, estimated revenue for the CRA during the 2017-2018 fiscal year is $1,183,387, which includes the 2016-2017 end of year balance forward in the amount of $1,144,387 minus $100,000 for a Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program Grant and $50,000 for operational funds to cover bills between now and the year’s end.

The $50,000 includes $20,000 for contract services for new CRA director Alisa Burleson; $10,000 for a portion of a planned dog park, $1,500 for cell service for the CRA director, $900 for the hosting and maintenance of a CRA website, and the remainder of funds going toward training classes and traveling to conferences for the CRA director.

Projected expenditures for the 2017-2018 fiscal year are $1,345,887. An estimated $489,587 will be spent on economic revitalization and marketing for CRA projects such as the Crestview Depot and welcome center, the dog park at Twin Hills park, a green park between Twin Hills and Main Street and building and land acquisition.

An estimated $300,000 would be spent on CRA incentive and grant programs, $203,500 on parking, land, signage, buildings and security, and $205,000 on the Community Development Block Grant and grant matching, funding, leasing and partnerships. A total of $12,500 is expected to be spent on education, training and conferences for the CRA director.

Of eight CRA incentive and grant programs projected in the tentative budget, the only program currently in use is the Façade and Building Improvement program, which helps downtown businesses do external beautification projects to enhance aesthetics, according to Gaillard.

CRA Commissioner Doug Faircloth said that he would like to see businesses match the funds or reimburse the CRA, rather than the CRA just give them the money.

“I want [the businesses] to have a dog in the fight,” Faircloth said.

The board approved the tentative budget with all commissioners in favor. The CRA Master Plan and final budget will be approved and adopted on Sept. 21.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Marketing for Crestview Depot, dog park among CRA projects

FORT WALTON BEACH — Chairman Mel Ponder and members of the Okaloosa County state legislative delegation will have a public hearing.

The meeting is 5:30-7 p.m. Sept. 5 in room 142 of the Northwest Florida State College Robert L.F. Sikes Education Center, 805 James Lee Blvd. E, Crestview.

The Florida Department of Transportation will host a 5-5:30 p.m. meeting beforehand.

Delegation members will hear public comments on proposals for the 2018 legislative session. They may also consider and vote on a “local bill” (which is state legislation that only pertains to a municipality, taxing district, or school district within the county).

Contact Ponder's legislative assistant, Samantha Sullivan, before 5 p.m. Aug. 28 to present information at the hearing. Call 833-3713 or email Samantha.Sullivan@myfloridahouse.gov.

Due to the limited amount of time and to ensure fairness to all speakers, presentations are limited to three minutes.

To provide the delegation with any background documentation or handouts for their review prior to the hearing, mail or drop off four copies no later than 5 p.m. Aug. 28 at 25 Walter Martin, Suite 202, Fort Walton Beach, FL 32548. The information will be organized in a three-ring binder for members to review.

The Okaloosa delegation includes Rep. Mel Ponder, Rep. Jayer Williamson, Sen. George Gainer and Sen. Doug Broxson.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Legislative delegation sets hearing

CRESTVIEW — Bud Tipton, the football director of the Crestview Area Youth Association, asked the City Council Monday if they would consider outsourcing football and baseball. 

“Niceville outsources baseball, soccer, football — everything is outsourced in Niceville. Same for Shalimar, the same for Baker, so what we want to do is, ‘hey,’ maybe CAYA isn’t good for baseball, maybe [that particular sport is] good for the YMCA, maybe it’s the Veterans Association — we just want something better for the kids,” Tipton said. 

Following Tipton’s presentation, Councilman J.B. Whitten asked, “Do we want to explore outsourcing our city sports? If we want to do that we would have a public workshop.”

Tipton replied, “If the city council can outsource it and go out for a bid, programs like CAYA, most of those are outsourced. My goal is to provide the safest equipment. We want to set up a feeder system so the schools actually get good-quality athletes.”

The president of CAYA, Terry Jackson said, “Mainly we wanted to come together and work with the city because they have facilities we don’t and they are bound by things in their charter that they can’t do that we can. Like with sponsorship and that type of stuff.

"We can take on sponsors to help upgrade facilities, help sponsor individual teams, so we can bring in Little League and support All-Stars and bring in tournaments for travel teams during the summer time."

“We want to work with the city, we don’t want it to be us against them,” said Jackson. 

And in response to the idea that CAYA may want to take over Crestview city sports, he said, “We want to work with them; they provide the facilities and the maintenance, we pay them for that and we run the organization of the baseball and the football.”

No public meeting on the proposal has been scheduled. Further decisions will need to be made before city officials take a step beyond Monday's preliminary discussion.

"Nothing has been decided at this point and the discussion was to have a workshop sometime in the future, but no decision was made," City Clerk Elizabeth Roy said.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: CAYA suggests outsourcing city sports

PRE-FILED CANDIDATES FOR 2018 PRIMARY

(As of August 10, 2017)

BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSION, DISTRICT 2

Date Pre-Filed Party

Carolyn Ketchel 03-2-17 REP

PO Box 7

Shalimar, FL 32579

(850)243-1302

BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSION, DISTRICT 4

Date Pre-Filed Party

Trey Goodwin 06-5-17 REP

PO Box 217

Fort Walton Beach, FL 32549

(850)710-1980

SCHOOL BOARD, DISTRICT 1

Date Pre-Filed Party

Lamar White 04-7-17

88 Meigs Drive

Shalimar, FL 32579

(850)200-0143

Willie Harmon 07-28-17

233 Burnett Avenue

Fort Walton Beach, FL 32548

(850)200-3526

SCHOOL BOARD, DISTRICT 3

Date Pre-Filed Party

Joe Slusser 06-9-17

2009 Hidden Springs Drive

Baker, FL 32531

(850)206-1066

Linda Evanchyk 08-10-17

604 Mooney Road NE

Fort Walton Beach, FL 32547

(850)862-0413

SCHOOL BOARD, DISTRICT 5

Date Pre-Filed Party

Arden Farley 05-17-17

1305 Limestone Creek Cove

Niceville, FL 32578

(850)428-3844

Diane Kelley 08-07-17

1281 Bayshore Drive N

Valparaiso, FL 32580

(850)217-5207

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Okaloosa County pre-filed candidates

CITY OF CRESTVIEW

OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK

P.O. DRAWER 1209, CRESTVIEW, FLORIDA 32536

Phone # (850) 682-1560 Fax # (850) 682-8077

August 14, 2017

6:00 P.M.

Council Chambers

REGULAR AGENDA (Amended)

1. Call to Order

2. Invocation: Associate Pastor Brett House, Central Baptist. Pledge of Allegiance

3. Open Policy making and legislative session

4. Approval of Agenda

5. Special Presentations

6. Approval of Minutes

Approval of the Minutes from the June 26, 2017 Workshop, June 26, 2017 Special Meeting and the June 26, 2017 Budget workshop.

7. Public Hearings:

a. Ordinance 1620 – Vacation of Alleyway – Growth Management

b. Ordinance 1624 – Traffic Impact Fee Waiver Extension – Growth Management

c. Ordinance 1625 – Cannabis Activities Moratorium Extension – Growth Management

8. Public Opportunity on Council proposition

9. Consent Agenda

a. Approval of Paint Bid – Public Services

b. Approval of Certification Pay Raise Fire Dispatch – Fire Chief Holland

c. Approval of use of funds from the sale of Fire Truck – Chief Holland

d. Approval of use of Public Education funds/establishment of account – Chief Holland

e. Approval of new position in Fire Department, replacing Assistant Chief – Chief Holland

f. Approval of BCBS as HealthCare Provider for fiscal 2017-2018 – City Clerk

g. Approval of invoice from Allen, Norton and Blue in the amount of $409.75

h. Approval of invoice from Ben Holley in the amount of $_3762.5.

i. Approval of invoice from Ard, Shirley and Rudolph in the amount of $1313.50

j. Approval of Credit for Percentage of Impact Fees – Public Services.

k. Approval of Resolutions for the Florida League of Cities Conference

l. Approval of the issuance of an Alcoholic Beverage Certificate of Compliance for a

2COP Beer & Wine License for Mia’s Italian Restaurant.

m. Approval of Site Construction and Building Plans for AA Tactical

10. Resolutions

a. Resolution 17-12 Out of City Services – 220 Duggan Avenue

b. Resolution 17-13 Out of City Services – 544 Mayo Trail

c. Resolution 17-14 Out of City Services – 3107 Chestnut Avenue Trail

d. Resolution 17-15 Out of City Services – 824 East Williams Avenue

11. Committee Reports

a. Report on 2015-2016 Financial Audit, Saltmarsh, Cleaveland and Gund

b. Quarterly Update from EDC – Nathan Sparks

12. Scheduled Presentations from the Public

a. CAYA Presentation – Bud Tipton

13. Project Reports and Comments from Mayor and Council

14. Staff Reports and Recommendations

a. LPA Board Appointment – Growth Management

15. Comments from the Audience

16. Adjournment

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview City Council meeting agenda: Aug. 14

CRESTVIEW — Crestview resident DeLeon Ward is one of roughly 500,000 World War II veterans still alive, according to data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

In 1942, Ward, then 17, was a Seaman 1st Class, or E-3, stationed on the U.S.S. Yorktown. The aircraft carrier was christened by Eleanor Roosevelt on April 4, 1936 and was commissioned by the U.S. Navy until it sank during the Battle of Midway in June 1942.

“Some people say the Battle of Midway was the turning point in the war, but I disagree on that,” Ward said.

The battle took place June 4-7, 1942, about six months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, which led to the United States’ entry into the war. A number of historians state that the Battle of Midway was a decisive win for the U.S. because the Navy managed to destroy four Japanese aircraft carriers that the country couldn’t adequately replace.

The Crestview veteran sees things differently. 

THE A-BOMB FACTOR 

“Roosevelt was president,” Ward said. “We had been in war now for two years — ’41-’43 — but in ’42 we stayed in war for another three years, the war wasn’t over until 1945. Then President Roosevelt died and Harry Truman took over and he dropped the atomic bomb on Japan and that’s what stopped the war; that’s what changed the war…”

But Tom Hone — an executive in the Office of the Secretary of Defense — wrote in a Sept. 12, 2013, article on warontherocks.com that “[Japan’s fleet commander Adm. Isoroku] Yamamoto wanted his carriers, led by Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, to ambush any American carriers and surface ships that ventured to contest the Japanese attack and assault on Midway.

“Instead, he was ambushed by the three U.S. carriers — Yorktown, Enterprise, and Hornet — that had steamed north and west from Hawaii. In just one day — 4 June 1942 — Admiral Nagumo lost his four carriers to the air units of his American opponents, while U.S. naval forces lost only one carrier (Yorktown) in return,” Hone wrote.

“Why was Midway such a critical victory? First, the fact that the U.S. Navy lost just one carrier at Midway meant that four carriers (Enterprise, Hornet, Saratoga, and Wasp) were available when the U.S. Navy went on the offensive during the Guadalcanal campaign that began the first week of August 1942. Second, the march of the Imperial Japanese Navy across the Pacific was halted at Midway and never restarted.” 

FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT 

During the Battle of Midway, Ward’s primary task was transporting ammunition throughout the ship. “We had four gun turrets on it and we had one five-inch gun in each turret. Then we had .50 caliber machine guns,” he said. “I was on gun turret four on the port side and I was moving ammunition to that turret and there were other guys moving ammunition to the others.”

Today, the 93-year-old does not exemplify Shakespeare’s famous quote, “Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.” He has stayed in shape and rides a three-wheeled bicycle through the streets of Crestview with an American flag and a sign attached to a metal basket on back that says, “World War II Veteran — Don’t Follow Me, I’m lost too.”

And he still remembers what happened when the U.S.S. Yorktown was torpedoed. 

“A Japanese pilot spotted us and radioed an aircraft carrier and he dropped two torpedoes and one of them hit the Yorktown on the port side — and that’s when we abandoned ship. And then we went back and they pushed all the guns off port side and pushed all the airplanes that couldn’t fly overboard and then they tied up the ship on the starboard side to give us power,” he said.

“They pushed all the guns off and the weight off of it so it would settle up again straight. We got it back on its own keel and it was on its own power, and this was on July 2, 1942. Everyone said the Battle of Midway was on the second, but it was on the fourth; but on the sixth, it was back on its keel and it was level.

"A Japanese sub came up and floated some torpedoes on the starboard side and the other torpedoes hit and it sunk. When it sunk, the depth charges [weapons] were set to go off at a certain depth … and they went off.

“And it took it 24 hours after then to sink.”

Editor's note: an earlier version of this article incorrectly identified a turret.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Reflecting on the Battle of Midway