CRESTVIEW — The Crestview City Council will meet 5:15 p.m. Sept. 26 in Council Chambers at city hall.

Here is the meeting's agenda.

Public Hearing

1. Call to Order

2. Pledge of Allegiance

3. Open meeting

4. Public Hearing

a. Adoption of Final Millage Rate for Fiscal 2017 – Resolution 16-24

b. Adoption of Final Budget for Fiscal 2017 – Resolution 16-25

5. Comments from the Audience

6. Adjournment

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview City Council agenda: Sept. 26

CRESTVIEW — Councilman JB Whitten has scheduled his next town hall meeting.

The meeting is 6-8 p.m. Sept. 27 at Samuel's Roadhouse restaurant, 114 John King Road, Crestview.

The topic will be Crestview and its relationship to businesses. Members of the city Growth Management department will answer questions.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Town Hall meeting set about Crestview business

FORT WALTON BEACH — Okaloosa Supervisor of Elections Supervisor Paul Lux is the guest speaker for the Okaloosa County Republican Club's next meeting.

The meeting starts with social hour at 6:30 p.m.; dinner will be served at 7 p.m. Sept. 22 at American Legion Post 235, 105 Hollywood Blvd. SW.

Dinner costs $15 and includes drinks and gratuity. Menu choices will be grilled barbecue pork chops with garlic mashed potatoes or grilled chicken salad.

To make a dinner reservation by the evening deadline on Sept. 19, call OCRC Vice President Nate Lepper at 376-2287.

For information about the club, call President Mark Franks at 240-1279.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Okaloosa Republicans meeting to feature elections supervisor

NICEVILLE — Best-selling author, film director and scholar Dinesh D’Souza will speak soon in Niceville on the topic “America’s Future.”

The free lecture, presented by the Concerned Conservative Christian Citizens group, or 4C, will be presented at 3 p.m. Sept. 18 at the Mattie Kelly Arts Center on Northwest Florida State College’s Niceville campus. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis, with no tickets required. Doors open at 2 p.m.

D’Souza, a Mumbai, India native, graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Dartmouth College in 1983. His documentaries include “2016: Obama’s America,” “America,” and most recently, “Hillary’s America.”

He has authored books such as “The End of Racism,” “The Enemy at Home,” “Godforsaken,” “Obama’s America: Unmaking the American Dream,” and “What’s So Great About Christianity.”

D’Souza’s articles have appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic Monthly, Vanity Fair, New Republic, Forbes, and the National Review.

He has appeared on numerous television programs, including The Today Show, “Nightline,” “The Kelly File,” “The News Hour” on PBS, “The O’Reilly Factor,” “Moneyline,” “Hannity,” NPR’s “All Things Considered,” CNBC’s “Kudlow Report,” Lou “Dobbs Tonight” and “Real Time with Bill Maher.”

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Dinesh D’Souza is NWF State guest speaker

CRESTVIEW — North Okaloosa County will be the focus of several public improvements in coming months and years, according to Commissioner Nathan Boyles.

Issues he discussed during the Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce’s Sept. 14 Government Issues Committee meeting include:

BUDGET AND TAXES

County commissioners kept the county’s ad valorem tax rate unchanged at 3.4308 mills, Boyles said.

“We are at the very bottom, or near the bottom, in millage rates across the state,” he said. “We generally function very efficiently. We are far and away the lowest aggregate millage rate in the state.”

Just one citizen attended a budget hearing “and he was at the wrong meeting,” Boyles said. “It was a change in pace. My second year in office we had people picketing the meeting.”

CRESTVIEW COURTHOUSE

The 1955 courthouse is now vacant and its asbestos abatement contract has been awarded. Asbestos must be removed before demolition can begin.

County Public Works Director Jason Autrey said asbestos mitigation should begin by October. Immediately afterward, court security Capt. Jay Jones hopes to hold an active-shooter drill in the building before its demolition.

Boyles said demolition could begin by the end of October. Once the building begins coming down, “I think we'll see things moving really quickly,” he said. “There won't be any pause.”

TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS

“There's a lot happening right now behind the scenes on the notion of a western bypass around Crestview,” Boyles said. “We're actively in the design phase and we're actively in the property acquisition phase from (State Road) 85 to I-10.”

Boyles said a study is underway for placing an I-10 interchange at the Antioch Road overpass or in the vicinity, and “There seems to be some growing interest in moving northward, more rapidly than I expected.”

A “loop up above (U.S. Highway) 90 from P.J. Adams to somewhere north of the city” in the Old Bethel Road area to connect to S.R. 85 is also under discussion.

“There's potentially some exciting stuff happening,” Boyles said.

At S.R. 85 South, “the Rasberry Road-Arena Road (connector) discussion is ongoing with the county and state,” he said.

“This is one of those things where there's a lot happening but nobody sees it because there's no asphalt going down yet,” Boyles said.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: ‘Life is good’

CRESTVIEW — Ralph Everage has come a long way. Once a student in the Crestview Fire Department’s youth Explorers program, he’s now the departmental training chief.

In a brief Sept. 12 ceremony, Mayor David Cadle, who oversees the city’s Public Safety departments, and Fire Chief Joe Traylor lauded Everage on his quarter-century of service to the city.

“It's always enjoyable when you see valuable employees spend a long length of time with us,” Cadle said.

“The quality of our program in Crestview is in great part directly attributable to his (Everage’s) management of our training program,” Traylor said. “His overall effort in Okaloosa County was recognized by the state of Florida at the Florida Fire Chiefs Convention in January.”

Everage “wears many hats,” Traylor said. In addition to being the training chief, he is the department’s safety officer and infectious disease control officer.

The latter duty includes reporting and monitoring firefighters who might be exposed to infectious patients or chemical agents during their duties.

“He brings a lot of expertise and a lot of leadership to the job,” Traylor said.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Everage recognized for 25 years of service

CRESTVIEW — When students arrive at Riverside Elementary School or Shoal River Middle School with muddy shoes, one commissioner said it won’t be due to the county.

Paving equipment will soon land on Okaloosa Lane’s 2,000-foot dirt segment after what Okaloosa County Commissioner Wayne Harris called “hellacious problems trying to get right-of-way for it.”

“We got the last piece of property!” Harris said, adding the county received confirmation late last week.

However, because the owner of a 14-acre property on the west side of the lane wanted too much money for about 50 feet of an 8-to-10-foot-wide right-of-way, a planned sidewalk can’t be built, county officials said.

RIGHT-OF-WAY

Acquiring right-of-way from 10 property owners on either side of the dirt segment delayed starting the paving project for several years, Harris said.

While many were eager to see improvement come to their neighborhood road and sold the county land bordering the project, a couple of holdouts delayed the project, Harris said.

“We had people who wanted to get rich off the county,” Harris said. “One owner’s property was so valuable to her that it would’ve come to a million dollars an acre.”

Rather than pay the owner’s asking price, “We adjusted the road so we didn’t need her property,” Harris said. “We only needed 8 or 10 feet for 50 feet or so. She would’ve gotten fair market value.”

WORK STARTS SOON

County engineer Scott Bitterman said now that property critical to the project has been acquired, “We expect that work will start taking place within a handful of months.”

First, a culvert that channels water under a significant “dip” in the unpaved segment will be replaced with a bridge, he said.

“As soon as the bridge is done we’ll follow that up with the paving,” Bitterman said.

Harris has made paving dirt portions of Okaloosa Lane and Fairchild Road, near Bob Sikes Airport, two top projects during his tenure as commissioner.

He said he is pleased that when his term expires, both will be underway.

HOLDOUTS

When residents notice Okaloosa Lane is missing some sidewalk, Harris said he wants them to understand the county tried to acquire necessary right-of-way.

However, due to one holdout landowner, a sidewalk along the road’s west side will be forfeited.

“She’s not getting a sidewalk nor is she getting any improvements to her property,” Harris said. “People think it’s us (county officials) delaying the project, but it’s people who want to make money off the taxpayer. They don’t realize they’re just hurting themselves. It’s their own tax dollars.”

“In the end, I think a paved road is going to be better than no paved road at all,” Bitterman said. “We’re just going to have a gap in the sidewalk, unfortunately.”

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Okaloosa Lane to be paved

CRESTVIEW — Local military supporter and Military Appreciation and Recognition Celebration founder Bob Lynn died July 30 before he could see his last project realized.

Just 11 days before his death, Lynn's longtime friend, Brig. Gen. Mark Stogsdill, died as well. Lynn undertook an effort involving area civic, military and congressional leaders to name the 77th Special Forces Way overpass on State Road 85 for Stogsdill.

“It can be done for little or no expense,” Lynn said, describing the project to the News Bulletin on July 25.

The overpass connects the Air Force’s Duke Field on the east side of the highway with the Army’s 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) cantonment on the west side.

ROUNDING UP SUPPORT

Lynn had already contacted local and state leaders, including Mayor David Cadle, Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce CEO Valerie Lott and board chairman Dawn Mann, Okaloosa County Commissioners Nathan Boyles and Wayne Harris, and state Rep. Matt Gaetz, all of whom, he said, supported the initiative.

Harris, who sponsored a board of commissioners resolution in support of the project, said the decision was an easy one to make.

“I was pleased to put together a county resolution supporting the project,” he said. “Mark, being a commander of Duke Field, and given his position in our community, it would be a fabulous idea to honor him.”

The resolution passed unanimously.

SLOW DOWN

Among other assignments, Stogsdill was base commander at Duke Field during his Air Force career.

Cadle said while the initiative slowed following Lynn’s death, it was still very much alive.

“We are still working on it,” he said. “I am told it takes a year for that to be done because the overpass belongs to FDOT (the Florida Department of Transportation), not the military.”

Cadle said one step toward the process that he’s working on is writing a city proclamation in support of the project for the City Council to pass.

But losing his friend Lynn, whom Cadle said was noted as much for his organizational skills as for his support of the area’s military and veterans, was a definite impediment.

“It’s a setback on us,” Cadle said. “He is sorely missed. He was known for making sure things got done and got done right.”

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Effort to honor Stogsdill didn’t die with Lynn

CRESTVIEW — A crowded City Council chamber erupted in applause as City Clerk Betsy Roy announced long-time community worker Mary Jo Woodruff had been selected as the Mae Retha Coleman Citizen of the Year recipient.

During what Council President Joe Blocker called, "A special occasion; a glorious occasion," residents and city leaders took turns praising the modest Central Baptist Church member who for decades supervised the church kitchen.

Woodruff has overseen the feeding of business leaders during Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce monthly breakfast meetings, and police officers and local clergy and their families during Christmas dinners.

But speakers at Monday evening's ceremony especially praised her work and determination when Hurricane Katrina refugees evacuated to Crestview in September 2005.

'YOU CAN JUST LEAVE'

Dr. Gene Strickland, president of the Okaloosa Baptist Association, described Woodruff's handling of the feeding of hundreds of evacuees.

"A representative of the Red Cross came to the kitchen and said, 'This is how we're going to arrange the kitchen,'" Strickland recalled.

"And the head of the Central Baptist Church kitchen crew (Woodruff) said, 'Wait just a minute. We've done this before. We know what we're doing and you can just leave.' And the representative of the American Red Cross turned around and left."

"I know you were going to tell this story," Woodruff said, feigning frustration.

Later, impressed by Woodruff's performance, the red Cross representative raised $1,700 in donations at a meeting to send to Central Baptist's kitchen crew for food purchases.

FOLLOWING JESUS'S PATH

"She's one of those people who doesn't wait for somebody to do something," her daughter Katie said. "She gets up and she does it."

"She has such a wonderful, giving heart," the Rev. Sherell Compton said. "Whoever has a need in their life, Mary Jo has reached out to make sure it's going to happen."

"I cannot tell you how thrilled I was when I heard Miss Mary Jo has been selected as Citizen of the Year," Mayor David Cadle said. "Who else can top what she has done?

"She didn't do that out of any glory of her own. She did that out of Christian conviction and following in the path of Jesus. I thank God for having her in this city."

"I'm thankful that Mama could do what she's done," Woodruff's son, the Rev. Joey Woodruff, said, adding her ongoing activity is what makes her life fulfilling.

"You can't stop, you can't sit down. You have to always be doing something that's rewarding," Joey Woodruff said.

"I hope the Lord will allow me to keep going and do more," Mary Jo Woodruff said.

"To love her is to see the hands and feet of Jesus come down and walk among us," Woodruff's pastor, the Rev. Paul Mixon, said.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Woodruff selected Crestview Citizen of the Year (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

MILTON — Santa Rosa County Tax Collector Stan Nichols is one of a few of Florida’s 67 tax collectors to earn a designation for excellence in financial operations.

A judging panel named by the Florida Tax Collectors Association performed a detailed review of the tax collector’s financial records, practices and use of technology in considering Nichols for the honor.

“The Excellence in Financial Operations Award is one of the highest achievements the Florida Tax Collector’s Association can award a local tax collector,” a city spokesperson said. “The judging process was strenuous and included a detailed review of the financial functions of the Santa Rosa Tax Collector’s Office.”

To be considered for the award, Nichols’ office was required to demonstrate excellence in four areas: innovation and automation; a perfect annual audit report; customer focus; and budgeting.

“I’m very proud of our staff for winning this very prestigious award, and for also achieving a perfect audit every single year since taking office in 2009,” Nichols said.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Tax collector wins award for excellence