CRESTVIEW — No one was appointed as the new city attorney during a special meeting Thursday evening to interview, and possibly select, one of four applicants.

The City Council deadlocked 2-2 on appointing former city attorney Ben Holley. A motion to appoint North Okaloosa Fire District attorney Jonathon Holloway failed for lack of a second.

City Clerk Betsy Roy said the matter will return before the council at its regular Sept. 14 meeting.

“We’ll see what the options are then,” Roy said.

Current attorney Jerry Miller — who represents the city under a contract that expires Sept. 28 — has not applied to continue in the position.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview council deadlocks on city attorney appointment

LAUREL HILL — The City Council's ad valorem rates will stay the same when the 2015-16 fiscal year starts Oct. 1.

The City Council on Thursday unanimously approved a 3.5 ad valorem millage rate, along with a $605,874 budget that includes a $396,374 general operating fund and a $209,500 enterprise operating fund.

 The millage is projected to raise $52,900 toward the city’s revenue, with a further $42,000 electricity franchise and utility tax forecast. Other revenue sources include $40,000 in local government half-cent taxes; $35,000 in local option fuel taxes; $19,900 in rent from Elite Trailers, the city’s industrial park tenant; $11,324 from a state mowing contract; and $33,500 from state revenue sharing.

The enterprise fund will see $195,000 revenue from water sales and $14,500 in garbage, impact and water fees, including late fees and reconnect fees.

 The city expects to pay off a $35,520 FNB Bank loan by September 2016. A motion at the Aug. 6 council meeting to pay off the loan early failed on a deadlocked vote, with Council Chairman Larry Hendren and Councilman Scott Moneypenny voting in favor.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Laurel Hill council OKs $605K budget, maintains millage rate

CRESTVIEW — The Mobile District of the United States Army Corps of Engineers and Okaloosa County Water and Sewer will host meetings to obtain public input on water supply alternatives.

Meetings are as follows:

●6-7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 16 at Okaloosa County Water and Sewer Administration Building, 1804 Lewis Turner Blvd., third floor, Fort Walton Beach.

●6-7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17 at Warriors Hall, 201 Stillwell Blvd., Crestview

Feedback obtained will be considered in ongoing analysis for a long-term project to develop additional potable water supplies for Okaloosa County citizens, businesses and military establishments.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Public input requested on Okaloosa water supply

CRESTVIEW — The City Council will meet 5:30 p.m. Sept. 9 for a budget workshop at city hall, 198 Wilson St., N.

Here is the meeting's agenda:

1. Call to Order

2. Invocation: Pledge of Allegiance

3. Open meeting

4. Note: Due to the necessity of re-sending City of Crestview Truth in Millage notices, the meeting may be recessed until 5:05 p.m. Sept. 22.

A public hearing for the adoption of 2015-2016 tentative millage rate and tentative budget will be held on that date.

5. Public hearing: Adoption of 2015-2016 tentative millage rate and tentative budget

6. Adjournment

"The necessity for the re-TRIM was due to an error by the city, not the Okaloosa County Property appraiser's office," City Clerk Betsy Roy said.

"The Department of Revenue and the Okaloosa County Property Appraiser's Office have been extremely patient and  helpful during this process." 

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview council to discuss Truth in Millage notices

CRESTVIEW — A new IRS scam is circulating in Okaloosa County.

The con-artist calls or emails someone saying he or she owes money to the IRS and tells them to get a “Green Dot Card.” The con-artist says that if they do not pay the money owed today, they will be arrested.

Other scams about tax returns involve IRS rebates, audits and using variations of the IRS name, with companies or individuals using the IRS acronym, but with different words; one example is the fictitious Internal Refund Service.

If you receive an email from someone claiming to be from the IRS, forward the email to phishing@irs.gov.

Remember:

●The IRS will not contact you by telephone or e-mail

●The IRS will use the mailing address you place on your return

●Use direct deposit into your checking account for tax returns

If someone contacts you claiming to be with the IRS, hang up and call the IRS at 1-800-366-4484.

To learn more about scams involving the IRS, go to www.irs.gov.

For more ways you can protect yourself from con-artists, visit the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office Crime Prevention website, www.sheriff-okaloosa.org.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office reports IRS scams

BAKER — About 30 county, state and federal government officials got up close and personal with Northwest Florida agriculture during Thursday’s Farm Bureau Legislative Tour, and learned peanuts ain’t just worth, well, peanuts.

For area farming families, goobers are a major source of area income.

“We like to give the legislators and their staff a chance to see what is going on in the agriculture world around them and, if the farmers are facing issues, to see what the issues are,” Molly Huffman, Crestview Farm Bureau Federation secretary said.

Legislative aides from the offices of state Reps. Greg Evers, Doug Broxson and Mike Hill, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller joined Okaloosa County administrator John Hofstad, University of Florida/IFAS Extension Director Larry Williams, and other area officials for the daylong tour.

“If they are voting on laws that affect agriculture and farming, they will have a better understanding of what the farmers’ actual needs are,” Huffman said.

SCIENCE AT WORK

Stops included the UF/IFAS Jay Research Facility, where participants learned how science continues to improve agricultural practices.

They then got to see that science at work at Marshall Farms in Baker, where farmer James Marshall succinctly explained one of farmers’ biggest challenges.

“We’re permitted to death,” he said.

As an example, Marshall said it took more than a year to receive a permit to drill a simple well for irrigating one of his fields, that once permitted, was dug and operational in three weeks.

Participants got to sample some of Marshall’s freshly harvested produce as they nibbled boiled peanuts, then observed the harvesting process in a nearby field.

SPIRITED STOP

The tour’s final stop was Peaden Brothers Distillery in the Fox Theater on Crestview’s Main Street.

As the participants sipped small samples of the distillery’s seven varieties of beverages – served, ironically, in church communion cups – co-owner Tyler Peaden explained the company’s efforts to make Crestview a destination rather than a gas stop en route to south county beaches.

“That’s like a thumb in the eye,” Peaden said. “We wanted to give people a reason to come to Crestview.”

Peaden said his whiskey, bourbon and moonshine are distilled from grains grown in Florida, including corn, barley and some rye.

“We want to make sure everything in our bottles comes from Florida,” Peaden said.

Miller’s district director, Sheila Bowman, said the tour proved valuable by highlighting the variety and importance of Northwest Florida’s agricultural industries. The aides’ experience will help the legislators as they formulate policy, she said.

“You really don’t know something until you see it, touch it, feel it,” and, as the aroma of fermenting grains wafted through the Fox Theatre lobby, “sniff it,” Bowman said.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Legislative aides learn 'what is going on in the agriculture world' in North Okaloosa (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

Crestview City Councilman Mickey Rytman tendered a letter of resignation from the City Council to Mayor David Cadle and the council Thursday, Aug. 28. Rytman stated in the letter that his resignation was effective immediately.

Rytman stated that he has always strived to be an effective representative of his constituents and the city of Crestview during his two-year tenure on the council.

"Now I must attend to personal matters of my own," Rytman stated.

Per the city charter, the City Council will fill Rytman's seat after soliciting applications from qualified residents. The selected replacement will fill the rest of Rytman's term, then may run for election to the seat if he or she chooses.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview council member resigns

CRESTVIEW — Florida International University remains committed to its physician assistant program’s Crestview component, despite the death of its most ardent local proponent.

Peter Gutierrez, dean of FIU's new Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine PA program, visited Mayor David Cadle on Thursday to assure him the program will proceed as former state senator and Crestview physician Durrell Peaden envisioned.

After several years of planning and receiving accreditation, the program’s first 45 students started classes Aug. 3 at FIU’s Miami campus.

“They (had) their first test this week,” Gutierrez said. “We’re excited. We have our white coat ceremony Oct. 22. It’s for real. It’s no longer in planning. It’s happening.” White coat ceremonies mark medical students' transition from the study of preclinical to clinical health sciences.

“We’re looking to send the students here (to Crestview) in 15 months for hospital rotations and rural clinical rotations,” Gutierrez said. “It will be a great experience they can’t get in the Miami area.”

Several Crestview rotation sites, including North Okaloosa Medical Center, are being considered. In addition, “We’re talking with the armed forces to see if we can get some rotations inside the (Eglin) air base, too,” Gutierrez said.

Five to 10 students will be in the first group to study in Crestview, Gutierrez said. Local clinical rotations will last nine to 10 months, he said.

Peaden — who died June 23 of illness related to a heart attack — worked tirelessly to bring healthcare and health education programs to North Okaloosa and Walton counties.

His initiatives included the Florida A&M University Rural Diversity Healthcare Center in downtown Crestview, the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine DeFuniak Springs Dental Offices, and the FIU physician assistant program.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: First students to begin Crestview clinical rotations in 2016

CRESTVIEW — Crestview Police Chief Tony Taylor says he has the solution for replacing the department's outdated computer system.

But first, he will need some tax dollars to pay for it.

Taylor said he and Officer Len Steinmeier, the CPD's systems administrator, evaluated several systems used by area and regional law enforcement agencies before settling on the one he is requesting from the 2015-16 budget.

"SunGard Public Sector is the only company we met with that exceeded our expectations," Taylor said. "They are the only company sitting on the technological edge."

Taylor described the $880,000 system as being" built by law enforcement for law enforcement," and noted the Fort Walton Beach Police Department uses it "and they like it."

Steinmeier said the current failing system — bought in 2002 "with no thought to upgrades" — is incompatible with the rigorous reporting now required by state and federal mandate.

The current system's limitations were revealed during the 2015 mayoral campaign, when the city's reported crime statistics became an issue but turned out to be erroneously reported to state and federal agencies.

"When we started looking closer at the data, we realized the system was not updating properly," Steinmeier said.

Council President Shannon Hayes said he looked into the concern and agreed. "I looked at some of the crime reports and saw the same address had the same crime reported seven or eight times," Hayes said. "The system reflects bad on us as a city."

Taylor said correcting system-generated errors required "hundreds of man-hours" of officer time.

SunGard representatives Joe Beasley and Al Battles, a former police officer in North Carolina, demonstrated their company's software — which integrates a police headquarters' central server with dispatch and patrol computers — during an Aug. 20 City Council budget workshop.

Battles said the proposed system allows officers to simply speak commands to the computer; this means they don't have to take their eyes off the road or from a crime scene to manually enter data or information requests.

The system's cost, which would be spread over six years, includes loading Crestview and Florida-specific data, including city and regional maps, and can accommodate Google Maps and weather radar.

Crestview police can upload floor plans of buildings such as schools and commercial properties, as well as residences that are repeat crime scenes, such as meth labs.

When an officer files an incident report, the proposed system complies with Florida Uniform Crime Reports requirements to assure the report is accurate, Battles said. It alerts the officer to errors, incomplete or inaccurate data.

"All the Florida charges are dropped in," Battles said, noting the system can also generate and print traffic citations. "All you have to add is the city ordinances."

Vehicle identification numbers are automatically imported from the state motor vehicle database, and click-and-drag technology facilitates preparing accident report diagrams previously done by hand.

While the demonstration impressed councilmen, departmental budgets are still being reviewed and adjusted; there is no guarantee that Taylor's request will be approved.

The City Council will further discuss the budget during a workshop on Tuesday. The new budget will be implemented by Oct. 1.

The Crestview City Council's next budget workshop is 5 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall.

WANT TO GO?

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview police: Outdated computer system needs $800K replacement

FORT WALTON BEACH — The National Association of Social Workers has selected Okaloosa County Commissioner Carolyn Ketchel as Florida's Social Worker of the Year.

The award — presented by Jim Aiken, executive director of NASW's Florida Chapter — praised Ketchel for more than 40 years' contributions to the field of social work.

She participated in President Jimmy Carter’s White House Conference on Families, was recognized by President Ronald Reagan for her work on the Social Security Commission, and worked as a technical adviser to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means.

After moving to Florida in 1987, Ketchel was active in many aspects of the social work field, including as director of Catholic Charities and as a private counselor. Ketchel also was appointed as the senior legislative director for Sen. Don Gaetz, during which time Ketchel worked to pass legislation creating the Masters-level Social Work program at the University of West Florida.

Ketchel — the Okaloosa County Commission's only current female — is the first licensed clinical social worker to hold office in Northwest Florida. She serves as a member of the Gubernatorial Florida Faith-Based and Community-Based Advisory Board.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Carolyn Ketchel, Okaloosa commissioner, named Florida's Social Worker of the Year