CRESTVIEW — Mayor David Cadle has announced his bid for a third term in office.

Cadle was first elected in 2007 and was reelected in 2011. In that time, the city has seen unprecedented growth and weathered what Cadle termed, “a crisis of confidence by our citizens in the police department.”

By provision of the city charter, the mayor oversees Crestview’s public safety departments. After allegations against former Crestview Police Department leadership were issued, Cadle replaced former Chief Brian Mitchell with current Chief Tony Taylor and oversaw a cultural restructuring of the department.

Former police Maj. Joseph Floyd was sentenced in 2013 to 12 years in prison on charges of racketeering, while Mitchell faces charges of official misconduct.

“The rigorous standards an officer faces today are vastly different than those under the former police leadership,” Cadle said.

The police department has begun what Cadle termed “the arduous task” of applying for police department accreditation, “which will result in even more scrutiny of our local law enforcement.”

The Crestview Fire Department has acquired advanced communications technology under Cadle’s tenure, including using satellite positioning systems to identify fire locations and track response vehicles.

Among his achievements, Cadle touted in a news release, is “the recruitment of advanced educational institutions” that are attracted to Crestview, including the Florida A&M University pharmacy school. “Our location in the panhandle has caused several schools with professional degree programs along with a four-year university to take a closer look at us,” Cadle stated.

Cadle also cited Crestview’s improving business climate, which has seen the arrival of several national retailers as well as local stores and restaurants open in recent years.

“We will continue those efforts which help diversify and strengthen the local economy,” Cadle said.

Also seeking election as mayor are City Councilman Tom Gordon, who pre-filed in August, and resident Landrum Edwards, who announced his candidacy in September.

Municipal elections will be March 10, 2015. Early voting starts Feb. 23.

EmailNews Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitteror call 850-682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Cadle seeks third term as mayor

DESTIN — The Okaloosa-Walton Transportation Planning Organization will meet Thursday, Dec. 4 at the Destin City Hall Annex.

The TPO will meet at 3 p.m.; the Citizens' Advisory Committee and Technical Coordinating Committee will meet at 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., respectively. The building is at 4100 Indian Bayou Trail.

Agenda items include:

•The Florida Department of Transportation's fiscal year 2016-20 Tentative Work Program

•Appointment  of a TPO member/alternate to serve on the Metropolitan Planning Organization Advisory Council

•Appointment  of a TPO member/alternate to attend the MPOAC Institute

•Consideration of a Citizens' Advisory Committee application

Review items include:

•A draft  of the inter-local agreement for the Okaloosa-Walton TPO

•A draft of the professional services agreement with West Florida Regional Planning Council

•A general planning consultant selection update

•The regional transit authority feasibility study

See www.wfrpc.org for the full agenda.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Okaloosa-Walton transportation planners to meet Thursday

CRESTVIEW — The City Council unanimously agreed to extend for another year the waiver of traffic impact fees.

At a brief Monday evening meeting, council administrative assistant Theresa Gaillard presented the ordinance for a first reading.

“The main objective is to relieve the burden on our developers and our builders and to allow time for a study of the impact fee,” Gaillard said.

Gaillard said in 2009, a periodic review of the traffic impact fee was mandated by city code. The last study was held in 2008.

Extending the fee 12 months will allow time for a consultant to review the fee, determine its affect on development, and recommend either extending the waiver or implementing the fee again. If the latter course is recommended, the consultant would also suggest how much the fee should be, Gaillard said.

She estimated the study will cost between $25,000 and $55,000.

When Councilman Mickey Rytman suggested studying the impact fee concurrently with planning the city’s 2015-16 budget, city attorney Jerry Miller advised against waiting so long.

“It will not be my guidance that you delay the study of the impact fee with the next budget cycle,” Miller said. “I recommend a very short period of time than the one year.”

Miller has previously counseled the council to allow the fee waiver to sunset at the end of December, because extending it could expose the city to litigation from developers who had to pay the fee before it was waived at the request of Gov. Rick Scott.

“At the completion of the impact study, if you continue to have the impact fee, we expect the waiver period may not last 12 months,” Miller said.

The ordinance extending the waiver will be presented for a second reading and final vote at the council’s Dec. 8 meeting.

Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: City Council extends traffic impact fee waiver

CRESTVIEW — City and water engineering contractor CH2M Hill officials are planning pipelines that will transport treated wastewater to golf course and developer customers.

In addition, they will boost educational outreach to include school and organization visits to the city’s wastewater treatment plant. That's important because "there’s a lot that happens when someone flushes that toilet,” project manager Jayne Swift said. “We’re the end result.”

Swift, Public Works Director Wayne Steele and city officials are flush with excitement upon last month's completion of the plant’s fourth expansion phase.

Among other improvements, the new phase replaces the treated water disinfection system.

The plant previously used chlorine gas to treat water. Under the new system, the water is cleaned with what Swift called "essentially industrial bleach," which is less hazardous to handle.

Improvements also include the beginnings of infrastructure to distribute and sell treated wastewater, some of which is currently sprayed on a 275-acre spray field, growing grasses for farmers.

City officials are in discussions with Foxwood Country Club officials and housing developers to buy treated water for use on golf courses, landscaping and lawns, Steele said.

“They’re excited because they have a capacity limit” with wells or municipal water supplies, Steele said. “When things go dry, it costs them money.”

The plant — which operates on a $1 million annual budget — daily can process up to 2.75 million gallons of wastewater. It recoups some of its expenses through charging for the service it provides.

“This (program) helps them and it helps the city,” Steele said. “We can charge for that water. It helps cover our costs of operation.”

The new phase called for constructing five rapid infiltration basins, or RIPs, which clean treated sewage through percolation. The RIPs will provide treated water for developers and country clubs.

“You can treat all the sewage you want but if you can’t get rid of it, you’re no better off than when you started,” Steele said.

Crestview’s wastewater treatment plant is both the city’s biggest construction project and its largest asset, representing a $26.450 million investment since it was started in 1994, Steele said.

“Sewer and water (service) is the lifeblood of a developing city,” he said.

“Without this, Crestview isn’t going to grow in any way,” City Council President Shannon Hayes said as Steele showed officials a control monitor of the entire plant. “This right here really is the future of Crestview.”

By positioning the plant to anticipate the city’s growth, “we’re ahead of the game and it’s going to make life easier for everybody,” Swift said. “This city has forethought.”

WANT TO GO?

Schools and community organizations interested in touring Crestview's wastewater treatment plant may contact Jayne Swift, H2M Hill project manager, 682-0829.

Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview’s wastewater treatment plant grows with city

CRESTVIEW — The City Council next week will discuss a traffic impact fee moratorium that expires Dec. 31.

While council members Mickey Rytman and Robyn Helt support extending the moratorium, city attorney Jerry Miller has said that could place the city in legal jeopardy.

If the city adopted waivers for impact fees, it could even wind up reimbursing developers who previously paid the fee, Miller said.

Helt has said the city should look for a way to maintain the moratorium.

“I am for continuing it if it is feasible,” she said during the council's Nov. 10 meeting. “Let’s do it in a manner that can hold up to litigation.”

Councilman Joe Blocker, heeding Miller’s advice, advocated letting the moratorium expire while the issue is studied.

“By the (council) meeting in January or February, we should know the position we’re in,” he said. “If need be then, we will reinstitute the moratorium.”

Local contractor Jeremy Stewart, the Florida Homebuilders Association's acting secretary, supports extending the moratorium.

“Across the state, the majority of constituencies are extending the moratorium,” he said.

Builder and general contractor Felix Beukenkamp, the Building Industry Association's past president, said builders and city officials must work as partners in development.

“We’re here to help you raise the money that needs to be raised. Without those roads we can’t do business,” he said. “One thing we can’t support is a very narrow tax, which this fee is.”

Bobby Fischer, president of the Building Industry Association of Okaloosa and Walton County, said with material prices rising faster than home sale prices, the moratorium is the only thing making homebuilding profitable in the Crestview area.

Fischer said he has 20 Crestview lots on which he intends to build. If the moratorium expires, he said he might have to flood city planners on Dec. 31 with many sets of building plans for approval, “or, we’re going to pull out of this area.”

WANT TO GO?

The Crestview City Council will discuss extending the traffic impact fee at a special meeting, 6 p.m. Nov. 24 at City Hall

Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Traffic impact fee to be discussed at special council meeting

LAUREL HILL — A City Council nominee says the selection process is racist after city leaders again deadlocked on choosing a vacant seat's replacement.

Mary Bradberry and Daniel Lane were nominated following Clifton Hall’s resignation from the council in November 2013.

At every council meeting since, the council has tied 2-2 when voting for his replacement.

After council members Johnnie James and Willie Mae Toles, both black, again voted for Bradberry, and Council Chairman Larry Hendren and Betty Williamson, both white, voted for Lane, Bradberry said she thought race was a factor.

“This has been going on for quite some time,” she said. “I have come to a conclusion that this is a black or white thing, not about the betterment of Laurel Hill. It doesn't make sense.”

Hendren said qualifications, not race, have factored in the council's indecision. Additionally, "it is who each member feels most comfortable working with,” he said.

Former mayor Joan Smith said the situation was not new for Laurel Hill, which in the recent past went 18 months with a vacant council seat due to monthly vote deadlocks until a municipal election filled the seat.

“I was the one who went through the same situation as this problem,” James said. “I don't know if it was a racial thing or not. Whoever is the best for the job, that's who you put in.”

James encouraged Bradberry to “just hang in there,” as March 2015's municipal elections will allow her to let the voters decide whether she should be seated.

“I have faith in Laurel Hill,” Bradberry said. “I made my home here.”

Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Laurel Hill resident claims racism in council selection process

CRESTVIEW — A yet to be selected Main Street Crestview Association and CRA director will be an hourly position based on the budgeted and advertised $41,511 salary, including benefits.

The Community Redevelopment Agency board unanimously approved the measure at its Nov. 10 meeting.

Based on the job requirements, City Clerk Betsy Roy recommended the position be exempt, or salaried, rather than hourly. “They’re going to have to works nights, they’re going to have to work weekends, they’re going to have to work long days, they’re going to have to work short days,” she said.

The city, Roy said, lacks an exempt position pay grade that matches the advertised $31,439 base salary, which, with benefits added, comes to the $41,511 total figure.

That would mean bumping up the advertised salary. The increase would require an additional $6,000 to $8,000 per year from the CRA, which will fund about 20 percent of the position as the city’s Main Street program manager.

CRA board member Robyn Helt moved to hire a director as an hourly employee at the advertised original salary, said, “We had applicants who applied for the position at the advertised salary."

Helt suggested directing Teresa Gaillard, the newly appointed council administrative assistant and Growth Management director, to manage the CRA director efficiently to avoid overtime expenses.

Roy said 20 applications have been received at the advertised salary.

Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Main Street, CRA director will be hourly position

CRESTVIEW — City employees who got a 3 percent pay raise Oct. 1 also will get a 1 percent raise effective with their December paychecks.

The City Council on Monday voted 3-2 for the raise. Council members Joe Blocker, Shannon Hayes and Mickey Rytman favored the motion; Tom Gordon and Robyn Helt dissented.

Gordon and Helt stressed their support for the city’s workers, but said taxpayer money is under discussion, and that a recent financial audit cautioned the city was operating at a deficit.

The council must stick to its budget to meet its obligations to taxpayers, Helt said. “I’ve always believed in supporting the low man on the totem pole, but these days, the low man on the totem pole is the taxpayer,” she said.

Gordon advocated waiting until next year’s budget planning and implementing a merit-based pay raise system rather than across-the-board raises. “It’s not fair,” he said. “I’m not able to support this.”

City Clerk Betsy Roy said $55,000 needed to cover the raises came from $180,000 in unexpected savings from Gulf Power for budgeted street lighting. In addition to the raises, $75,000 will be added to the $800,000 contingency fund. The remaining $50,000 will stay in the street lighting fund in case of lighting increases.

Public Works Director Wayne Steele, who requested raises, said 20 of his employees make $12 an hour. “What I am asking is help those employees who are making so little to make a little more,” he said.

Councilman Mickey Rytman said he sympathized with city workers when he moved to provide the raises.

Still, Helt said, "Basically we’re floating the city on Gulf Power’s refund. If you were floating your household by going to Dillard’s and returning a dress, that’s a bad position to be in.

"You’ve got to operate within a budget, period.”

Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: City Council OKs pay raises for some employees

DESTIN — The next general monthly meeting of the Okaloosa County Democrat Executive Committee is 6 p.m. Nov. 17 at Democratic Headquarters, 215 Mountain Drive (Suite 105) in Destin.

All Democrats and friends are welcome to attend.

For more on the group visit http://www.okaloosademocrats.com.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Democrats meeting planned next week