CRESTVIEW — The City Council has re-elected Councilmen Shannon Hayes and Mickey Rytman to another year’s term as president and vice president respectively.

Following Monday's council meeting, the body reconvened as the Community Redevelopment Agency Board and elected Hayes and Rytman to another term as board president and vice president as well.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Hayes, Rytman, re-elected to Crestview City Council leadership positions

CRESTVIEW — The City Council unanimously accepted a $15,000 settlement offer made by the Destin attorney representing the owner of property at 407 Lincoln St.

The owner had amassed fines totaling $148,000 at $250 per day for city code violations, city code enforcement officer Senida Ogelsby said.

Because the property is valued at only $28,000, Councilman JB Whitten said the likelihood of ever collecting the total fine was unlikely, so it made sense to accept the offer, which attorney Mark Violette presented to city attorney Jerry Miller.

Property owner Deborah Harper began accumulating the fines on Nov. 5, 2009, more than two years after she was first ordered to clean up the property.

The action also imposed a lien against the property until it was cleaned up and the fine paid. The lien affected the ability of Harper and her partners to sell a tract of land in Fort Walton Beach.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview accepts $15,000 settlement offer on $148K fine

CRESTVIEW — Newly seated City Councilman JB Whitten will host an informal town hall meeting at Casbah Coffee, 106 Main Street N., 6-8 p.m. April 30.

The public is invited to chat with Whitten and voice their opinions or concerns about matters affecting the council and city.

As a councilman-at-large, Whitten represents all city precincts.

Whitten plans to hold the informal chats regularly.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Coffee-with-a-Crestview-councilman set for April 30

LAUREL HILL — City Councilman Johnny James’ constituents might soon have the opportunity to help their representative get back in office through a fish fry.

But unlike other political fundraisers, James isn’t trying to get re-elected. He’s just trying to get back in his seat.

James, who by an April 2 City Council action is on a leave of absence from his council seat, must apply to have his property annexed to Laurel Hill before he can be reinstated.

However, the $2,050 cost of annexation, which by city ordinance must be paid by the applicant, is more than James can afford.

“The price I got to pay, it’s too much,” James said. “It’s a lot of money. They (city officials) don’t set me a payment plan. I have to have the money.”

James said he lost his good-paying job of several years at L3 Crestview Aerospace and now works in housekeeping at North Okaloosa Medical Center for near minimum wage.

'THEY WANT ME IN THERE'

He said when he found out the cost of annexation from Mayor Robby Adams, he initially considered waiting until his financial situation improved before seeking his seat back.

“It’s crazy,” he said. “My head tells me, 'Wait two more years,' but the people, they want me in there. It’s kind of rough to come up with that kind of money and pay bills, too.”

But, as James, Adams and council members Debra Adams and Daniel Lane said at the April 2 meeting, he was twice elected to office, and voters expect their votes to count.

If James raises the annexation fee, he won’t automatically regain his seat. His application still must be approved by the City Council, which then must reappoint him to his seat.

‘I GOTTA GET BACK TO WORK’

Questions about James’ residency arose because of a mistaken belief that property on his side of Robbins Lane had been annexed into the city in the 1960s at the same time those across the street were annexed.

The council approved James' leave of absence to apply for annexation by a 3-1 vote, with newly elected Councilman Scott Moneypenny voting against the measure.

James said supporters and members of his church have discussed holding a fish fry within the next week or two to help him raise the annexation fee.

“We’ll get it done, one way or another,” James said. “I gotta get back to work for the people and the kids.”

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

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Fish fry could be among annexation fee fundraisers for Laurel Hill councilman

FORT WALTON BEACH — Extra money owed for overdue tickets, court fees and fines in Florida will be waived next week during Operation Green Light.

Florida clerks of court are sponsoring the April 18 event, offering people an opportunity to pay off past due financial obligations without collection agencies' 40 percent fee, according to J.D. Peacock, the Okaloosa County Clerk of Court.

Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and Walton courthouses will be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. next Saturday at these locations:

•Okaloosa: 1940 Lewis Turner Blvd., Fort Walton Beach

•Santa Rosa: 6865 Caroline St., Milton

•Walton: 571 U.S. Highway 90, DeFuniak Springs

All payments must be made in full to negate collection fees. Personal checks cannot be used for payments, but credit cards, cashier’s checks and money orders will be accepted.

People will also be able to get the paperwork to recover a suspended driver’s license if they pay off tickets at the event, Peacock said. The actual license will have to be picked up from the tax collector’s office afterward.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Northwest Florida clerks suspending collection fees for 1 day

CRESTVIEW — Ann Sprague, president of the Crestview Area Shelter for the Homeless' board of directors, is surprised, but undeterred.

A proposed homeless shelter location — next to the Okaloosa Health Department office on U.S. Highway 90 — raised the Crestview City Council's concerns. The site is across the highway from the Northwest Florida State College Robert L.F. Sikes Education Center, which borders Twin Hills Park.

While council members agreed a homeless shelter is needed in Crestview, some just don’t want it near the city’s flagship park.

“Because of the general proximity of that community park, would that be a place where we’d see them (the homeless) more?” then-Councilwoman Robyn Helt said on Monday.

“I have issues of our kids,” Council President Shannon Hayes said. “You know the type of individuals who are in these type shelters. The kids are right across the street.”

“That's my main concern, and I think it’s the citizens’ concern,” Hayes said. “We don’t want it. Not across the street from the park.”

The reaction was unexpected, Sprague said.

“I had no idea it was going to be such a complex situation,” she said after the meeting.

Joe Barley, a C.A.S.H. volunteer who presented the proposal, said, “This would be good for homeless people. It’s right next to the health department. We could send people next door for a medical examination or dental help.”

Barley and Sprague said homeless people prefer to be left alone and are not apt to wander into the park and interact with residents, including children.

“We have very, very few problems with them, and most of the homeless are willing and want to work,” but impediments — such as inaccessibility to the Internet and difficulty obtaining IDs — make getting a job more difficult, she said.

A “generous,” anonymous gift has recently made constructing a shelter feasible, Sprague said. “Nothing’s in concrete,” she said. “We just know we need some type of permanent facility. We need it now.”

Barley, one of the founders of the Caring and Sharing food bank and a HOPE Network soup kitchen volunteer, said the area homeless problem won't be relieved without short-term housing.

Helt agreed that the homeless problem is “a significant issue we have in our city."

"That is certainly a social need that needs to be met within our community, and it’s a spiritual need, a calling that we have to help the needy and the poor and the widows and orphans,” she said.

—

WANT TO HELP?

Residents wishing to volunteer or contribute money toward Crestview Area Shelter for the Homeless may call its board of directors president, Anne Sprague, at 826-1770.

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

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Proposed Crestview homeless shelter location raises concerns

CRESTVIEW — A local landowner wants to swap land with the city. The deal, if approved, would give Crestview equivalent acreage without its current restrictions.

The city's 2.6-acre plot, west of the Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce office, is part of a 25-acre grant presented under former Mayor George Whitehurst's administration. The first building constructed on the site was the post office. A subsequent donation was intended for a civic center, grantor Don Dewrell said.

“Originally, it was supposed to be three city buildings: the city library, the community center and a city administration building,” he said. The chamber of commerce office was later built under a land-use restriction waiver.

Dewrell said he plans to develop the wooded tract north of the civic center land, and wants to regain possession of the plot beside the chamber of commerce office. He offered to exchange the parcel for similar acreage across Farmer Street behind the Community Center. However, that plot is longer and narrower than the civic center plot.

The swap “would give the city a valuable piece of property that did not have restrictions on it in exchange for property that has restrictions on it,” he said Monday during a City Council workshop.

Currently, if the city built anything other than a civic building on the land, ownership would revert to Dewrell and his partners.

Council members said the city has no plans for the tract, which is used for impromptu children’s soccer games — which, Dewrell said, “is not an authorized use.”

Some city officials were concerned that, if the swap were approved, the city would receive property too narrow for some uses, such as a recreation field.

Councilwoman Robyn Helt, attending her last council meeting, favored the swap.

“If you have someone who works with a spirit of benevolence initially to help the city locate these facilities on the north side, the time has come to reciprocate that,” Helt said.

Fire Chief Joe Traylor, who is interested in locating a new north Crestview fire station in the area, said facilitating Dewrell’s development would contribute taxes and generate jobs while providing the city an unrestricted piece of land for development.

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

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: DEAL? Crestview could exchange restricted parcel for unrestricted property

LAUREL HILL — Councilman Johnny James has an opportunity to regain the seat that became questionable after he discovered he didn't actually live within city limits.  

The City Council voted 3-1 to grant him time to apply to annex his property into the city.

Though the vote requires James to step down from the council, newly sworn-in council members Debra Adams and Daniel Lane spoke in favor of reinstating him after annexation. That would follow the wishes of voters who twice elected him to office, they said.

James' residency has been under question since November 2014, when it was discovered that his home was not annexed into the city along with other properties across the street in the 1960s, as originally thought.

Newly seated Councilman Scott Moneypenny initially moved to have James forfeit his seat in accordance with the city charter.

Adams resisted, saying, "an error was made some time ago… There was no malicious intent on Mr. James' part."

City attorney Dan Campbell said whether James retains his seat is up to the council.

"You file a petition to be annexed in," Campbell advised James. "It's up to the city council to vote to let you, and after that they can vote you back on the council."

When Moneypenny's vote failed on a 2-2 tie, Adams proposed keeping James' seat open until he could complete annexation.

"We cannot break the law," Moneypenny said, noting the three new council members had just sworn to uphold the laws of the state and the city charter.

"I'm not saying we break the law," Adams said. "I'm saying we remove him now, we annex him in, then we bring him back in like the voters say."

"I think you have an opportunity to correct a mistake," her husband, Mayor Robby Adams, said. "There were 86 people who voted for him. How do you tell those people their vote didn't count?"

"I think the mistake needs to be righted and not throw him (James) out the door," Lane said to audience applause.

Debra Adams then moved to have James take a leave of absence from the council, have his property annexed upon his request, and then have him eligible to be reappointed to his seat.

The motion passed 3-1, with Moneypenny voting nay.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Laurel Hill councilman offered chance for annexation and reinstatement