Author: Jeff Peyton

The tower – one of 13 to be constructed across Okaloosa County as part of a significant upgrade to EMS communications – drew concern from Holt residents who did not want to find their homes in the new tower’s shadow.

Commissioner Nathan Boyles, a Holt resident, said he knew the proposed tower would become a concern, partly because of the proposed site, and partly because of the abbreviated process that commissioners adopted to accelerate construction.

“The commission created a shortcut path for the county to approve the towers,” Boyles explained. “The commission voted 4-1 to set aside the normal process, which requires public hearings.
“I voted against that, because I wanted to avoid putting towers where people would be unhappy with it.”

Boyles said the new tower network is an absolute necessity. In south Okaloosa County, there are “penetration” issues where tall buildings block radio signals. In north Okaloosa County, there are significant gaps in coverage.“

There are parts of Okaloosa County where radio coverage is spotty, or nonexistent,” he said. “This new system, when it’s completed, will overcome those existing limitations.”
Boyles said the new system, once fully deployed, will create redundancies for first responders.

“If one tower isn’t functioning, the system will be able to relay radio signals on to the next tower,” he said. “We will have vastly improved communications between all 13 towers.”

Boyles said staff is considering other locations for the Holt tower, and one location is at the top of the list.

“There are technical challenges to be worked out,” Boyles said. “Because this is part of a network of towers, we can’t just build it anywhere.
“The new site is more remote, so that makes it better for the area homeowners, but that also creates new challenges,” he added. “We need to run utilities, and engineers need to confirm that the new site is still compatible with the overall network.
“Staff are also looking at other potential alternate sites,” Boyes said. “I’ve had people reach out to me offering to sell property for the new tower.” But, he explained, the tower’s final location must be compatible with the overall network.
“There is a specific radius where the tower has to go for the system to work.”

“They told me summer school programs are not covered,” Leitschuck told The Crestview News Bulletin. “They told me they aren’t required to shut and lock the gate for summer day care.”

Leitschuck said he asked the school district to close the day care until the gate can be secured.

According to Danny Dean, who leads school safety for Okaloosa County schools, Leitschuck’s concern relates to gate access to the parking lot. Though Okaloosa County school campuses are fenced and gated, that perimeter security is “above and beyond state requirements.”

“The gate at Bob Sikes Elementary School is locked during the day, when school staff is present,” Dean said. “The gate was locked during summer school. But for the daycare, it’s a bit more complicated.”

The summertime workday for school staff typically ends at 3 p.m., Dean said. The daycare, however, is open until 5 p.m. or later.

Dean explained that when staff leaves for the day, they cannot simply lock the gate behind them. “There has to be a way for parents to pick up their kids.”

Dean said he understands Leitschuck’s concern as well as his desire for maximum security for kids in the daycare program.

“I get it,” Dean said. “We make sure that anyone on any of our campuses is safe. We maintain the same level of safety and security for these programs as we do for students during the school year.
“That’s why our schools have perimeter fencing, even though fencing isn’t required,” he added. “We consider it a ‘best practice,’ and that makes it a top priority.”

The gate is slated for an upgrade, but between parts and labor availability, Dean isn’t sure when that will happen. In the meantime, he added, “parents still need to be able to pick up their kids from the day care.”

Even without a locked perimeter fence, Dean said kids inside Bob Sikes Elementary School are secure.

“The building is secured,” he said. “The children are secure.”

“We teach exceptional students,” first year Principal Dr. Nathanial Chatman said.

When schools open this fall, Richbourg will host 98 special-needs students from north Okaloosa and Walton counties, Chatman said. Most of them, he added, live in the Crestview area.

“Our program works with students from pre-k through age 22 with various mental, physical or intellectual special needs,” Chatman said. “Students typically have an IQ of 57 or below.”

In addition to its mission as a place for exceptional students, Richbourg also hosts a credit recovery program, where Crestview High School students who have fallen behind academically have the opportunity to catch up.

“We are unique,” Chatman said. “Richbourg really is two schools in one.”

In addition to the typical classroom settings one would expect in any school, Richbourg’s building has classes specially tailored to its unique student population.

“Classes for many of our students include instruction on things like work attire, clocking in, things like that,” he said.

Teaching students to function independently is a priority. “We have a classroom set up to help students learn how to make their bed, to prepare meals,” Chatman said. “Many students participate in on-the-job training programs three days a week.”

For the job program, Chatman said business partners like Walmart, Goodwill, Subway and Hideaway Pizza provide students with opportunities to learn and function outside of the classroom.

The school itself is unlike any other in the Crestview area. Classrooms, for instance, are specially built to accommodate students whose physical needs require more than wheelchair access. Richbourg staff provides speech and language, occupational and physical therapy, life skills, social/emotional support and academics.

“Every teacher here is certified and highly qualified in ESE (exceptional student education),” Chatman said. “Every member of our staff, including the paraprofessionals, meet all ESE requirements.”

District 3 Commissioner Nathan Boyles, a Holt resident, asked his fellow commissioners for the 180-day moratorium to give county staff adequate time to research the kind of facility proposed and recommend appropriate regulations for the commission to consider.

Boyles told The Crestview News Bulletin that the proposed facility for treated septic tank dredge is a novel approach to a growing problem in Okaloosa County.

“It used to be a pretty nasty process of mixing septic sludge with lime and spreading it on a field,” Boyles said, adding that Florida legislators put a stop to the practice in 2016.
“In Okaloosa County, our approach was to invest in a central septic receiving station,” Boyles explained.

He said the county invested $2 million in a facility to handle septic sludge that has operated well for the past several years.

“The problem,” he added, “is that the disposal facility is in south county, and most of the septic tanks in Okaloosa are on the north side. The costs of travel and disposal have certainly gone up.”

The biosolids disposal facility proposed by Zeb Watts avoids the state’s moratorium on septic sludge disposal by pre-treating the sludge before spreading it. “The end product,” Boyles said, “is not classified as septage.”

Watts was unavailable for comment. His permit application with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection shows his plan to construct a treatment facility on his property at 5152 Bone Creek Road in Holt. The proposed facility would be able to treat up to 220,000 gallons of household septage per day, then spread the treated materials over fields of bahai grass. The treated biosolids would then be tilled under within 24 hours.

Watts’ proposal outlines the use of two 25,000-gallon holding tanks, giving the facility a maximum intake capacity of up to 220,000 gallons per day.

This potential volume raised several concerns from speakers at last Tuesday’s commission meeting. Holt resident David Gaskill told commissioners that 200,000 gallons per day could translate into as many as 150 tanker trucks per day across narrow, undeveloped country roads.

Watts’ DEP application suggests a daily maximum of about 30,000 gallons – six to 10 trucks. The application states that the 220,000-gallon maximum capacity is so the storage units can hold treated materials longer if weather conditions (such as heavy rains) don’t allow for immediate spreading.

But increased truck traffic was only one concern cited by residents. A letter to the DEP signed by Gaskill lists flies, birds, smell and environmental danger to the Bone Creek Recreation Area and Blackwater State Forest as well.

“Water contamination is going to happen,” Gaskill said. “We’re hoping the DEP will see that and not grant the permit.”

Gaskill said for his part he understands Watts’ desire for a local solution. “Sending trucks all the way to south county to dump is time consuming and is probably getting expensive,” he said. “But we just don’t think this area is suitable for what they’re trying to do.”

Boyles said he has reached out to the city of Crestview about a potential solution.

“The city operates a large wastewater treatment facility on the north end of the county,” Boyles said. “My understanding is that they are willing to discuss building a receiving station there that could provide north county a way to collect and treat septage in a modern treatment plant.
“We may be able to put a permanent moratorium on this kind of development and provide septic haulers a more convenient north county location.”