Each seat has a four-year term.
The school board race is nonpartisan. Each of the candidates in the other races is a Republican.
All of the contests are open to all voters regardless of party affiliation. In each contest, whichever candidate receives the highest number of votes will win on Aug. 20.
Meet the candidates for District 1 Commissioner:
De’Carlo Garcia
De’Carlo Garcia, of Crestview, is an Air Force veteran and a military contractor.
He says the overall county needs to bolster its infrastructure, and he favors development occurring in the county’s cities rather than its unincorporated areas. If elected, he says he would address growth on the county’s north end by holding quarterly town hall meetings to help keep residents engaged.
Garcia also wants to ensure that existing commercial and residential buildings are being utilized and that adequate utilities are in place to support the growth.
He says he is “someone with integrity who puts the interests of the county above personal and professional interests.”
Incumbent Paul Mixon
Incumbent Paul Mixon, of Crestview, was elected to the District 1 seat in 2020, is a pastor at Central Baptist Church in Crestview and is a former longtime local law-enforcement officer.
He notes that the county has contracted with a planning consultant firm to conduct a North County Planning Study that will help determine the best path forward and obtain community input to update the county’s Future Land Use Map (FLUM).
“We should be able to update the FLUM with better guidance and overlays that will keep the growth in the areas that we all want it to go and keep a better balance of green space, commercial space, agriculture lands, and residential areas,” Mixon said. “I want to ensure the safety and livability of this county so that my children will grow up and want to raise their children here.”
Meet the candidates for District 3 Commissioner:
Sherri Cox
Sherri Cox, of Destin, owns a real estate development/political consulting firm and is Okaloosa County’s State Committeewoman for the Republican Party of Florida.
She has said that the county must improve its infrastructure and that a big issue she wants to address is the potential diversion of heavy traffic through Baker to other roads. Cox did not respond to a candidates’ questionnaire from the Crestview News Bulletin.
Wade Merritt
Wade Merritt, of Baker, owns TTirrem Tractor & Equipment Repair in Baker and is a Blackman Fire District commissioner.
He says the county’s Land Development Code and Comprehensive Plan need to be updated, with loopholes removed, to help ensure that growth is tamed and quality of life is maintained on the county’s north end, and that abandoned buildings and properties need to be repurposed in the built-out south end.
Merritt says he is “not part of the institution nor am I connected so I cannot be intimidated to stay quiet. I will ask the hard questions and dig into the answers so that I can make the best decisions for the majority of the taxpayers. I am one of the people, a hardworking, local taxpaying citizen of this county” and “I am here for the local, hardworking, taxpaying citizens.”
Keri Pitzer
Keri Pitzer, of Baker, owns a home-based event design business.
As a commissioner, she says that with the recommendations from the North County Planning Study and the county Growth Management Department, “I intend to work with our current team of advisors, as well as having an open-door policy to the citizens. This will afford me the opportunity to be their voice and advocate their vision for our county while also understanding the need to have infrastructure to support managed growth, to include carrying capacity of schools, EMS, fire services, utilities and roads.”
Pitzer emphasizes her “ability to multitask at a high level, listen and work well with others, be effective and efficient, creative and diverse in problem-solving.”
Andrew Rencich
Andrew Rencich, of Crestview, has served in the Crestview City Council Group 2 seat since early 2019, is an Army veteran and is the CEO of the Aerohead manufacturing company and AA Tactical firearms business in Crestview.
He says it’s important to “work with the growth and listen to the community/business leaders at the forefront of community involvement.
They, when combined, are best educated on the entire scope of the environment. As an elected official you must have thick skin. Many residents have very strong beliefs, but only part of the picture. Growth is coming whether we like it or not, and every individual has a different vision of what quality of life truly is.”
He added: “As long as the decisions we make are in the best interests of the future generations and the majority of the public, that’s all we can do. I learned long ago that you will never make all interested parties happy.”
Heath Rominger
Heath Rominger, of Niceville, is a 21-year Navy veteran and former Niceville City Council member who works as a general contractor. He is the founder of Rominger’s Renovations.
“Once the Crestview bypass is completed, there should be a decrease in commute times as traffic is rerouted around Crestview,” Rominger said. “With the development of Shoal River Ranch, there should be a bypass or more direct roadway to divert traffic to the east of Crestview and Highway 85.”
He adds, “I understand my role as commissioner is to oversee county operations as a collective board and ensure that we are forward thinking to meet our growth needs all while preserving the natural beauty of our precious environment that we call home and so many seek to enjoy for generations to come.”
Current District 3 Commissioner Nathan Boyles, who has served in the seat since 2012, is not seeking another term.
Meet the candidates for District 5 Commissioner:
Drew Palmer,
Drew Palmer, of Destin, is an Air Force veteran and a senior leader for Lockheed Martin.
He says, “The best way to manage the growth that is coming to Okaloosa County while balancing the quality of life is to encourage broad and deep participation by the public in the process. With the current (North County Planning Study) that is ongoing, this process has been well handled by our current county commissioners. The public has been engaged and informed in the process, and I believe we should continue that effort.”
Palmer says he has led organizations with hundreds of employees and billions of dollars in the budget, and that he believes he “will be able to bring my education, experience and skills to help to deliver high quality, efficient government services to our community.”
Mary Anne Windes
Mary Anne Windes, of Destin, is a real estate broker and part of the management team at the Destin Fishing Fleet Marina and is married to former District 5 Commissioner Kelly Windes.
She says that in the county’s north end, “We need to protect the farms and resist allowing urban sprawl to change the rural communities. In the south end, we need to focus on redevelopment and workforce housing to alleviate the backed-up traffic in Crestview and reduce the travel cost for the workers. Traffic is our biggest obstacle.”
Windes adds, “I’m commitment oriented having been married for 39 years, owned my own real estate brokerage for over 30 years, been an usher at my church for over 20 years, and more. Bottom line, I keep my commitments.”
Current District 5 Commissioner Mel Ponder is not seeking a second term.
Meet the candidates for Sheriff:
Incumbent Eric Aden
Incumbent Eric Aden, of Shalimar, was sworn in as sheriff in January 2021 after running unopposed. He began his law-enforcement career in Okaloosa County in 1995.
At a candidate forum in June, Aden said that during his tenure, the S.O. has been a model agency for training and provides four times what the state requires when it comes to less-lethal training, firearms training, and psychological and defensive tactics.
Aden said he should be re-elected because of his extensive experience at the S.O. and his transparency, integrity and accountability.
“It’s easy to steer a ship in calm waters,” he said. “It’s a lot harder for any of you captains who have ever driven a boat to ride through rough waters. I can tell you, I’m real proud of our agency.”
Ronald Livingston
Ronald Livingston, of Crestview, has served with the Florida Highway Patrol for more than 32 years, most of which have been in a supervisory capacity.
At the candidate forum, he said the S.O. needs to focus on training.
“We’ve got a state-of-the-art facility (the Sheriff Larry Ashley Public Safety Training Center) in Crestview, and I think we need to use it. The society that we live in, you never know what tomorrow will bring,” Livingston said.
He added, “I’m a third-generation law-enforcement officer. It’s in my blood, that’s all I know, and I want to bring my leadership style to Okaloosa County. I want to focus on what saves the lives of the deputies, what saves the lives of the community.”
Edward “Eddie” Perillo
Edward “Eddie” Perillo, of Shalimar, who is a former OCSO deputy and member of the Fort Walton Beach Police Department.
At a candidate forum earlier in June, he said he supports better training of S.O. deputies. He said it’s important that deputies are accessible to civilians and know how civilians feel, “to make them feel safe and know that they will be protected, no matter who they are.”
Perillo added that he’s lived in the county his whole life and that he cares about the community.
He said he would be “an active sheriff” with transparency and an open-door policy to the public.
Meet the candidates for School Board District 2:
Parker Destin
Parker Destin, of Destin, is a restaurateur and businessman who served on the Destin City Council from 2016 to 2020.
At a candidate forum in June, he said, “In this present circumstance, where we have inflation and we can assume ever-dwindling dollars coming from Tallahassee and Washington D.C., funding is going to be the greatest challenge to making sure every child has the opportunity to receive a world-class education so they can be the best participants in our economy, but more so in our democracy, because you have to have your wits about you to be good at both of those things.”
Destin said voters “need to make sure that we put private-sector voices, business folks with business acumen, up on this board” that oversees a $550 million annual budget.
David Schmidt
David Schmidt, of Fort Walton Beach, began serving on the FWB City Council in April 2017. At the forum, he said he would be leaving the council and his job as Okaloosa Academy Charter School’s principal to focus full-time on his election bid.
Schmidt said he is concerned about “staffing issues at all job-category levels, from paraprofessionals to the bus drivers to the classroom teachers to the guidance counselors and mental health providers. To be realistic about the staffing issues, we’ll always need to advocate for paying teachers more. That’s something we should be advocating for every single year.”
He added that “being the only candidate who is a parent and, if elected, the only school board member currently having kids in the school system, I think is very important.”
Current District 2 board member Marti Gardner is not seeking re-election.