CALL TO ORDER

President, Mayor Glenda Glover, called the meeting to order at 12:00 p.m. at Two Trees Restaurant in Fort Walton Beach .

PRESENT

Mayor Craig Barker – Destin

Colonel Hendricks – Eglin A.F.B.

Mayor Glenda Glover – Fort Walton Beach (President)

Councilwoman Fay Miller – Laurel Hill (Vice President)

Mayor John Thomas – Mary Esther

Councilman Al Swihart – Niceville

Mayor Gary Combs – Shalimar

ALSO PRESENT

Mack Gay – Institute of Senior Professionals

Tina Smith, Deputy Town Clerk – Shalimar

NOT IN ATTENDANCE

Councilman Dutch Payne – Cinco Bayou (Secretary/Treasurer)

Councilwoman Brenda Bush – Crestview

Commissioner Heyward Strong – Valparaiso

County Commissioner Elaine Tucker – Okaloosa County

MINUTES

This agenda item was skipped.  It will be put on the next agenda for approval at the March meeting.

TREASURER’S REPORT

Mayor Glover brought the accounting books to furnish to the new secretary/treasurer, Dutch Payne, who was not in attendance.  Mayor Glover reported the balance as of 01/30/04 is $2,090.96.  Mayor Thomas moved to accept the Treasurer’s Report as read.  Mayor Combs seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

OCLOC Logo – Councilmember Swihart moved to change the name of “Okaloosa County League of Cities, Inc.” to “Okaloosa League of Cities, Inc.”  Mayor Barker seconded the motion and asked if the web address would be changed.  Mayor Combs explained that oloc.org was unavailable.  He also pointed out all of the possible fees involved in changing the name including changing the checking account, non-profit organization filing, etc.  He felt that the reasoning behind changing the name was a negative indication to the County.  Councilmember Swihart withdrew his motion and Mayor Glover suggested discussing this issue when Commissioner Strong was present.

Clean Water Project – Mayor Barker handed out the spreadsheet he worked on since the last meeting which showed the funding proposal cost of 1-5 boats and officers to provide enforcement.  He explained that the numbers represented are the “worst case scenario” because there are a lot of grant programs available to help with this sort of issue.  Mr. Jan DeLaney, who is the Program Manager for the grant programs, stated that he would be willing to fund 75% of 4 permanent stations and 2 boats and there are other kinds of grant programs available for funding officers.

Mayor Glover stated that the City of Fort Walton Beach has already passed a resolution and written letters to most cities along the panhandle to Walton County .  They have had no response to their letters.  Last week they sent another letter along with the Power Point.

Mayor Combs stated that it is going to be very difficult to enforce.  He feels that it would be better to make the pump out service more accessible.  He mentioned that there are several systems that you can install on your boat but he feels it would be easier to get people to install these systems if the state offered some sort of discount.  He also feels that the existing pump out stations should be more publicized because a lot of boaters don’t even know where they are. 

Mayor Barker agreed and stated that the City of Destin has installed several pump out stations and plans to install more but also plans to develop a program to make them more accessible and initiate a public education campaign.  The City of Destin passed the same resolution as the City of Fort Walton Beach and wrote letters, also with no response.  Mayor Barker feels that the surrounding cities are waiting for someone to set a precedence.

Colonel Hendricks, agreeing with Mayor Combs, recommended finding incentives for boaters, perhaps, through the legislature, to use the pump out stations instead of penalizing them for not.  He believes that it would be nearly impossible for 5 officers to enforce this.

Mayor Combs suggested trying to get the state to give boaters a break, perhaps in their sales tax, if they are willing to install a Lectra-San system (or something comparable). 

It was suggested that the League write a letter to the governor mentioning an incentive program.  It then graduated to having the county, local yacht clubs, Parrothead Club and any other club/organization interested write letters.

Mayor Barker suggested a special meeting with Jan DeLaney before a motion is made regarding sending a letter. 

Decision on changing date of Quarterly Dinners to include a by-laws change – The name will include “Inc.” to match the non-profit organization paperwork. 

The monthly meeting section of the By-Laws was already incorrect.  It now states that the meetings “shall be held monthly, first Thursday of the month”.  The monthly meetings will stay on the first Monday of the month but Mayor Combs suggested not specifying a specific day in the By-Laws.  It will now read only that the meetings will be held monthly. 

The months for the quarterly dinners have been moved back one month to January, April, July, and October.  This change will occur after the March Cinco Bayou dinner.

Mayor Combs moved that they add “Inc.” to the name, remove “first Thursday of the month”, and move the quarterly dinners back one month.  Councilmember Swihart seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.  The quarterly dinner change will not take effect until the July dinner meeting.

Mayor Thomas has been asked why the gas tax raised the price of gas so much.  Most of the board members believe that the price of gas is going up everywhere and the gas tax is not the cause.

2004 Goals – Mayor Glover went over the goals list.  Mayor Combs talked to Commissioner Strong whose goal is to create a voter’s guide which will be mailed out to all voters and should be in publication by September.  The League picked a committee to draft up a voter’s guide as Commissioner Strong, Mayor Glover, Mayor Thomas and Councilmember Miller.  In order to have the guide out to the voters, the Executive Board needs to have a list from the committee by the June meeting.  The voter’s guide will include information that will enlighten voters on how our legislators and commissioners have voted in the past few years.

Mayor Combs asked all of the cities to supply Tina Smith with their parks and recreation facilities so that the information can be published on the web site.

There was some discussion regarding annexation, the county sign ordinance, becoming more active with the Northwest Florida League,   Mayor Combs agreed to draft up a better goals list for the March Meeting.

Mayor Glover stated that Fort Walton Beach recently passed a resolution requesting that the Florida Department of Transportation modify their proposed Strategic Intermodal System (SIS) designations to include Northwest Florida .  She also passed out copies of the resolution to the board to bring back to their councils.

Mayor Glover announced that Northwest Florida League of Cities’ quarterly dinner will be held on Thursday, February 19, 2004 at the Valparaiso City Hall at 7:00 .

NEW BUSINESS – There is no new business to discuss.

ANNOUNCEMENTS/REPORTS FROM CITIES

Cinco Bayou – Councilmember Dutch Payne was not in attendance.

Crestview – Councilmember Brenda Bush was not in attendance.

Destin – The Destin City Council had a tough time last week trying to figure out how to connect dead-end roads.

Fort Walton Beach –

·                    The City of Fort Walton Beach has a new Police Chief and Finance Director; both hired from within.

·                    The Clean Water initiative has brought about a new employee.

Laurel Hill –

·                    The City has tentatively decided to have their groundbreaking for their addition to the city hall some time in April.  Right now the city is still in the bid process.

·                    They have moved their “Hobo festival” from October to May.  The City decided they wanted to try the festival in the spring.

Mary Esther – Mary Esther has 3 council positions open and no one is running against Mayor Thomas.

Niceville – The City Hall is being rebuilt in-house.

Shalimar – Shalimar had nothing to report.

Valparaiso – Commissioner Strong was not in attendance.

Okaloosa County – Commissioner Tucker was not in attendance.

Eglin Air Force Base – Colonel Hendricks left the meeting early but before he left he updated the board on Eglin’s upcoming schedule:

·                    The contract for Privatization should be signed some time in March/April 2005.

·                    The Air Show will be some time in April.

·                    March 1 starts the next cycle of military people leaving so you may see delays at the gates.

·                    Mayor’s Breakfast will be on February 19 at the Eglin Hospital Dining Facility at 7:30 a.m.

·                    Secretary of the AF toured the base last week.

NEXT MEETING

The next scheduled meeting will be held on Monday, March 1, 2004 at 12:00 p.m.

ADJOURN

Being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 1:26 p.m.