CALL TO ORDER

President, Mayor Glenda Glover, called the meeting to order at 12:02 p.m. at Two Trees Restaurant in Fort Walton Beach .

PRESENT

Mayor Norm Frucci – Cinco Bayou

Councilwoman Brenda Bush – Crestview

Mayor Craig Barker – Destin

Mayor Glenda Glover – Fort Walton Beach (President)

Councilwoman Fay Miller – Laurel Hill ( Vic e President)

Mayor John Thomas – Mary Esther

Councilman Al Swihart – Niceville

Mayor Gary Combs – Shalimar

ALSO PRESENT

Wanda Jones-Heath – Eglin A.F.B.

Lt. Col. Timothy Watts – Hurlburt Field

Commissioner Elaine Tucker – Okaloosa County

Tina Smith, Deputy Town Clerk – Shalimar

NOT PRESENT

Commissioner Heyward Strong – Valparaiso

MINUTES

Councilwoman Bush moved to approve the minutes from the October 4, 2004 and November 1, 2004 meetings as written.  Mayor Barker seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.

TREASURER’S REPORT

Mayor Glover reported a current balance of $2,042.73 after the web site contract and lunches were paid for.  Mayor Barker moved to approve the Treasurer's Report.  Mayor Thomas seconded motion and it carried unanimously.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Department – RE:  ID cards – Mayor Frucci informed those members that were unable to attend last month’s meeting about the briefing given by Michael Coup (from the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office) and Randy McDaniel (from Okaloosa County Emergency Management).  The Sheriff’s Department is offering to give vital personnel in each city an “ Emergency Re-entry Pass ” so that all re-entry passes look the same and there is no confusion during an emergency.  Each city will determine who should receive one of these passes and send those people to the Sheriff’s Department to take get their pictures taken and receive their badge.  It was decided that this will be an issue each city can talk to their boards about, decide who (from their city) will get the badges, and call Randy McDaniel to set up an appointment, separate from the OCLOC.

NEW BUSINESS:

·        Mayor John Lawson – Mayor Glover updated the board about Mayor John Lawson of Defuniak Springs recently passing away.

·        Fireworks Ordinance – Mayor Glover briefed the board of the many unlicensed people that are handling fireworks.  The League of Cities is working on more severe laws regarding fireworks to help ensure that the people handling a fireworks display, especially a public display, are licensed pyrotechnics.

·        Letter inviting a representative from the Board of County Commissioners – Mayor Thomas agreed to write a letter to the new Chairman of the Board of County Commissioners asking that Commissioner Tucker be assigned to continue her task of the County Commission liaison for the upcoming year. 

·        Discussion about Eglin, Hurlburt, and Okaloosa County Representatives being invited to the Quarterly dinners – Mayor Thomas iterated that the board, at one time, had decided that representatives from Eglin, Hurlburt, and Okaloosa should be invited to the dinner but there is some question as to who should pay for their meals.  Councilman Swihart moved that the Okaloosa County League of Cities pay for the meals of the representatives of Eglin, Hurlburt, and Okaloosa County .  The motion was seconded by Councilwoman Bush seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.  Mayor Glover added that the League will be inviting these people, not the host cities.  Also, at this time, the League is paying for all lunches.

FLOC Update:  The main Legislative Issues for this year are Growth Management, CRA, Annexation, Social Security, and the Strategic Intermodal System (SIS). 

There will be Hometown Legislative Meeting in Tallahassee in February.  They will be covering Advocacy and Meeting with the Legislators.  Everyone should receive e-mails about this meeting.

ANNOUNCEMENTS/REPORTS FROM CITIES:

Cinco Bayou – Mary’s Kitchen is now opened in Cinco Bayou.

Crestview –

·         The City of Crestview is in full Holiday swing getting ready for the annual Christmas Parade by decorating and getting all the participants registered.  The Christmas lights are up downtown and Main Street is spruced up awaiting a visit from Old Saint Nick.  The lighting of the Christmas Tree will be at 5:00 and the Christmas Parade will be at 5:30 on December 11.

·         Development in the city has not slowed down for the Holidays.  Several new commercial businesses are currently under construction, including an O’Reilly’s Auto parts, a new McDonalds, and a Hollywood Video.  We also have several new subdivision projects under construction and some still under review.  We expect to see approximately 1,500 new homes in Crestview in the next three years.

·         Crestview is also expanding with several new annexations adding land to the City.  These annexations will allow the development of some badly needed professional office space for Physicians near the hospital and will also bring in some new land for residential development.

Destin –

Destin Celebrated their 20^th Anniversary with a week of events ending in a fireworks show.  This weeklong event was attended by approximately 5,000 people.

The City is still dealing with the remnants of Hurricane Ivan.  Sand removal and cleaning of sand are two big issues.  The city has appealed to FEMA to get permits to construct emergency 5 foot tall berms on the beach.  They agreed to give permits for 3 foot tall berms but the winter storm took it all away within 24 hours.

The cities’ 3 youth football leagues won the superbowl for the panhandle league

Destin has hired new planning director, Lisa Rowland, from Connecticut .  She is a CPA and was the budget officer in Rock Hills , SC.

Mayor Barker asked for input on an educational awareness campaign for the residents regarding Development Orders.  Mayor Glover suggested to the board that each city put articles in their town newsletters with full explanations things such as quasi-judicial, the sunshine law, etc.  Mayor Frucci believes that this sort of campaign is a good idea, however, he doesn’t believe that the residents will be interested in this type of information until it affects them personally. 

Eglin Air Force Base –

November marked the end of Eglin’s big deployment approximately 600 airman deploying right now over the next 4 months

jan 29 tops in blue performing at owc

Fort Walton Beach –

·        Starting the end of November, Fort Walton Beach utility customers can pay their utility bills online via the City web site, and golfers can reserve tee times by accessing the City web site.

·        The Fort Walton Beach Fire Department’s new fire engine (Engine 7) is due to arrive on December 3^rd.

·        The Fort Walton Beach Library Plaza project along U.S. 98 is underway.

·        Construction is underway to build two multi-purpose grass athletic fields, rest rooms, walkways, a viewing area, lighting and parking behind City Hall where the existing clay fields are located.

·        Following Hurricane Ivan, all City parks are now open, with the exception of Liza Jackson Park.

·        Okaloosa on Ice, an outdoor ice skating rink and holiday lighting, will run through January 2^nd at the Fort Walton Landing.

·        The Christmas Tree Lighting celebration at the Fort Walton Landing will be held on Saturday, December 4^th starting at 3:30 p.m. with the arrival of Santa, caroling throughout the afternoon, and the tree lighting at 5:30 p.m.  

·        The Annual Holiday Open House at the Camp Walton Schoolhouse and Garnier Post Office will be held on Sunday, December 5^th from noon – 3 p.m.

·        The Fort Walton Beach Holiday Parade will be held on Monday, December 6^th at 6:30 p.m.

Hurlburt Field –

Hurricane Ivan

·         We received $52 million worth of damage to base structures.  Nothing completely destroyed but almost all buildings were damaged to some degree.

·         Most significant damage:  C-130 washrack, Child Development Center , Eason Hangar, mini-mall, dorms, roofs throughout family housing, many homes in the Soundside housing area.  We lost roughly 1000 trees.

·         We resumed normal flying operations nine days after the storm.  It will be a few months before all repairs will be completed.

·         Recently held a medal presentation and Wing picnic to recognize over 100 personnel who served on the Ride Out team.

Civilian Personnel Office

·         On 17 Oct, Hurlburt stood up its own civilian personnel office.  Until then, our civilian personnel office has been an auxillary of the Eglin office.

·         This is significant because it allows us to establish our own policies and procedures when working with the civilian population.

·         It will shorten the amount of time for processing actions.

·         All testing can be done on base.

·         It gives AFSOC more leeway in handling civilian workforce issues as they apply to the Hurlburt mission.

Civilian Gate Guards

·         We recently hired contract civilian gate guards, falling in line with what other Air Force bases are doing, including Eglin.

·         The new gate guards will assist the military presence in implementing the required force protection measures, such as 100% ID checks and increased vehicle inspections.

Honorary Commanders Program

·         We recently re-introduced the 16 SOW honorary commanders program. 

·         Currently host 13 honorary commanders.

·         In conjunction with this program is our Commanders Community Relations Program in which we have the local community divided among the four Groups within the 16^th Special Operations Wing.  The plan is that the Groups will represent the Wing in functions that occurs in each of their respective communities, and in return, we will invite representatives from those communities (honorary commanders) to the base for functions that occur here.  The purpose is to further strengthen community ties. 

·         In late spring 2005, I will solicit current honorary commanders and Hurlburt host commanders to submit nominations for next year’s honorary commanders.

·         This year is a learning period, and we expect current honorary commanders to give us feedback to further improve the program.

Laurel Hill – Fay Miller had nothing to report.

Mary Esther – Hunans and Cash’s Liquors have been sold and the council will be voting tonight on a 4 story housing/commercial unit in their place. 

Niceville – 150 senior citizens December 20^th furnish bags from city hall 12 years

Okaloosa County –

Attended Florida Association of Counties Elaine was in Sarasota annexation issue did come out.  Lt. Governor Tony Jennings spoke, would love to participate proactive, approach if you have issues.

In reference with Mayor Barker’s idea, Would be totally happy to get the information out.

Word just came out that FEMA will reimburse for private roads.

Mayor Glover – Meridian Company will be at Embassy Suites how to work with FEMA on December 8, supposed to teach you how to do the paperwork correctly.

Commissioner Tucker – FEMA coming back 2 years later asking for money – if you want to address this with your encourage your local legislators Special Session starting 13^th.

Shalimar –

·         The developers of Shalimar’s newest business, a Fairfield Inn, have not yet started building but there is a sign at the site, which is the first step.

·        The Planning and Zoning Board, following the recommendation of Mike Chesser, the town’s attorney, has decided to hire an expert land planner to help determine the issue of compatibility of Shalimar Yacht Basin ’s proposed condominium project in a residential neighborhood.

Valparaiso – There was no one from Valparaiso in attendance. 

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Mayor Thomas reminded everyone to leave a tip.

ADJOURN: There was no further business so the meeting adjourned at 12:58 p.m.