Okaloosa
County
League
of Cities
Special
Executive Board
Meeting
Minutes
Monday, July 25, 2005
CALL
TO ORDER
The
Special Meeting started at
12:23 p.m.
at
Valparaiso
City Hall
. There was no quorum so no
voting will be done at this meeting.
PRESENT
Cinco
Bayou -- Councilman Dutch Payne
Crestview
-- Councilman Ellis Conner
Destin
-- Mayor Craig Barker
Fort
Walton Beach -- Joyce Shanahan
Laurel
Hill -- Councilwoman Fay Miller
Mary
Esther -- John Lulue
Niceville
-- Councilman Al Swihart
Shalimar
-- Tom Burns
Valparaiso
-- Commissioner Heyward Strong
Okaloosa
County -- Commissioner Elaine Tucker
ALSO
PRESENT
Tina
Smith, Deputy Town Clerk - Shalimar
BUSINESS
Proposed
Tax discussion – President
Fay Miller
handed
control of the meeting over to Commissioner Heyward Strong.
Commissioner Strong asked Commissioner Tucker to brief the Executive
Board first. Commissioner Tucker
stated that the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) tasked her to talk to the
cities about a proposed sales tax. She
stated:
-
The sales tax can be ˝ cent or 1 cent.
-
The BOCC discussed the time limits of 5 years and 10 years but hasn’t
decided on either.
-
The monies collected will be used for Stormwater/Road-related issues.
-
There will not be $100,000 spent on a big education campaign.
All pamphlets, ads, etc. will be paid for with money made through fund
raisers.
-
It will cost $100,000 to have a special election in March.
-
The state would not start paying out each city’s cut until December of
the year it passes.
-
Each city and the county will create a list of Stormwater/Road-related
issues that they would spend their money.
Each
city gave their input based on the information from Commissioner Tucker.
Most of the cities agreed that:
-
Any public education campaign will be done by volunteers
-
A 1 cent tax for 5 years would be better than ˝ cent for 10 years.
Valparaiso
would
agree to a special election only if it would take place in 2005.
Commissioner Tucker informed the board that it was too late to file for a
special election for this year. Most
everyone then agreed that no extra money should be spent to hold a special
election. The next regularly held
election will be the primaries in August.
Mayor
Barker recommended that everyone’s lists contain new infrastructure
construction and not Operations and Maintenance.
It
was suggested that the public information campaign be headed up by a Blue Ribbon
Group. Each city will have a
representative that will be a Point of Contact for their local groups.
The
Executive Board will draft up a resolution of support for each city to pass and
send to the Chairman of the BOCC.
Commissioner
Strong asked that each city send an elected official to the August 1 meeting and
that only representatives from the cities attend.
Tina Smith
was
directed to e-mail all other representatives (Eglin, Hurlburt, County and ISP)
and let them know.
At
the August 1 meeting, the board will discuss:
-
The 60/40 split with the county and if they should pursue a 57/43 split
as shown in Commissioner Strong’s proposal (attached).
-
The wording of the support resolution.
NEXT
MEETING
The
next meeting will be held on
Monday,
August 1, 2005
at
noon
at Two Trees Restaurant
ADJOURNMENT
Being
no further business, the meeting adjourned at
2:03 p.m.
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