Okaloosa
County League of Cities, Inc.
Executive
Board Meeting
Minutes
Monday,
June 4, 2007 CALL
TO ORDER President,
Mayor PRESENT
BOARD MEMBERS Mike
Anderson - Fort Walton Beach (President) Heyward
Strong - Valparaiso (Vice President) Gary
Combs - Shalimar (Secretary/Treasurer) Craig
Barker - Destin Bill
Smith - Niceville ALSO
PRESENT Christopher
Echols - Eglin AFB MINUTES
- February
12, 2007 and March 12, 2007 - The minutes from the February 12, 2007 and March
12, 2007 meetings were approved as written. TREASURER’S
REPORT: $2818.51 after paying
for lunches at the February Meeting, pizza and drinks for the March meeting, and
The Trophy Center for Mayor Whitehurst’s plaque.
Mayor Barker moved to approve
the Treasurer’s Report. The motion
was seconded by Councilman Bill Smith and passed unanimously. UNFINISHED
BUSINESS - Mayor
Anderson reported that the April dinner meeting and Mayor Whitehurst’s
ceremony went well. NEW
BUSINESS: Proposed
Property/Sales Tax legislation and OCLOC strategy -
The Board agreed that there isn’t enough information to formulate a strategy
yet. Executive
Board Meeting Dates: -
Laurel Hill is on the calendar to host the July dinner.
Tina Smith was directed to call Laurel Hill to remind them. -
The September meeting date was moved to September 10 because the regular date
falls on Labor Day. -
Tina Smith will add the dates to the calendar and e-mail it out to everyone. Discussion
of Coordinated County-Wide Approach to Homeless Issues
- The City of Fort Walton Beach recently passed a homeless ordinance and The
City of Destin has plans to pass a similar ordinance.
Mayor Barker believes that once the 2 larger cities pass this ordinance,
many of the homeless will simply migrate to the cities that have fewer laws.
He suggested a countywide strategy. Mayor
Barker will contact Dr. Richburg and brief him of feedback from the Board and
ask that all of the cities be invited to the next homelessness meeting. Web
site contract and budget review - Tina
Smith’s web contract expired in April. She
attached a new contract which is the same as the one from last year.
Commissioner Strong moved to sign the agreement.
Mayor Barker seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
Mayor Combs briefed the attached budget.
At the last meeting he was asked to research current CD rates.
It was suggested to just move the money to a money market account.
Mayor Combs stated that the Okaloosa League hosted a fall meeting and
invited the local state legislators. He
suggested to the Executive Board that they use some of their money to hold a
similar meeting. Mayor Anderson will
look into the specifics of the last one. ANNOUNCEMENTS/REPORTS
FROM CITIES: Cinco
Bayou - No one from Cinco Bayou
was present. Crestview
- No one from Crestview was present. Destin
- attached Eglin
AFB -
The Mayor’s Breakfast is on June 28 at 7:30 a.m. -
There will be a Hurricane Exercise at the end of the month -
There are several Change of Command Ceremonies over the next couple of months Fort
Walton Beach Bruce
Bankston Golf Tournament
The City raised $5,145 in the Bruce Bankston Golf Benefit on Saturday,
May 12th, at the Fort Walton Beach Golf Club.
One hundred percent of the proceeds from the tournament will go to
retired police Sergeant Bruce Bankston and his family.
Sergeant Bankston is a 27-year veteran of the Fort Walton Beach Police
Department who retired recently for medical reasons.
Sergeant Bankston has been diagnosed with cancer and has mounting medical
bills. Thank you to everyone who
attended. Police
Department Memorial Service
The
Fort Walton Beach Police Department paid tribute to fallen peace officers from
across America during a special ceremony on May 15th.
The department’s first annual Peace Officers Memorial Ceremony was held
in conjunction with National Police Week, May 13-19.
During the ceremony, officers and civilian employees from the department
and the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office read off the names of 152 officers
who were killed in the line of duty in the last 12 months.
The event was highlighted by a flag raising to half mast, a 21 gun
salute, Amazing Grace performed on the bag pipes, a wreath laying and
Taps in echo. 18-inch Water Main
The City recently completed the installation of an approximately 14,000
linear foot 18-inch water transmission main connecting a new 750,000-gallon
elevated storage tank at the City’s Golf Club to a 12-inch water main on the
north side of Beal Parkway. On May 4th, the final connection of the pipeline was
completed, and the entire pipeline was pressure tested. The specifications
required the pipeline to hold a pressure of at least 150 pounds per square inch
(psi) for a minimum of two hours. Hemphill Construction pressurized the new main
to 152 psi, and the pipe held that pressure for close to three hours.
Bacteriological tests were also conducted on the new line, and the
results will be forwarded to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection
(FDEP) for approval before the City can place the new water main into service.
The new pipeline is designed to provide a second connection for
redundancy between the City’s northern and southern water distribution
networks, ensuring that the high level of potable water service the City
provides to over 20,000 residents will remain intact. Hurlburt Field Reuse Line
The City of Fort Walton Beach and Hurlburt Field recently completed the
construction of approximately 11,000 linear feet (L.F.) of new 12-inch ductile
iron reuse water main from the Hurlburt wastewater treatment facility to the
west end of Lovejoy Road in the Industrial Park area. This was the first phase
of a project aimed at decreasing the demand on the Floridan Aquifer by providing
reuse water to Hurlburt, the City, and its citizens as an alternative for
irrigation and other uses. The
remaining phases of this project extend the reuse main through the Industrial
Park to the City’s elevated water storage tank (Tank No. 3) at the corner of
Holmes Boulevard and Wright
Parkway and then to Beal Memorial Cemetery. The storage tank will serve to store
200,000 gallons of reuse water and will provide approximately 40 to 50 psi of
water pressure for the reuse water system. This
phase of the project was funded through a Florida Defense Infrastructure Grant (FDIG)
administered by Enterprise Florida. FDIG grants are awarded to communities that
enter into mutually beneficial projects with the military. Alligators: Dragons
in Paradise
The City of
Fort Walton Beach Heritage Park & Cultural Center is hosting its first
traveling exhibit, Alligators:
Dragons in Paradise.
The exhibit highlights the history of the alligator in Florida myth and
culture and features exciting visual displays, interactive opportunities, and
fascinating educational information. The
exhibit will be housed at the Indian Temple Mound Museum May 31st to August
29th. Heritage Park and the Indian
Temple Mound Museum are open Monday through Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and
Sundays in June and July noon to 4:30 p.m. The
exhibit is included in regular admission to Heritage Park. Medal
of Honor Trail
The City of Fort Walton Beach designated the new nature
trail on Lake Drive the ‘Medal of Honor Trail’ in recognition of the men and
women who have received this prestigious distinction, at a ribbon cutting
ceremony on Friday, May 25th. The
nature trail was the brain child of Jacob Sumrall, who did the project to
achieve the rank of Eagle Scout. The
1/3 mile trail was built on 4.1 acres of undeveloped land between Lake Drive and
Virginia Drive. The woodchip trail
features educational placards identifying vegetative species and wildlife
found along the trail. Hurlburt
Field - No one from Hurlburt
Field was present Laurel
Hill - No one from Laurel Hill was
present. Mary
Esther - No one from Mary Esther was
present. Niceville -
The city held their elections. William
Thomas ran unopposed. Okaloosa
County - There was no one from
Okaloosa County present. Shalimar -
Shalimar is updating the Comprehensive Plan -
The town is also exploring annexation of enclaves Valparaiso General We
have completed our Employee Handbook review Our
consultant has given us our salary review on all employees. Police Department Implementing
our first cases with the use of a Special Magistrate Library The
Building Grant is continuing and we are negotiating a contract with an
architect. We
are finishing up our computer system up-grade. Tree Grant We
had another successful tree give away all 480 trees were gone in 3hours and 10
minutes. We
will do another tree give away in the Fall Cable Department Our
engineer is in the final stages of the business plan. Soon
we will be Implementing Fiber to the Home Soon
we will be able to offer phone service. ANNOUNCEMENTS: -
July 17, 2007 - OCLOC Dinner hosted by Laurel Hill ADJOURN:
Mayor Barker moved to adjourn the
meeting at 1:09 p.m. The motion was
seconded by Commissioner Strong and passed unanimously.
|
|
E-mail comments and questions mail |