News Archive

Santa Rosa County Animal Services (SRCAS) is hosting a reduced-cost microchip drive-through clinic on Wed., Dec. 7, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Santa Rosa County Animal Services, located at 4451 Pine Forest Road in Milton. Only cats and dogs are eligible to be microchipped and the shelter will be closed to set up and run the clinic.

In a break from tradition, the Santa Rosa County Board of County Commissioners skipped the sitting vice chairman and named District 5 Commissioner Colten Wright chairman for the coming year. Commissioner James Calkins, vice chairman for the board’s 2021-2022 term, presided over the first part of the commission’s organizational meeting Tuesday, Nov. 22.

Over the past few months, there have been a number of complaints from residents living in and around the area of Coral St. and Highway 98 of a smell the area. There has been little word from those who can fix the problem, Holley Navarre Water System. That was, at least, until Tues., Nov. 15.

At the Water System board of directors’ most recent meeting, the board discussed their solution to the odor issue. HNWS staff said they have looked into a number of options for how to alleviate the odor issue.

On Nov. 10, the Santa Rosa County Commission voted four to one in favor of purchasing land off Commerce Road, with the possibility of using the land for a new District One Medical Examiner’s Office building.

A former Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office deputy will be seeing the inside of a federal prison cell for the next year. Scott P. Haines, 50, of Milton, was sentenced to one year and a day in federal prison, following his previous guilty plea on the charge of making material false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation during an elder exploitation investigation. United States Attorney Jason R. Coody announced the sentence.

The Santa Rosa County Board of County Commissioners held its reorganizational meeting this morning in Milton, seating two new board members and electing the chairman and vice chairman for the coming year. Judge Robert Hilliard, himself a former county commissioner, administered the oaths of office to new District 4 Commissioner Ray Eddington and District 2 Commissioner Kerry Smith. The new board elected District 5 Commissioner Colten Wright to be chairman and District 1 Commissioner Sam Parker to serve as vice chairman until November 2023.

The Holley Navarre Water System, Inc. will hold its Annual Meeting including election of director on January 17, 2023. The meeting will be called to order at 7 a.m. and voting will take place from 7:30 a.m. until 7 p.m. at The Club at Hidden Creek.

Sides fired their opening salvos Thursday in Santa Rosa County’s upcoming water war.

At a workshop planned to review the county’s wellfield protection ordinance, discussion quickly turned to the future of its drinkable water supply.