Commissioners may alter public comment guidelines
Santa Rosa County Commissioners are scheduled to discuss Thursday whether to change the way the public gives input during meetings.
A proposed resolution on the agenda for the Jan. 7 meeting requires citizens to notify the county in advance if they wish to speak during a meeting.
Water system mounts protest to protect wellfield
The Holley-Navarre Water System board of directors decided at their monthly meeting in December to intensify their campaign against the county’s decision to lift key wellfield protections.
The new HNWS CEO, Dr. Dallas Peavey Jr., will lead the effort.
Reef deployment goes off without a hitch
Deployment of new reef modules got underway early Tuesday morning at three different sites off the shore of Navarre Beach.
A total of 47 were deployed during the daylong effort, including 20 at a location a little more than a mile south of the Navarre Beach Pier. The other two reef locations were west of the other one.
Tootle focused on proactive public works
No Santa Rosa County department is quite as visible as Public Works. Citizens come face-to-face daily with the roads, drainage and parks managed by this department. And they notice when work needs to be done.
“Public Works is the face of a lot of what happens in the county,” said county commission chairman Dave Piech.
Florida continues proactive approach to vaccinations
First vaccines administered to locals
Less than 24 hours after officials announced nearly 5,000 Moderna COVID-19 vaccines would be administered locally, Theresa and Ron Ivie were in the waiting room at the Florida Department of Health in Milton.
The Gulf Breeze couple, who are 73 and 74, met the requirement of being at least age 65.
Distilleries get New Year’s Eve reprieve from hand sanitizer fees
In the early weeks of the pandemic, there was one item everyone wanted and no one could find – hand sanitizer.
Shelves were empty. Online sales were back-ordered. Alcohol-based hand sanitizer was recommended to help protect individuals from the new virus.
Deputy catches alleged human traffickers, saves teens
Find out which stories made our Top 10 list
It started as a headline that most people didn’t read. The “novel coronavirus” was first detected overseas and despite officials warning of its likely spread, many Americans were unconcerned. On Jan. 20, the first case was identified in the United States.
Six weeks later, an elderly Santa Rosa man became Florida’s second fatality. He had a history of international travel and preexisting health conditions, according to information released by the governor.