The Navarre Beach Pier will be under new management in 2014. By a narrow margin, Pasco Gibson and Yolanda Wells were selected on Monday by the Santa Rosa County Commission to take over management of the pier. The pair will replace The Pier, Inc., a brother-sister duo led by Dorothy Slye and Everett Ratliff Jr., who have overseen pier operations since June 2010 and earlier this year received a contract extension, which expires Dec. 31.
A Gulf Breeze man was arrested last Monday for punching his wife in the jaw during an argument, according to a Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office arrest report.
With a little nudge from the Santa Rosa County Tourist Development Council (TDC), three marine groups based in Navarre Beach Park are making an effort to unite and set goals to pursue jointly. The new coalition is planning to reach out to other beach stakeholders and start meeting monthly as a subcommittee of the TDC’s south end committee.
A 26-year-old Navarre woman was arrested earlier this month after bruises were discovered on a child whom she babysits, according to a Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office arrest report.
The Navarre Beach Fire Department will be upgrading their watercraft equipment following an incident in which firefighters were put in harm’s way when doing their job near the Navarre Pier last month.
The Santa Rosa Bay Bridge Authority is broke. The Authority doesn’t have enough money to fund an annual audit required by the Florida Auditor General, much less generate enough revenues to make multi-million dollar, semiannual bond payments. Most of the Authority’s members have quit over the past couple of years, and replacements are hard to find because of the bridge’s troubled history. At an August 14 meeting held at the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) office in Milton, the group was left with little choice but to authorize a traffic and revenue study which could lead to yet another toll hike.
Frustrated by the county’s lack of progress in submitting and receiving grants through National Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA), the Navarre Beach Leaseholders and Residents Association (NBLRA) hired Sonja Negley, of Green Consulting and Solutions, to represent their interests three months ago. Negley updated the NBLRA on August 17 regarding her efforts and the current status of the NRDA grants.
Brenda Breland had just about given up hope of seeing a resolution to the standing water in the back yard of her home on Cagle Drive that has remained since the first round of flooding in the Navarre area on July 4. She had contacted the county department of public works and even had gone as far as calling a FEMA claims agent out to review the situation — but neither was helpful prior to Monday.
Santa Rosa County’s high job growth rate and low unemployment rate have earned the county a top 10 national ranking on CNN Money’s “Where the Jobs Are – Best Places To Live – America’s Best Small Towns” list.
