Author: Ben Johnson

District 2 Commissioner Bob Cole officially nominated District 5 Commissioner Colten Wright for the honorary commander title during the Nov. 9 commission meeting as a part of the 2022-2023 Team Hurlburt Honorary Commander Program.

The Florida Association of Counties (FAC) and the Small County Coalition created the ACCESS 67 program to help expand internet services to under-served areas in Florida in conjunction with small Florida counties.

In light of many companies choosing to enforce a COVID-19 vaccine mandate on its employees and the federal government doing the same, District 3 Commissioner James Calkins brought a motion to the board to send a letter to Santa Rosa Medical Center detailing the BOCC’s opposition to vaccine mandates.

With the year coming to a close, the Board of County Commissioners must reorganize by voting for a new chairman and vice-chairman.

The board elected District 2 Commissioner Bob Cole as chairman and District 3 Commissioner James Calkins as vice-chairman during the commission work session on Thursday.

Santa Rosa’s commissioners met on Nov. 9 and unanimously decided to maintain the current districts after the 2020 Census report showed that Dave Piech’s district 4 population increased nearly 10,000 residents.

In case you missed District 4 Commissioner Dave Piech’s monthly zoom meeting, here are the highlights:

The lines creating the five electoral districts in Santa Rosa may be redrawn by the commissioners to evenly divide the population between the districts.

During the Oct. 26 meeting, District 5 Commissioner Colten Wright expressed his idea that staff add the resume of any appointee that comes before the board.

Wright’s reasoning is to provide transparency for Santa Rosa citizens, giving them the opportunity to see the prospective appointee’s qualifications to represent them on a volunteer board.

On Oct. 26, Florida’s state delegation that included Sen. Doug Broxson, Rep. Robert Alexander “Alex” Andrade and Rep. Jayer Williamson approved two local bills to be put on the next Florida legislative session.

Many Santa Rosa citizens remember the Navarre Beach RV park that the county commissioners denied in July 2021, and during the Oct. 28 rezoning meeting, the board denied another request to build an RV park, this time in Milton.

James Calkins of District 3, Sam Parker of District 1 and Bob Cole of District 2 denied the RV park that was to be located off Golden Ranch Road near Jakes Bayou in Milton. District 4 Commissioner Dave Piech and District 5 Commissioner Colten Wright opposed the motion, voting in favor of the applicant.