Outgoing Santa Rosa County Commission Chairman Bob Cole issued a good-natured challenge to his fellow commissioners at last week’s final budget hearing.

“I’m happy to say that in the years I’ve served on this board, I’ve never raised the millage,” said Cole, who is retiring when his fifth fouryear term ends later this year. “So, that’s a goal you guys can set – for 20 years you can’t change the millage.”

Special to Navarre Press Oysters are becoming sparse in the Panhandle. In addition to loss of reef habitat, thousands of acres of waters will be closed to shellfish harvesting by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services because of high fecal coliform bacteria counts. Commercial fisherman Pasco Gibson said what used to be 150, 60-pound nets per harvest is down to barely a five-gallon bucket.

At this time, Hurricane Ian is not projected to hit our area, but that doesn’t mean it won’t have an impact.

The latest update from US National Weather Service Mobile says that while Hurricane Ian is expected to generally stay east of this area of the Florida Panhandle, Northwest Florida will still see some impacts.