Thanks to the benevolence of Navarre property owners Steve and Ann Herring, Guardian ad Litem is set to relocate into office space with better accessibility at a discounted rate. The couple is planning to provide an in-kind discount of $200 per month toward the organization’s rent, which is funded by Santa Rosa County. The move will ultimately save the county $300 per month.
Pier contract changes hands; but not before drama, controversy
While the new year begins with a new management team for the Navarre Beach Fishing Pier, the previous year began with a one-year extension for the now-former management team — and plenty of drama that followed.
Political newcomer Yvonne Harper was last to file for candidacy in the 2014 Santa Rosa County Commissioner-District 4 seat, but she feels her experience in public policy and community relations should place her first in the polls come August.
We have some great advertising to help you shop locally in our Holiday Happenings Gift Guide! We hope you will take the opportunity to visit their businesses and spend a little holiday cash. I l-o-v-e the cover that Dickie Williams’ designed for the guide. He took our new artificial reefs, turned one into a Christmas tree and then put the face of a Navarre “legend” on the scuba diver, which wasn’t a stretch since he is one of our most avid local divers and responsible for most of the reef footage that we have. Yes – it is Mike Sandler.
Santa Rosa County Commissioners received seven proposals in their redo of the Navarre Beach Fishing Pier management bid. Pasco Gibson, Jr., and Yolanda Wells initially won a contract, set to start at the end of the current lease, which expires Dec. 31. However, three commissioners decided to revisit the initial proposal selection, prompting a lawsuit filed by Gibson and Wells to stop a revote. Ultimately the board instead rebid the contract to remedy the suit and also revised a proposal scoring method the county had used for more than two decades.
We only have six more issues in 2013. I know – hard to believe. Soon there will be school and office parties, young adults returning home from college for a month of R&R and hopefully earning some money before they return. High School seniors are busy firming up their plans for college next year, scholarships will be announced, then we will have an awards ceremony, prom, figuring out what the kids are going to do this summer and what – if any – job will they have, figure out where we are going on vacation… and then the cycle continues. Of course that is if you have one or more children at your house. Everything has a season, including our lives. However, I can’t imagine ever being bored or not busy – nor do I want to. No matter how hard I try – I can’t get to a place where I can take any significant time off from work so that I can get “caught up at home.” However, it continues to be a goal of mine. Maybe next year since it is only six issues away.
The air was charged last Friday night at Bennett C. Russell Stadium as the Navarre Raiders football team prepared to battle for another district title.
Putting the public in harm’s way is bad enough, but when it’s a business that is acting on behalf of the county, it makes us all look bad – the county, its residents and the business.
