all right good morning now uh phone time says we're now a little past 8:30 so 
we're going to go ahead and call this committee   meeting to order and if you will uh before we 
get started with the business of the meeting   if you'll rise and join us Commissioner 
Calkins is going to lead us in a word of   prayer and then Commissioner Smith will lead 
us in the pledge of allegiance. Please rise for   the prayer. Lord we'd like to come to you and 
thank you so much for letting us live in the   greatest country in the world the United States 
of America. We'd like to ask you to please bless   this country put your hand on our country on 
our military that's here and overseas. On our   police officers that are helping to keep us safe. On our First Responders that are out there saving   lives. Lord be with our County that we serve. Let us to do the will of the people. Give us   wisdom and strength. We thank you Lord for all 
the blessings that you pour upon our Nation and   our County. Guide us and lead us in Jesus name 
we pray amen. Amen. Please join me in our pledge   to our nation's flag. I pledge allegiance to the 
flag of the United States of America and to the   Republic for which it stands one nation under 
God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you gentlemen. Happy President's Day to everybody. So we have some youngsters in 
the crowd and I'm sure a lot sleeping in.   Out there having fun as well today. We'll start 
off with agenda approval. I'll start with my   right, Commissioner Smith. Everything looks good. 
All right Commissioner Calkins. I'd just like to uh   add an update to the US flag uh and so 
uh no action just I'd like to uh have staff   kind of give us all an up to date because I 
had gentleman came up to me... We'll put you   under the commissioner items. Thank you. Commissioner 
Eddington. No sir. Thank you. Commissioner Wright.   No changes. Staff? DeVann, everybody good? Thumbs up. Okay, move forward is published with one addition under   commissioner items. Minutes for approval from the 
December 14th meeting, the January 11th meeting   and the January 25th meeting. We assume everybody's 
had a chance to review those if not if you'll do   so before Thursday. Any questions additions or 
changes to those? All right we'll put those on   Thursday's consent agenda. Want to announce the 
up upcoming public hearings and presentations -   uh here on Thursday we'll have a regular meeting 
there is a vacation request on that uh for those   of you that don't know that's that's about 
a a member of the public asking the county   to turn property over. It's it's not a vacation 
to the Bahamas uh also on the 22nd there'll be   a proclamation recognizing United Way of 
West Florida for their 100th anniversary.  There'll also be a proclamation recognizing 
the flood safety awareness week and then   we're also going to have a presentation 
by Food Raising Friends organization and   so hopefully to to help inform people at the 
community about the good work that they're doing. Before we go to uh public forum 
I'll take the liberty to uh announce   that uh unfortunately you know y'all 
can't make the same claim as me I have   the uh best mother-in-law in the world and 
today's her birthday so I just want to say   happy birthday. I know she's not watching the 
meeting but I'd be remiss if I didn't say that well that's... Happy birthday Donna...that's my 
wife's mom but uh happy happy birthday   and if you want cuz we've done it before I'll 
bring you up here and we'll sing to you and uh I think I think we got to uh sing to 
Jane one time. You'll notice she's not   with us because I think she's enjoying 
time with a with a new grandbaby from   what I hear. All right we're going to 
start off public forum with uh Sam   Mullins. It's good to see you Sam. It's been a 
long time since you've been here but welcome back. Uh is it working? Okay. Yes sir, thank y'all 
for hearing me today um my issue is this uh that   I've got I'm uh I'm Sam Mullins uh I'm currently 
at 5922 Allentown Road but I'm literally moving   across the yard to 5912. It was uh originally 
the property was a 5 acre parcel uh that my   parents divided in half and back 30 years ago 
we built on one half on the East half of that   5 acre parcel so we had 2 and a half acres at 59 
U 22 and they had 2 and a half acres at 5912. Um with   uh what's going on with our nation our president 
uh declaring war on oil and gas industry uh it's   bankrupted our uh company and so we're having 
the downsize and uh so um at 61 years old I'm   putting in a mobile home on uh the front acre. We 
worked a deal out with the people that bought our   property to be able to cuz they bought the 
adjacent property my mom's property at 59   12 so they're breaking out that front acre 
across the road frontage on Allentown Road   so that I'll have a a place to put my mobile 
home. Um everything's gone through we haven't   had any issues with the water the power uh 
septic it's all good. I just needed to get a   culvert so I went down I called first to Maureen 
Williamson at permit office. She said I needed to   contact road and bridges. So I went down and 
personally spoke spoke with Austin there and   he said uh there's no issue here. He saw where it 
was going in. Gave me an approval code of bp-20 24-2002 and he said you just need to take that 
over to the permit office and get you a permit   for the culvert. So I I went over and spoke to Miss 
Williamson. She says uh we have a problem here and I   said well what's the problem? She says Allentown 
Road is considered a major access road. I said   it's a county road. She says no but it because 
she said they've deemed it a major access road   and you've got to have 175 ft from your culvert uh 
distance from everybody else's culvert on that road.   I said ma'am there's several culverts up and 
down that road are less than 50 foot from each   other. She said well it doesn't matter this is the 
new rules and she said what you'll need to do is   she say she first off you going to have to have 
your new property uh you're going to have to have   it declared a mini subdivision. I said ma'am I'm 
not putting in a subdivision, I'm putting in one   mobile home on one acre. She said well that's the 
new rules so then she said also too you'll need   to get a variance and I said and she told me 
she said right now it's about 90 to 100 days   out people trying to sign up to get variances. I 
said so you're telling me I'm going to have to   pay for a variance I'm going to have to pay for a 
new survey to have it surveyed, that's what she said   you had to have it...measure all the other culverts 
measured and and connected back to your survey   plot. I said I've already paid $1,200 to have a 
surveyor come out there and survey the property.   I said so now you're telling me I'm going to have 
to have a variance and I'm going to have to have   uh this mini subdivision uh declaration and I said 
this is this is I said it's causing me now to have   to wait over 100 days to get my mobile home in 
there and then speaking with Wes from who's here   today from Freedom Homes where I bought my mobile 
home, he said this is becoming an issue he said   he's had to do several of these many subdivision 
declarations and he said it's almost to the point   where he can't because he likes to buy a lot put 
mobile homes on and he said you can't hardly do it   anymore in Santa Rosa County and that's what 
I'm here to talk about today because the way   these uh zoning uh plan planning and zoning rules 
affect the people that can at least afford it like   myself who are either at the end of their life 
trying to do a you know a downsize or if it's   a new family that's trying to get in their first 
home. So this is something that's uh it's it's a   big issue that I hope the county can look at and 
try to make things a little bit easier for those   who can at least afford these type of things and 
that need help from the government and not have   government work against them. Thank you. Sam, thank 
you for coming down here and speaking today. First   of all uh I'll say it, you look good, look like you 
lost some weight since the last time I saw you so   that's it ain't a easy thing to do so uh and also 
I appreciate you taking the time to come and and   make the board collectively aware that you know 
a lot of times there's there is a cry for more   regulations and then unfortunately sometimes then 
we realize there's some unintended consequences. I   don't think anybody on this board um especially 
that are familiar with this area where you're   talking about right down from Central High School, 
it's a very rural agriculture area, uh expected that   this would turn into something where a fellow like 
you wanting to move right across the road from   your existing residence would have to jump through 
a whole lot of hoops. I'm not saying that uh that   was anything pointed in the wrong direction. I'm 
saying that unfortunately this Land Development   Code and some of these regulations I think again 
I speak on maybe some unintended consequences. I   would hope uh Brad or DeVann could speak to if it is 
a technical variance that he needs for driveway   spacing is what it sounds like um I don't see 
why if he was to submit that we couldn't have   that on uh what do we at least I guess they 
probably couldn't get it before April. Yeah we   are considerably full on all of the Planning and 
Zoning agendas and you know we canceled the the   March one and pushed it to April but I did meet 
with Mr. Mullins right beforehand and told him if   he could hang around that me and Mr. Dannheisser 
would meet with him and look at the situation   and give him some guidance and see if we could get 
a resolution or bring something back to the board   for a resolution. Yeah and um even if you're 
looking as far as moving forward I don't have   y'all moved the structure out there yet? They're 
putting dirt down this morning to for the path   for the mobile home and uh I was Wes was telling 
me just a minute a few minutes ago that everything   goes forward they'll be delivering the home either 
the end of this week or first of next week. Yeah   I um and again I'm I'm not trying to broach into 
zoning board matters here but um I I think you   definitely know how to contact all these gentlemen 
to make sure that you at least could get a head   knod of favorability but um knowing these guys 
hearts and and what's happening and being familiar   with the situation out there I don't think that 
any of us had tried to intend that you couldn't   move out here so hopefully Dan and Brad I'm sorry 
Tom and uh Brad can work through that and uh if   it has to come to the zoning board uh for that 
variance you know if Tom says that's what it has   to do then that'll be the process that we'd have 
to do but I think you sharing this today could   possibly help other folks in the future as well 
with you know as we go back and look in the future   on on some changes that that we probably need to 
make. Well and that was my purpose in coming here   today um because I mean this is a major issue 
we're talking about for that for not just Santa   Rosa County but just about every County in Florida 
with the new rules and stuff that are coming down   you know it it you know that's one of the things 
when we talk about affordable housing you know   because a lot of people can't afford a site built 
home so they they look at mobile homes or you know   or tiny homes or something like that and whenever 
you have something like this that gets thrown in   you know in the mix it makes it even harder for 
the people like I say that can at least afford it   to go through this so I appreciate you. Thank you 
Sam. If you will like I said just meet with them   after the meeting. Commissioner Calkins. Thank you 
Mr. Chair uh I just want to let everybody know   that that I did talk to uh Mr. Mullins about last 
week so I am aware of this this whole situation   and uh I appreciate Mr. Mullins coming up here and 
uh basically tell us what's going on uh it's this   whole situation is not good uh it's it's what 
we try to fight against regulation you know you   put you put all these regulations and there's 
an aim to put them on big developers and what   ends up happening is it affects the the uh guys 
that just want to put a mobile home or build one   house or you know for him to have to go and do 
a subdivision plan well he ain't trying to build   a subdivision he's just trying to you know do 
something to to help his family in this tough   economy so uh I want you to know Mr Mullen uh that 
that if we have to go the variance route you have   my 100% support and uh I believe that this board 
overall cares and uh a lot of times there's some   stuff that this board passes that they don't 
know the outcome and it's and until you know   a gentleman like you come up and kind of explain 
it to us. So I advise anybody else who's having   problems out there let us know. Come to the public 
forum and tell us what you're going through so we   as County Commissioners can fix it. So thank 
you. Thank you. All right, next I've got Pauline Grimes. I want to say something first um it's 
called the inside track my son was a fireman   in 93, man of the hour David attended his first 
concert this past weekend. He went to see Hank   Williams Jr. in concert in Mobile. During 
the concert a man fell over the balcony.  David had the city fireman had to use his medical 
skills to attend to the man until the paramedics arrived. I got to get my glasses on but 
I'm here on behalf of the animals again   and they're building way too many houses down 
where I live. I'm God left man in charge. Psalms   8:6 all of the animals, birds, fish and all life 
in the sea. When they build the houses up, which   they are doing, because of wetlands they are 
not the poor one next door will get flooded   and I believe they know that. The trees help the 
wind and the rain. Build but leave a half an acre.   I dated a contractor, y'all might have known 
him, his name was Doug Sap. he lived on Glade.   He had water in his house after Ivan. I wonder how 
much more he's going to get now but he's deceased.   He was a state contractor 40 years. His passion 
was to provide safe and affordable housing for   everyone he built a and removed and renovated 
many HUD homes. Now Sally took the car and truck   on Glade at the end of the road. Builders don't 
seem to care. If they did they would build less   and not houses 10 ft apart but it's all about 
money. Let me tell you two true stories there   was a contractor that did shotty work. Well his 
wife got real sick and spent all his money on her. My oldest sister left a lot of money for 
us four sisters. Well one of my sister's name   was on the account. Her husband took it all 
her and her husband. Well God is watching and   there are consequences. That was in 2016, well 
he's legally blind he can't even drive and my   sister has dementia real bad. What good was the 
money they took from us. They can't enjoy life   now and if the builders don't change and leave 
some land where they build God's watching. On   Furlong 3.8 Acres is for sale. If they build like 
they are doing now up the road I may have to move   and I've been there 41 years. When I moved there 
no one told me it was wetlands and there was a   foundation for a house already. Okay, Proverbs 23:4 
and 5 don't worry yourself trying to get rich why   waste your time for riches can disappear 
as though they had wings of a bird. God is watching. Thank you miss Grimes. Ryan Fowler. Good morning Commissioners. Ryan Fowler, Pace Florida. Just came in um to discuss a rezoning request   that it's going to come before the Commissioners 
this Thursday. Hopefully I'll be here but I just   wanted to start the discussion and um just get 
information out there. So this is gentleman uh   and his brother in Chumuckla, they want to rezone 
AG-land to commercial and on their application   they wrote a letter to the Santa Rosa Department 
development services and the second point is the   rezoning quote is consistent with the evolving 
land use patterns in the surrounding area. The   shift from agriculture to commercial align use 
aligns with the County's broader development   goals promoting a diversified and vibrant Urban 
landscape and we live in Pace but consider that   area Wallace Community or Chumuckla and it's not a 
vibrant Urban landscape. I think of that I think   of downtown Pensacola or something like that and 
um the people that really enjoy that go there or   visit there if they want that but not in um 
my little area where they just built a Piggly   Wiggly. If if you know where that is they want to 
down the road from that um it's even across the   street is AG. Um our neighbors on the corner, it's AG, 
they have a a fish pond out front and they want to   make it commercial. So I got a problem with that 
and just wanted to read one of the submittals to   Cameron um they emailed in and it says I live at 
whatever Chumuckla Highway across the road from this   property I want my voice heard as they oppose 
to this becoming commercial property. We need   our rural community to exist not disappear. Thank 
you, Stephen and Cindy. The...another letter wrote   in Cameron. Good afternoon, I want to write in a 
few of my concerns on the rezoning one acre on   Chumuckla. In the letter to Santa Rosa Development 
Center Services it mentions that proponents have   actively engaged in the community. There's not 
one person within eyesight of that piece of   land that I found that was contacted asked their 
opinion. Never saw anyone at the local grocery   store asking the locals coming in and out if 
they wanted anything. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Fowler. Mrs. Fowler. I think this is the beauty about 
yall having enough kids, you get a built-in   babysitter so you both make it out of the house 
today. This is true it's nice when they get older.   Hi I'm Laura Fowler it's p and from Pace. I wanted 
to tell you about a friend I had when I was about   five or six years old. Her name was Emily and 
when I would go to her house to play she would   say you have to do what I say because this is my 
house and then she would come over to my house   to play and she would say you have to do what 
I say because I'm the guest and my five or six   little year old little mind took a little while 
to figure out, hey this isn't fair right and and   so if you're going to put zoning restrictions 
on my land and say you can't and you can't do   this right but then you don't let me enjoy the um 
benefits that come from those restrictions you're   kind of being like my friend Emily. So we you know 
I lived in a residential neighborhood I respected   my residential neighbors. I didn't come here and 
say can you please change the zoning to AG so I can   have a cow and roosters. No, I I went and I bought 
agricultural land because I wanted to have cows   and roosters and I bought near land that was also 
Zone Agriculture and I wanted that protection for   it to stay rural because um it's it's important to 
me that it's that I live in an area where my cows   and my roosters and are my lifestyle can stay the 
way it is. So if there's a man that wants to change   the zoning from AG it's all surrounded by AG, that 
you just heard my husband read the the neighbors   don't want it changed and they want it to stay 
Rural and and if um they should get to have that   benefit. Otherwise just take the zoning all away 
and everyone just do what they want but if you're   going to put restrictions on me then I should 
say I should get to enjoy the benefits of it.   The which is that my neighbors can stay that way 
too without unless I say, like if the neighbors   say hey let's change it to we want a convenience 
store that's one thing but that's not what the   neighbors are saying. So if if a little girl is 
sitting in a chair and a little boy comes along   and says I want to sit in that chair and pushes 
her off we'd all say that's not fair wouldn't we   and so if if we're sitting there saying we want a 
rural land and we want to live in a rural area and   someone comes in and says no we wanted we want 
this to be commercial. we want all Chumuckla to be like   Highway 98 I I would say that's not fair because 
then for us to stay in a rural land we have to be   like the little girl and go somewhere else and 
you push us out of our way and and I would say we   could all agree that that that's not very fair.
That's all. Thank you. Thank you. Miss Sherry Chapman. Um I'd like to start off by saying that um 
something that you said Sam was variance   that um with Mr um Sam that you might have 
to get a variance. He has told y'all this is   a problem. Fixing one person's problem does 
not fix everybody's problem. Please look at   the Land Development code. The citizens tried 
to very hard to be involved in that and we got   a lot of resistance. So it's time to fix what 
didn't work out the first time. I also want to say   that you guys never know when there are people 
in the hallway that hear what you have to say.   They hear you on the phone talking. They hear you 
talking um down the hall or wherever. A lot of us   go in and out of all the county offices, building 
inspection, building department, engineering um BOCC   um all down the hallway. We are here because 
of things that we are in interested in. It is very   disheartening to hear a county commissioner be on 
the phone and say...if you would pay attention I'd   appreciate it. Um and hear them telling an employee 
that they need to get their roads fixed because   they're running for election. If you are running 
for re-election and you have not done what   needs to be done before the day of election I 
don't think you need to be reelected and I'm   just going to say that our staff does not have to 
put up with that and that is rude and I have had   to say this before. It's been about a year. They 
are not there for you to abuse. What goes in your   mind, some of you comes out your mouth. Racial slurs,
eye candy. That is disrespectful as a woman that is   a professional that is totally disrespectful. 
Our staff deserve better. When you raise your   voice or you get hostile or demand something 
because you think you're more important than   the other four guys sitting with you and mind you 
y'all are not at the top of the line. You have the   clerk that's on the organizational chart. You have 
all the tax collector. You have property appraiser.   You have supervisor of elections. Y'all are not 
the hierarchy of anybody so you have no place to   chew somebody out or for someone in the hall 
to hear what you say to them and absolutely be offended. To say that somebody is in this 
office and they need an appointment. The   staff doesn't tell us that. Why are 
Commissioners saying that? You can   do better and I can tell you you run for 
election this is coming out and it's going   to come out to who said it and when they said 
it and then we're going to ask why they said it. Commissioner Eddington. Uh Miss Chapman, I don't know who you're talking about but if I it don't matter   I I don't know who it was don't care. We all 
the same, okay? I work for y'all. These people   work for y'all. Way I do my stuff when I want 
something done, I don't chew nobody out okay. I   always ask them put it on the list when you get 
to it. That's way I do mine. I can't answer for   these guys. I hope they didn't do that because 
we work for these people. We work for the staff.   They say they work for us, they taxpayers I 
work for them. I work for y'all, we all work   for everybody in Santa Rosa County. We got to respect 
y'all and if that's happened I'm very sorry. I   hope the person whoever done that please go 
back apologize. You know I don't want to hear   that about a commissioner saying stuff like that 
to anybody. We got to give them respect. We got the   best staff here. I sat out there for four years 
and listen and listen. Since I got elected you   could not ask for a better staff. I mean they 
have been great, bent over backwards for me   helping me learn first year and I've learned a 
lot. I've learned a lot from these guys here but   I I expect them to treat everybody the same 
just like I do and I'm sorry that happened. All right thank you Miss Chapman. Chris Curb. Good morning, Chris Curb with Flood Defenders. 
Um coming with a positive light today, um one of   your agenda items and your operations and safety 
report is the uh the uh watershed drainage basin   study consultant ranking and selection. Um I 
rise in support of this is one of the things   I've been talking about last two or three years 
uh uh board identifying a plan and you starting    implementing it with a a watershed drainage 
basin studies. You identify and prioritize   drainage improvements throughout the county 
and I know you you've got a lot of basins to   to do. Um and you know Floridatown and East Navarre 
is probably good starting place as any and I was   I was real surprised this morning. I I came in and 
saw Jim Waite with BDI walking in and started talking   to him about it and he was like well something 
y'all are going to do that Escambia County hasn't   done, I even talked to Rebecca about it, is uh 
you're going to have the stormwater model   set up that uh it gets updated as development 
comes in. I think that is an awesome way to uh   utilize basin studies so um I I just wanted to 
come up here and say kudos to to uh the staff   and and the board for supporting this um and 
uh on a positive note uh basin studies can be   used uh in a lot of different ways um not only 
just coming up with a plan um you can identify   your 100-year flood planes uh a lot better 
than the way our our flood insurance rate   mounts do. Um that's something that came up at 
a a town hall meeting last Thursday in in a   in a Escambia County. Escambia County hasn't adopted 
their uh 2017 preliminary firm Maps because of   uh lots of challenges but uh and one of those 
challenges is the accuracy of the maps so uh   uh basin studies can help those consultants when 
the Water Management District comes comes up and   does those uh updates, those flood insurance rate
maps. If the uh Water Management District and the   consultants utilize those basin studies so um I 
think this is some good stuff I I see going on   here and uh you know I come up here a lot of times 
on the negative I uh when positive things come up   I really want to point that out um that that's a 
good thing so thank you. Thank you Mr. Curb. Jerry Couey. Good morning, Jerry Couey, Milton Florida. Um you know 
I don't want to embarrass DeVann Cook today but   but but I think it has to be it has to be said 
today. Uh incredible career you've had Mr. Cook. Um you you could have already left but your 
county needed to squeeze just a little bit   more out of you and um th the most citizens won't 
know the importance of what you've done as County   Administrator and and I think it's important to 
note that. Um you've built a great team. You've set   up succession so we we I don't think we're going 
to see a disturbance we're going to miss you but I   don't think it's going to be a disturbance. Um we 
make decisions based on science and facts under   your guidance rather than political whims and 
I appreciate that. Um it's it's not the loudest   voice it's the voice that brings the best idea 
to the table. Um I can't tell you how many times   people have commented me and and it and we we 
you and I have had these conversations but I   want everybody to know this: what a calm demeanor, 
steady on the till, always always return telephone   calls. Always be responsive to citizens. Um I I you 
you experience some things that were quite taxing   on you even though you look like you needed a 
little more sleep couple to a three-day run there,   you were still the calm guy handling the business 
taking care of our citizens and um uh and and and   most of all I value our friendship. Uh you know you 
you have you have done so many wonderful things   for this County. You've done it humbly you've done 
it quietly and uh I just felt like I just had to   embarrass you a little bit today and and and 
tell you that you are appreciated. Whatever you   decide to do, whether it be a cane pole or uh what 
what whatever you do in the future we we all wish   you well and finally we do have your telephone 
number so don't don't think you're off the hook   yet, right? Uh I'm I'm quite certain that you'll get 
a lot of telephone calls about where something's   at or do do you remember that so. But thank you 
for your service. Uh it's it's been it's been an   honor and a privilege to see a true gentleman 
repeatedly function well for the citizens, so thank you. Thank you Mr. Couey. That exhausts the public 
forum sign in sheet that I had here but uh is   there anyone that did not sign in that wants to 
come up and address the board. Got at least one   person we could have a foot race if somebody else 
wants to jump up. Pretty slow though. I I pull and coax   them as much as I can but. Yes sir, good morning how 
you doing gentlemen, Aaron Williams, Pace Florida. I   um Mr. Cook, I know we didn't have a whole bunch of 
conversations but as a new resident here I wanted   to echo some of what Jerry said is that as a young 
leader trying to emerge into this County and help.   Your staff is uh has been a tremendous help. A 
tremendous knowledge-based to where I could go   and I've talked to a lot of members of your staff 
and you can tell good leadership based on how the   people under you behave and your staff is is is 
uh man it just been a wealth of information. When   I make wrong comments standing right here, they 
haven't really uh [word unknown] me. They they've taken me   on retooled and say hey here's how you do this do 
this this is how you should should talk um these   are things that you can say these are things you 
can't say. You know your staff is uh help helped   me get it right and I wanted to publicly say thank 
you and thank you for your leadership and and um   thank you for not grandstanding. You know we need 
leaders that that can stay quiet professionals and   it's very difficult in this climate right here 
to maintain the quiet professionalism in   which some of the leaderships have been trained 
in the last 20 or 30 years and not to be the you   know the sage on the stage. We don't you know 
it's it's it's an effective tool but it's not   the only tool leaders have and so being a quiet 
professional is something that I know military   guys have tried to uh to emulate and you did 
that and so thank you for your example of good leadership. Thank you Mr. Williams. 
All right, come on down. I try I try   to talk all y'all into talking every day 
it's good good to see a few of you come up. Good morning, Bobby Burkett, Pace Florida. I wasn't 
going to speak but have brought it about DeVann,   I got to bring my two cents worth on it. I worked 
under Brad and DeVann for several years. I've   known DeVann since high school. We won't go 
exactly how far back that is. He's always been a   outstanding gentleman, man of his word. I used to 
tell people and told Brad's wife this, Brad and DeVann   are dream team. We were very honored to have that 
team put together there. They have done more for   this County than any of them have in the last 25 
years that I know of. So we're going to be a great   loss but now Brad can take the reigns and go with 
it. DeVann we're going to miss you. I thank you for   all you do and couldn't ask anybody better to work 
under than that man right there. So thank you very [Applause] much. All right anybody else that 
wishes to speak during in public forum? All right   I don't see anybody jumping up so we're going to 
go ahead and move forward with uh nothing under   County Administrator items. commissioner items, 
Commissioner Calkins had an item yeah I just   wanted to uh I've been a lot of folks been asking 
me about the largest flag in Florida and uh and   it's turned out to be unbelievably positive 
the response I've been getting out there. It   is uh when we put this forward we did not know 
how it would turn out, we didn't know you know   about you know what the public would say about 
it but if you all only knew how much positive   responses how many people have come up to me 
and they just want to know when is this going   to go up so uh I want to go to uh I've been 
we had a meeting with Brad and Jared and uh   Jared's working real hard and trying to make this 
happen and so uh if Jared can give an update just   so we could let the citizens know where we're 
at. Sure thing. The uh formal invitation to bid   process was initiated on Friday of this past week. 
There's some Geotech work that will be conducted   on Friday of this week and then we anticipate 
having some hard costs for the board to discuss at   the first regular meeting in March. Sounds good. I 
appreciate that Jared and uh that's all I wanted   to uh bring up and thank yall. Thank you sir. All 
right that takes us uh any issues on the..we still in   the commissioner items? Yes sir sorry I didn't even 
look for that. No that's all right that's all right   I just wanted to give everybody an update I know 
everybody knows how much how how passionate I am   about our youth and and the weightlifting 
teams. Milton went we went uh well all of   our high schools went down to Lakeland this past 
Friday for the state championship. of course Pace   destroyed it. I mean it Pace is on fire so I'm not 
going to I'm not going to make you name off all of   the great lifters in Pace but I do want to tell 
you that Milton's coming. We had some really good   showings on our Milton girls weightlifting team 
last Friday and I'm really proud to say that uh   uh Joey Paladino, one of my my buddies that has 
become a volunteer with Milton, is going to you   you know my competition my my my stance with 
competition. Here I come. You guys are doing   pretty good at Central. Navarre has always been good. 
Gulf Breeze great but you know here comes Milton.   Here we come so I want to see you guys I want 
to see your spirit in us too. Keep up with your   uh local sports. Then come football season we'll 
uh we'll do some nice little uh Baptist betting.   Not not betting but Baptist betting because we 
know how to gamble a different way. So but uh I   wanted to I wanted to bring up the attention to 
three girls out there at the uh at Milton we had   uh and I had my buddy, he did this. I'm gonna have 
to...we had Dana Tollison and Dana she was in the   199 class and she did third ing traditional and 
she was a runner up in the Olympic. Then we have Sabella forgive me Sabella Dotlitch.
She's the 101 class she did 15th in   state on the Olympic and then we've got 
Cadence and I got to go back and figure   out where Cadence's last name is. Cadence 
was Rogers. She was 12th in traditional and   14th in the Olympic and we have Cheyenne 
and Cheyenne, I'm forgive me again I'm gonna. Cheyenne's Donaldson so Cheyenne Donaldson 
she was fourth and traditional and fifth in   Olympic and she was in the Unlimited weight 
class. So I want to congratulate those four   young ladies with Milton. I'll leave it up 
to you guys on the rest of it. Pace I'm going to   give you a break on Pace because you guys y'all 
y'all destroyed it this year. Commissioner Eddington. I   want to thank Commissioner Smith and Commissioner 
Wright and his daughter. They come out last weekend in   the rain to help us pick up trash. We had a good 
turnout thank y'all for coming out helping. I   know y'all two had other obligations already 
couldn't be there but we will be doing it again   before for long and I hope District 5 and and two 
one three when y'all do it let us know we'll   be there for y'all. Thank everybody for being 
there. Thank y'all for doing that. I saw Jerry   Foster this week and he said that was a great 
event and thank you for thank you all y'all for   taking part of that. I did tell Tyler Saturday as 
we drove home from a sporting clay competition   I said don't even ask me in the future to get 
out here and shoot in the rain again that is   two Saturdays in a row I've had to try to shoot 
while getting soak and wet and not to mention the   wind makes some little clay pigeons a little 
harder to hit so uh hopefully I'm going you   hold me to that. If if you hear me talking about 
going to shooting it's it's a raining weekend   you remind me that I told him we ain't doing 
it. Um no thank y'all for that. All right we're   uh under the consent agenda is there any of these 
items that any board members wish to speak on? I'll give y'all just a minute in 
case you had notes that you need to look at. If not we'll move to the regular agenda 
under services and community relations   report. Uh I will expound on item number 
one and bring the board an update about   some conversations but uh is there any need to 
speak on items two three or four under no this   is uh down under regular for services and 
community relations report any of my fellow   Commissioners have a question? Commissioner 
Wright. I don't have any questions just got   a couple comments on item three. Okay and you 
on the number four request I got...about. Okay perfect. All right any issues on item number two to 
discuss if not all right we'll go ahead and start   with item number one and then um um this is about 
a you see in the backup that we've come to the   point of uh where we have to go through the cycle 
after the governor had appointed Dr. Oleske to be   our medical examiner uh the synopsis is basically 
they asked for input to that uh medical examiner   commission um some of you may recall that's 
what had led to um these letters of support   or nonsupport is what led to the turnover with Dr. 
Minyard leading to Dr.Oleske. Uh going going back   to when that happened which has been I think 2019 
is when the last turnover happened uh what led to   that was uh we had actually initially a sheriff 
out of um Okaloosa County had an issue. We had a   Clerk's auditor get involved. Our own Sheriff had 
some comments and so I really am surmising that   the reason for that change was that relationships 
with our Sheriff's offices. Uh so I did talk with   our current Sheriff Bob Johnson on Friday. We had 
a we had a good discussion about this. He advised   me cuz I told him obviously the board would be 
talking on this and and that was the biggest   thing I'd look at. He advised me that they had 
a they were having a good working relationship   with Dr.Oleske. He told me he had no problems uh 
with us supporting her uh reappointment to stay   as our current medical examiner and so I told him 
that I would share that with the board and I'll   be supporting uh her staying as medical examiner 
based on his recommendation because y'all have   heard me say before and I know Commissioner 
Wright has been intimately familiar with it   and I'm sure Commissioner Edington because 
it's basically the same in Tennessee as it   was here uh through our time at the Sheriff's 
Office, the medical examiner uh a huge arm of   that is just to support our law enforcement 
and our judicial process so uh based on the   sheriff's recommendation I'll be supporting it but 
I wanted to let y'all know that's what he said and   uh so he has no problem with the board supporting 
it. Commissioner Calkins. Thank you Mr. chairman.   Uh unfortunately I can't support uh Dr. Oleske.
Uh and I don't want to make any further comments   on that. Uh and uh but I I can't I can't put my 
name on this uh there has been major problems   in Escambia County and you know with you know 
uh issues with I mean the commissioner's there   and just uh I just... I will respect everybody's 
decision I respect our sheriff and his opinion   but me personally I cannot vote to support or 
recommend her so that's it. Thank you. Based on   that we'll leave in on Thursday's regular 
agenda in case it sounds like we'll need to   go to a vote on that item. Is there any other 
questions or discussion needed on this item today? All right just move move that then 
to Thursday's regular agenda uh I heard no   comments about item number two so you can move 
that to Thursday's consent agenda and then uh   I'll go to Commissioner Wright for uh comments 
on item number three. Thank you Mr. Chairman. Yeah   certainly no opposition to this one. This is 
actually a show of full support and I would   assume the entire board would I just uh wanted 
to just take a moment to uh to thank Pensacola Perdido   Bay Estuary Program. Um you know Commissioner Smith 
and I serve on that that board and um they came   through at the the last restore council meeting 
and gave a presentation uh with I believe UWF   on what they're trying to do with the uh water 
quality improvement program and I think I just   want to show support and you know say thank you 
for partnering with our GIS Department to try to   help with this and improve our waterways and uh 
Santa Rosa Sound, East Bay you know Pensacola Bay   um got a lot of work to do but uh it's obvious 
that we're all pulling in the right direction   on this one. Thank you Commissioner Wright for the 
update. Commissioner Smith. Yeah I'll I'll jump in   on that one. That's uh you know we both serve on 
the RESTORE, we both serve on the on the uh PPBEP uh   board as well and the strides that we're making 
or this not we I mean we are as as a whole but   the strides that are being made as far as the 
stormwater and septic to sewer conversions and   everything else that we're doing, I look forward 
to the to the health rating of our Bay systems.   As somebody that spends a lot of time, well I 
used to before I got this part-time job here,   but I used to spend a lot of time out there in 
the bay system and you know to to the thought   of getting the oysters and and the flounder 
fishing and everything else back into check   that we've we've had in the past and I I know 
we've had some natural or unnatural disasters   as well with the uh with the uh oil spill and 
everything that that that went along with it   but the work that's being done on this is just uh 
I'm proud to I'm proud to have my name attached to it. Thank you both very much. All right we will uh 
move that to Thursday's consent agenda, hearing no   opposition to that. Uh item number four Commissioner 
Eddington I believe you may had a comment for us.   Yes sir on the first one here they're uh wanting to reserve
three rows of parking spots on Navarre Beach for   art thing selling, I don't think we've ever done 
that on the beach. I talked to Jared this morning   a little bit about it, he can't remember anything 
about it either. Uh I just can't see given the   three rows - it's going to be pretty crowded. First 
thing we're gonna hear we don't have no parking   on the the beach. Um I think we need to kind of re- 
look at that and I don't think we should give up   the three rows and uh we have never put people on 
that beach to sell stuff like that. Um I'm going to   kind of deny that one uh got four others y'all 
look at it and see what y'all think. I appreciate   it. Okay any other questions comments on that and 
I appreciate you for sharing that you know always   say I really rely on the district commissioner 
when it comes to issues down there on Navarre Beach so um the the first one yeah the turtle roll is there 
any other questions or comments on that first part   of that? Would the board feel comfortable do 
we want to uh follow the district commissioner   and basically move 1 2 3 4 5 the other five to 
Thursday's consent agenda and then just uh take   off the first one for no action for Thursday? is 
it what's the will of the board are we good with   that? I'm seeing head nods okay. Uh Commissioner 
Eddington then if if that suits you we will remove   that first event you were just talking about um 
Jared can inform the applicant and then we'll   we'll move the other five to Thursday's consent 
agenda so that they can be approved. Uh thank you   for letting us know on that. Going to operations 
and safety report. Give yall just a second to   check your notes. I was going to see if there's 
any of those items that need uh further uh further   discussion. We've heard uh Mr. Curb had talked about 
item number seven and we have Baskerville here.   I think they're okay with not talking but I'm 
sure they're available if if we have questions. Um Mr. chairman if you would just look at number 
nine um that's kind of an out of the ordinary   request so if you want to discuss it more if 
yall are comfortable with that either way. Okay.  Any other item? Okay you had...Yeah number nine I 
was going to ask about that one too. Perfect. I'm   going to talk a little bit about it know more 
about it. Okay any of the other ones that need   discussion further before Thursday if not as 
always if something comes up between now and   Thursday we can discuss it then but Brad can you 
go ahead and go over number nine then? I'm going   leave that one with Rebecca um she's made the 
this is an option if the board would so choose   to extend the warranty in lieu of the testing 
but I'll let her explain it in more detail.   Uh yes sir. So we received the testing results 
back for the roadway base for this subdivision   and we weren't comfortable with the number of 
tests that uh we generally required them to do.   Instead of in order to come back and retest the 
road it's going to tear the road up a little bit,   so we have requested from the owner if they 
will extend the warranty from 2 years to 5   years and they've agreed to do that instead of 
going back and and uh tearing up a road to get   the additional testing that we need because that 
could probably um create more um issues down the   road. They've agreed to do that but it's of 
course it's up to the board if you want to   allow the extended warranty or the other option 
would be they would need to make the subdivision private. Thank you. Any questions or comments or we can.... 
Commissioner Eddington. I'd like to hear something   from Commissioner 2 Mr. Smith how he feels about that. As far as putting it over to a 5 year 
warranty? Yeah I'm good with that. I'm definitely   good with extending the warranty. Okay 
thank you. Mr. Couey, you want to speak on this item. Bill Hayden's comments he he's not able to 
attend today. Administration and the board received  those. Okay thank you, he he had some concerns 
and so if y'all will read his comments thank   you. Thank you. All right uh. I haven't had a chance 
to see those. Did you say we had...Just came in this   morning is through the online portal so it'll 
say CivicPlus citizen input. I'll forward it out   just for...Okay. Right well we could put it over 
to discussion for Thursday if you want to pull   that out? How about how about this if if you're 
comfortable with it I haven't seen the comments   either that came in this morning we can move it 
to Thursday's consent and if come Thursday you   feel like we need to talk about it further just 
let me know at the beginning of the meeting. Any   other items that anybody else needs to discuss? If 
not we will move items 1 through 9 to Thursday's   consent agenda. Uh next you'll see on the meeting list 
uh Law Library board meeting later this week on   the 21st. Aviation advisory committee meeting that 
same day and that'll be at 5:00. Our commissioner   regular meeting will be in this boardroom on 
Thursday at 8:30 a.m. and then we will have a   special rezoning meeting this Thursday evening 
at uh 5:00 p.m. All right anything else by any   of the Commissioners? Commissioner Smith well I I 
know that we had the the news that DeVann's going   to be going into retirement but that's in case 
we don't call him back, you know Michael Corleone ,  you know they you just keep trying to get away 
but they keep bringing you back keep bringing   you back but uh yeah since we've had citizens 
that have talked about this I just you know I   know I know that we're we're all secretly and 
clandestinely planning something big for you.   Big for you boss you can't help it. You're just 
going to have to be red-faced and embarrassed   because here it comes brother. Here it comes, but 
uh I just wanted to say I love you, going to miss   you but we got you for a little bit longer but 
you know uh I'm going to enjoy that time but   the you know I think you've taught Brad enough to 
where we might be able to carry on. I I don't know   I don't know I'm I'm a little suspect sometimes 
but I know it's coming back to me now but I just   wanted to say you know if you were going to go 
off into the to the to the other part of the   world and start doing something else I think 
you could get probably a seven-digit figure   on trying to bring people together in a in a 
community. You have done an outstanding job as   far as when you came into this Administration, 
well from where you came you you you already   understood the problems and you just attacked 
them and and fixed some big big problems that   we had and you did it seamlessly and and I don't 
think anybody realizes how how much of a blessing   you really are to this County and sure am going 
to miss that but uh I just wanted to make sure   I I capped on it but get ready to turn redder 
cause we're going to come, we're coming after you. Commissioner Calkins. Thank you Mr. chairman. I would 
like to say that uh I've served on a lot of boards   I've served uh I mean a lot back since 2014 and 
I've dealt with administrators I've dealt with uh   you know a lot of Administrators. I've dealt with 
County administrators not even being a county   commissioner. Uh and I could say that after knowing 
DeVann and I remember when we hired DeVann. He's the   best we have ever had. I could say that. Uh my my 
meetings with him, he was always honest he always   he didn't tell me what I wanted to hear, he told 
me the truth and that's important. He didn't always   agree with me and I didn't always agree with him 
but that doesn't matter he did a good job, he cared   he and this is an example here we all have a lot 
of different viewpoints you know with a lot of   different people but you notice that everybody 
could be a like how do we get a guy that that   everybody kind of agrees was great and uh it's 
it it's an honor to serve with him. When when I uh   heard the news I was sad and but God's in control. 
We're going to we're going to be okay. Brad I've   gotten to know him and as the assistant and Brad's 
going to do great and he has my full support and   I I was just recently talking with DeVann and DeVann 
was here working for this County before I was born.   So you want to talk about a man that has served 
this County that knows his stuff and just like   the other speaker said I'm going to be calling 
him too. I mean and uh and I know DeVann and he's   he'll pick up my calls and he'll uh because that's 
just what kind of person he is and uh so it's it's   uh we're going to be okay we got uh but yeah it's 
it's a it's a toughy and uh that's all I want to   say. Commissioner Eddington. DeVann, I've been here a little bit over a year you've taught me well and I appreciate   what you've done for me and this whole County and 
this board. You will be missed very much and I will   be calling you, believe me, but Brad has helped 
me a lot. Jared has too. Everybody in this staff   on this staff that you got has helped me very much. 
I could never say nothing bad anything about this   staff, you, and if somebody does let me know and I'll 
say something bad to them because you the best   thing you ever happened here I believe. Uh I've 
never heard anybody say anything bad about you   sir and that's very good because I work for staff 
in Tennessee and I've heard a lot of bad things   but this staff here has been very good. You've 
got a great staff and I appreciate working with   you. I I will miss you. He he forgot to add that 
you were in here before he was born too. No sir   I am older than him. Commissioner Wright. I'm not 
going to lay it on very thick we got plenty of   time you're not leaving yet. So we we we still got 
plenty more time. I know I was I was going to say   y'all he ain't dying on us guys. Uh no, I, Brad if 
uh if he does become the next administrator will   be the fourth administrator that I've had the 
opportunity to work with and uh you know what   I I will definitely say top five decisions I've 
ever done on this board, thankfully through great   recommendations, was uh when we were going through 
the turmoil of losing our last administrator and   that was unplanned as well. Uh I remember when I 
called the DeVann and he took him a while to think   on and it wasn't an immediate yes uh and he said 
he would agree to stay on and he had been planning   to retire and when I brought his name forward to 
this board and made that nomination to bring him   over, I I truthfully didn't know how seamless it 
would be and uh you know I I give credit back. Let   me tell you something somebody else that uh and 
and I already told DeVann I said um I agree with   Commissioner Wright, there'll be there'll be plenty 
of time for this retirement party but I will go   back and say just so in case it gets back one 
thing I think Tony Gomillion needs to get credited   with because he was that old wisdom guy when 
I come in was Tony did something that caught a   lot of flack even in the media and and honestly 
from some folks that are watching this meeting   right now if you'll go back and try to remember 
the criticism that Tony took for recommending to   this board that we have an assistant County 
Administrator. He said we've grown to that   point we need an assistant and that is what's 
led to part of us being able to confidently, I   don't think you've heard any commissioner today 
that's worried about the future, because for the   last two years DeVann has poured in not only his 
knowledge and wisdom into Brad but he's also uh   he's been one heck of a leader to allow Brad to 
go out there and and prepare for this. You know   this is a it's one of those things we we kept 
DeVann longer than we thought he would when he   originally came and and we thank you for it and 
uh you know it it is sad. It's kind of like when   you lose uh my wife's granddaddy passed away 
last night just before midnight and I'm able   to sit here and not being tearful because it's 
sad that we lose him but we're as a family we're   excited because we knew where he was going and 
we know we'll see him one day and with DeVann, the   thing is is he's worked he has put in his time and 
we're thankful now that you'll be able to retire   while you're in good health and enjoy retirement 
and uh and you and Jan hopefully doing all the   traveling she wants to do and wear you out and 
and um he's he's probably scared to death of   the honeydew list that I've heard gets longer 
when you retire. So uh thank you DeVann, it I I I   there's not enough time in the day to talk about 
how uh how instrumental you've been to bringing   us to a better point and we we appreciate you 
with all our heart. Uh that concludes we have no   further business today and uh so hopefully you'll 
come back back Thursday. Invite some friends we'd   rather see those uh seats full than talk to empty seats 
so we'll see you Thursday at 8:30. Meetings ajourned.