NO VOTE Tomorrow on the 4-Cent Gas Tax...It was NEVER on the Agenda!

Even if the Board of County Commissioners wanted to do so--we cannot vote to repeal the 4-cent gas tax at tomorrow's regular meeting.  This would have to be noticed, and any such vote would have to come at a subsequent meeting after the notice to the public.

There has been a ruckus stirred up, to the point of getting citizens exercised, lathered, and all worked up over a vote that will not even happen tomorrow at our regular Board of County Commissioner's meeting.

It is a shame folks fell for this misinformation......

For all the folks who saw a "posting" on a social media site talking about a vote at this weeks BCC meeting on whether or not to continue the 4-Cent gas tax to fund public transportation locally--here is  a newsflash for you.  There is no vote on this tax tomorrow.  This is NOT what is on the agenda.  The item on the agenda is simply a public hearing on an Interlocal agreement between Pensacola and Escambia County.

Furthermore---even if the BCC wanted to vote tomorrow at our meeting to repeal the tax--legally we could not do so!

According to our attorney--the only way we could legally repeal this tax is by noticing the public about the tax, and then voting on this tax at a subsequent, noticed public meeting.

It is a shame that folks believed this incorrect information, this misinformation.

But the truth of the matter is quite simple:  This will not be voted upon tomorrow.

District 1 Medical Examiner Resigns.......

This resignation does not come as a surprise--as there has been litigation between Dr. Minyard and Escambia over the last year that is still as of yet unresolved.  As of today, there are at least two viable candidates that have applied to replace Dr. Minyard.  I anticipate a replacement will be hired and the average citizen will notice no disruption in service.

450 Completed Surveys have been Received Thus Far

The citizen survey regarding growth management and development in the greater Beulah area, being conducted by UWF's Haas Center on behalf of the NW District 1 Advisory Committee, has passed an important milestone as of this Wednesday.

As of Wednesday, 450 completed surveys have been received by the center.  This is significant as the survey attains a much greater level of statistical validity when it surpasses 400 individual responses. (story continues below)

Notices like this one above will go out electronically this week to residents in the greater Beulah area, soliciting their input and participation in a citizen's survey on growth management in this area of Escambia County

According to Amy Newbern, the Haas Center coordinator of this survey, another round of emails requesting citizen participation will be sent out early next week.  She reports that the postcards that were sent out last week elicited a "very good" response from citizens, and that the email to be sent out early next week will attempt to get a few more completed surveys.

She anticipates the survey will close by August 4th.

Read more about the NW District 1 Advisory Committee here

Read more about this survey here

The Subject of Poverty Came up at My Coffee Meeting......

Some espouse the flawed notion that being poor in America is no different than being poor in other parts of the world, like in Russia (pictured).  This notion is just not true.

The subject of poverty in America came up during my Coffee with the Commissioner event yesterday morning.  Unfortunately, it is something I know about from my own personal experience, growing up in a broken home in some very tough circumstances.

I know what it feels like to go to bed hungry---I lived that.  I know what it was like to get whipped with a belt for simply getting food from the refrigerator without asking permission.  Yeah, that happened to me until I turned 11 years old.

So I heard there was a luncheon event in downtown on Tuesday where it was stated that "poverty in America is no different than poverty around the rest of the world."

I just have to take exception to that--that is patently false.  Poverty sucks, I know that firsthand as I lived it.  (My Dad[who adopted my brother and I] and my Mom, God rest their souls, worked 5 jobs between them at one point here in Pensacola in 1978--and still we struggled.) But my parents kept at it, and eventually things improved. Slowly. It took a lot of hard work and MUCH sacrifice.

As a family, we overcame poverty.

Others have overcome poverty in America as well.  Many by following what Ben Shapiro calls his three simple rules to escape poverty in America.  During my coffee yesterday I offered a slightly skewed version--1.Don't do Drugs  2. Work a Job  3. Don't have Children You cannot afford to care for.  4.  Get Married and stay married.  Work and marriage are the key to escaping poverty.

It isn't that difficult to understand, and it isn't that complex-because we live in a great nation that is extremely generous and benevolent that is full of opportunity for those that are willing to work hard.

So how do I know poverty is not the same here as it is in Greece, Turkey, or Mexico, anyway?  Uh,

No Violations at Rock Ridge Subdivision According to Experts.....

"No deposition of clay in the wetlands" according to staff that inspected
the Rock Ridge site this past Wednesday

At approximately 2:14 AM last Wednesday--the county received a complaint regarding the Rock Ridge Subdivision being constructed in Beulah. 

from the complaint:

"I am reporting possible violations of permits issued by Escambia County and other agencies and am attaching photos to show some of the issues that have been ongoing for some time in the development.  (1) There has been serious erosion for a long period of time which silt fences along the street may have helped prevent.  (2) The pond is muddy.  (3) The portion of the development that is a wetland swamp has had silt and mud for a period of time.  Recently, the water level of the swamp became much lower.  I was told by Tim Day a while ago that Rock Ridge did self-report the mud in the swamp.  Has there been any action taken such as a Consent Order regarding these matters?

 I would request a written response via email from Escambia County and each agency that has jurisdiction in this matter explaining what if any violations were found and what the outcome may be.  I plan to remain involved in the process and to follow-up with this matter."

The same day the complaint was received, County Environmental staff made an immediate site inspection.  Here is what was determined by the county based upon that visit:

"I conducted a site visit at the Rock Ridge Subdivision on 7/17/19 as a result of an email received from XX  XXXXXXXXXX. My review was only of the wetland and associated buffer found in the southeast portion of the property. Generally, it appears that the sediment controls around the wetland buffer area were in reasonable shape and continue to function. I did note that it appears that some clay dissolved in water (redwater) did make it through the sediment controls and was deposited in the wetland buffer (see attached slides). It is reasonable to expect that this water also entered the wetland, however I did not observe any deposition either on the soil surface or in remaining areas of standing water."

Yesterday afternoon, an inspector from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection inspected the site and wrote the following:

"I did my site visit today and agree, BMP's were maintained and the site is more than 70% final stabilized as required by the Stormwater Generic Permit. No water was in the  pond and no inlets were clogged with sediment from the site as the pictures submitted by XX XXXXXXX showed.  The pictures submitted were from a past date, but all that has been taken care of and not todays site conditions."

The Army Corps of Engineers will be coming out to inspect the site based upon the complaint, and they have sent the following to county staff:

"The Corps, upon our next availability, will inspect the site to evaluate the allegations in XX  XXXXXXXXX's email dated 17 July 2019.  Thus far, I've not had the availability to conduct a site inspection.  In addition, if violations have occurred, XX XXXXXXXX will not have purview to any resolution until the corrective actions have been completed."

The takeaway for me is simple:  If a complaint is made, our staff and multiple other agencies will go out and check out the accusations.  In this particular instance, the information in the complaint was dated, and did not match up with current conditions at the development based upon inspection by the FDEP, Escambia County, and the engineer of record for the project.  As of now, there is no evidence to substantiate the claims made last week.

Board Receives ECAT Driver/Passenger Incident Summary Covering Last 3 Years

A couple of weeks back at our Committee of the Whole a discussion took place regarding ECAT bus driver safety.  The topic was a discussion of providing $200,000.00 barriers for driver safety.

Several anecdotal incidents were described about drivers feeling threatened.

I asked about whether or not drivers who had concealed weapons permits could carry their concealed weapon for their own personal protection---given the fact that ordinary citizens cannot be prevented from bringing their own concealed weapons on our buses if such citizens possess concealed carry permit (s).

Let's just say that topic of conversation, particularly the way it was reported in the paper, went over like a barbell thrown to a drowning swimmer.....

But one good thing did come out of that discussion at that meeting.

The board requested hard data on exactly what incidents have occurred on our ECAT buses over the last three-year period: We have now all been emailed this information by Interim ECAT director Tonya Ellis.....

Summarized in the table below, the incidents are broken up into three categories: assaults, threats, and miscellaneous incidents.

According to Director Ellis, these are the only incidents  reported and of which management is aware.  According to the information provided, "There have been no "major" reported physical assaults of bus operators by passengers in the last three years."  This very small list of incidents, I must admit, is somewhat of a surprise to me;  I would have thought there would have been many more on the list.  But these are only the reported incidents, so who knows how many incidents go unreported.......

25th Coffee With the Commissioner This Wednesday

We will be holding our 25th Coffee with a Commissioner event this coming Wednesday at the McDonald's on Blue Angel and Hwy 98 in District 1.

We will meet from 6:30-7:30 and all members of the public are invited to attend.

I look forward to seeing you all there!

The "Panic Switch" Was Engaged this past Weekend...

Something very similar to the above concept that I brought to the board last month was actually implemented multiple times last weekend, with great effect I am told.....

We discussed the issue of the Beach Toll Booth on Thursday.  I personally complimented commissioner Bender for his leadership on the issue, his willingness to roll up his sleeves and tackle the matter, and for his commitment to pay for the cost of the lost toll revenue from his discretionary account for the weekend "no-toll" experiment he and staff conducted.

The following weekend, another "no-toll" weekend happened, this time funded by TDT funds.

We learned some lessons by these weekends--the most important of which (voiced by the Gulf Breeze Police Chief who came to our meeting)--was that this "flushing of the traffic" cleared the streets through Gulf Breeze and helped public safety.  In addition to this, the all electronic toll weekends also shortened the ride times from Gulf Breeze and onto the beach dramatically.

We also learned that by opening up the toll booth gates and flushing everyone through, in conjunction with syncing the lights through Gulf Breeze and at Fort Pickens Road on the beach via our remote traffic center---we have found the 90% solution to Beach traffic!  (Who says we need Roundabouts now?!?)  And those that espoused the mantra that "Lack of Parking is THE CAUSE of beach traffic--well those assertions were debunked by the last two weekends and what actually happened......

So what happened this past weekend, now that the board authorized staff and commissioner Bender to explore other options now that the all "toll by plate" and sun pass solution did not pass muster with the turnpike authority?

What happened was the "panic switch" I envisioned and discussed with the board last month, slightly modified,  was actually used this weekend with great effect.  I have confirmed it was used a few times on Saturday, and once on Sunday.  I'm glad this was done, and in my opinion this is the optimal solution.  Go to "zero fare mode", charge nobody (sunpass or toll by plate) --everyone goes through for free- in short bursts--until the traffic totally flushes.  (which it did). Then, go back to normal collection of the tolls (cash, sun pass, and toll by plate) once the traffic clears through.  Abracadabra--it works!

If it costs us a few thousand dollars --it is worth it-- and money well spent-- to improve safety and accessibility of ambulances and police vehicles.

In both instances this past weekend, I am told-the traffic flushed quickly;  I'm told that at one point the drive time from the Gulf Breeze Chic Fil A to the Toll Plaza dropped from 45 minutes to 10 minutes, when the zero fare mode was engaged and traffic was waved through.

Until we finally go all automated or get rid of the booth all together and make up the revenue with parking--I do believe the panic switch is the best way to deal with the peak times, maintain cash collections, promote good will to drivers stuck in traffic, and most optimally deal with peak volume.

We shall see how it goes over the last few weekends of the season....

Why Did We Move This Soil, Though?

An Anonymous Complaint (above) was sent out back in April.  It has been reviewed and the claims have been substantiated. At this point, more than $53,000.00 in fines are estimated for the removal of contaminated soil from this facility.  But why did we move this soil?

The county financed a project to modernize and improve the gun range utilized by the Escambia County Sheriff's Office.  We did this last year.

To the best of our knowledge the job was done and there were no issues.  

Friday afternoon we were notified about a possible environmental issue associated with the project.

An anonymous tip (above) was sent to various entities describing the unauthorized removal of contaminated material from the site.  The Florida Department of Environmental Protection ultimately visited the site, visited the location the material was moved to, and notified the county of a violation of state and federal environmental laws.

13 Dump truck loads of contaminated soil were moved from the pistol range to a non-permitted site, which will result in a fine

It appears that the county and the contractor will both be fined, and the total amount will exceed $53,000.00.  This amount will likely go higher once the consent order is received from FDEP, according to staff.

My question is pretty simple and basic:  Why did we remove the soil from this site--why was it

......As Many as 44 Spaces

The latest DRAFT layout for Public Beach Access #4 indicated there is/was room for as many as 44 spaces--just as I mentioned in my Monday evening town hall.  Now that I mentioned that, a tremendous outpouring of curiosity and speculation has happened online so I am publishing what I saw three weeks ago, above, for all to see.  The latest DRAFT. 44 spaces!!

I requested an update on Beach Access #4 about 3-weeks back with Tim Day.  As we sat in my office he explained the reasons the timeline had slipped, and he also showed me the above diagram.  He explained that this was a draft, just preliminary.

But I was excited to see the figure of 44 parking spaces on the diagram I was shown at that time.  I did not request it, nor did I publish it at that time because I knew it was a draft document.

At my townhall Monday evening, I said the following about public beach access  "I'm not wanting to speak out of turn, but the diagram I have seen shows that we may get as many as 44 spaces in that access."  And we may get as many, according to the above document that I'll go ahead and post now that it is a subject that has drawn a lot of attention.

The reason I mentioned 44 spots is that there had been some noise put out that it would only be 13-15 spaces--which obviously is flat-out, 100% dead wrong propaganda.

The draft above shows we may, in fact, get "As many as 44 spots"--just as I said at the town hall meeting  😊.

(P.S. folks have also asked about the lawsuit from condo owners in the area that DO NOT WANT public access, and the impact that litigation is having on the timeline....

ANSWER:  The staff I have spoken with have indicated that litigation has ZERO impact on our timeline thus far, and going forward, unless we get an unfavorable ruling or an injunction that forces us to stop--which hasn't happened.  So we carry on, and keep moving forward!)

Is This Harassment, Intimidation, Bullying---or is it Hazing? What Would You Call This?

I have received several complaints about mistreatment of volunteer firefighters in ECFR.  I am going to ask the administrator to look into these--and I hope they are not founded and/or are isolated incidents that can be rectified 

I've been contacted by multiple volunteer firefighters who are telling me the same thing:  They are not being welcomed, nor are they being treated fairly.  They are stymied throughout the application process, and new volunteer outreach has slowed to a crawl.  One volunteer with whom I spoke summed it up grimly.

“The county wants to know why volunteerism is down in Escambia county it’s not because people don’t want to be volunteers, it’s because they don’t want to be treated like they’re 3rd class citizens….volunteers need the help of the commissioners because we are getting rail-roaded by the career union we need help recruiting if its adds in the news paper or commercials on the radio or tv anything will help.”

Some of what I am hearing about the mistreatment is disturbing, to say the least.

In some instances, the treatment goes beyond just being treated "unfairly" and stymied—in some of these accounts, which I intend to discuss with our new administrator today, it sounds like it could be considered harassment, bullying, or hazing.

Regardless of what one chooses to call it—I find it unacceptable from a professional organization that is supposed to function as a cohesive unit, together, paid and volunteer, one force, one fight. 

But it does not sound as if that is happening.  The leadership vacuum persists apparently-which is disappointing coming off of all the scrutiny the board has demanded based upon a recent harassment claim settlement in ECFR.  We MUST get the culture sorted out so that everyone is treated fairly, respectfully, and valued for their service—paid staff and volunteer alike!

According to one volunteer:

“On multiple mornings after the volunteers were up all night running calls, the oncoming career crew comes in the bunk rooms with flash lights and screaming reveille reveille reveille like we are in boot camp, making it so that volunteers don’t want to spend the night anymore they make it as hard as possible to be a volunteer firefighter”

With respect to equipment—this certainly got my attention:

“I feel as a volunteer firefighter I am treated as a 3rd class citizen my turn out gear is expired by over 8 year but it’s ok because I’m a volunteer the career personnel on the other hand have to have 2 sets of in- date gear though.”

Another volunteer, from a different station, related this to me:

 “about the infighting, it’s worse than what you are seeing. They set a trap in a locker (unlocked) for water to spill at station XXXXX to see if anyone was digging thru their stuff. They’ve been locking the engines up on purpose, they’ve taken the straps off the cones on the volunteer engine so that when we return for a call and take a call, they would fall off on purpose.”

“a battalion chief got really mad on scene with volunteers in recent weeks and belittled them on

Seeing Red

Marlette Manipulation 18.0---Seeing Red!

No this post is not about the song by Unwritten Law. (Although that is a great song)

It's about seeing red and the Sea of Red "DISAGREE" cards I saw last night at my town hall when I asked two simple questions about the area's only newspaper, the Pensacola News Journal.

(Watch the video of the entire town hall here,  see the complete list of 23 questions asked and audience results, here)

And Andy Marlette and the PNJ want to mock me with their ridiculous cartoon talking about "Community Values?"  I hope their reporter, who was at last night's town hall, will report the results of the questions I asked about the PNJ....That's news, right?

They were very basic questions and I honestly had no idea the visceral, almost reflexive way in which so many in the audience would react.  Re-watching the video this morning, it was almost as if some in the audience rushed to put their signs up---and high up too!  Here's what I asked:

1.      "Our local Newspaper, the Pensacola News Journal, is in step with our community’s values." (10% Agreed, 90% Disagreed)

2.      "I believe what I read in the local newspaper, the Pensacola News Journal." (10% Agree, 90% Disagreed)

you can watch the audience reaction to these questions for yourself (#17 and #18---minute 1:36:20 of this video)

Bottom line here:  This group of citizens (myself included) is apparently not too happy with the PNJ.  But why would they be?  The PNJ routinely attacks conservative local leaders unfairly--others are issued a pass.  They attack me routinely and viciously with cartoons and articles that deliberately and maliciously attempt to portray me in a false light.  They do it to other local elected leaders as well.  It is not journalism, it is Yellow Journalism of the worst variety.  And the 2-person editorial board lean strongly to the left, while we are a conservative right-leaning community.

But imagine if you extrapolate these citizen instant survey results throughout the county?--who is left supporting the PNJ???

Something for Gannet to think about maybe.....maybe they should just become a weekly paper to save overhead for Gannet....

Instant Feedback From Citizens on a Variety of Topics

Audience members actively participated in our town hall meeting in Beulah last night, July 15, 2019 at Beulah Middle School

At last night's District 1 Town Hall in Beulah, I tried something new.  Instant feedback questions from the audience present.  On a lot of different topics.

I had no idea how it would be received, nor how it would work.

As it turns out, the audience really got into it and I was able to go through 23 questions very quickly and get a good idea of where a cross-section of my constituency stands on a lot of important topics.  My aide, Debbie Kenney, and I tabulated how the audience scored each question, on a percentage basis, below----very non-scientific---well yes, maybe------but very informative nonetheless!

Some of the answers were REALLY surprising.

My particular favorites were the ones about the Pensacola News Journal(#17 and #18---minute 1:36:20 of this video)----WOW!  Here is the complete list:

Video from Last Night's District 1 Town Hall Meeting in Beulah

We had an excellent turnout for last night's District 1 Town Hall in Beulah.

You can watch the video here.

Why are some ECFR Personnel "Word-smithing" the Data and the Numbers?

So over the weekend some noise was put out online, bashing the volunteer firefighters efforts in Beulah and Molino.

I must admit that when I saw the "stats" I was shocked, and I knew there must be an explanation, and of course there is/was one.

"Jeff, that's a bunch of wordsmithing and data manipulation that's being put out" said a volunteer firefighter I contacted who always gives me good information, solid information that I have never found fault with.

"Look at the way he worded it--he talks about "engine by category"--and if you calculate it only that way, the numbers missed look bad"

"But we don't take the engine to every brush fire-we take the brush truck very frequently when we respond"  he continued.  "If Ensley gets to a structure fire first, they might call us off and tell us to bring the pumper truck, NOT the engine--so this would skew that number" he related.

"And we don't run the engine on every sick call and public assist call we get, often we respond in our trucks or take the brush truck--but we'll always have 3-4 personnel there--so the way they have sorted this is misleading.

"It's all in the way the data is being sorted to make us look bad" said the volunteer dryly. 

The volunteer coordinator jumped into the string to dispel some of the misinformation, and did so with class and professionalism.  "Just pick up the phone and call if you want information" was his message to the person who put this information online.

I asked the simple question of a Beulah volunteer:  "Why deliberately skew the numbers, why throw the volunteer firefighters under the bus--I thought it was one force, one fight?  I thought you all were trying really hard to integrate as one team?"

"This is the same stuff we've been dealing with for 10 years Jeff--nothing has changed"  came the terse response from the volunteer.

This infighting has to stop.

A Local Monument Protection Act--at the County Level?

As monuments and memorials nationwide come down--where will the line be drawn?  Will Native American monuments be next?  I support the preservation of history, good and bad, including not taking down statues, monuments, and memorials.  

At this past week's Escambia County Republican Executive Committee (REC) Meeting, a discussion about protecting monuments and memorials, particularly those that honor military history and historic military figures, took place.

The featured speaker of the evening was State Representative Mike Hill, who sponsored legislation  last session to protect monuments and memorials from removal/replacement.

His bill was referred to a committee, indefinitely postponed, and ultimately withdrawn from consideration.  It was never heard by the full legislature.  I'm told Representative Hill will re-introduce the bill during the upcoming session, so we will see what happens with that.

A member of the audience at this months REC asked "Could the county introduce its own ordinance to protect monuments in Escambia County?"  Then folks looked at me, as the only county commissioner present.

"I'll find out, and I'll report back next month" I stated to the crowd in attendance.

Subsequently, I received a link to a Lee County, Florida, ordinance that was written to protect military monuments.

But there are a lot of politics at play with this sort of an ordinance.

It appears to me that the goal and objective with the Lee County ordinance is simply to keep in place a bust of Confederate General Robert E. Lee--the namesake for the county. ( There is a movement afoot to remove that statue from its current prominent downtown location to a museum on private property.)

I prefer to protect all monuments, memorials, buildings, and structures that are given such honor by the communities, counties, and states in which they are erected and placed--without carving out exclusions.

Should we leave vulnerable the monuments to police officers, members of the clergy, ordinary citizens that did/do extraordinary things, Native Americans that fought against America to save their land, prominent statesmen, Astronauts, and civil rights leaders?  Do we not offer protection to these?

Most ALL memorials and monuments are anticipated to be established and  maintained in perpetuity--because a lot of thought and consideration is typically given BEFORE such designations are given.

And this is why when buildings are rebuilt, the names remain.

Two local examples of this are AK Suter Elementary and Ernest Ward Middle School--two schools that were demolished and rebuilt but that kept the memorial designation as previous school boards had intended--even though they were not military memorial designations. "New Building- Same Name"-- as intended!

Some folks will act aggressively to protect some memorials and monuments-while others will act in an equally aggressive and strident manner to remove monuments and memorials--- given the right set of circumstances, their ideology, and the proper motivation.  Sometimes members of competing ideologies agree on memorial removal/re-designation.  Meanwhile-- the majority of the rest of the citizens don't and won't weigh in one way or another--as they are busy living their lives, raising families, working, etc.

The successful and deftly executed plan to remove the memorial to Philip D. Beall locally is a stark picture of what I believe such a memorial protection act should prevent--but also why I don't think a memorial protection act will ever pass locally.

(Ironically--a reading of State Representative Mike Hill's bill would lead many to believe that if it had in fact been enacted and passed into law--it would have prevented the recent moves toward removal of the memorial designation for Philip D Beall Sr.  This is interesting because Representative Hill was in support of removing the Philip D Beall Sr. memorial designation)

Talk about mixed messages??

I don't deal in mixed messages and half-measures----and I want to make one thing crystal clear:

I support ALL history and ALL historic figures (of all stripes--including military and non-military figures) and in order for such a bill locally (like Lee County's ordinance) to gain my support, the language would have to be changed to include protection for all monuments and memorials-----with the specific clause inserted that the only removal permitted would be if the namesake was found guilty of a crime, posthumously, or of violating the law as it was written during his/her lifetime, in such a manner that would bring disrepute to the community that honored such a namesake.

Otherwise, like the effort last legislative session by representative Hill, such bills will not go

How Do We Protect Bus Drivers? What about Arming Them?

Would an enclosure like the one pictured above really keep drivers safe--or could such a barrier be easily breached by an attacker?

Today during the BCC's Committee of the Whole meeting, we were given a presentation about purchasing protective barriers to make Bus Drivers safer.  (Video here)

A Bus Driver in the Tampa area was recently murdered on duty, he had his throat slashed.

We were told by staff our current protocols are working and that no drivers have been assaulted.

But then the President of the Bus Driver's Union, Mike Lowery, came up and detailed several incidents that occurred of which staff was seemingly unaware.

"XXXX was choked, ask XXXXXX about it?"

XXXXX had hands laid upon her, ask XXXXXX about it?

"I myself had a passenger spit right in my face!"  Mike stated.  "It was a while back, but it happened--these incidents happen!"
The barriers they presented, that would cost about $178K to install in our fleet, looked weak and unable to stop anyone from getting to the driver..let alone someone that was going berserk or spaced out and tripping on drugs.

"I'd get through that quick, and I'm 51 years old!" I quipped.

I then asked Mr. Lowery what he thought about the idea of the drivers carrying a concealed weapon for self-defense--which he did not receive too well.  "There are laws against that"  he stated.

But there are not laws that prevent this.  There is a county ordinance that prohibits this practice.  And the county could, if there were support to do so, repeal or change the ordinance to allow concealed carry for bus drivers.

The idea wasn't warmly received by my counterparts, though, so it probably won't happen.

But I asked Mike this  "What is a driver to do if he/she is attacked---call dispatch and wait for a policeman to come??  "Meanwhile, do they just absorb the attack?"

.....No good answer came.  Maybe we should do it like they do it in Israel and arm the drivers?  Or like Milwaukee Wisconsin?

Didn't sound like there was a very good plan for what a driver would do to defend himself/herself here in Escambia County from an attacker/attackers on one of our buses.  What are they supposed to do, get pushed into the wall and get worked over like the old boxing maneuver the "rope a dope!"

Maybe the drivers could wear self-contained astronaut-style body protection suits like the one developed by a Canadian inventor that made a suit capable of withstanding grizzly bear attacks?--I mean how ridiculous does protection have to be? (NOTE:  Inventor of the Grizzly Bear suit, the URSA Mark VI, Troy Hurtubise, died in a fiery traffic collision in Northern Canada in 2018--he never "fought" a real bear wearing the suit.....)

Stay tuned for more discussion on this topic in the weeks and months to come---as staff will be researching different shield/enclosure models that provide better protection and also they will be looking into the claims of assaults on drivers that were given today.

NW District 1 Priorities Survey Goes Live Starting Today!

This introduction letter (above) will accompany a request for participation in a community survey that will be going live this week.  Community participation is encouraged!

UWF's Haas Center will begin deploying the survey that the NW District 1 Advisory Committee developed over the last 6 months.  This survey will be live until August 15th.

If you live in the greater Beulah area, including the nearby adjacent communities in the NW District 1 (Specifically precincts 43, 5, and 68)--we encourage your participation in this brief survey.

The results of this survey will be provided to the committee in September, and will give committee members a baseline for resident sentiments about how to plan for growth going forward.

You can take the confidential, voluntary survey by following this link.  (Only one survey per participant will be accepted)

Commissioner Underhill Will Be Requesting a County-Funded Legal Defense

The board has been advised via an email from this Saturday that at an upcoming meeting we will be asked to approve a county-funded legal defense for Commissioner Doug Underhill.  He is currently being sued for libel.

Two years ago the board was asked to provide a legal defense for Doug Underhill and at that time the board voted no.  (That issue discussed at length here).

This time around, the circumstances are different.  Nevertheless-I'm not convinced that there are three votes on the board to fund this.  We will see this week I suppose.

(I've been contacted by numerous citizens who have told me NO WAY to paying legal fees)

What Does the Perdido Key Association Want?

In an email sent to all five commissioners yesterday evening, the Perdido Key Association lays out its strategic vision for Perdido Key based upon area resident surveys and input.  Public Beach Access is not one of the higher priorities on their agenda........

See their complete two-page White Paper below.

Interactive Town Hall Meeting in District 1 will Happen on 7-15-2019

On Monday, July 15th we will be holding our next town hall meeting in District 1.  We will hold this town hall in the cafeteria of Beulah Middle School beginning at 6:00 PM.

Staff from the county will be present as well, in order to answer questions and take audience questions/concerns.

In addition to covering the topics above, we will take comments and questions from audience members that wish to participate, and we will also have an interactive session where questions will be asked of the audience with the intention of soliciting opinions from the group via hand-held cards that will say either "agree" or "disagree"--in order to get the group's input on a variety of pressing topics.

This will be an interactive town hall, with audience participation encouraged.  In addition to taping the town hall for later addition to the county's website, we will also be live-streaming the town hall on Facebook for those who cannot make the meeting in person but who want to watch online.

On WCOA This Morning Discussing OLF 8, Beulah, NFCU, and Non-profit Funding

I'll be on the radio later this morning on WCOA discussing OLF 8, today's special meeting to select a master-planning firm for that project, Beulah, the NW District 1 Master Plan, and other topics of interest for District 1 and Escambia County.


Listen to the Podcast here.

Spending Priorities: What Message Do We Want to Send to the Taxpayers?

If we say we need additional revenue and a tax increase on one hand, but then in the next breath approve $2 Million in Discretionary spending for local unaffiliated non-profit entities--what message are we really sending to the taxpayers that fund our operations?

I have said a number of times over my three years on the board that we need to phase-out the expenditures from our general fund to non-profit entities that request funding yearly.

I attempted last year to cut some significant funding from several entities that would have survived the cuts and generated the revenue elsewhere.  I was not successful in getting my peers to see the wisdom in doing that.

So this year we are being asked to consider raising the fire MSBU on all property owners in Escambia County--because we supposedly do not have enough revenue for the fire service--while simultaneously we are being asked to consider funding nearly $2 Million for several dozen local nonprofit entities.

What message does that send to the citizens that expect us to be wise fiscal stewards of their limited resources?

And to be clear----I support the work of these nonprofits and the need to get to a reduced level of funding for these groups from our general fund should in no way be construed as an assault on the value of these organizations.  They are great and they do great things for our community.  And several of them save us money by serving as mechanisms of cost avoidance.

So I will say again what I believe we need to do.  Cut 25% from the allocations this year, 50% next year, and year three onward let the chips fall where they may. 

This will give these groups at least a glideslope they can navigate as they strategize ways to fill in the funding gaps with other sources (crowdfunding, grants, additional fundraisers, etc.).

It is time we do what most other counties already do in this arena.