An Offer of Tremendous Generosity....

Today I received a hand-delivered letter from representatives of  Quint and Rishy Studer, (see letter, below.)

This is an incredibly generous offer and I believe it will lead to the beginning of the effort to bring a field house type project to Downtown Pensacola. 

My hope is that this initiative can be married with a project to renovate and modernize the Bay Center--as I'm not sure doing one without doing the other simulatneously is the best way forward.

I look forward, however, to having a conversation with my counterparts on the board and with community leaders and the folks from PADP so that together we can come up with the winning project for Pensacola and Escambia County.

Meanwhile--the formal, written offer of land donation for this specified purpose is extremely generous ------and it is very much appreciated!

The Original Leases Look to Be Perpetually Renewing....

I came across two of the very first, original leases for Pensacola Beach entered into between citizens and the Santa Rosa Island Authority in 1949.

They are interesting documents, I will publish them below.

As we move toward standardizing the renewal language of the beach leases going forward, to prevent the taxpayers from being taken to the cleaner like we were with the Beach Club renewal--it is instructive to look at the language utilized in the very first leases.

The language is straightforward and appears to allow for the perpetual renewing of the leases for consecutive 99 year terms (see highlighted portion of these leases below)

In the period after the late 1940s and through today--the language has changed, modifications have been made, and there is now a hodge-podge, mix and match grab-bag of different leases with different stipulations and language in force for Pensacola Beach properties.

This has created issues and led to litigation.  We need to standardize the process and the language going forward to curtail litigation and to make the leases uniform in the future.

Importantly:  If we make the changes I am suggesting, and make the leases perpetually renewable--it appears as though this language will align with the original leases that were made and also with the lease we made with Santa Rosa County for their portion of Santa Rosa Island.

But as I called for earlier, I am all for allowing the TENANT to choose whether or not they want perpetually renewing lease language, which would result in ad-valorem taxes being charged legally to the land portion---or--a lease subject to renegotiation with an initial 99 year term and with a modern, market rate lease fee that has a cost of living escalation clause written-in as well.

It should be their choice--but the language should be standardized for either scenario going forward to avoid the messy confusion and outright inequity between lease holders on the beach currently.

Check out the language in these first series of leases (residential and commercial), below. Is this language tantamount to a conveyance of the land in perpetuity if the lessee so chooses--?

CLICK "READ MORE"  BELOW TO SEE COMMERCIAL LEASE

Inside Beulah's New, Ultra-Modern Middle School

Members of the Escambia County School Board and Superintendent Malcolm Thomas prepare to cut the Ribbon at the Grand Opening of Beulah Middle School, 8-30-2018

I was invited to tour the newly opened Beulah Middle School yesterday afternoon for the grand opening ceremony.  Wow-what an amazing place.  This is what the future of a modern school facility is.....today!

Students that attend this school will be treated to an ultra-modern, fully equipped school with all the trimmings:  two stories, huge gymnasium and indoor rec area, Ag. sciences center, running track, outdoor basketball courts, ultra modern home economics classes, science laboratories ( complete with eight (8) 3D printers), a robotics lab, business/computer classrooms--and the music department--THREE (3) complete band rooms with risers in the music suite, one dedicated each for chorus, orchestra, and band.

The cafeteria will double as an auditorium and the
gymnasium is incredible

During the ceremony before the tour, the assembled audience of school district officials and other invited guests heard from the architect that designed this beautiful facility, and from the builder that built it.




The facility is energy efficient and was designed to maximize natural lighting.  Additionally, the lighting is all LED, which will result in lower electric costs going forward.  Although most specifics on security were not discussed, some of the security attributes were highlighted.  The school has more CCTV cameras than any other school in the district--200 of them.  They are positioned throughout the schools and many of the classrooms have cameras.  (I found this ironic, as during my tenure on the school board I advocated strongly and on multiple occasions for the installation of cameras in the classrooms of our schools to monitor discipline issues---and this idea was flatly poh-poohed every time I brought it.  But now they are doing it!  Better late than never I guess....)  "We were able to already use one of the classroom cameras to determine who it was that defaced a piece of school property" said Assistant Principal Marietta McCaskill when I asked her about who monitors the feed and if there is a recording of the camera footage.

There are bollards around the entrance to protect from a vehicle attack, and there is reinforced security fencing outside of the classrooms that protects students in the outdoor areas adjacent to the classrooms.  The fencing looks to be INCREDIBLY stout.  at the front entrance, visitors are segregated in an enclosed and access controlled vestibule--preventing any unauthorized entry into the main campus.

Mrs. McCaskill led us on a tour of the entire facility--and I must say it was impressive.  Designed for 1200 students, the current enrollment stands at 829 according to Mrs. McCaskill.  "We are staffed for 649 at the moment, but we will soon be getting two more teachers-and that will be good." she stated.

I appreciated the opportunity to tour this facility--I'm proud to have my name on the plaque.  I'm
excited for the students and families that will be served by this school and I wish the district much success with this school---even though I voted against a middle school being constructed out here when I was on the board as I felt Beulah needed a second elementary school or a K-8 facility to alleviate the MASSIVELY overcrowded Beulah Elementary School.

But I lost that vote and the board moved forward with the middle school.

And the middle school they built is nothing short of amazing!

Correspondence about Public Beach Access

Late last week the County attorney received the below email regarding the county's announced plan last month to bring the board plans (chevy and cadillac) to #OpenOurBeach access at the Perdido Key property located next to the Crab Trap Restaurant.  I received a copy of it this week, mid-week.

It seems a local condominium nearby is EXTREMELY concerned about the beach mice on this county-owned parcel, so they sent us this letter, below.  We are grateful for their concern. (and I know the mice are, too!)

Then, just Tuesday afternoon we received this letter from Tallahassee describing the Governor's Executive order on Public Beach Access.  Interestingly, this letter has a hyperlink that takes the reader directly to an interactive, statewide database that lists beach access hotspots and the complaints from citizens about these areas and lack of public access.  Perdido Key has had a complaint listed.  Interesting stuff, interesting timing, interesting sudden conservation/habitat concern.  Very interesting.....

Congratulations to the Winners of Tonight's Race for the BCC

Tonight we see the results of the primary election and the makeup of the Board of County Commissioners is going to change for the next two years.

We will have one new member, Robert Bender, who won a plurality of the votes in a tough 6-man race in the Republican primary and who is all but assured a win against a write-in opponent in November. 

I offered my congratulations to him on his victory this evening.

In the District 2  Republican Primary-Doug Underhill emerged victorious in a very tough race against challenger Alan McMillan. 

I offered my congratulations to Doug in a phone call this evening. Next he will face Democrat challenger Scott Trotter in the general election in November.

 I offer my congratulations to all the winners in all the races tonight-- and I look forward to continuing to work with my counterparts on this board--whomever they may be--for the citizens and the taxpayers.

What is Project Titan?

No, it's not that science fiction movie on Netflix.. It is not a scientific mission to Planet Saturn's moon Titan.

It is a massive project to bring more good-quality, high-paying jobs to Escambia County that will be presented by Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward our next upcoming meeting of the Board of County Commissioners.  It will be added onto the written communication portion of our September 6th meeting.

Elected Officials (l to r Senator Doug Broxson, Escambia Commission Chairman Jeff Bergosh, and Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward  Celebrated the Opening of the first ST Engineering Aerospace MRO Hangar in Pensacola on June 8, 2018

Project Titan has been approved by Triumph Gulf Coast to the tune of $56 Million over the next 4 years, and there are multiple entities that may contribute to this project which will more than quadruple ST Engineering Aerospace's operations and employment here in Escambia County!

ST Engineering Aerospace opened their first hangar in Pensacola this past June (that opening was a fantastic day for our community), and they are ramping up toward 400 jobs in that current facility. 

As the worldwide leader in the Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) Industry--ST Engineering Aerospace has facilities worldwide--but they want to massively expand their footprint here in Pensacola to keep pace with their growing business.  Although their current project here in Pensacola is fantastic....it is about to get much better with Project Titan.

I was honored to speak at the ST Engineering Aerospace grand opening last June

This project, if the city and the county are intelligent and go forward, will add three additional hangars at the Pensacola International Airport, as well as a brand new ST Engineering Aerospace administration facility.

The collective impacts---an additional 1,325 new direct jobs, 3400 indirect jobs, and upon full implementation, an influx of over $2 Million yearly in new ad-valorem revenue for the county as well as nearly $1 Million more in sales tax expenditures locally to support the operation which will flow back to the Board of County Commissioners.

The tentative financing of the $210 Million deal deal breaks down as follows:

Triumph Funds                                   $56 Million
ST Engineering                                  $35 Million
FDOT Funds                                      $50 Million
Governor's Job fund (year 1)             $4 Million
Legislative appropriation 2019          $3 Million
Governor's Job fund (year 2)             $20 Million
City of Pensacola funds                     $8 Million
Escambia County funds                     $12 Million
EDA (Federal funds)                         $17 Million
Additional funding to be identified   $5 Million

The massive positive benefits of this project will be a tremendous economic infusion into our community along with a further diversification of our jobs base.  The most compelling attribute:  we will get all of this financial activity and long term revenue for a very small commitment of local taxpayer funds.  $91 Million, representing 43% of total project budget, is derived from non-taxpayer funding sources!  When we look at just the county's portion of the deal, in order to leverage this $ 210 Million dollar initiative, our investment is a mere 5.7%.

This is a tremendous opportunity for our area, and I hope we will be able to move this forward despite the naysayers that do not believe in economic development.  Economic development is vitally important role of government, no matter who says otherwise.

I'm bullish on the future of Pensacola and Escambia County--Kudos to Mayor Hayward, Governor Scott,  Senator Broxson, and Florida West for helping to put this together!

Read Mayor Hayward's letter here.

We Can Only Spend a Dollar One Time...

We're not magicians, we can't tear a dollar in half and "Shazam" make two dollars out of it.  We can only spend a dollar one time!

There is now suddenly a tremendous push to fully fund the roundabout study and also to fully fund the construction of the roundabouts at Pensacola Beach.

We have talked the issue to death, I'm not crazy about them. 

I don't think they solve the issue of traffic, yet out of deference to my counterpart in D4 I have voted to move forward with the $1.3 Million  engineering study for this project. (funded from D4 discretionary LOST funds.)

Then came our joint meeting with the SRIA.  Nobody wants the roundabouts-everyone wants more parking.  I honestly thought the roundabouts were dead after that meeting--even the ardent, diehard supporter on the board had no idea where the funding ($20 Million) would come from to build these traffic circles.

So at the last meeting we postponed taking action on stopping the study.

Subsequently, a meeting of community leaders has taken place.  There is a push now to bring back the roundabouts.  We'll see what happens, but if we commit the $20 Million for roundabouts, how in the world can we also commit $Millions for bringing home the $56 Million Triumph proposal to support ST Engineering Aerospace's 3 new hangars, an admin facility, and as many as 1700 more jobs to Escambia County?

This IS a binary choice...We can't do both.  We can't spend a dollar twice.

I want to support bringing home $56 Million from Triumph, $Millions more from DOT, and other sources (including Millions more from ST Engineering)--but this will require the city and the county to each put up about $10 Million each.

Interestingly--many of the same players that want the roundabouts--also want the ST Project too!

But we can't do both.  We have to pick one.

For my part--it is a no-brainer, easy decision.  To land more than $100 Million in direct economic benefit and 1700 jobs---yeah, I'll support that choice all day every day.

Wonder which choice everyone else will make?