Okaloosa County Commissioners
12/02/2014 @ 8::30AM
The Okaloosa County Commissioners meeting held on 12/2/2014 was conducted in a formal manner, and they used the Robert Rules of Order throughout the meeting. My immediate reaction to this meeting was that it seemed closed to the public and intimidating. I was surprised that the beginning started with a prayer. Items on the agenda moved quickly, and at the end each section they open the meeting to the public for comments.
The agenda items included employee recognition and awards from the Department of Corrections, and other county employees. Public information update included Stillwell Park, which had replaced an old sewage plant. Two future additions to the park include a water feature and special needs section. Reported that a plaque, USS Okaloosa APA 219 was present to the County and placed in one of the County buildings. The County Administrator updated the board about money saved by purchasing two less expensive vehicles to complete work in the county. He related that it is normal business to discuss these items with the board, but felt that when employees save monies for the County he wanted to bring this to the Boards for acknowledgement.
Commissioners updated section included them commenting about employ awards, and the great staff that the County has to sustain the County. Commissioner Goodwin discuss the need to evaluate how well the contracted lobbyists are representing the County. He suggested adding this to agenda to discuss coming up with quantitative measures to evaluate the lobbyist’s effectiveness for the county. Several of the County Commissioners attended the Florida Association of Counties meeting in Tampa where they discuss priority list for the upcoming legislative session. Some of the priorities that were mention were set funding priorities, priority list for upcoming legislative session, and collecting monies from DJJ. Commissioner Bowles