Good morning, everyone. It is Thursday, August 13, 2026, and we have 8.32 a.m. We are here for the
Board of County Commissioners regular meeting. We'll call the meeting to order. If you have a
phone, electronic tablet, what have you, please make sure you put that on silent or vibrate
so it doesn't disturb the meeting. And we've got Associate Pastor Jonathan Webb,
Apostle at Church of Milton.
Apostolic.
Apologize.
If you'll come up and just hit the button there at the base of the microphone, and then
we'll have, I'll lead this in the pledge afterwards if you'll stand if able.
For
Jesus, we ask that you be with us in this meeting.
God, that you would help us reach equitable solutions to things today.
You would give each of our Board and commissioners wisdom.
God, in making decisions and choices.
God, we ask that your blessings would be upon our county.
We want you to work in us.
We want you to help us, each and every resident and God, that we would prosper, that we would
grow, and most importantly, God would bring glory to you.
Be with us today in Jesus' name.
Please join me in the Pledge.
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.
Well,
Pastor, thank you for being here.
We appreciate that.
All right, gentlemen, we'll move on to agenda approval.
Item number one on the regular agenda, the Navarbech Fire
Rescue District Request Loan from BOCC.
I understand the administration has some further discussion
with the fire department and legal.
Is there anyone got any objection
to removing that item from the agenda?
All right, do you have any follow-up, Brad?
All right, then we'll move that item off
So that means only thing left is the consent agenda.
We'll move on to community announcements.
This time I'll start to my left.
Commissioner Smith, anything?
Yes, sir. I just have one quick one.
The Legacy Lands Protection Program window closed at the end of July.
You know, it was open from July 1 to the end of the month.
And just to give the board an update, we had 46 applications.
And that's equaled to 9,659 acres.
So again, these are just applications where people apply to be a part of the program.
Obviously now is the funding part.
So that is where we're at with the Blackwater Soil Conservation Board.
They have met and they will be presenting a ranking to us.
And then we can move forward as the board sees fit.
But I just wanted to, again, appreciate this board.
Everybody on this board has been very supportive of the program and what we're trying to do
to conserve a very important part of our way of life and, of course, our economy.
So I just want to say thanks to the board on that and give an update. Thank you.
I'm sure everyone saw this on the news and it has to do with our brothers and sisters in Pensacola.
But the governor was in town yesterday morning and announced the $9 million job growth grant fund grant
that went to the city of Pensacola, for the Port of Pensacola, for the bird arm project,
for maritime dominance. I just want to congratulate them, and I want to thank the governor for
his support. Secretary of Commerce Kelly was in town yesterday to announce that as well,
and I just want to point out that it goes to show that not only do solid applications
make a difference in communities receiving those grants, but also the strong relationships
with those individuals that actually make the decisions.
We'll move on to proclamations.
Commissioner Burkett, I think you're going to read the one
for Center for Independent Living.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
This is a proclamation for, I'm going to brand it here,
for the Center for Independent Living.
I'm sorry.
Whereas the Board of the County Commission
of San Rose County is committed to fostering a community
to where every resident has the opportunity to live, work, play and participate fully
in civic life, and whereas the Center for Independent Living has proudly served the rest
of San Rose County for 46 years, advocating and supporting the independence and inclusion
and safety termination of people with disabilities, and whereas the Center for Independent Living
works on behalf of more than 35,000 people with disabilities in San Rose County and
approximately 150,000 invasions throughout the full county region, providing resources,
advocacy, services that promote equal opportunity and community participation and whereas the
principles established by the American Disabilities Act have advanced accessibility, equity and
inclusion for more than 36 years, creating stronger communities where barriers are
removed and opportunities are expanded for all and whereas Santa Rosa County recognizes
of the importance to continue collaboration with the center of independent living and community
partners to ensure that our community remains a place where accessibility is valued, diversity
is embraced, and individuals are welcome and empowered to contribute to the community.
Now therefore be it proclaimed that Santa Rosa County Board of County Commission does
hereby recognize the center for independent living for its longstanding service, advocacy,
and commitment to advancing accessibility and independence for people with disabilities
and we affirm this dedication by making Santa Rosa County a community where all are welcome
to live, work, play, and participate in civic life, passed and adopted by the Board of County
Commissioners on this 13th day of August, 2026, signed by Chairman Colton Wright.
If you push that button right there, there you go.
Yes.
Thank you so much.
I'm Carolyn Growley, our Center Executive Director, and we thank you very much on behalf
of the Center for all the people with disabilities both in Santa Rosa County and across the region
and all of the visitors who come to your county.
One of the pieces that we think is so very important is that we are forward thinking
that people with disabilities have been part of our communities for a very long time
and that we'll all be part of the community at some point in time, whether it be today,
tomorrow, or in the future, because we will all have at some point in time a family member,
a friend, a colleague who may need something that would be related to somebody with a disability.
And so as we think about what we do today in our planning, in our development,
in our workforce to make sure that we remain a space that's welcoming of everybody
that makes it possible for everybody to participate in what we do.
And so it's wonderful to continue to see those opportunities.
Take place. I know that I was at the commencement speech that you gave on behalf of folks over
at Pensacola State. And so when that occurred, it gave that opportunity for those individuals
to have their next chances in the workforce. What you're doing over here at the Santa Rosa
campus is another example. We've got veterans who have more chances in the world because
as we've done more things, all of the parks,
all those pieces that we keep putting together
to give those opportunities.
But we can only continue to do it
as we collaborate together towards those opportunities.
Right now we've got voting going down,
just down the hall, down the hall,
down the parking lot from here and other places.
Those have accessibility,
our courtroom says accessibility.
We look at how we make places inclusive,
every place where we are makes that opportunity
for people to be included and participate
throughout our region and what we do here in Santa Rosa County.
And we appreciate your partnership.
At your stations, you have both our regular flyer
and you also have our equipment flyer.
So if you meet persons in your districts
or you call your offices and that they need assistance,
our services at the Center for Independent Living
do not cost our taxpayers directly any funding
We already receive funding in order to do the services.
We'd love them to donate more dollars.
We welcome everybody to do that because we can do more services, obviously, with more dollars.
But we want to make sure that every person who does need a service gets what they need.
And so that's part of what we do.
And then if somebody needs equipment or to try something to see if it would help them be more effective in their job,
their workplace, their recreation, et cetera, we have opportunities for them to try things as well.
We sell nothing.
Our job is to help make sure that people with disabilities
can live their lives as fully and extensively
as they choose to.
And so we again, thank you for your support
and appreciate everything that each of you
do each day to make our communities more participatory
for all of your constituents that you can.
Thank you.
Well, thank you for your advocacy and your assistance
and facilitating the accessibility
for the people that need it.
We appreciate that.
I know our administration and the ladies that work at the front desk have copies of this
and also have – show that information when people call in.
So we appreciate you providing that resource.
Would you prefer to take a photo in front of the seal or down there?
Because Chairman, if I could add a little bit to it.
I know you didn't see it.
Ms. Caroline, I appreciate all the work you do and your organization.
I know a lot of people don't know, but I serve as Santa Rosa County's representative
to the Area Agency on Aging with Anna Dice, and I know I have a little bit more of an understanding of what you guys do in the region for supplying the services that you guys do,
and I just want to tell you I appreciate everything you guys do because you do it from the heart.
Well, thank you very much, and we are definitely a partner agency with many organizations.
We don't do it alone, of course.
It's – we collaborate with others and at any point in time, if there's another organization
that needs to partner with us, we're happy to do so, whether it be from birth to death.
We work with all ages, all disabilities, all persons who need that assistance.
So thank you very much.
We appreciate that.
And I'd be happy to have the picture wherever you would prefer, sir.
Anybody else, Micah?
I'd just like to thank you for all your hard work and dedication to help assist
the people with disabilities. I know it's tough on them sometimes and we don't
always be able to provide everything they need, but thank you for your hard
work and dedication on it. I hope we can continue to support you. Thank you. Thank
you so much. Why don't we take the photo right in front of the seal? Okay, come
up here. All right.
Thank you for reading that Commissioner Burkett.
Commissioner Raul is going to help us recognize 100th birthday for a Vietnam
I'm a veteran.
Oh, my.
Very, very, World War II.
Oh, I'm sorry.
World War II.
Honored, honored beyond recognition to be able to do this, certificate of recognition, the
Board of County Commissioners of Santa Rosa County proudly presents this certificate to
Vincent Valmore Therrien in honor of his 100th birthday, born on September 30, 1926.
Mr. Therrien has lived a century marked by hard work, resilience, and commitment
to both his family and his country.
During World War II, he faithfully served in the United States Army Air Force from 1944 to 1946
as an airplane and engine mechanic station in Okinawa.
Following his military service, he built a distinguished career as a licensed electrician
with the General Electric Company while raising a loving family alongside his wife Shirley
with whom he shared 64 years of marriage.
The route is life. He has been an avid gardener, fisherman, hunter and outdoorsman. Above all,
he is most proud of the family he has nurtured and the service he has given to his nation.
Congratulations on this extraordinary milestone and best wishes for continued happiness and
good health presenting this 13th day of August 2026 and signed by our Chairman of Board of
County Commissioners Colton Wright.
We on behalf of the Board of County Commissioners,
we are so honored to have you guys in attendance and to have you here, Mr.
Therian, on your very special 100th birthday. I'm sure I'm not the only one
that wants to speak on this, so I'm going to turn it over to the board.
And then, if the family has anything to say, then I know we want to get a
picture, too. Well,
I always say, I've always said I was going to get
to 100, but I don't know if I will, because I got 39 more years.
I don't think I can take it, but I sure look up to people that have
that kind of consultation.
Mr. Therian, thank you so much for your service to our nation.
I can only imagine the fascinating stories you could tell about being in Okinawa and
your career, not only in the military in World War II, but also your career as an electrician
because there's a lot of fun stories. I'm sure you could tell about that as well.
Congratulations on making it to 100.
That's a long time. I think we'd all hope that
We could be healthy for that long,
but we're happy to have you here today and honor you, sir.
Mr. Theron, first and foremost,
thank you from the bottom of my heart
for your service to our country.
You'll never know the gratitude that I have
for you for serving like you did.
Happy birthday, I happen to know your daughter.
You raised a very wonderful family.
We've been longtime friends.
It's just amazing to see you at 100 years old
still up here, keep doing what you're doing.
And I pray the best for you and again from bottom of my heart. Thank you for everything you've done for this nation
Yes, sir. I want to thank you. My dad was in the World War two, but he's not with us today, but I
Really appreciate you being here doing their service and a happy birthday to you
I hope I live a hundred but I doubt it, but I hope
Thank you very much for what you've done for this country
You can push the button at the base to make if y'all have anything to say if
If the family wants to speak or if Mr. Therian has anything to say.
Do you want to talk?
I want to thank him. He wanted for all of our speeches and everything. I don't hear very well.
I really appreciate it.
Thank you. We'd just like to thank the board. Thank the county as well for acknowledging him.
He's been a member of the community down here for several decades now.
And I'd like to thank everybody here for taking the time to recognize him today.
Appreciate it.
We're so honored to have you here today.
We'll come down there and take a photo with you if we could.
Oh, yes, ma'am, go ahead.
I thank you all very, very much.
This is a wonderful honor for my father.
And he greatly deserves it because he's a good man.
He served our country well and served us well.
Absolutely.
Thank you.
We'll come down there.
Commissioner Raul, thank you for reading that.
It's an honor to be able to recognize Mr. Therian for his service and his long life.
Certainly one well lived.
We will move on to public forum.
I've currently got five people signed up.
Up first is Sherri Chapman.
Sherri Chapman, P. Ridge.
Today brings me to this board to demand accountability for Kerry-Smith, not for the antics of
sign-stealing, but a separate legal matter that blatantly is a breaking of Florida state law.
A Santa Rosa County Board or County Commissioner absolutely cannot use their official county email,
county office, or county issued phones for election campaign purposes.
Under Florida election law and ethics statutes, doing so is a strict violation of the law.
The legal prohibitions misuse of public resources, Florida Statue Section 104.31 explicitly prohibits
any county officer or employee from using their official authority or public resources
to influence a vote or affect the outcome of an election.
Government property cannot support a political campaign candidacy.
No campaigning in government buildings.
Candidates are forbidding by section 106.15 from soliciting or accepting political campaign contributions inside any government-owned building.
criminal penalties using public-gray sources for-
Political advertising, campaign coordination, or election engineering, constitutes a first
degree misdemeanor under the state law.
It doesn't matter whether this is with or without
permission. The law is very clear. Mr. Smith was made aware of his criminal action when
he first posted a video on social media. It was acknowledged by myself and other citizens
that this was against Florida state law, as well as on Tuesday in the BOCC meetings, some citizens also brought this to light.
His failure to remove this illegal evidence of his criminal activity leads a fidelity to him, possibly assuming he is above the law
and has special treatments due to his seat in this county.
Tuesday the citizens brought this information and other information and failure to act on
appropriate manner makes you an accomplice by not reprimanding him.
He also needs to be brought before legal counsel, by legal counsel for election violations
which is also a problem in this area.
I'm requesting that the action against Mr. Smith and against those violating the
law be dealt with in writing filed to the state attorney and the office of
election integrity to put this matter where it should be in the land hands of
the law enforcement. Thank You Ms. Smith. I'm Ms. Chavin. Cindy Smith is up next.
Cindy Smith Pace. I like to be positive. I really really do and I do
appreciate what you guys do in our community in good ways, but I always
got to put a butt in it. Some days I get up and I think if this is even worth
doing, right, because neither one of you listen. That's what the citizens feel
like. Last night, just so happened, Mr. Smith opponent was able to get me on
the phone and FaceTiming while he pulled up screaming at her that she was breaking a rule.
She was parked on the other side of the parking lot at the end with her truck sign.
She left church, dropped her car off, got in her truck because it cannot sit there
overnight.
And then he has his sign on his truck that he leaves here that he comes home from church
to pick up.
So pot, column, kettle, black, because you've been violating all kinds of laws and violations.
Enough is enough. We're sick of this. We are citizens. We pay your pay. We elect you in office.
When are you going to do something about it? You are elected officials and you need to do something.
If it was your job and you was a boss, you won't want your employees doing things like that.
Then we need to do something about it and stand up for your citizens.
We are taxpayers.
We deserve better.
If we were in this room doing what you did last night, you would have him remove us.
I've seen you do it.
Your actions and your anger on this dais to other county commissioners and to your citizens have proven your record.
This is Shane.
I have faith, I have godly values, and I have to ask God every day, please give me my knowledge,
give me my tongue and my mouth to do the things that I know that are right and wrong.
And once right is right and wrong is wrong, Mr. Smith, you had no right to do what you did.
Just so happened she was able to get me on FaceTime so I can watch what y'all did to her last night.
Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Smith.
Jerry Cooley.
Good morning, Jerry.
Good morning, Jerry Cooley.
I appreciate y'all recognizing that's a goal we should all strive for to make it to a hundred years old.
On Tuesday, I attended a county commission meeting, but a campaign broke out.
I'll just have to say, I don't think I was the only one that didn't appreciate how that went down.
I will remind the chairman that he said specifically at the beginning of his term as chairman that the podium wasn't going to be used as political activity, yet it did.
So Congressman Petronas stood here and one of the first words out of his mouth was he was campaigning for a governor and named the person that he was campaigning for.
for. Very, very unneeded. Certainly, let the Congressman come by and tell you in his view
what's going on. I'm fine with that. But he stood here actively campaigning for somebody
when we were told, the little people, that there's not supposed to be any campaigning
up here. Since the campaign broke out,
and I'm going to tell you, I don't want to
but I am going to do it just to prove a point.
Congressman Petronas, until just recently,
didn't even have an office in his district.
He's been in office for two years.
He doesn't live in the district.
It's well documented that he has a spot
over somebody's warehouse.
I can only find one significant vote that he made.
He voted to protect people in Congress to not release their names of the ones that had done ill to other folks.
He's done such a pitiful job for the veterans at one of the largest veterans organizations,
endorsed John Franklin, and came out with a very strong letter about his lack of effort towards them.
It was distasteful and unnecessary what occurred.
The chairman not only allowed it, encouraged it, and participated with it.
And I'll add one other comment to that.
As we're trying to have a meeting in here, he stood outside the doors,
And he got to talking so loud that I got up one time and said could you please move away from the door?
And that wasn't good enough five minutes later. I couldn't hear what you guys were saying
So I had to do it again and one final thing. Don't forget Jimmy. Mr.
Tronus and door mr. Cooey. Thank you. Mr. Smith. Thank you
Christopher curb
Mr.
Curd with flood defenders only
to buy the one hand out for the record, but I'm email that to you
I've seen it to you before
On July 23rd
This board voted to
adopt Noah Atlas for 15 when it comes out
to I guess when it comes out and that was a direct recommendation to Commissioner Smith
to look into that and do what DOT is doing.
Well, what DOT is doing, and I sent you an email on this,
is they're using the most up-to-date knower rainfall data.
Now, when you revise your code, you land the right amount of code,
if you specify the most up-to-date knower rainfall data,
then you don't have to revise your code again
because it's going to get updated every 10 years
according to the floods act and the precept act.
Oh, and the floods act and the precept act,
All water-related agencies will be working together to pretty much push
lower rainfall data on all these grants.
Now that's not written into the Act, but it's implied.
So all these grants that we get, HMGP, whatever, all these grants that we get
for water-related projects are going to be subject to eligibility requirements.
so whether you've adopted no-arrang file data.
It's gonna happen eventually.
I want you and I asked you to adopt
your land-abundant code revisions
to do exactly what DOT has done,
which they adopted the most up-to-date no-arrang file data.
They did it as part of their resilience action plan
in 2022 under 339157 Florida statutes.
P39.157. Additionally, I gave you a handout. That's from the Drainage Connection Permit Handbook of April 2020 of Florida DOT.
What it shows there, and I highlighted it on there, is closed basins with no positive outfall.
Well your code right now says 13.44 inches for a 100 year, 24 hour storm when you don't have an outfall which you're supposed to store in your storm water pond.
That right there that I just passed out says what DOT does is they do 100 year
seven day and 10 day storm for closed basins. We also got to run the one day
and the three day and the other up to including the 100 year. Why is this
Look up 1990, 2020, 2014 to 2012 and you'll find out how much is cost in you.
Marshall Kenney.
Good morning. I'm here again today, Marshall Kenney, 4111 Beasley Road, Milton, Florida.
I came to you the other day with a series of ethical violations that Mr. Smith has made, ethics.
Those have been addressed here over and over and over.
You might notice today I'm not dressed up.
And you know why that is?
Because of the five of you, only one of you actually paid attention to what I was saying the other day.
You were too busy looking at your computers, looking down.
Now I got all your attention.
Thank you, Mr. Royal, for you definitely looking at me.
Mr. Smith, you also did look at me, and that's good because it was about you.
I have here my incident report filed with the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office.
It's there. It's on file. It did happen.
Mr. Burkett, you have said over and over that social media is not a good thing,
that it's the disinformation network.
But if we had a better way to get information out there, maybe we wouldn't have to resort to that.
And I suggest that you quit putting all the apples in one basket because some are rotten, but most aren't.
So you need to look at that as well because there's a lot of things that are going on out here.
How many of you have got my purple folder?
You have it right now?
Show it to me.
Okay.
How far was my gate from the center line?
Can anybody answer it?
Okay, that's my point. You're not paying attention.
Let me talk. This is my time.
Sir, we'll start the clock for a second. No, this is my time.
You're going to get your time. Put it back to 110.
This is not a back-and-forth.
And if you want to ask a question and expect an answer, then don't be upset when someone answers it, sir.
That doesn't make sense. Okay, so we'll give you your time back.
I'll give you your time back, but this is not a back and forth, because if you're soliciting
answers, you can't be upset when somebody does answer you, and then rebut and say it's
my time.
I'm not upset if people are answering.
What's getting to me?
I'm going to give you back your time and you can finish your statement.
Simple head nods or simple guess or no.
This is total time.
Okay, so here we go.
What was said was ethics, ethics committee.
every one of you sit down. Every year you're required to complete ethics training under
Florida law. You've heard. You're to recognize. You didn't do that. Have you made any progress?
Have you done anything about what we're saying, about reprimanding them? So I doubt it.
I seriously doubt it. So with that, I'm going to encourage the entire county. Go online,
Get this complaint right here. Form 50, file an ethics violation to the state of Florida
because you guys as citizens, when a complaint is made, you're to take it on as an ethics violation.
It's no different than somebody that cries rape. It doesn't matter what they've done in the past.
If they cry rape, guess what? I'm to take them serious and I'm to look into it because it is ethics.
So I suggest that everybody here go through and file this.
Let's get the state of Florida involved, because you didn't take action.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Kenny.
I don't have anybody else signed up.
Is there anybody else who wants to speak?
All right, public forum is closed.
Just for the record, and I know most every commissioner up here is taking notes.
So, Mr. Kinney, I'm sorry that you felt like people may not have been listening to you, but that's not the case.
And I know I watched other commissioners taking notes on Tuesday. I saw them taking notes just now and I was doing the same.
So we apologize if we certainly would not want people to think that we're not paying attention to them by not keeping eye contact 100% of the time.
But I can assure you, we all care. We're all making notes. We all refer back to them.
And oftentimes this is so we can go back after a meeting and follow up with staff on an issue or something somebody brought to the podium.
You know, you saw on Tuesday we had, I think, two different situations where we said something about following up with people.
I know I immediately took someone to my office.
We followed up and got the gentleman in answer within two hours.
I know every commissioner up here does the same thing and I know staff is listening as well.
So we certainly do take people's concerns and comments to heart and we keep track of them.
And we're certainly writing them down and taking notes so we can remember.
We'll move on to the consent agenda, gentlemen.
Are there any questions or concerns with what we moved to the consent agenda from Tuesday?
All right, seeing none.
We'll pass those unanimously without objection.
And there's nothing on the regular agenda because we removed that item.
Our upcoming meetings, this evening at 5 p.m. the zoning board will be meeting in this boardroom on August 19th at 5 p.m.
The Aviation Advisory Committee will meet here on August 25th at 8.30 a.m.
We'll have a commission committee agenda review meeting and that meeting just as a reminder will be held at Tiger Point Community Center.
So that's at 1370 Tiger Park Lane down in Gulf Breeze on August 27th at 8 30 a.m
We'll meet back here for a regular meeting and August 27th at 5 p.m
We'll be back in this boardroom for the board special rezoning meeting. Do any other matters come for the board? Yes, sir
Go ahead sir. Mr. Baker
I've had phone calls about signs, okay?
I have moved some of my signs out the right of way that's been put back in the right of way
Will you please have Code and Force to go and look at these signs?
If my sign is in that right away, take it. Please take it.
But take to everybody. I'm tired of moving my sign back off the right away. Take it. Please have them take them up.
I don't care who they are. Take mine too, please.
Mr. Agen, we have and will always continue to enforce that.
So when they go out, it doesn't matter if you're a sitting commissioner or a candidate,
if the sign is in the right away when we do our sweep.
Obviously, we're not going to commit 24-7-365 of code enforcement.
They're doing other code enforcement complaints as well, but they are actually out today doing a sign sweep.
Thank you, sir.
Mr. Chairman, if I can, people won't transparent, so let's try to be as transparent as we can.
Mr. Chairman, I mean, Mr. Administrator, can you explain why we took the Var Beach request off the board off the agenda?
I had discussions with the attorney's office.
We found an AG opinion.
I talked with the fire chief and decided that, you know,
we would do a little more investigation
and have more conversations and decide if we want to bring,
if he wanted to make another request or not
after reviewing that.
And he agreed and said that he would not attend today
and we could just pull it off the agenda.
Thank you, sir. Just wanted to clarify. Thank you, Commissioner Burkett. I appreciate
your point on that. I forget sometimes that people will take anything and turn it into
a conspiracy. All right, there are no other matters coming for the board. We are adjourned.