@politicswalton If you wanted to watch the Walton BCC meeting webcast today, you were not able to do so. It caused some suspicion from citizens , especially after hearing a rumor several weeks ago , that one of the commissioners thought it would save money to stop putting commission meetings on the web. There was no announcement to the audience that the meeting was not being webcast. When finally someone asked what was wrong with the webcast, the staff said it was not working. There was even a comment that they were not even filming the meeting. You might say big deal. But in 2012 all candidates ran on the position that the public needed to be able to watch their government at work for the sake of transparency. In 2013, all meetings began to be webcast and videoed for public viewing. This is very important to the citizens because many work during meetings and Cannot attend in person. Many watch the actual webcast or watch it later. We hope Walton County BCC will continue webcasting all meetings. When they don't, it makes citizens who are already untrusting of government, think they have something to hide and don't want citizens to see what is happening in these meetings.
Another issue of concern to citizens is the upcoming vacancy resulting from Planning Director Wayne Dyess' departure end of January or sooner. Citizens believe the county needs to search for and hire a director who is an expert in planning in Florida, had at least 10 years of Planning Management experience, has a Masters degree in Planning, and is a member of the American Institure of Certified Planners (AICP). The level of development occurring in Walton County and the need for long range planning along with the ability to manage a large diverse staff deserves a director who is ready to go to work day one. Walton can't afford to waiver on this. Last time a vacancy occurred, a developer's assistant was put in place to manage the Comp Plan EAR process. With the upcoming Comp Plan and Land Development Code revisions, Walton can't afford to send in a biased private development crony. Along with keeping transparency in government procedures, we understand the residents of Sandestin may not have been given adequate notice of the NOPC Planning Commission hearing held December 19 or the upcoming BCC hearing scheduled for Jan.30, 2017. We trust the county will follow the notification rules because if they don't, it could lead to another law suit. We hope they straighten this out because the citizens don't need to pay more legal fees due to sloppy oversight of notification requirements. Speaking of legal fees, the BCC voted on Dec.27 to go ahead and pay $175,000 in legal fees to a plaintiff who would have settled for an apology. Votes to pay 175K instead of $0 and an apology , indicate "handlers" who call the shots, are calling the shots. Taxpayers lose again. Comments are closed.
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