Page 9 - Colten Wright News Today

/ Santa Rosa County Administrator Dan Schebler will be given a letter of reprimand for the county’s failure to apply for state money for road projects. The board’s unanimous decision, during a seven-hour meeting Tuesday night in Milton, doesn’t put the matter to rest. District 3 Commissioner James Calkins said he would look into having an independent “third party” investigate what went wrong. At issue was the county missing a March deadline to apply to be considered for money from the...

Credit Pensacola News Journal The board’s unanimous decision, during a seven-hour meeting Tuesday night in Milton, doesn’t put the matter to rest. District 3 Commissioner James Calkins said he would look into having an independent “third party” investigate what went wrong. At issue was the county missing a March deadline to apply to be considered for money from the state’s Small County Outreach Program (SCOP). Schebler took responsibility for the missed deadline. A majority of commiss...

View Comments Santa Rosa County Administrator Dan Schebler did not resign and was not fired at Tuesday nights County Commission meeting, following a long night of debate in which several residents called for his termination after one of his employees missed a funding deadline back in March. Schebler will instead receive a formal letter of reprimand in his personnel file, but the majority of the board didnt have an appetite for more severe disciplinary action. James Calkins was the lone co...

In the meantime, drivers trying to skirt the congestion on U.S. 98 have been driving through the Tiger Point area, often "at a high rate of speed and driving aggressively in the residential neighborhoods," according to Wright. The measure approved at Tuesdays County Commission meeting allots $10,500 to hire off-duty Santa Rosa County Sheriffs Office deputies to patrol Tiger Point at peak traffic times. The deputies will conduct traffic patrols on weekday mornings between 6 and 10 a.m., weekda...

After years of complaints from residents, Santa Rosa County officials are proposing to toughen laws against those who harm the countys environment. People who commit serious first-time environmental violations in Santa Rosa County could see their fines increase from $300 to $3,000, and subsequent violations jump from $600 to $10,000, as part of an effort by County Commissioners to crack down on environmental pollution caused by new developments. The fines are part of a proposed ordinance ame...

Early construction activities have started on the U.S. 98 widening project in south Santa Rosa County along a 4.5-mile stretch of highway that is already seeing huge traffic backlogs because of the Pensacola Bay Bridge closure. Local and state officials, however, say that as long as the bridge hits its expected reopening timeline of Memorial Day weekend, the U.S. 98 construction will be off the roads and not impacting the existing detour traffic. The Florida Department of Transportation announ...

some traffic relief.  No, the Pensacola bridge isnt open yet. But as of Friday morning, an extended right turn lane was added at the intersection of Avalon Boulevard and U.S. 98, which will help alleviate some of the congestion that caused backups all the way to the Garcon Point Bridge due to drivers trying to turn right to go to Gulf Breeze.  “It’s new, it’s about 1,000 feet of new turn lane and it’s going to be a game changer,” said State Sen. Doug Broxson, who requested the proj...

As the traffic nightmares from the Pensacola Bay Bridge outage continue, south Santa Rosa County drivers say they’re fed up with the increased traffic on U.S. 98 at rush hour times as detour routes on Avalon Boulevard create miles-long backups on the already busy thoroughfare. The traffic, which is the worst in the morning, lunchtime and evening hours, consists of huge backlogs that can run from the left turn late at Avalon and U.S. 98 all the way into Gulf Breeze “proper,” or within the ...

Walden nominates 8 Deschutes County students to US service academies WASHINGTON (KTVZ) -- Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., announced Wednesday that he has nominated 14 Oregon students, eight from Deschutes County, for acceptance to the prestigious United States service academies. Walden’s Service Academy Nomination Board -- retired and active-duty military officers who interview potential candidates for the service academies -- recommended each student based on their academic performance, extracu...