By REID TUCKER
Few things in the life of a public servant are better than posing for a photo beside a huge check, especially when there are several zeroes on the end of the dollar amount.
Considering the Florida Recreation Assistance Program grant awarded to the city of DeFuniak Springs to rehab the skate park at the Community Center complex was for $50,000, the City Council was more than happy to line up and say “cheese.”
The Council was presented with the check during the regularly scheduled Oct. 12 meeting by Florida Department of Environmental Protection representative Jason Cutshaw, who said Tallahassee had $5.4 million set aside for 110 development projects across the state, of which the DeFuniak skate park was one. Cutshaw praised the board, City Manager Sara Bowers and Mayor Bob Campbell for their hard work in securing the competitive grant.
The skate park, which had its first incarnation at the city’s Recreation Complex near the municipal airport off Gene Hurley Road, was later moved to the 10,000-square-foot fenced enclosure that had for many years housed a pair of tennis courts near the Community Center. This new facility – complete with locally- and custom-built ramps, half-pipes and other skateboarding surfaces – opened in February 2013, but has since closed. The Recreation Assistance Program grant will go toward getting the park back up and running for the benefit of the city’s skateboarding, BMX and inline skating enthusiasts, many of them teens and young adults.
That was just the first item on a short meeting agenda that included a little bit of housekeeping from various city departments.
Planning Director Kelly Schultz presented the recommendation of the Planning Board to approve a variance request for resident James Wesley, and the Council accordingly voted 5-0 to schedule a public hearing for Nov. 23 and to advertise to that effect. Next, Assistant City Manager and Public Works Director Tillman Mears got approval to authorize pay raises for two Public Works Department employees, Andrew Anderson and Calvin Miller. Mears also got approval from the board that the contract with Gulf Coast Utilities Contractors related to the Florida Department of Transportation water line relocation and upgrade project could move forward as planned.
Finally, the City Council approved the first budget amendment of FY2016 in response to Councilman Ron Kelley’s recommendation at the last meeting to set aside $100,000 in the budget to cover matching funds when the city applies for grants.
Few things in the life of a public servant are better than posing for a photo beside a huge check, especially when there are several zeroes on the end of the dollar amount.
Considering the Florida Recreation Assistance Program grant awarded to the city of DeFuniak Springs to rehab the skate park at the Community Center complex was for $50,000, the City Council was more than happy to line up and say “cheese.”
The Council was presented with the check during the regularly scheduled Oct. 12 meeting by Florida Department of Environmental Protection representative Jason Cutshaw, who said Tallahassee had $5.4 million set aside for 110 development projects across the state, of which the DeFuniak skate park was one. Cutshaw praised the board, City Manager Sara Bowers and Mayor Bob Campbell for their hard work in securing the competitive grant.
The skate park, which had its first incarnation at the city’s Recreation Complex near the municipal airport off Gene Hurley Road, was later moved to the 10,000-square-foot fenced enclosure that had for many years housed a pair of tennis courts near the Community Center. This new facility – complete with locally- and custom-built ramps, half-pipes and other skateboarding surfaces – opened in February 2013, but has since closed. The Recreation Assistance Program grant will go toward getting the park back up and running for the benefit of the city’s skateboarding, BMX and inline skating enthusiasts, many of them teens and young adults.
That was just the first item on a short meeting agenda that included a little bit of housekeeping from various city departments.
Planning Director Kelly Schultz presented the recommendation of the Planning Board to approve a variance request for resident James Wesley, and the Council accordingly voted 5-0 to schedule a public hearing for Nov. 23 and to advertise to that effect. Next, Assistant City Manager and Public Works Director Tillman Mears got approval to authorize pay raises for two Public Works Department employees, Andrew Anderson and Calvin Miller. Mears also got approval from the board that the contract with Gulf Coast Utilities Contractors related to the Florida Department of Transportation water line relocation and upgrade project could move forward as planned.
Finally, the City Council approved the first budget amendment of FY2016 in response to Councilman Ron Kelley’s recommendation at the last meeting to set aside $100,000 in the budget to cover matching funds when the city applies for grants.