Story by JEFFREY POWELL
The Freeport City Council held their second regularly scheduled meeting of the month on June 23, 2016. Approximately 40 citizens attended the meeting which followed a county and city funding workshop discussing Triumph funding priorities. All council members were in attendance for both meetings.
During the 5 p.m. workshop, Triumph Funds Facilitator and Interim Economic Development Alliance (EDA) Director Bill Williams briefed council members on current Triumph funding and asked them to develop priorities concerning the funds. He asked the council to have these priorities developed by Oct. 1, at the latest. Most everyone agreed that expanding water and sewer service to the U.S. 331 corridor would be at the top of their list. Triumph is a legislatively created not- for-profit organization designed to distribute monies received through BP lawsuits. The money is controlled by a five-member board headed by Allen Bense. Seventy-five percent of the $2 billion dollars is to be distributed to the eight counties most affected by the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Walton County is one of those counties.
The evening’s regular meeting began with Mayor Russ Barley delivering his 2016 State of the City address. Barley touched on several topics including the obvious growth on U.S. 331. He said in part, “It is important that we seize upon the opportunities put before us to make Freeport a better place to live and rear our families. Jobs and economic growth remain my top priority.”
Freeport City Planner Latilda Hughes-Neel pointed out that with growth and expansion comes the need for improved services and infrastructure. This would include a new wastewater plant which may ultimately be on U.S. 331 north of the city. The city approved a motion to hire a Geo Tech company to explore a 20-acre site and conduct boring experiments for compatibility studies.
During the council members’ individual portion of the meeting, Councilman Eddie Farris voiced his concern over comments made by Parks and Recreation director Dana Weiler over a social media outlet. Farris contended Weiler’s comments were made as being representative of the city rather than being a personal opinion. Farris obviously took exception to this and brought forth a motion requiring that all city matters come before the council and that issues concerning the city should be discussed and approved before being disseminated to the public. Councilwoman Elizabeth Brannon seconded the motion and it carried unanimously. Farris also stressed that the reason he had brought this up was to get everyone “to work together” and improve the city which has been his home for more than 30 years.