Board of County Commissioners meeting preview: October 9

Medal of Honor Proclamation

The board will be recognizing Command Sgt. Major Robert Pattinson for his time in the U.S. Army Airborne Division during the Vietnam War. When his platoon was pinned down by multiple enemy bunkers, Pattinson forged ahead and fought back, resulting in him singlehandedly destroying five enemy bunkers, killing 8 enemy soldiers and capturing seven weapons. On October 9, 1969, Patterson received a Medal of Honor from President Richard Nixon to commend his courage in battle.

Patterson continued to serve his country and became a drill sergeant and serving in the Gulf War before retiring in 1991 after 26 years of service in the U.S. Army. This proclamation will be to commend Patterson on his dedication, service, heroism and patriotism he showed during his time in service.

Assistant County Attorney

Santa Rosa County will be hiring an Assistant County Attorney, Jennifer Trivett Rogers, at the October 9 meeting. According to the employer’s agreement in the meeting files, Rogers’ duties will be personal to her and will not be eligible to delegate to another worker. She’ll have a $500 per month travel allowance and will be paid $150,000 per year, which works out to roughly $72 per hour. This rate will be adjusted yearly to reflect any merit bonuses or cost of living increases. At the beginning of her appointment, she will be credited one year of annual and sick leave at the beginning of her employment, October 27, 2025.

Benny Russell Park

The Benny Russell Park playground equipment has reached it’s end, according to the Board of County Commissioners. The old castle playground equipment will be replaced at a price of $722,872.41.  While this seems like a steep price, the good news is that any wasp nests knocking around inside the castle will disappear, along with the castle’s graffitied walls that some of us might remember from our childhoods. Of course, the wasps and graffiti will return, but hopefully not for a while.

Navarre Beach Toll Study

Jacobs Engineering will be presenting the findings of their Navarre Bridge Toll Rate Study, laying out traffic patterns and revenue for different bridges throughout the county and forecasting what possible tolls could be. According to their report, if they inflate the Navarre pass prices from 2004 to equal with 2025 values, passes could be $60 each.