During yesterday’s board meeting, Commissioner Kerry Smith was MAD, MAD!! Why? First off, a false narrative he was trying to spread wasn’t picked up by two local news outlets. Then he got called out by a Navarre business leader for telling another whopper!
It’s often been said that Smith has a Napoleon complex, and yesterday that was on full display when he became enraged over staff being “inundated” with calls against moving forward the Navarre Beach tolling project. Smith also had a hissy fit against WEAR ABC and South Santa Rosa News/Milton Post for not sharing his false narrative about the matter.
The problem with this current board of county commissioners, with the exception of District 3 Commissioner Rhett Rowell, is deeper than the Chairman’s desire for complete control of the narrative and his attacks upon any who don’t repeat his filtered versions. There’s always gonna be shady politicians.
The biggest problem is how this board IGNORES what citizens are telling them and instead pushes pet projects the people don’t want. They’re especially fond of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars with local engineering firms on study after study after study!
Rowell is the sole Commissioner who stands up for what the CITIZENS are saying. Despite admitting that the county was inundated with calls opposing the Navarre Beach toll project, Smith tried to rubber stamp it yesterday without any discussion. But Rowell stopped that fast tracking, suggesting the board instead remove it from the Capital Improvement Plan – at least until after the results of the toll study are presented Oct. 9.
Later during the meeting, Smith tried to falsely assert that a pricey Gulf front office suite for tourism staff, which quietly changed into a convention center project during a June 23 midday tourism workshop, was initially started because it was “desired” by the 1,600 people who took the county tourism department’s 2023 study.
WHAT A WHOPPER!!
A quick look back at that survey shows that was untrue, and Navarre business leader Tamara Fountain quickly called out Smith over that lie.
“Just to be very clear. There was not a convention center or an (office) on the survey…That’s not true,” Fountain said. “Nobody asked you to do this. Stop fixing problems nobody asked you to fix, and spend our money the way we want it spent. That’s why people are upset.”
Smith is up for re-election next year.
So is District 4 Commissioner Ray Eddington, who also supports the toll and convention center.
Do you know what else will be on the 2026 ballot? Renewal of the local option sales tax, which is being used to pay for the toll project.
This short-sighted board doesn’t realize that using that optional tax to put a mandatory toll on us comprises their needed voter support. You see, Kerry isn’t the only one who is mad. The citizens are furious! But instead of listening, this commission is angry that we’re saying anything about how they’re spending our tax dollars…
We The People can fix all of this next year.
