Forehand begins term as tax collector
Ashley Forehand, the newly elected Gulf County tax collector, has been in a flurry of meetings over the past week, as she begins a four-year term.
County Judge Tim McFarland swore in Forehand on Tuesday, Jan. 7, a day after she completed her last day on the office staff at Wewahitchka High School.
She’ll be working closely with a staff of 10 which includes Candye Lewis, the Democrat who she defeated in the general election in November.
“I’m excited to get started, just trying to get in here and learn the process of some things,” said Forehand, 45. “I’ve been busy.”
Due to a recent pay boost enacted by the state legislature, the new job pays $151,482 annually, higher than the $123,976 paid the three other constitutional officers – property appraiser, clerk of courts and supervisor of election, that it used to be equal to.
“I want to thank the public for entrusting me and voting me into office,” said Forehand.
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.