Gulf seeks infrastructure money tied to school training

Among the many issues brought up at last week’s legislative delegation hearing in Port St. Joe was a focus on tying the granting of infrastructure monies directly to educational certifications.

Before a packed house in the county commission chambers on Thursday afternoon, Feb. 6, State Senator Corey Simon (R-Tallahassee) and State Rep Jason Shoaf (R-Port St. Joe) heard from both elected officials and citizens alike.

“We could move the meeting outside but this bald head of mine tends to burn,” joked Simon, setting the amicable tone that lasted throughout the nearly two-hour meeting.

Florida Senate resident Ben Albritton is “very interested in seeing a renaissance of our rural counties, and I’m excited about all the work going into it,” he said.

After introducing their staffs, and outlining their various committee assignments, the meeting got down to the various asks, beginning with Gulf County Commissioner Randy Pridgeon, who spoke on the board’s behalf.

He said the requests would be largely about safety and infrastructure, and chief among those would be a number of requests for fire trucks and other equipment for the county’s volunteer fire departments.

In addition, he said the commissioners envision a fire training academy, set up at the old fire station in White City, where firefighters in the regions could be trained. If funded, the academy would be set up in partnership with Gulf Coast State College and the county’s high schools, he said.

Pridgeon said a priority among county leaders is to drive down the ISO ratings for the nine volunteer departments, which currently have just three under a 5 rating. The lower the rating, the more advantageous it is in securing favorable insurance rates.

He said that boosting the number of trained firefighters could be done by instituting classes for high school seniors that would lead to their Firefighter 1 certification.

The premier infrastructure request for the two legislators was to assist with funding a floating dry dock that could serve the maintenance and repair needs of local industries such as Eastern Shipbuilding.

Pridgeon said creating a dry dock could be “transformational” for the community. “They’re shipping to Tampa what we could do on a dry dock,” he said, describing a scenario where a jump start could be produced by a business incubator created for that purpose.

Jim McKnight, director of the Gulf County Economic Development Coalition, said that while 600 people are now at work at Eastern, that number will drop as ships are completed and contracts are fulfilled. 

“The minute those jobs are finished, we’ll drop down to 150-200 employees,” he said. “We don’t need that lull. We need to develop industries along the canal that may come. We’ve got to get this to the next level, it’s a priority for this community and it will make us whole going forward.”

McKnight said a $44 million request for funding from Triumph Gulf Coast remains in place but “that’s a little more than they’re comfortable with.”

He said local leaders are making that case to Triumph that Gulf County is 70 miles from the interstate and lacks a four-lane highway, and that this facility could be served by maritime traffic.

“It would not be obtrusive, and would be consistent with tourist jobs in the community,” McKnight said. “Use whatever influence you got with those people.”

Pridgeon has pressed for a tie-in to educational certifications as a tool for securing Triumph monies. “I know it’s a big ask,” he said. “It is expensive but the return on investment is going to be there for a lot of time.”

Both Simon and Shoaf voiced support for the dry dock proposals and the educational tie-in. “I’d love to find out if the school board is interested in working on those training programs.”

County Commissioner Phil McCroan sought support for a breakwater off the coast from Cape San Blas, a project coupled with beach renourishment that was also urged by Pat Hardman, president of the Coastal Community Association of Gulf County.

“There’s a tremendous return on the investment,” said Hardman. “Right now the county is $10 million shy and that thing breaks through. It’s going to be more. This is going to be a huge problem to fix.”

Hardman said the project would support 3,000 local jobs and yield $45 million in tax revenues.

“You’re preaching to the choir,” said Shoaf. “We are true believers 100 percent. 

“The county and citizens and the state have spent tens of millions, hundreds of millions, to put sand out there and at some point it’s too expensive,” he said. “Noting that an offshore barrier reef would cut down those renourishment costs.

Commissioner Jack Husband agreed that with the Cape being an engineered beach, the project would lessen maintenance costs over time.

“I understand you need the money,” said Shoaf. “Hopefully we’ll be able to help you with that.”

The constitutional officers were not on hand to speak, but Port St. Joe Mayor Rex Buzzett spoke out, noting that the city is chipping away at millions of dollars it owes to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

“Road paving is always a priority, and we need a new city complex,” Buzzett said. “We’re getting really close to having to have a fulltime fire department.”

The mayor also sought help with restoring restrooms to George Core Park that were destroyed by Hurricane Michael. That request was seconded by Joe Whitmer, from the Gulf County Chamber of Commerce.

Whitmer said the Port Theatre plans to ask for about $700,000 in grant money from the state, to help in completing the interior and helping to provide art, music and theatre options for both youth and adults. “Some kids are really lost by not having anything else to do,” said Whitmer.

McKnight reminded the legislators of the need for help with affordable housing, and urged them to help the county in reopening the Howard Creek Work Camp.

Deborah Mays, with the Gulf County Citizens Coalition, urged the legislators to help with rejuvenating the five-member board that governs the Port Authority, which is appointed by the governor. She said that her group would like to see the Port revoke its contractual permission to dredge St. Joseph Bay and have the board of county commissioners take over the role of governing the port.

“The Port has asked for $15 million from Triumph to dredge the bay and it’s unlikely Triumph will fund both projects,” Mays said, noting also that her group strongly opposes the creation of a regional port authority.

John Ehrman, with the Gulf County Citizens Coalition, urged the legislators to back legislation that would ban drilling for oil in the Apalachicola River Basin. “It’s the worst place you can put an oil drill, put it somewhere else,” he said,noting that the Clearwater drilling project in Calhoun County, now in the process of securing DEP approval, would create just seven jobs and pose a risk to the freshwater supply and Tupelo honey trees in Gulf and Franklin counties,

Both Simon and Shoaf said they have filed bills that would bring more transparency to the DEP process of granting drilling permits. “I can’t make the bill retroactive but going forward we want to make sure the transparency is there,” said Simon. 

“I do want to stop them completely,” said Shoaf. “I’m a big fan of drilling, just not near our waterways.”

Gulf County resident Glenn Norris spoke out on the houseboats in the river in the north end of the county, stressing that they’re being abandoned and it creates a hazard. “These people enjoy them and leave them out in the water and they’re letting them sink, or washing out to the woods,” he said. “There’s no registration required on houseboats and no one knows who they belong to.

“I tried to do it the legal way; they did it the Wewa way. It’s destroying our river,” Norris said. 

“We need to get rid of those quick,” said Shoaf.

Christie McElroy urged legislators to help in securing funds for Port St. Joe to build its so-called Field of Dream sports complex in Jones Homestead, a project that she has supported as an alternative to the 10th Street ballfields the city has plans to do work on.

A pair of teachers from Port St. Joe Elementary School, Jeannie Ford and Natasha Pennycuff, urged the legislators to back ways of eliminating teacher shortages, boosting pay, addressing staffing gaps, increasing support staff and providing the district more flexibility with spending.