Credit Destin-Fort Walton Beach Convention Center
Okaloosa County Board of Commissioners voted 5-0 Tuesday morning to remove the mask mandate at the Destin-Fort Walton Beach Convention Center on Okaloosa Island starting May 15.
Safety practices such as social distancing and limiting capacity to 75% will remain in effect.
The non-agenda item was brought to the board Tuesday morning by Chairwoman Carolyn Ketchel, a strong proponent for masks last summer as the county and the state were experiencing a surge of COVID cases.
At the meeting, Ketchel said it should be up to individuals whether to mask up.
“At this point, we have so many people vaccinated, or those who have the opportunity to vaccinate, and think it’s really a personal choice whether we wear a mask or not at this point,” she said.
SHALIMAR A design firm that has an office in Miramar Beach will continue to help Okaloosa County officials determine what type of upgrades should be made to Santa Rosa Boulevard on Okaloosa Island.
The four-lane, approximately 2-mile-long road extends past seven county-owned public beach accessways between U.S. Highway 98 and an Eglin Air Force Base gate.
On Tuesday, the County Commission unanimously approved paying $100,000 in local option half-cent sales tax money to Richardson, Texas-based Halff Associates Inc. to provide conceptual design drawings for various Santa Rosa Boulevard upgrades.
The possible upgrades include additional parking spots and sidewalks, drainage and landscaping improvements, as well as potential traffic lane reconfigurations.
SHALIMAR After being assured that Okaloosa County would not be at risk, the County Commission on Tuesday unanimously agreed to allow the county to serve as the “conduit” issuer of up to $10 million in bonds for the planned Destin High School.
According to Deputy County Administrator of Operations Craig Coffey, the educational facilities revenue bonds will be used by the nonprofit Destin High School Inc. to pay for the acquisition, construction, improvement, renovation, installation and/or equipping of three existing buildings and an auditorium at the Grace Lutheran Church property at 4325 Commons Drive W.
Those anticipated Destin High School facilities total about 28,000 square feet on about 5 acres, according to Coffey.