The days that Destin almost died

Twenty years ago, it seemed possible Destin might cease to exist.

Less than two years after Destin’s 1984 incorporation, the Dissolution of Destin Incorporation Committee presented the city with a petition calling on the City Council to schedule a referendum on unmaking the city government and returning the city to unincorporated Okaloosa County.

“It was just a feeling that the community was too small for incorporation and that the principles they stood for weren’t in line with my beliefs,” committee-member Francis Bacon said in an interview this month.

A judge, however, threw out the petition later that year. The disincorporation referendum never took place.

“To be honest, I was a little bit (disappointed),” committee member JaNell Eisler said, but added that “now, the way everything’s gone, I think we’re better off.”

The 1984 debate over incorporation — the third time the issue had been on the ballot — had been heated and controversial. Opponents said a city government would bring more taxes and more rules, but no benefits. Other residents, such as Eisler, said they objected because the state legislature redrew the proposed city limits to exclude Mattie Kelly’s property on the northeast corner of Destin. Kelly opposed becoming part of the city.

“That was the point I did not like,” Eisler said. “What was good for the goose was good for the gander.”

The community voted in November, 1984, to incorporate. A year later, Destin resident Lucyle Middleton organized the disincorporation committee.

Middleton told The Log at the time that new city fees hurt Destin’s economy and residents and that City Hall’s only accomplishment was to create another layer of government for residents to deal with.

Incorporation supporters had said a local government would build more sidewalks, roads and streetlights than Okaloosa County did, but Middleton said the county built more than enough infrastructure in Destin. If neighborhoods wanted more, she said, they should find a way to pay for their own projects.

Eisler said her husband had gone to some of the early meetings, then she’d become involved when he hadn’t been able to attend. Bacon said he joined because he lived in Crystal Beach, and thought the city government was taxing beachfront residents as a cash cow for projects in west Destin.

“(What) got incorporation pushed through was votes from the heavier, higher-density area,” Bacon said. “They were the ones that received all the good out of incorporation. We received nothing in Crystal Beach. We were carrying the brunt ... yet we received nothing.”
Homeowner Jerry Najarian said he supported incorporation, but joined the committee to pressure the City Council to put a brake on spending.

On the other hand, Dewey Destin — who fought against incorporation, but went on to become one of the first City Councilors — said it made more sense to fix specific problems than throw out city government completely.

“We’ve gone too far and worked too hard just to scrap the whole thing,” he said.
Middleton and the other committee members gathered signatures for a disincorporation petition and presented it to the City Council in 1986. City Manager Jack Dorman challenged the validity of the petition, and convinced the council to ask the courts for a ruling.

In June of 1986, the court ruled that state statutes authorized the council or the state legislature to set up a referendum on disincorporation, but the petition didn’t follow either process. Najarian said in a recent interview that enough residents had signed the petition that the council should have put it to a vote anyway.

“I asked why they weren’t putting it up to a vote, they wouldn’t even answer me,” Najarian said.
Middleton said several councilors had promised that they’d call for a referendum anyway, but one of them told The Log that wasn’t true.

The disincorporation committee appealed, but later lost at the appellate level.

“It died on the vine,” Bacon said. “Who knows how it would have turned out if we’d disincorporated.”

After the June court decision, Middleton and Najarian ran for City Council in the fall election. Middleton said that if elected, she’d push for the council to cut spending.

Both Najarian and Middleton lost, and all the incumbents in the race were re-elected. Middleton told The Log her defeat had nothing to do with her position on disincorporation.