New blood, old issues at tonight's council meeting

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Destin City Council will meet 6 p.m. tonight at the City Hall Annex. Tosha Sketo will liveblog from the meeting and post any breaking news at her council liveblog.

Three new Destin City Councilmen and Mayor-Elect Sam Seevers will take their oaths of office at the council meeting on Monday.

A reception for Seevers and recently elected councilmen Jim Bagby, Larry Hines and Larry Williges will begin at 5:30 p.m. The meeting will be called to order at 6 p.m., when Okaloosa County Court Judge Patt Maney will swear in Destin’s new elected leaders.

Following the ceremony, newcomer Larry Hines will jump right into his first meeting with the rest of the council. Williges has served on the council before, and Bagby is a current councilman.

The council will vote on whether or not to approve an ordinance upon second reading which will amend the LDC to allow religious organizations to move into more zoning districts around the city. At the last meeting, the first reading of the ordinance was approved. Councilmen also voted to decrease the required buffer between churches and business that sell alcohol from 1,000 feet to 500 feet at the last meeting.

In other business, the council will vote to approve the 2010 Agreement for Florida Boating Improvement Funds. These funds are a portion of the revenues collected from recreational boater registration fees by the state. The county receives a portion of these funds and distributes $15,000 to the city of Destin to be used on boating improvement projects, such as dredging.

Funds that are not used this year will roll over to next year. And the city currently has $15,000 from the 2009 distribution that has yet to be spent.

Lastly, the council will vote on a resolution supporting the construction of an air traffic control tower at the Destin Airport. Councilman Sandy Trammell introduced the resolution at the last council meeting, after Okaloosa County Airports Director Greg Donovan announced at a recent Airport Master Plan meeting that the Destin Airport has been accepted into the Federal Aviation Association’s contract tower program.

She said a show of support from the city could help the airport to receive a higher priority status in the tower program, which currently includes 14 other airports.