Fort Walton Beach Council minutes — 07-09-1952 Regular — reading text

1 iUNUT.r;S OF REGULA.R MH:ETING OF T} L.:.;TO'viN COUNCIL HELD JULY 9, 1952 RESEN'I' o. M. Earley, W. B. Williams, W. C. stacy, James E., Miller, W. J. Roberts, Jr., " ABSENT W. B. Harbeson, Theo' Bass VISITO}tS James Starkey, B. W. Hill, G~ orge Maples, L. p. NichoJ.son, John Beasley, James Booth, W. R. Thompson, C. B. Wages,. Leon Bishop, A. R. Simmons, Mr. Hamilton of Okaloosa News Journal, K. R. Kenneth Larsen and Seely, others. Meeting call~d to order at 7: 45 P. M. 1inutes of Council meeting of June lith and 12th were ~ ad in full in open sassion. Motion was made' by W.~. Roberts,~ r., . seconded by James E. Mill~r that minutes be adopted as read. Vote in im9us.. favorun?l}. .' One of the Visitors then asked for fuformation and expl~ at:Lon of st~~ t ~ vini: p:rojects and State Road Projects. Mayor Earley advised that the Council had a full docket to handle and therefore it would not be IX> ssible to go into the details of these projects. Min~tes of Special mE?eting of the Town Council held June 25, were read in full 'in- open session. Motion was made by W. C. Stacy, seconded by James E. Miller, that' minu;tes be adopte9-.as, read. te. in favor unanimous. - V<? MT. 13. W. Hili then' advised ~ hat h~ had en ter~d a. ve:rb~ l protest <}. gainst tlfe election and has an objection in writmg on file, and requested that it be read at that time. J.vlayor Earley Hill"that his letter ~ uld be ~rea.d later in the advisedl1- r. after all minutes of Minutes of previous meetings had veen Special meeting of the Town' Coundil held June 29, ~ approved. . meeting, were . read in J full in open session. Ivlotion was made ; by W. J . Roberts, Jr., seconded by W. B. Williams that minvtes be adopted as read. Vote in favor, unanimous. L. p. Nicholson, Chairman of Colored Recreation Board, came before the Council and advised that their committee would like the Council to pass a resolution aut~ori~ ing the Colored Recreation Board to negotiate a contrac~ to' cover' constructionbf a ball park fence and sanitary facilities. After short- discussion, Mayor Earley advised L. P. Nicholson that noone present understood the question well enough to draft the resolution at this time. GeOrge Maples then asked if persons and finns who submitted bids originally, would be given an opportunity to negotiate with the board for the contract. .~_.... I. L,., JI... Mayor Earley then suggested that Recreation Board hav~ the resolution authori~ing negotiation of a contract drawn up and that the Board negotiate and consider all proposals before awarding the contract. That contract be awarded on the basis of the best bid and responsibility of bidder to perform in accordance with contract terms. The Council' approved of method of handling. Mr. John Beasley then advised that all interested parties will be given an opportunity to negotiate a contract for this construction. The Clerk then read General Fund Operating Cost statement, eral Fund, utility Fund :....~ Go!), and Water Dept. Statements of receirts and disbursemen.ts; General Fund Statement . showing disbursements from the Conmnmity Center Construction Fund and Colored Recre- ation Park Construction Fund for the month of June. After examination, motion was r maed by W. J. Roberts, seconded by James E. Miller, that statements be approved as read. Vote in favor, una.niJnous.  Lbt, i Mr. B. W. Hill then came before Council and again requested that his letter of protest be read. The Clerk then read this letter in full: The Honorable Pete Earley, 1-Iayor of Fort Halton Fort l1a1ton, Florida. I Dear Hr. Earley: This will make formal the verbal protest I made by phone July 5, to r Clerk Cit;} Ben McCombs in regard to the recent city election. the grounds I base this protest are: l) The ballots were improperly printed in that they did not indicat& that an elector must makk his choice by putting an ( x) on the left sl.. de of the candidaie~ s name in a box provided therefore. . . 2) Seventy odd electors' ballots were disqualified because of negligence of election officials preparation of the ballot. 3) Candidates precinct should not have been indicated since all were running at large, therefore not giving prejudiced votes to candidates. 4) Inspector at Precinct # 1 marked. ballots when scoring for candidates which I believe is unlawful. In view of the above, I make the request that another election beheld - one that will be conducted according to state' arid city laws. yours very t rilly, sl B. W. Hill I There was then a disuussion of this protest during which the clerk advised that en election was set up in accordance with the Town Charter and Town Ordinances: That he set up the election to the best of his ebility and in compliance with the Town' s election laws. Mr. Hill advised that some provision of the State ilection Laws were violated. yor Early advised Mr. Hill, that any p~ otest he had should be pl'esented to the Cil'cui~. Court, I not bef ore the Council/ Motion was made by W. J. Roberts, seconded by James E. Miller, that the Town Council reject Mr. Hills protest against the municipal election as the council had no grounds for recourse; vote in favor, all present. Mr. Hill then advised that he would seek an injunction against the seating of councilmembers declared elected by the council. Mr. Kenneth R. Seely tben asked the councilto consider purchasing radios for tbe police cars so t~st an officer can be reached whe n heeded. Mayor Early acknowledged that tbe Police Department is I~~_/ I operating under a handicapp and requested b. Seely to cbeck on and obtain prices of such equipment anG dubmit this information  16,') to the council for consideration when the budget for thJ:s year is prepared. ' . Mr. , George Maplu..then asked the Council if ahy ,~ tion had been take:! to l~ y th~ . t~ m .. pipe 8. in the open d~ a~ nage ditch throught his I property. Mayor Early pdvised that the town has purchased. the pipe and now ts waiting on the State Road Department crew to place and and cover it up. The DI.lI:~' Station manager then came before the oounoil and asked if there is any city ordinance to prohibit bus drivers from picking tippasse.ngers along the Highways within the city limits. Mayor Early advised that these question had come befDre the co~ ncil p~ ior to this time and asked , the clerk to explain this proble~. The clerk explained that there is no such town ordinance and until such time as the Town takes over all State Roads wit~ n the Town, r _ for permanent maintenance, the Town cannot exeroise any oontrol over State Lioensed Bus Company' s. Mayor Early then advised th~ t be will write the Bus Company a letter and request that Bus Drivers disoontinue the praotioe of picking up passengers along the. Higbw,ay within the ''' wnlimits. Mr. Seely advised that sOme people. are being misled by the a igns designating Bus Stops . for the Eglin Field Busses. That if Air _ Force Bus Stops were properly market it would eliminate lots of the Bus pickups. The Clerk then read a letter State Comptroller reference t>>~ I to the Town' s advalor~m Tax Deduotion formula in order to comply with Cigarette Tax Laws. After discussion oounoil ruled that even though no tax has been j~__ j. assessed for 1952 it ~ ybe necess~ ry to impose a Tax later , therefor, the Town will elect to operate on the basia of never assessing a Levy Tax exceeding 70% of the 1948 Levy. Genera.! Mayor Early then brought up Building Permit obtained by the late Mr. G. E. Stinson and explained that now this building would