Okaloosa County District 2 Commissioner candidates share views

Incumbent Carolyn Ketchel will face fellow Republicans CareySue Beasley and Matt Turpin in the Aug. 23 primary election for the open District 2 seat on the Okaloosa County Commission.

Ketchel seeks to win a third four-year term. District 2 includes Shalimar, Okaloosa Island and parts of the Fort Walton Beach area.

Each candidate was asked a series of questions by the Northwest Florida Daily News.

Beasley did not provide her answers by the newspaper's deadline. Here are the responses from Ketchel and Turpin.

Daily News: What is the best way that the county can help address the area’s lack of affordable housing?

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Ketchel: The best way the county can help address the area’s lack of affordable housing is to create incentives for the private sector to build and maintain more affordable housing. The county should not be in the business of actually building and maintaining affordable housing. An example of the specific actions the county is taking is assisting in identifying available or orphan parcels that could be utilized for affordable housing.

In addition, the county actively pursues state grants to be utilized for affordable housing such as the Sadowski Trust Funds which support the State Housing Initiative Partnership (SHIP) program and the State Apartment Incentive Loan (SAIL) program. I am proud that the Emerald Coast Realtors endorsed my candidacy for the County Commission due to my focus on affordable housing.

Turpin: Affordable housing and workforce housing are two different things. Affordable housing is government-assisted housing. Workforce housing is for entry level workforce beginning their career in Okaloosa County. The county must partner with the municipalities and developers to work together in identifying parcels to develop workforce housing along with applying for workforce housing grants.

An example of that not happening took place last year. Okaloosa County and two other large cities in the county all applied for the same grant. Instead of working toward one application and deciding where to best use the grant, all three grants were denied and that money went to another county. The county working together with all the municipalities to have defined goals and objectives to tackle the lack of workforce housing is the most efficient way to solve this problem.

DN: Many local residents are concerned about booming residential growth and additional traffic on our roads. What is the best way the county can control such growth while respecting private property rights?

Ketchel: Florida and Okaloosa County have been discovered due to our high quality of life and values of patriotism and our beautiful natural resources that have led many families to choose to live in Okaloosa County. Okaloosa County has aggressively worked to improve roads and basic infrastructure to support such growth.

The county has undertaken the largest road construction projects in our history. These include: Crestview Southwest Bypass, the new I-10 Antioch interchange, improvements to State Road 85, the widening of U.S. Highway 98 in Destin and the replacement of the Brooks Bridge in Fort Walton Beach. Additionally, there are planned continued improvements to the water and sewer systems.

Turpin: Respecting private property rights is a priority. There is no fault in a landowner wishing to sell their property to build a couple hundred homes; however, we do need to be mindful of the affect that land sale has on the surrounding residents. The county Growth Management Department does a good job in working with the residents and developers to put a final development order together that, in most cases, works for all parties involved. In 2018, the residents voted for a half-cent sales tax that is mandated to be spent on infrastructure (roads), public safety and stormwater.

As the chair of the oversight committee, it is our responsibility that money is invested wisely into Okaloosa County. We have financial and human resources to address these traffic issues. We can’t fix 60 years’ worth of kicking the can down the road in four years. We must be proactive and address our county’s traffic needs.

DN: Considering record-high bed tax money collections and crowded roads, should the county Tourist Development Department market the area less aggressively? What are your views on the current number of tourists visiting the county?

Ketchel: Tourism represents approximately 30% of the economy in Okaloosa County and is a primary driver for Okaloosa County having one of the consistently lowest unemployment rates in Florida and the nation.

Although a significant portion of the tourist development tax is mandated under Florida law to be utilized to market tourism in Okaloosa County, a substantial amount of the proceeds from the tourist development tax is utilized to offset the needs created by tourism. These include increased law enforcement and life guards as well as infrastructure upgrades that benefit tourists and locals alike, such as the purchase of new public beach in Destin, refurbishment of beach access areas and the boat basin on Okaloosa Island, and the planned bike path along Highway 98.

Turpin: I do believe (TDD Director) Mrs. Jennifer Adams and her team are doing a great job of advertising our area. With the added bed taxing district to include the entire county, there is a great opportunity to advertise more than just the beautiful sand and emerald waters. I do not think the marketing should be less aggressive. Tourism is one of the two major drivers of our local economy. We have been through times in the past praying that people would visit our area and spend money in our county.

The TDD calculates the average spending habits of visitors from the major metropolitan areas across the county and markets toward those that have a higher spending average. This means visitors spend more money in our local economy, in turn providing income for the vendors and supporting our infrastructure, public safety, stormwater projects and schools through the two half-cent sales tax items.

This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Okaloosa County District 2 Commissioner Carolyn Ketchel seeks third term