Throughout this past year, amidst a Pandemic, our Destin Team has worked together to create a vision for this City, and this vision became an ambitious strategic plan for 2020, providing team members the guidance for current and future initiatives and projects that also focused on protecting and enhancing our Destin brand.
The Destin City Council’s #1 objective has been an extremely bold beach acquisition initiative. We started with a $2-million-dollar commitment by our City Council and now have over $22 million committed, most of the acquisition funding coming from tourist tax dollars. We acquired two beach parcels with a third parcel in the works to expand the Shore at Crystal Beach Park. We continue to work with the Trust for Public Land to acquire additional Gulf-front property. Additionally, we continue to seek external funding sources for future acquisitions that will be forever entrusted for public use. I am thankful for the partnerships between the City of Destin, Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners, Okaloosa County Tourist Development Council and the Trust for Public Land.
The Information Technology, Community Development, and Code Compliance departments have been working to implement COMPASS (COMmunity Permitting And Support System). This EnerGov system is on target to go live in early 2021 and will provide operational transparency to customers and the public. COMPASS will allow our customers access to a self-service portal to submit digital applications online and view the status of applications as well as the results of building inspections, thus, eliminating the need for customers to submit paper applications and plan sets.
In March of 2020, we hired a projects/grants/and contracts manager to streamline how we manage city projects by creating a project review team that oversees the city’s grants and contracts and will manage roughly $41 million dollars in external funding the next few years.
Daily, our city clerk staff assists citizens with their needs, responds to a significant number of public records requests and works with IT to allow us to continue to virtually host many of our public meetings in the COVID-19 world.
The Finance Department is building a financial system that will drastically improve how we are able to plan, process and deliver services to our internal and external customers and provide transparency for our residents. Our finance director and staff are working hard to align our budget process to work in harmony with our strategic goals and objectives.
In 2020, one of Human Resources (HR)’s greatest challenges was keeping our staff safe during this Pandemic and to keep the City open for business. They accomplished this by developing Business Operations Guidance & Telecommuting policies to assist in preventing workplace risk and exposures due to COVID-19, which helps the City keep our medical costs low and our workforce healthy.
Our IT Department and Public Information Office continues to keep the public informed and have been instrumental in the unveiling of the City’s new and improved website.
The Community Development Staff accomplished two of the major strategic goals of the City Council. First, they successfully completed the alignment of the City’s Comprehensive Plan, Future Land Use Map (FLUM), and Zoning Map. Second, they have completed the preparation of the City’s Wayfinding Master Plan – which is the cornerstone of City Council’s strategic goal of creating the Destin Brand.
They have also been key, along with the City Land Use Attorney, in development of ordinances to include regulating the heights of buildings in the City; and protecting the City’s right of ways (ROW) with waterfronts – to preserve and enhance the City’s unique waterfront and beach views.
In 2020 they processed a total of: 41 Major Plan Reviews (Development Orders); 2,932 Permits Issued; 1,977 Business Tax Receipts (Active); 4,482 Inspections Performed; Total Valuation of Permits and Projects: $98,526,951.37
In 2021, the Community Development staff has two important initiatives. First, they will be implementing the automation of the Community Development Project Review and Permitting Processes, which will help make development processes seamless and user friendly for the development community and residents. Second, the staff will be undertaking a complete update of the City’s Land Development Code (LDC) – aimed at updating the City’s development standards and requirements, so that they dovetail with the City’s development vision in the Comprehensive Plan.
They are are also working hard to implement the City’s strategic plan, updating the City’s stormwater master plan and the undergrounding of the City’s utility lines as well as overseeing the redesign of the Crosstown Connector from a 4-lane to a 2-lane roadway facility.
Code Compliance continues to strengthen our community outreach and gain voluntary compliance through education of all city ordinances. To provide for the safety, health, and welfare of our citizens, this department has increased staffing; and all are seeking to become dual certified Florida Code Officers and parking enforcement specialists. In 2020, Code Compliance responded to over 13,000 calls for service relating to land use, rental registrations, harbor and waterways, livery vessels, beach management and parking compliance to name a few. In addition to our harbor patrol, Code Compliance added a night shift officer during peak times. Overall, we are maintaining a 90% compliance rate.
The Public Works Department act as stewards and promotes the safety of our citizens and visitors though the ongoing maintenance and improvement of our critical infrastructure. Forecasted needed improvements over the next five years include building upgrades, parking improvements, road resurfacing, road restriping and works to fulfill the City’s strategic goal of having a walkable and bike-able community by the additions of new and widened pathways.
This department also oversees studies to improve pedestrian safety and traffic flow and coordinate with the Adopt-A-Street program. Public works is instrumental in hurricane preparations and responsible for monitoring water quality.
Regardless of COVID, our library has found ways to serve our community. During the summer, the library initiated curbside service where staff curated grab bags of materials, specifically age tailored for patrons to pick-up, they created interactive and self-directed educational programs to help people while social distancing and provided virtual story time. Staff added new online resources such as the Encyclopedia Britannica to make information available 24/7. To improve library operations, staff submitted a grant application to the Institute for Museum and Library Services and was awarded over $75,000 in funding to update the library’s technology. Soon the Library will have kiosks that patrons can use to self-checkout books and Samsung tablets for faster service and to improve social distancing.
Parks and Recreation has been instrumental in providing new recreational components to enhance the City’s brand and to maintain our beautiful parks. For many, exercise and being outdoors is a distraction from day-to-day isolation.
As we move forward with our priorities in 2021, we will continue our ambitious public beach initiative and launch our Compass System to improve customer service. As we see our vision into the future, we will focus on opportunities for a city center, the viability of a City marina and continue to support our amazing City staff. I want to recognize and thank TEAM DESTIN made up of our council, administration, staff, volunteers, and committee members for their dedication to making Destin a better place to live, work and play.
My heartfelt thanks go to our first responders. Whether on the road, on the sand or on the water, they truly are the lifeline for all of us in Destin. Every day they ensure Destin remains a place of peace and unity. They sacrifice weekends, holidays, and time away from their families to protect ours – and for that, I am forever grateful. Thank you to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office and the Destin Fire Control District for your partnership, for your friendship, and caring about the citizens we serve.
We have overcome major challenges, and it’s all because of Team Destin. We’ve faced new challenges and overcome them with efficiency and excellence. Through perseverance, teamwork, fresh “out of the box” concepts and ideas, and new technology, Destin is continually striving forward and will be an organization that others will look to as an example.
Thank you, God bless you, and God bless the City of Destin.
Read Mayor Jarvis’ entire speech at www.cityofdestin.com.
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