Identification of County Vehicles is Not Required Consistently. A 2-to-2 vote determines anonymity is preferred for Certain Vehicles in the County.
If a Walton County vehicle pulled up to your house, business, or building site, would it be helpful, as a resident or business owner, to know and readily identify who is parked outside? Walton County Commissioner, Dan Curry (District 1), seems to think so, and this was his motivation for more easily and consistently identifying county vehicles – all county vehicles.
A motion to require all non-law enforcement Walton County-owned vehicles to display the County logo and BCC identification number failed on a 2-2 tie vote after a heated debate centered on consistency, accountability, and the practical necessity of maintaining some unmarked vehicles for county business. Commissioner Tony Anderson was absent from the meeting.
Of all the Commissioners, Curry typically has the most agenda items added to the Regular Meeting Agendas. This week, he had 8 items. The only other Commissioner bringing items to the table was Commissioner Donna Johns (District 4), who brought two items. It is important to note that after Commissioner Curry completed presenting his items (one by one) amid consistent opposition (primarily from the Chair, Brad Drake (District 3), and Commissioner Danny Glidewell (District 2)), Commissioner Johns tabled her items following the lengthy battle Commissioner Curry experienced.
Commissioner Curry made a motion to require all Walton County vehicles to have a County logo added to them. “I have no problem with driving around in a county vehicle with a County [assigned] number [and] with a county number and emblem on it. I do not know why anybody else would not want to have that on their [County] vehicle,” he said.
Commissioner Danny Glidewell displayed great hesitation to require logos on county vehicles. He argued that the yellow county plate was identifier enough and that vehicles with logos are prime targets for vandalism. He continued by saying that this item should not be a BCC decision but should be left to the County Administrator, Brian Kellenberger, and the Directors who run the County’s business. He finished by calling Curry’s suggestion a “waste of money.”
One of the comparisons made by Commissioner Brad Drake (District 3) was the exception of Sheriff Department or law enforcement vehicles that are unmarked and need to remain nondescript for purposes of working undercover.
Curry countered the North County commissioners’ arguments with the claim that county logos on the side of the vehicle promote consistency and accountability.
Commissioner Johns supported the motion made by Commissioner Curry. “This is our fleet of vehicles that are paid for by tax dollars,” Johns said, “I think consistency and transparency are important, and there is no reason why we don’t have those numbers [referring to the logo and identification number of the vehicle on the sides of the vehicles.] She closed her comments saying, “I believe, too, that the BCC emblem [logo] should be on all vehicles.”
Johns added that she disagreed with Glidewell’s belief County vehicles are targets for vandalism.
Glidewell supported the argument for “unmarked vehicle,” especially for Director-level employees. He said, “There should be some vehicles where they [Directors] can go out there [on County business] and take a look without having to worry about somebody coming out there and cussing them and Raising Cain.’” His conclusion was that the decision should be a ‘director’s choice.
The Chair, Brad Drake, in support of Glidewell’s argument, said, “I think what Commissioner Glidewell’s argument is just the functionality.” Drake made a comparison to the Sheriff’s department and said, “Should all their [Sheriff’s Department] vehicles be identified the same?… Some of them don’t have that [log and identification number] for specified reasons.” Curry went with the logical progression of the Chair and conveyed that there is a difference between ‘undercover law enforcement units’ and [Directors] “checking a driveway.”
The floor of the BCC Chamber was then opened to public comment. Randi Lightner spoke several times at the BCC meeting and expressed her discontent over this agenda item discussion. “I don’t think there’s any covert mission that the county employees are undertaking. I don’t understand why all this time was wasted on this discussion,” Lightner said, “I think they [logo and identification number] should be there. I don’t want to disparage any county employees, because they’re great, but I’ve had quite a lot of them that run me off the road.” Lightner added that no matter who is driving a County vehicle, that individual is accountable regardless of their position in the county. In closing, she added, “Just put them [logo and Identification Number] on the vehicles.”
Todd Roark, a citizen of the county, supported the idea of consistency within vehicle identification, and he added, “You just need one policy. You shouldn’t have multiple policies…I would be proud to drive a county vehicle.”
Candidate for Walton County Commissioner District 4, Jim Bagby, was the last to speak on the issue, and he took a bit of a different stance on the idea of using the County logo as a means for advertising and promoting Walton County, and he referred to the Walton County logo as a “rolling billboard” for the county. He spoke of his time as the Walton County Tourism Department Director and the travel he did on behalf of the county in a county vehicle. Bagby said, “At that time [the focus was] ‘Visit South Walton’…and I wanted people to know…this [Walton County] is a beautiful place. It’s beautiful, especially the TDC [Tourism Development Council] vehicles…I want people to know that that’s the County [employees] down there working on the beach, working on getting [collecting] trash, working on building walkovers, working on things that are building the County…I think we should be proud and promote ourselves. I just don’t understand the issue.”
We reached out to Okaloosa County to ask about their vehicle logo policy. “The majority of County vehicles have the logo,” Public Information Officer Nick Tomecek said.
Pro Communi Bono
St. Francis De Sales, Ora Pro Nobis!
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