The Bluewater Bay Municipal Services Benefit Unit held its first meeting back this month after three of five board members resigned in May, causing a three-month hiatus.
The MSBU needed three members to operate. Vice Chair Joseph Testa said during the board’s hiatus, Okaloosa County considered disbanding the MSBU and delegating its responsibilities to the county, but Testa suggested appointing new board members who’d planned to take office in 2027.
“I was a proponent of taking the three people that had already qualified for 2027, they’re already on the ballot. I said, ‘Why don’t you just appoint those three? You have three people that want the job, so why don’t you just appoint them?’ [County Commissioner Drew Palmer] heard from other people, and he heard from the three that had already qualified and did the paper work, and eventually he agreed to do that.”
The newly-appointed MSBU board members are Thomas Dwyer, Toni High and James Johnson.
Testa said the first meeting with the new board, on September 8, went smoothly.
“I think you’ll see a bigger reach out to the community for input and things like that,” he said. “The three [new] board members are very open to that. … The board agreed that we’d like to see much more workshops open to the public for various updates on what could be done, and solicit the input from the community on what they would like.”
One specific plan discussed at the recent MSBU meeting involved pedestrian safety, addressing the death of a Niceville woman in February who was struck by a car while walking in a marked pedestrian lane at Bluewater Bay.
“What we did, which was discussed just before the resignations, was fund reflectors that would go along the white line [marking pedestrian walkways] down Bluewater Bay Boulevard and maybe down to the marina. The county pitched in, and we pitched all the money we had for the rest of the year that we could spend. That’s on track, and it’s gonna happen in a couple weeks.”
Moving forward, Testa named transparency as a main goal for the new MSBU.
“We agreed to do a Town Hall that we will sponsor, that will also bring in both the commercial side of Bluewater Bay — the golf course and a lot of businesses that are within the MSBU, if they want to come and speak and tell us what they do — and of course, the local politicians like our county commissioner, the sheriff, things like that; so everybody can ask them questions and listen to what their jobs are. Also, the MSBU can participate and say what their job is, and what they’re looking at for the future.”
Bluewater Bay’s first public workshop, on October 13, will address the MSBU website and standard operating procedures.
Testa said hearing public input more frequently will allow the MSBU to address issues that really matter to residents.
“It’s gonna have to be a fair amount of input from the community to do additional things, but if they are involved— It’s the MSBU’s responsibility to get out and communicate. And there is a board position for communications. There were very little communications at all in the previous board, to the public.”
Testa asks residents for patience as the new MSBU navigates upcoming improvements.
“Overall, the landscaping and the other options will improve across Bluewater,” he said. “It’s gonna take another year or two to get all that organized. The level of landscaping will improve, which we’re responsible for.”
