A manufacturer in the the Santa Rosa County Industrial Park in East Milton is looking to expand its property and hire more people.

Santa Rosa County commissioners will discuss putting two acres on Opportunity Drive up for sale to Gulf Cable their meeting on Tuesday. Santa Rosa County owns much of the undeveloped property in the industrial park. Such sales must be openly advertised before the sale can be completed.

Gulf Cable is supplier of medium voltage cables and overhead transmission conductors. It is a sister company to WTEC, a renewable energy company also located in the industrial park.

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The commission, which is meeting Tuesday because of the Memorial Day holiday on Monday, meets at 9 a.m. at the Santa Rosa County Administrative Office Complex, located at 6495 U.S. 90, Milton (behind McDonald's).

The agenda for the meeting is available at http://www.santarosa.fl.gov/agendas/05-26-15backup.pdf. The meeting is broadcast online at http://www.santarosa.fl.gov//bocc/BOCC_Calendar/.

Generally, the commission’s early-week meetings – called “committee meetings” – are used to discuss items and set the agenda for Thursday’s regular meetings where final decisions are usually made.

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Shannon Ogletree, director of economic development for the county, said Gulf Cable is "aggressively planning to grow" its presence in Santa Rosa County.

"The company has smaller operations in Texas and Arizona, with the Milton site becoming the major operations hub for the parent company," Ogletree wrote in a memo.

"One of the options for the company to grow is to build an additional building for more manufacturing purpose. The company has become a major player within our economy by the recent construction of a facility, an order of additional four pieces of machinery, a current employment level of 60 individuals with plans for approximately 80 by end of 2016."

A price has not been set for the property yet, but Ogletree said the price will be based on the county's established formula for selling property in the industrial park.

Also, commissioners will discuss the research agreement with University of West Florida for the Northwest Florida Assets Valuation and Marketing Support Program for Military Spouse Technical Skills Inventory.

The study comes courtesy an $11,250 grant from the UWF Office of Economic Development and Engagement. The county must match that amount dollar-for-dollar.

The project will update a study UWF did in 2003 looking at the skill sets of military spouses and veterans in Santa Rosa County. According to the draft agreement, the study will:

1. Determine present employment status and availability/interest in employment.

2. Determine the occupations in which the military spouse workforce is skilled or experienced.

3. Determine transferable skills attractive to employers that military spouses have.

4. Assess the proportion of the military spouse workforce that has skills that are not being utilized.

5. Determine the respondents' willingness to undergo training for employment in a new job.

6. Obtain demographic characteristics of the military spouse population including time in the community, permanent/seasonal status, age, gender and education.

Other items on Tuesday's agenda include:

— A joint participation agreement with the Florida Department of Transportation that will provide landscape beautification along U.S. 98 between Andorra and Ortega streets in Navarre. That is the area near the intersection of U.S. 98 and State Road 87.

"It is estimated that the cost to complete the landscaping will amount to $171,300. There is no local match requirement," county grants manager Sheila Fitzgerald wrote in a memo. "The required completion date is June 30, 2016."

— A draft proposal from County Attorney Roy Andrews to revamp the county's code enforcement efforts, removing code enforcement issues from the court system and placing them in the hands of special magistrates.

— An economic development and tourism update by Ogletree and Julie Morgan, executive director of the Santa Rosa County Tourist Development Council.