Several vacancies ensure new faces will be coming to the Milton City Council following the upcoming election, Santa Rosa voters need to make sure they have their IDs ready when they head to the polls, and Santa Rosa County has taken steps to keep landfill gases from escaping into the atmosphere.

CHANGES IN STORE FOR MILTON

The Aug. 26 election has the potential to bring major changes to the City of Milton.

In an unusual alignment of circumstances, six of the eight Milton City Council seats are up for grabs, along with the mayor’s office. Normally, half the seats are up for grabs every two years.

Additionally, three of the council seats have no incumbent running and a fourth seat is being defended by someone who was appointed this summer to replace a councilman who died.

The mayor’s race pits longtime incumbent Guy Thompson against upstart Wesley Meiss, who was just elected to the Ward 1, Seat 1 council seat in 2012.

Thompson, first elected as mayor in 1989, is the executive director of the United Way of Santa Rosa County. Meiss is a history teacher at Hobbs Middle School.

Meiss’ bid for mayor is one of the reasons the council races are wide open. He had to vacate his council seat to run for mayor. Milton businessman Gary Pruitt and Ashley Lay, president of the Santa Rosa Young Professionals, are seeking the Ward 1, Seat 1 position.

The Ward 1, Seat 2 slot, being vacated by Buddy Jordan, is being sought by Vernon Compton and Jimmy Messick. Compton is the director of the Gulf Coastal Plain Ecosystem Partnership, and Messick is an accountant.

Ward 2, Seat 1 incumbent Patsy Lunsford is seeking a fifth consecutive term against challenger Spenser Andrade. Andrade lists his occupation as "student" on campaign finance reports.

Brian Kea was appointed to fill Ward 2, Seat 2 position left vacant by the death of Clayton White earlier this year. Kea, who lists his occupation as service tech, is being challenged by Mary Ellen Johnson, a retired school administrator.

Ward 3, Seat 1 incumbent Grady Hester decided not to seek re-election. Glenn Hill, the general manager of the Blackwater Bistro in downtown Milton, and Alan Lowery, a retired captain from the Milton Fire Department, are facing off to replace Hester.

Lloyd Hinote, the incumbent Ward 4, Seat 1 councilman, is seeking re-election without opposition.

Early voting for the city election, which is occurring as part of the primary vote, began on Aug. 11 and continues through Aug. 23.

IDs NEEDED TO VOTE

Whether Santa Rosa voters choose to cast their ballots early or to go to their polling places on Election Day, they will need ID.

Santa Rosa County Supervisor of Elections Tappie Villane said voters must present identification that includes both a photo and a signature, including a Florida driver's license, a Florida state ID card, a U.S. passport, a military ID, a retirement center ID, a student ID, a public assistance ID, a neighborhood association ID or a debit/credit card.

“Some credit cards do have photos,” Villane said. “If the credit/debit card does not have a photo, but has a signature, then someone can use a combination of the forms of IDs.”

If a voter has moved since the last election, there is still time to update the information, she said.

“They can call our office and we can make the change over the phone,” she said. “If they want to vote on Election Day, we will tell them if they have a new polling location based on the new address information. If a voter wants to early vote, they can simply come to one of our two locations and we can make the change here and allow them to vote.”

Early voting is ongoing at the Elections Office in Milton at the Santa Rosa County Administrative Office Complex, located at 6495 U.S. 90, behind McDonald’s, and at the South Santa Rosa Service Center, located at 5841 U.S. 98, Gulf Breeze. Both locations are open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. through Aug. 23. The regular election is set for Aug. 26.

One change voters may notice this year is that the old Ivotronic voting machine, which was intended to help those with disabilities cast their votes, has been replaced by the AutoMARK. Whereas the old Ivotronic machines recorded and tabulated the votes without the presence of a ballot, the AutoMARK will mark the voter’s choices on a regular ballot which will then be fed into the tabulator with the rest of the ballots.

To find out what precinct you are in, or for other voting related information, go towww.votesantarosa.com.

LANDFILL HAS GAS

Santa Rosa County has begun collecting bothersome and potentially valuable gases that normally escape into the atmosphere from the county’s central landfill in Milton.

The county has installed 30 collection wells at the landfill, located on DaLisa Road.  Decomposing organic materials at the landfill create a gas that is about 50 percent methane, 50 percent carbon dioxide and less than 1 percent non-methane organic compounds.

By capturing the gas, the landfill helps reduce odors as well as other hazards associated with the emissions.

For now, the collected gas is being burned off through flares at each well, but potential uses are being studied. Those include electricity generation, conversion to compressed natural gas or insertion into a natural gas pipeline, all of which would come with attendant costs.

 The 30 wells and included piping cost about $1.3 million.

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