A new person may soon be in charge of promoting tourism in Santa Rosa County, local leaders are turning up the heat on the effort to get voters to approve a new courthouse and the 11th annual Beaches to Woodlands Tour is set for October.

Santa Rosa County should soon have a new tourist development director.

On Monday, county commissioners unanimously moved the nomination of Julie Morgan to take over as the county’s chief tourism promoter. Commissioners are scheduled to take a final vote to hire Morgan at their Thursday meeting.

Morgan is currently the tourism director for Monroe County, Tenn., an east Tennessee community near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Overall, she has 21 years in the tourism industry. She holds a bachelor’s degree in organizational management from Tusculum College and an associate’s degree in hospitality/tourism from Baker College.

In a letter to Santa Rosa County, Morgan said she has visited Santa Rosa on vacation many times.

“Your county is beautiful and I am aware of the endless opportunities it has to offer to tourists as well as potential clients in the tourism and economic development sector of Santa Rosa County,” she wrote.

“Tourism is a large economic driver in Santa Rosa County and I would look forward to the opportunity to be involved in increasing visitation to the county, community involvement and marketing development for the most beautiful county in Florida.”

If hired, Morgan will earn $68,000 annually. She would replace Kate Wilkes, who retired from the position in August after six years on the job.

Morgan was among 34 applicants for the job. Eight of those were interviewed via telephone and four were asked to come in for personal interviews.

Santa Rosa County leaders are using a hard sell to get voters on board with building a new county courthouse.

On the Nov. 4 general election ballot, county voters will be asked if they support a five-year 1 percent sales tax increase to fund building a new judicial facility. They will also be asked to choose between three proposed locations for a new courthouse:

— About seven acres next to the current courthouse in downtown Milton.

— More than 14 acres on U.S. 90 in East Milton southwest of the Peter Prince Airport.

— About 22 acres on U.S. 90 in Pea Ridge.

The current courthouse, the core of which dates to 1927, is too small to accommodate modern courthouse functions. The design of the building creates security issues for the public who use the building as well as the judges, officers, attorneys, court staff and other county employees who work in the building. The parking, heating/cooling system, telephone and computer network infrastructure are also no longer sufficient for daily operations.

The County Commission has set a series of town hall meetings for those who wish to learn more about the issue. The first one was on Sept. 15 at the Pace Community Center. The remaining meetings are set for:

-- Tonight (Sept. 22), 6 p.m., at the Santa Rosa County Administrative Office Complex, 6495 U.S. 90, Milton (behind McDonald’s).

-- Sept. 30, 9 a.m. at Tiger Point Community Center, 1370 Tiger Park Lane, Gulf Breeze.

-- Sept. 30, 6 p.m. at Jay Community Center, 5259 Booker St., Jay

-- Oct. 7, 6 p.m. at Navarre Visitor Center, 8543 U.S. 98, Navarre

-- Oct. 20, 6 p.m. at Tiger Point Community Center, 1370 Tiger Park Lane, Gulf Breeze

For more information about the courthouse issue, supplied by the county, go to http://santarosa.fl.gov/bocc/judicialcenter.cfm.

With the beginning of October just days away, there’s no reason for anyone in Santa Rosa County to find themselves with nothing to do on a Saturday, Sunday or even a Friday evening.

The 11th annual Beaches to Woodlands Tour is set for every weekend in October. As fans of the tour know, Beaches to Woodlands is an umbrella term that covers dozens of events set all over the county that literally stretch from Navarre Beach to the Blackwater River State Forest.

The events range from educational events like history lectures to fun-themed outdoor festivals.

The idea of the tour is that you can pick and choose the events that interest you, even visiting more than one in a single day.

Take Oct. 4, the first Saturday of the month, for example. You could start your day at the 8th annual Monarch Madness Festival at the Panhandle Butterfly House in Navarre, which starts at 10 a.m. From there, you could take a scenic ride to the 25th annual Jay Peanut Festival and wrap up at the Bands on the Blackwater concert at Riverwalk Park in Milton, which starts at 5:30 p.m.

There are also some events which are ongoing throughout the month, like the Sweet Seasons Farm Corn Maze in Allentown, which is open Sept. 27 to Nov. 2, on most Friday nights, Saturdays and Sundays. Similarly, the Holley Hill Pottery has special programs set for Oct. 4, 11, 18 and 25.

Some of the events on the tour have come along as enthusiasm for the tour has grown, but others substantially predate the tour, including the St. Rose of Lima International Festival, which is in its 33rd year.

Promotion for the Beaches to Woodlands Tour is funded through the Santa Rosa County Tourist Development Council.

For detailed schedule of events, go to http://thebeachestowoodlandstour.com/.

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