Council approves new ordinances, leaders

Councilman J.B. Whitten was named City Council President, effective April 1. [FILE PHOTO]

CRESTVIEW — The City Council started March 27 with a special meeting to decide on new ordinances and new leadership.

ORDINANCES

The council unanimously approved a pair of ordinances directing the city’s growth management department — Ordinances 1618 and 1619.

Ordinance 1618 allowed for rezoning a piece of property owned by Central Baptist Church from public land to commercial to allow a non-profit medical facility to be built on the site. The ordinance passed 5-0 with no public comment made.

Ordinance 1619 provides the city with a clear definition of what constitutes an unsafe structure.

“An unsafe structure is one that is found to be dangerous to the life, health, property or safety of the public or the occupants of the structure by not providing minimum safeguards to protect or warn occupants in the event of fire, or because such structure contains unsafe equipment or is so damaged, decayed, dilapidated, structurally unsafe or of such faulty construction or unstable foundation, that partial or complete collapse is possible,” the proposal stated.

The growth management department considers this ordinance a necessary first step to combating blight. The council passed the proposal 5-0, also with no public comment.

LEADERSHIP

The Crestview City Council nominated and approved Councilman J.B. Whitten to be the next council president, effective April 1.

The council also named Councilman Bill Cox to be the council vice president, effective the same date.

The council president presides over meetings and enforces the council’s rules and regulations. The vice president serves in an acting capacity during the absence of the president.

Both the president and vice president serve one-year terms and are elected by the sitting council. Each nominee received unanimous support.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Council approves new ordinances, leaders