CRESTVIEW — The City Council met Monday night to discuss changes to the way the city operates.
The council passed a resolution that declares the city of Crestview as a Second Amendment safe-haven.
The resolution shows the city’s agreement with a recent similar decision made by the Okaloosa County Board of Commissioners. On Dec. 17, the commission adopted their own resolution declaring all of Okaloosa County as a Second Amendment safe-haven.
“We want to show unity between the city and the county,” said City Manager Tim Bolduc. “We in Crestview support our Second Amendment and we want to ensure that the federal government understands that we support it and we’re not going to help them to do things that don’t support it.”
The council also approved an ordinance that waives fees for annexation into the city. The ordinance puts a six-month moratorium on annexation of properties of 10 acres or less.
The approval marks the second time the council has made the decision to waive annexation fees.
“It’s about reducing economy scale and removing the hurdles out of people’s way when they look to do annexation,” Bolduc said. “It was a $5,000 initial expense. This just makes the whole thing more marketable and for me, it’s about efficiency in service.”
Another major decision made by the council was to enter into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Marine Forces Special Operations Command.
The MOU allows the Marines to conduct covert training inside the city limits that is necessary for missions they perform abroad. The MOU will last for the next five years.
According to the agreement, the low visibility recon training will occur later this year between April 24 and May 6 from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Since the training is low visibility, the community will not see any of the action that is conducted, Bolduc said.
“We love our military,” Bolduc said. “We want to support our military and any opportunity we have to partner with them is something we’re more than likely going to do.”
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview council approves 2nd Amendment resolution, covert Marine Forces training