Santa Rosa County commission discuss licenses and Biorefinery

Santa Rosa County commissioners talked green and talked on ways to save green at Monday’s commission meeting.

First up commissioners discussed a recently passed legislative bill that would transform all driver license issuance offices into tax collector offices in the county.

County tax collector Stan Nichols said the recent Senate bill 1439 and House bill 5051, that was passed in the last legislative system forced the change in order for the state to save more money.

Because of the change, Nichols said he would need to hire more staff, which is already in tight quarters at the Midway office.

“By consolidating services, we are going to need to provide better services,” Nichols said.

Nichols asked the board if they could grant a request for additional space at the current DMV in Midway.

Commissioner Gordon Goodin asked if the move to make all DMV offices tax collector locations had to be made now.

Nichols said the changes were not crucial at this time but said he is already interviewing possible candidates to fill more positions at the Midway office.

“This will add about six to seven more people to the budget,” Nichols said. “It will save the state money, but it would not be reflected on our budget.”

That means the state would not issue any more money to the departments for extra staff.

The Milton Driver’s License office on Bagdad Highway will be close in January 2011, and the Santa Rosa County Tax Collectors Office on Highway 90 will begin providing Driver License services in Milton the second week of January of next year.

The Gulf Breeze Driver License office is anticipated to be closed next year as well, with an announcement of the date of closure to come within the next 12 months.

Commissioners approved to move Clerk of Court staff within the Midway office to make room for the additional staff in Midway for Thursday’s agenda.

Among talks of driver licenses came talks of a Biorefinery plant in Jay that could bring as many as 30 jobs within its first year of operation.

Rodney Higgins with Integrated Energy Partners said they were looking to bring the plant to Jay in order to facilitate the need for future biofuel needs.

“This is something that is needed,” Higgins told commissioners. “I have been in contact with a number of farmers who like the idea.”

Higgins said those farmers liked the idea of the plant because it could utilize their crops whether the crop was useable or not. The plant could also earn greenhouse gas credits which in turn could earn money for the facility.

“I heard you all had a bad rain a few years back… While those crops may have suffered, we can use the residue from those crops for biofuel,” Higgins said.

The facility would take those plants and utilize them into fuel for future uses.

Goodin questioned whether the need for biofuel was crucial at this time, and for this county.

“When gas prices were $4.50 last year, we saw commercials on all the time about alternative fuels…but now we don’t see as many,” he said.

Those commercials were spewing out information on the benefits of the alternative fuel many would be able to use in cars or trucks.

Right now, Higgins said the bond holders wanted reassurance that the county would have IEP’s back for the project before they could issue a $30 million bond to build the facility in Jay.

Goodin said he would like to see more input on the plant and the price of the plant before he could move forward with any decision.