Destin Councilmembers Sandy Trammell, Prebble Ramswell and Jim Wood were recently appointed to serve on Florida League of Cities Legislative Policy Committees for 2014-2015. The committees are tasked to discuss issues facing Florida cities that will come before the legislature in the 2015 Session and decide upon policy direction for the Florida League of Cities’ legislative efforts.
Trammell will serve on the Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Legislative Policy Committee, Ramswell will serve on the Growth Management and Economic Affairs Legislative Policy Committee and Wood will serve on the Finance, Taxation and Personnel Legislative Policy Committee. The committees meet four times a year in Orlando.
“I will proudly serve with Destin in mind as we help formulate legislative policies to protect our natural resources,” said Trammell. “The protection and preservation of all our water resources will be a focus this year across the state.”
Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Legislative Policy Committee focus:
• Coastal management• Energy
• Environmental and wetlands permitting• General utilities
• Hazardous and toxic wastes• Recycling
• Solid waste collection and disposal• Stormwater
• Wastewater treatment and reuse• Water management
• Water quality and quantity
Ramswell added, “I look forward to working with other Florida representatives who have a keen interest in advocating for our cities' needs. Among the issues my committee will face is economic development and land use planning – two areas of the utmost importance in Destin and in which I am very passionate.”
Growth Management and Economic Affairs Legislative Policy Committee focus:• Community redevelopment
• Economic development• Growth management and land use planning issues
• Annexation• Eminent domain
• Tort liability• Property rights
• Ethics/elections
"My interest is in identifying a tourism revenue source for the City of Destin so that we can use tourism revenue to mitigate tourism effects (traffic, law enforcement cost, storm water impacts, parking, etc.) so that our general fund revenues can be spent more on local residents and their issues," said Wood. "There are many Florida communities similar to Destin who should share our issues of limited revenue opportunities."
Finance, Taxation and Personnel Legislative Policy Committee focus:• General finance & tax issues
• Home rule revenues• Infrastructure funding
• Insurance• Local option revenues
• Pension issues• Personnel and collective bargaining issues
• Revenue sharing• Tax and budget reform
• Telecommunications• Workers’ compensation