Escambia County Commissioners stepped up big today and approved the ECUA financing plan, 4-1, with Kevin White in opposition. Actually the Commissioners went even further than asked and picked up the City’s $1.2 million share, too. They instructed County Administrator George Touart to work out the details with Pensacola City manager Tom Bonfield and ECUA executive director Steve Sorrells.
Commissioners are the heroes in this. Apparently a tremendous amount of behind the scene work was done today from noon (when the “Calendar” meeting adjourned) and tonight’s meeting.
Touart goes from goat to savior in six hours. The new power bloc of Valentino-Robinson-Young leveraged the deal and kept the pressure on Touart to work out a way to make the deal work. Whitehead stepped in and pushed for the county to assume the city’s proposed share.
Kevin White votes in accordance with his district (north Escambia County) that doesn’t want anything that helps Pensacola or anyone south of Interstate 10 – so he doesn’t get hurt in his district while not stopping the plan.
Escambia County politics can be painful to watch, but the end result this time is positive.