County subsidizing Pier Bar power

The Santa Rosa County Board of County Commissioners may have settled the issue of loud music at the Navarre Pier Bar, but still faces a disagreement with management regarding the power bill for the pier bar.

Dorothy Slye, manager of the Navarre Beach Fishing Pier, brought up the power bill issue Aug. 8 when commissioners were discussing bar music complaints from property managers and renters at Summerwind Resort.

“I do feel like I am picked upon, not just by the three or four people who sent the (noise complaint) emails but other things that happen,” she said. “None of the other lessees on that beach are probably under as much scrutiny as I am.”

For example, Slye said she received an email Aug. 3 stating that her power at the pier would be disconnected Aug. 9 because the pier meter had been separated from the county’s meter. She said the lease agreement with the county stated that she was to pay $250 a month to the county for power and water.

According to County Attorney Angela Jones, Slye did receive a letter from her office stating that the power meter had been separated and that the county would stop paying for charges on the pier bar meter within a week, which was in compliance with the lease.

“The lease goes on to say that because the power hasn’t been separated that Ms. Slye or Pier, Inc. would pay $250 a month for those things,” Jones said. “But now that they have been separated, there doesn’t seem to be a need for that arrangement.”

For more on this story, see the August 18 issue of the Navarre Press or subscribe online.