Franklin County commission approves local RESTORE council

After weeks of debate, the Franklin county commission has finally approved the make-up of a local RESTORE council and they hope to have the members in place to begin meeting in February.

The RESTORE council would consider projects proposed for funding through any money Franklin County receives from fines levied on BP because of the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Their recommendations would go to the county commission for final approval before being sent to the federal government for funding.

Over the past few months the county commissions have tried to come up with a membership for the council that they feel would fairly represent the county and the various interests in the county.

On Tuesday the board approved a 13 member council.

The membership will include one member each named by the cities of Carrabelle and Apalachicola, a school board representative and a representative from the Tourist development Council.

There would also be a member named by the seafood workers association, the seafood dealers association, the realtors association, and a member to represent environmental groups in the county.

Each county commissioner would also name a member from his or her district.

Now that the make-up of the board has been approved, the board will have to make sure there are people to fill the seats.

Many of the seats have been filled, but each commissioner will still have to name a representative and the environmental seat has to be filled.

Commissioners say they hope to have that done by their meeting on January 22^nd so the local RESTORE council can begin meeting in early February.

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