The City Council is continuing to wrestle with proposals to contract with neighboring Fort Walton Beach for fire and police services.
“We’re going to have more discussions. These are still working documents,” Mary Esther Mayor Margaret McLemore told a couple dozen people who jammed the council chambers Monday evening.
Discussion of contracting with Fort Walton Beach began months ago after the Mary Esther City Council did not renew an enhanced police services contract with the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office. That contract, which provided the city with around-the-clock service from a patrol deputy and a school crossing guard, cost the city $386,000 last year. Since that contract ended, the sheriff’s office has served Mary Esther as an unincorporated area of the county.