Santa Rosa County Commissioner Jim Williamson talks with United Peninsula Association President Don Richards during last week’s monthly meeting. Julie B. Connerley/Special to Gulf Breeze News Gauging by news announced at the United Peninsula Association’s Jan. 24 meeting at Tiger Point Golf Club, 2012 will be a banner year for the organization.

The “notice to proceed” on the first of three planned landscaping projects for Highway 98 should begin in late March, and long-voiced efforts to have a multi-purpose county building capable of conducting meetings with live streaming audio/visual is one step closer.

UPA president Don Richards first introduced guest speaker, Santa Rosa County Commission Chair Jim Williamson, who provided a review of the county’s annual report for 2010-11.

Although the economy is still depressed and the county is operating with fewer employees, Williamson said Santa Rosa rates seventh-lowest taxed of Florida’s 67 counties.

The state average is $1,014 per capita. Santa Rosa County residents pay $407. Escambia County is ranked 27. Its residents pay $802.

To view the county’s annual report, including population, income, property values, and other statistics, as well as how your tax dollars are spent, visit twww.santarosa.fl.gov.

2012 projects

¦ UPA has secured $50,000 in grants and other funding for the first scenic beautification project for U.S. 98.

Paul Rollins, UPA’s vice president, has spent hundreds of hours spearheading all phases of the Garcon Point landscaping project that local residents traveling U.S. 98 and visitors traveling from I-10 down Garcon Point Bridge will view when reaching South Santa Rosa County’s main east-west thoroughfare.

“We expect the preconstruction meeting/notice to proceed to be on the table by late March,” smiled Rollins.” “UPA volunteers will be overseeing the project for quality assurance.” The project is a cooperative effort of UPA, Santa Rosa County, and the Florida Department of Transportation.

¦ Commissioner Williamson said that Tiger Point Park’s eagerly anticipated community center is “on schedule with potential architectural firms to be interviewed soon.” It will include audio/visual capabilities for recording official county meetings.

UPA, whose motto is “Giving our community a voice,” was one of the first organized proponents to push the need for a facility for commissioners to hold meetings in the county’s south end years ago.

The point was driven home when the process of selecting a one-source solid waste provider for the south end last year initially did not include public meetings in the south end. Next, the issue became finding a suitable facility in which to hold those public meetings.

The Tiger Point Community Center, with its $1.2 million price tag, will serve the needs of the recreation park and the entire community.

To learn more about UPA, visit www.unitedpeninsula.org.