Santa Rosa County homeowners who had trees and limbs that fell during Tropical Storm Claudette have until July 6 to drop the vegetative debris off at the county landfill south of Milton for free.
Commissioners, at the end of a 6 ½-hour meeting on Tuesday, voted to waive the tipping fee for two weeks to help homeowners get rid of the debris.
District 3 Commissioner James Calkins made the motion to waive the fees. At first, he requested the county pick up the debris at affected homes on Wallace Lake Road, where a half-dozen homes were damaged.
District 1 Commissioner Sam Parker disagreed. He said the county provides the pickup service following tornadoes, hurricanes and other significant events. “I can’t support singling out one area,” he said, adding a countywide pickup would be expensive.
When describing the extent of damage in the county Brad Baker, the emergency management director, said “We were very blessed.”
He explained the National Weather Service determined straight-line winds — not a tornado — caused damage to several homes, especially in the Pace area. Nearly two dozen streets had fallen trees and limbs in the area. He also said there were no reports of house flooding.