Former Santa Rosa County Commissioner Don Salter passed away over the weekend. Salter, who represented District 3 for 20 years, was remembered by current board members as they opened Monday’s committee meeting.
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“I know a lot of us received news over the weekend, Lord. I pray that you’ll be with Commissioner Salter’s family,” said District 1 Commissioner Sam Parker, as he offered a prayer to begin the meeting.
Salter, a native of Jay, died early Sunday morning. His death was confirmed in a Facebook post by his family.
Salter, who was 76 years old, served five four-year terms on the Santa Rosa Board of County Commissioners. He was first elected in November 2000, and subsequently re-elected in 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016.
“He gave 20 years of his life to this county as a commissioner,” said Chairman Colten Wright, also pointing to his other significant contributions to the community and to the country.
“His service to this nation as a Vietnam Veteran, as a paratrooper; he sacrificed a lot, he sacrificed a lot of wear and tear on his body that was affecting him years later. He spent many years working at Gulf Power, around 30 years working there.”
Right after his 2000 retirement from Gulf Power, Salter ran for political office. Much of his efforts as a commissioner were focused on protecting the region’s military bases. He served as chairman of the joint Base Realignment and Closure “BRAC” Committee for Santa Rosa and Escambia counties for several years.
“He was there supporting Whiting Field and the Navy,” said Wright, acknowledging that the Army Veteran led the charge to purchase several thousand acres of land to prevent development encroachment around NAS Whiting Field.
“And his efforts to encourage boards in years past to buffer that base and support that mission. And, his trips to D.C. over the decades to help support that mission and make sure that the leaders in Washington understood that Santa Rosa County existed, Whiting Field was there, and how important that was to the mission of the Navy, the Coast Guard, and the Marines.”
Along, with former Commissioner Bob Cole, who also served five terms, Salter was one of Santa Rosa County’s longest-serving board members. Addressing the criticism Salter faced for possibly serving too long, Wright said it should be recognized that some of the projects shepherded by the former commissioner have taken a long time to come to fruition.
“There are a lot of things that people don’t realize that took 20 years to get done that he started that far back,” he stated. “I think about the groundbreaking we had recently out at Leonardo recently and Whiting Aviation Park. And, those are things that started many, many years ago that Commissioner Salter led the charge on.”
“I can tell you being a commissioner after him, it is big shoes to fill,” said Commissioner James Calkins, who defeated Salter for the District 3 seat in 2020, ending his bid for a sixth term.
“He is such a person of integrity and honor and it’s a huge loss for our county. And a lot of people may not know that me and him were friends the whole campaign and even after the campaign.”
District 1 Commissioner Sam Parker was the only current board member to serve with Salter and referred to the elder statesman as his mentor. He said Salter not only taught him about how to be a commissioner but also how not to dwell on the constant criticism.
“And it reminded me of conversations we had because I told him before I got elected I used to hear people bad-mouth you all the time and that’s the truth,” Parker said. “And he would talk to me about ‘don’t take it personal.'"
Concluding his remarks, Parker said if you ever hear somebody talking negatively about Don Salter, “maybe you ought to remind them that, you know what, he made mistakes. He was a human. But, he did a lot of good things, too and I hope he could be remembered for that.”
Salter received numerous accolades in recent years. He was elected into the Florida Veterans’ Hall of Fame Society in 2021, selected as the 2022 Friend of Agriculture for Santa Rosa County, and also in 2022, a street that leads into the Whiting Aviation Park was named Don Salter Boulevard in his honor.
