NEWS

New Panama City Beach citizen groups slated to meet this week, will look at future finances and development

Nathan Cobb
The News Herald

PANAMA CITY BEACH — For Mayor Mark Sheldon, it's crucial for residents to have a voice in decisions made by the Panama City Beach City Council

Sheldon added that this idea, a driving factor in his campaign, was one of the first things he looked to tackle after being elected earlier this year.

Since then, the city council created a handful of citizen advisory committees, which aim to boost resident engagement. They focus on areas including finances, economic development, community redevelopment and citizen safety.

Shoppers walk along the sidewalk recently at Pier Park.

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"It's really all of us working together to make Panama City Beach an even better place," Sheldon said. 

Slated for this week are meetings for the Financial Management and Economic Development advisory committees.

According to Sheldon, the financial team will meet Monday and look into ways to save money next fiscal year. This will likely include pushing back less pertinent projects.  

More:New Panama City Beach citizen groups slated to meet this week, will look at future finances and development

"During the pandemic, we've realized that we're going to have to be even more financially prudent than we've ever been before," he said. "We have to make sure that we're watching every penny that comes in to make sure that we're spending it wisely."

Tuesday's meeting will look into opportunities to not only diversity the local economy and attract more businesses to the area, but ways to add more tourist amenities to maximize the city's strengths.

Both meetings will be open to the public and agendas for each will be posted on the city's website sometime next week. Sheldon added that each group is composed of a handful of residents, a councilman and member of the city staff.

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"We know we're always going to be an amazing tourist destination, but this pandemic has showed us we need to diversify a little bit," he said. "It's really just going to start with a white board and a brain-storming session."

When asked why it's important that a member of the city council be present for each meeting, Sheldon said it shows members that the council takes these think-tanks seriously.

"We want to make sure these committees feel 100% supported," he said. "We're all better when we do it together."