Mayor Bobby Wagner used his annual State of the City address last Tuesday to outline a slate of infrastructure projects nearing completion and issue a challenge to residents: do more for the community.

• “Ask not what Destin can do for you, but what you can do for Destin,” Wagner told an audience gathered Feb. 17 for the address, riffing on the famous Kennedy line.

Wagner, who has served as mayor for four years, confirmed he will seek reelection. He framed the speech around a theme of “Destin Does” — emphasizing action and results — while ticking through a list of projects the city has funded, approved or completed in recent years.

Crosstown Connector, Tarpon Beach lead project list

The Crosstown Connector, a project Wagner called “infamous,” has cleared its final council vote and is now in the hands of construction crews, he said.

Wagner said the road is designed with residents in mind, featuring winding lanes intended to keep speeds low, tree-lined sidewalks and a playground. The project aims to reroute traffic away from residential streets while creating green space for pedestrians, cyclists and dog walkers.

Tarpon Beach, a joint project with Okaloosa County, is expected to be completed in May. The beachfront facility will include bike racks and shade structures, with over a football field’s length of public beach access. Wagner emphasized the city’s commitment that no commercial activity — no chair rentals or vendors — will be permitted on the parcel.

“Just people enjoying the beach as nature and God intended,” he said.

Norriego Point, park upgrades across the city

Wagner highlighted the completion of the $12 million Norriego Point park, funded with BP oil spill settlement money. The park now features ADA-compliant boardwalks and public restrooms open dawn to dusk — addressing what Wagner called one of the longest-running complaints from residents in the Harbor area.

Dredging operations are also underway in the harbor, with engineers finding some areas of the channel had narrowed to just six feet of clearance, putting larger vessels at risk of scraping the bottom. The dredged sand is being deposited on the west side of the bay, benefiting both the boating and beach communities.

Clement Taylor Park on Calhoun Street has a new playground, though the parking lot remains under construction. Morgan Sports Fields received more than $1 million in new LED lighting to replace aging halogen fixtures — some of which, Wagner noted, had caught fire before being replaced.

• “You can’t say that we’re not conservatives and we’re not just duct taping everything until we must redo things,” he said. “Just know your tax dollars are being stretched to the very last penny.”

Wagner said that once the Clement Taylor Park project wraps up, every playground in Destin will have been refurbished.

Boardwalk expansion advances

The city received state permits for a boardwalk expansion and scored third in the state’s Transportation Alternative Grant rankings through the Transportation Planning Organization. The top three projects advance for state funding consideration.

Wagner said the boardwalk expansion traces back to a community vision plan from the year 2000, and credited past leaders for laying the groundwork.

“Something that was envisioned in 2000 is now coming to fruition,” he said.

City operations by the numbers

Wagner used the address to spotlight city staff, rattling off department-level statistics:

The city clerk’s office fulfilled roughly 800 public records requests last year — about three per day — with 95% completed within three days.

The communications office, led by Dr. Tamara Young, maintained a 98% response rate on social media inquiries with an average three-hour response time across platforms including Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Nextdoor.

The Destin Public Library logged 10,558 program attendees for the year, with about 4,000 of those coming through the summer reading program.

Code enforcement investigated more than 1,600 cases, with officers working 12 hours a day, seven days a week.

Public works has paved 17 streets and swept 347 miles of road — cycling through the city’s 66 miles of roadway roughly five times. Crews removed 170 cubic yards of debris.

The finance department processed 5,617 transactions. Wagner also highlighted a $600,000 internal efficiency review — which he compared to the federal “DOGE” effort — crediting City Manager Larry Jones and department directors with finding savings across the organization.

Law enforcement, fire and safety

Wagner pointed to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office responding to nearly 40,000 calls per year in Destin — a city of about 14,000 residents spread across seven square miles. Traffic stops added roughly 6,000 more contacts.

Wagner said the call volume was central to the council’s decision to implement a $500 short-term rental fee for condos.

The Destin Fire Department’s lifeguard program tracked approximately 2 million beachgoers within city limits and logged nearly 250,000 preventative actions — from red flag warnings to direct interventions.

Taxes, community involvement

Wagner briefly addressed the state’s push toward eliminating property taxes, acknowledging that city officials “might be a little biased” on the issue. But he framed the discussion as a call to action: if residents want less government, individuals need to step up.

• “No taxes — that means the individual is more empowered now to do more on behalf of the city,” Wagner said. “If we want less government, that means the individual needs to do more.”

He said the city’s roughly $12 million general fund budget is leveraged at a five-to-one ratio through grants, partnerships and nonprofit collaborations.

Wagner closed by calling on community organizations — from the Destin Rotary Club to the American Legion to neighborhood watch groups — to partner with the city on beautification and improvement efforts in the year ahead, including painting the post office, installing murals and cleaning up Morgan Sports Center and Mountain Drive.