Okaloosa County residents caught in a cycle of unpaid fees, suspended licenses and new tickets got a chance to start digging out Friday, Oct. 23, at the 2026 Okaloosa County Driver’s License Clinic at the Okaloosa County Courthouse Annex Extension in Fort Walton Beach.
- The annual clinic, held by Judge Angela Mason and the First Judicial Circuit, is a “one-stop shopping” event that puts the court, the Okaloosa County Clerk of Courts, the Okaloosa County Tax Collector’s Office, the Florida Department of Revenue and other agencies in one place to help residents restore driving privileges that have been revoked, suspended or cancelled.
Registration was open to the first 100 people with a revoked, suspended or cancelled Florida license. Of those who registered, 47 qualified, including seven inmates. Twenty of the qualifying participants showed up Friday, and 11 left with an express pass to go directly to the DMV to have their license made. The seven inmates were placed on payment plans or signed up for classes so they are set up when they are released.
- The DMV’s FLOW (Florida Licensing On Wheels) Truck, which is normally on-site to print licenses during the clinic, was not able to be at this year’s event.
“It means the system is working,” Judge Mason said of helping people get their licenses back. “Because punishment and accountability are the cornerstone, but so is rehabilitation. When a person is wanting to do better, we have to give them that opportunity.”
How it started
When Mason took the bench in 2018, she said she was overwhelmed by how many people came before her for driving on a suspended license. She said she would ask them why their license was suspended, and many had no idea. For the vast majority, she said, the reason was financial.
“There’s got to be something we can do about it,” Mason said at the time.
Escambia County holds a similar clinic, and Mason spoke with a judge there about it. Around the same time, Ryan McCurley, a Correctional Officer with the Okaloosa County Department of Corrections, asked her whether there was a way to help inmates get licensed before they leave. Mason said she went to Escambia to watch its clinic and modeled Okaloosa’s largely after it.
The first Okaloosa clinic was held in 2019. Mason said more than 40 people walked out with a license that first year, some of whom had not driven in 10 years because they were not sure why they were suspended.
A cycle that’s hard to escape
Mason said several entities can suspend a license. The court can suspend it for unpaid court fees, the tax collector can suspend it for various reasons, and the Florida Department of Revenue can suspend it for child support. Outstanding probation fees and points can also lead to a suspension. A certain number of points in a certain amount of time brings a one-year suspension, and three charges for driving while license suspended can make someone a habitual traffic offender for five years.
“Some people earn that title. Those are not the people I’m here to help today,” Mason said. “But if you are someone who doesn’t have a ton of money, didn’t pay a court fee, then had to drive to work to earn money to pay that court fee, got a new ticket and started the cycle all over, those are the people we’re trying to help.”
She said few people realize that paying a ticket immediately puts points on their license unless the court withholds them, and that many people get several tickets in one stop, such as for speeding and not having insurance. Mason said she has also seen multiple people in her courtroom who had a sick child and took the risk of driving them to the doctor.
- “I thought, ‘How hard is it to maintain a license?’ Turns out, for some people, very,” Mason said. “And once you start the spiral, it is nearly impossible to get out.”
Okaloosa County Clerk of Courts Brad Embry said financial impacts are the leading cause of what he called the “revolving door effect.” He said what starts as a civil penalty can become a criminal offense if a person is caught knowingly driving on a suspended license.
“It’s a snowball effect,” Embry said. “People have to go to work. People have to pay the bills, and they need their driver’s license to do that, typically.”
Mason said the agencies were willing to come to the table from the start. She said if someone owes $10,000, the system may never see that money, but the goal is to work with them, collect a portion and get them back to driving legally.
“I cannot control what’s going on in the rest of the world, but I can make Okaloosa County as fair and just as possible,” Mason said.
One room, one day
Residents register for the clinic through Eventbrite. The tax collector, the clerk and the Department of Revenue then review each applicant’s license history to determine why they are suspended and whether it is something the agencies can work with.
Amanda Albers of the Okaloosa County Tax Collector’s Office said her office received its list in May. She said vetting takes about 30 to 45 minutes per person, including printing and reviewing the driving record, researching whether a ticket requires a certain driving school, calculating fees and determining which documents the person needs to bring. The office checked whether each applicant’s matters were in Okaloosa County and whether they were something Mason could help with.
Albers said the tax collector’s office vetted a little more than 70 applicants and found 40 eligible. Of 16 inmates on the list, seven were eligible, and a handful did not have a suspended license at all. Cherrylyn Mellott, Chief of Branch Operations for the tax collector’s office, said staff email checklists to participants ahead of time so they know what to do before the clinic, all while handling their regular jobs.
On clinic day, participants see Mason first. She said if there is a criminal charge or fine she can reduce, or points she can withhold, she will do that first to help make them eligible.
Participants then go next door to the jury assembly room, where they can see the clerk to make a payment or get on a payment plan. The Department of Revenue is there for child support payments, and the tax collector is there for its fees. Bridgeway is also on site for people who need to sign up for a basic or advanced driver improvement course or DUI school. Mason said many people do not know that signing up for the course, not completing it, is what makes them eligible.
Mason said there are agencies that can help with fees, but the court does not pay for anything. She said the clinic’s IT staff communicates directly with a person at the state driver’s license office in Tallahassee who updates the systems immediately, something that only happens on clinic days. For people who cannot get a license that day, the Mental Health Association provides bus passes.
Embry said the clinic is not a free pass.
- “Judge Mason is not just carte blanche waiving everything,” Embry said. “What we’re doing is bringing everybody together so that it’s a one-stop shop for them to be able to get everything accomplished in the same day.”
Embry said that when participants leave the courtroom and come to the clerk’s office, what he sees is relief.
“That’s what I see, is a huge weight being lifted off the shoulders of the people that are impacted by these issues,” Embry said.
Albers said that without the clinic, a person trying to clear their license might come to the tax collector’s office missing a document, then have to leave for another office and call their insurance company before coming back.
“With this event, having all of us in the room, having everybody communicating, it’s a one-stop shop,” Albers said.
Albers said people get stopped, take too long to pay a ticket, pick up more fees and get stopped again.
“The biggest thing, I think, is helping them break the cycle,” Albers said. “The goal is to break them out of it and get them back on the road legally.”
A head start for inmates
The inmates who took part have release dates within the next 60 days, Mason said. The goal is to get them on a payment plan so they can make the first payment within that window. If they do not, she said, they are right back where they started.
“Inmates need an opportunity to prove they can do better. Oftentimes, if they don’t have that opportunity, they never do,” Mason said. “So it’s completely on them, but we’re going to give them that opportunity.”
Mason said many inmates believe people have given up on them and don’t care.
“These are people who really have an opportunity to get out of whatever cycle they’re in and become contributing members of this community,” Mason said.
Help outside the clinic
For those who were not part of the clinic, Embry said the clerk’s office offers payment plans year-round for citations and court fees. He said the plans can extend beyond the 30-day window, and as long as people keep making payments, their license will not be suspended.
Albers said residents can also call or visit the tax collector’s office, where staff will go through their record and provide an itemized checklist of what they need to reinstate. The office also hands out what it calls preference passes, which let a customer who is missing a document leave, get it and return to the front of the line.
- The Okaloosa County Clerk of Courts can be reached at 850-651-7200 or okaloosaclerk.com. The Okaloosa County Tax Collector’s Office can be reached at 850-651-7300 or okaloosatax.com.
The clinic is held once a year. Mason said it is advertised on Eventbrite and through flyers in the courthouse and handed out by probation, the State Attorney’s Office, the Public Defender’s Office and the tax collector.
Mellott said staff hear many stories from participants, some of whom were simply put in situations that maybe could have been helped, and see the emotions people go through when they get their license. She said the best part of the day is seeing people get their licenses and their lives back on track.
“Now they can drive to work, and a lot of them are having to bum rides or do Uber and all that,” Mellott said. “So just giving them a piece of their freedom back, I think, is what is exciting.”
Access to the court
Mason said access to the courts has been her biggest priority since taking the bench in 2018. As a prosecutor, she said, she worked with many people who were scared of the courthouse. She said her field trips reach children and Veterans Court reaches the military, while the clinic reaches the citizens of Okaloosa County who maybe need that access more than anybody.
“This is another opportunity for me to give people access to the court and engage with us in a way that is not overwhelming, that is hopefully less intimidating,” Mason said.
She said if people see the court trying to help them now, then if they ever have to come back for something criminal, they may see it differently and say, “You tried, Judge.”
“I just hope it highlights that the system can and does work in various different ways,” Mason said.
