Leaps and Bounds

Russ Barley didn’t know precisely what to expect when he became mayor of Freeport, the small Walton County city where he grew up. He would discover that people contact the mayor’s office regarding a wide range of problems, fully expecting the city to solve them.

Many people, Barley said, believe the city is empowered to unilaterally make improvements or changes to a state or federal highway that happens to pass through town. Others call with problems that lie beyond the purview of city operations and are appropriate to private-sector solutions.

In his first term as mayor, Barley was visited by an older woman who was convinced that she had bats in her attic. He might have simply referred the woman to a wildlife removal service but instead made an earnest effort to help her out.

He called the nearby E.O. Wilson Biophilia Center and learned that it was home to an expert on bats who was willing to visit the woman’s home. Upon doing so, the bat man found that the attic was free of flying mammals; there wasn’t the first splat of guano up there.

Photo by Mike Fender

“The homeowner’s daughter later told me that her mother just thinks she has bats,” Barley said. 

Barley shared the phantom bat story with Gene Wright, then the mayor of Malone, in Jackson County.

Wright had a “Silver Bat Award” plaque made, recognizing his colleague for having gone beyond the call of duty in responding to a case of bat hysteria. He “slightly embarrassed” Barley by presenting the plaque to him at a Northwest Florida League of Cities meeting.

Visitors to Barley’s office can’t miss the award, despite its modest 4-by-6 inches in size. When the mayor is seated at his desk, it is right over his left shoulder.

The plaque is emblematic of the approach that Barley takes to his role as mayor. He reports to City Hall five days a week in suit and tie, meanwhile leaving the operation of his three businesses in town — a flower shop and women’s and children’s clothing stores — to his employees.

“I am a full-time mayor,” Barley said. “I am here if someone wants to speak to me, and I can answer their questions or get an answer for them. I don’t want anyone answering questions for me.”

A new 4,000-square-foot city community center is under construction. Photo by Mike Fender

In 2013, Barley defeated 22-year incumbent Mickey Marse, 366 votes to 160, to win the office he has held ever since. Marse’s father was Freeport’s first mayor following its incorporation in 1963. Barley’s father was its second.

“When I decided to run for mayor, it was because I didn’t see much growth in Freeport,” Barley said. “I would go to high school graduations, and that was the last I’d see of the students. They would just leave; there was nothing here.”

Barley didn’t hang around long himself after graduating from Freeport High School. He attended what was then Okaloosa-Walton Junior College for two years and then enlisted in the Navy. He served for five years, two of them in Newfoundland, and was honored to be named a personnel man.

Upon separating from the military, Barley worked at a Veterans Administration hospital in Jackson, Mississippi, and opened a flower shop there.

“I have a God-given talent in the floral industry,” he said.

He moved to Jacksonville and worked for a big flower shop there before starting his own. Thirty-four years ago, he completed a large loop, returning to Freeport and setting up shop in Santa Rosa Beach.

“People used to say, ‘You live in Freeport?’ like they couldn’t believe it,” Barley said of his 19 years doing business on the coast. “Now, people are moving from Destin to live here.”

Barley moved his shop inland when he was satisfied that Freeport had become big enough to support it.

“I am doing very well,” he said.

When Barley became mayor, Freeport’s Planning Department was
a one-person operation. “Now, we have six or seven people in Planning,” he said.

The department grew so quickly that it took over the city’s community center. A new, 4,000-square-foot center is under construction.

In 1990, Freeport numbered 873 residents, according to the U.S. Census. Twenty years later, it had grown to just 1,787 souls. As of late 2023, Barley said, the population had reached 12,780. Another 14,859 people live in the city’s utilities service area.

In recent years, Freeport has been the fastest-growing city in Florida, percentage-wise. 

Barley likes to make the rounds in Freeport, delivering progress reports to service clubs and other gatherings.

He talks about efforts by the city to develop infrastructure in anticipation of growth rather than in response to it. He cites work to expand the city’s existing wastewater treatment facility and its plans to build a second one on the east side of town.

He discusses plans to build a road that will extend from the Hammock Bay development to U.S. 331 at Marquis Way, thus relieving congestion at the north-south highway’s intersection with State Road 20.

He lists businesses that are new to town: Circle K, Pizza Hut, Emerald Coast Title Co., 331 Noodles, Tool Expo, Otto’s Car Wash.

He cites development orders — approved, pending and anticipated — and says that the city can be expected to grow to 30,000 in population in the next 10 years.

“People often ask me when we are going to get a big-box store,” Barley said. “We don’t recruit businesses like that. They do their own market research. The numbers will tell them when it’s time to come here.

“When I was elected, it was a goal of mine to have a hotel in Freeport,” Barley said. “Now, we’re about to have four.”

Freeport has reached the point where it doesn’t have to give itself away.

Barley noted a California fabrication business that had an interest in coming to Freeport. The city was willing to provide the suitor with incentives including land in exchange for high-paying jobs.

Businesses new to one of Florida’s fastest-growing cities include the occupants of this strip center. Photo by Mike Fender

“But it got to the point where they wanted the city to practically set them up in business,” Barley said, “and the council decided to suspend talks with them.

“We’re still a laid-back community,” Barley said in describing Freeport’s appeal. “People see all the waterways that we have around here, and that’s attractive to them. And, we’re just 15 minutes from the Gulf of Mexico.

“We have lots of military here and retirees from up north, and we’re seeing young people moving in. I ask myself how they find out about Freeport, what they do when they get here and how they can afford to live here. I’m not sure I’ve figured that out.”

In Freeport, Barley said, the average price of a home is $450,000. Apartments rent for $1,500 to $2,000 per month.

“We have more people all the time, and they all want to keep the small-town atmosphere,” Barley said.

Framed portraits of young women who have reigned as Miss Freeport hang in a reception area at City Hall. Photo by Mike Fender

He promotes events that bring people together and provide a sense of community: Bayfest, Night at the Park, the Mayor’s Ball, the Spring Festival/Eggstravaganza. The city has plans to enlarge its library. It has a modest museum, sometimes staffed by volunteers. If no volunteer is present on a given day, Barley said, “We’ll give you the key, and you can have a look around yourself.”

Barley is 75. He underwent quintuple bypass surgery in 2017. He has survived rectal cancer and is not sure if he will seek a fourth term.

“I’m thinking and praying about it,” he said. “Things aren’t the same. We’ve got a city manager now.”

Every day on the way to his office, Barley passes by a collection of old photos curated by the late town historian, Beckie Blount Buxton. He passes by dozens of framed portraits of Miss Freeports.

“I am here for a reason,” Barley said confidently. “There is still more for me to accomplish.”