The Honorable J.B. Whitten
Mayor, City of Crestview

Mayor Whitten grew up in a small New England town and after leaving college, joined the United States Air Force, where he traveled around the world in such exotic places as Turkey, the Philippines, Japan, Italy, Scotland, and Iceland. In between these tours, he got to live in the Florida cities of Pensacola, Niceville, Panama City, and Tampa, where he retired in his 30th year. He served in the top enlisted position in four different locations, advising the commanding officers on all matters related to our enlisted force. Mayor Whitten stayed in the Tampa Bay area for sixteen years, working as a teacher in Hillsborough County for twelve of those years.

His teaching career was exceedingly rewarding with my being promoted from a special education [ESE] teacher to the ESE specialist for the whole school. In that position, I was responsible for the proper placement of all students who needed special services, monitoring their needs, ensuring all federal record keeping was accurate and timely, and recommending appropriate disciplinary action on these students to the assistant principals for students.

When Mayor Whitten retired from teaching, he and his wife Ann returned to the Florida Panhandle to be near his two daughters and their grandchildren. They have been here since 2010 and in 2015, he was elected to the Crestview City Council. Although a part time job, he was able to throw myself completely into the position because technically he was retired. With his encouragement to the council, they were able to appoint a Citizens’ Charter Review Committee and begin the process of possibly changing their form of government. Based on the feedback Mayor Whitten was getting from the citizens, he was pretty sure this time, a proposed change would take place; therefore, he wanted to remain in the government, but in a different role, as the mayor.

Once approved, the “New View” as Mayor Whitten labeled it, took off like a rocket and the city made significant changes that were long overdue. This happened only because their leadership team came together and worked for the present and the future, not the past. As they ended 2019, Mayor Whitten proposed that the theme for 2020 should be “A Community Coming Together” to ensure the citizens felt part of the team. With the coronavirus and racial unrest, that has most assuredly been the case with their citizens having all worked hard to make sure they are all taken care of.