Governmental Hub Named For Magaha, Civic Center Renamed

October 19, 2012

The Escambia County Commission voted Thursday night to rename the county’s governmental hub and the civic center.

The commission  renamed the Escambia County Governmental Complex to the Ernie Lee Magaha Governmental Complex in honor of the Jay native and longtime Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller Ernie Lee Magaha.

Magaha was born in Jay, raised in Mosquito Flats near Century, and graduated from Century High School. He served in the Merchant Marines and graduated from Auburn University with a degree in economics in 1950.

He served as a state auditor for five years and resigned in 1956 to run for the clerk of the court of record. At that time, he and his wife, Lucile, spearheaded a grassroots campaign and literally walked the county for a successful election in November 1956 as she was expecting their first child.

He took office in January of 1957 and has held the position of clerk since that time.  His office was instrumental in the smooth transition of the court system in 1972 to the two-tier system in place today. In 1995, then Governor Lawton Chiles asked him to assume the additional responsibilities of the comptroller’s office.

Also Thursday night, the commission voted to rebrand and rename the  Pensacola Civic Center  to the Pensacola Bay Center with a new logo. The new name and logo will be phased in immediately. Plans are in place to create a comprehensive marketing campaign that also includes a new website. The change was made at the recommendation of SMG, the center’s management company.

Comments

6 Responses to “Governmental Hub Named For Magaha, Civic Center Renamed”

  1. countywide on October 20th, 2012 7:55 am

    I am sooooo glad my taxes are going to this. Teachers cant get raises, roads need fixed, firemen and cops need raises but great we are renaming a building!
    WAY TO GO!!!!!

  2. Rick on October 20th, 2012 7:43 am

    To Mike; The acoustics are so bad at the Civic Center, many acts will not play it, it just sounds too awful. Graduations and sports do alright there.

  3. mike on October 19th, 2012 5:54 pm

    All are WASTE OF TAX DOLLARS…..Tax payers are paying for all this with the mney the County don’t have. Renaming the Civic Center is not going to bring people here….Getting rid of the TOP MANAGEMENT at the Civic Center would bring more Acts to Pensacola

  4. whatthehay on October 19th, 2012 12:18 pm

    Another fine waste of tax dollars. The clerk of the cort employees get a 4 % raise and the BCC employees do not, and you rename a BCC building with his name AWESOME!!!!!

  5. jtrlmac on October 19th, 2012 8:35 am

    I don’t have a problem with the Civic Center being renamed, however, I do have a problem with the Court House being renamed after Mr. Magaha. There are more people in this county who have done more for it that don’t get recognized for it. Where is their building? Why didn’t the tax payers get to vote on renaming the court house? We voted him out. That’s all I have to say.

  6. 429SCJ on October 19th, 2012 3:58 am

    A good decision.