Brian Grama, a Panama City resident, urged city officials to use fees from proposed school‑zone speed cameras to fund pedestrian safety improvements rather than put the money into the general fund. “I would like to see that money go for a specific purpose that kind of helps why we're doing it in the first place,” Grama said.

City staff described the program as a limited, one‑year test and said state law governs where fine revenue may be allocated. “There's a specific percentage, commissioner. You're correct. Most of it does go to public safety,” a city staff member said. The staff member also said tickets would not be automatic: “A Panama City sworn law enforcement officer or LEO has to review each and every one.”

The discussion centered on three questions: whether the camera program will reduce speeds, how the city will use any fee revenue, and whether data from the cameras should be used for targeted enforcement or mailed fines.

Supporters at the meeting described the cameras as one tool among many. Grama and others recommended directing much of the revenue to upgraded school‑zone signs, flashing beacons, leading pedestrian indicators and raised crosswalks. “If we're gonna solve a problem by ticketing people, we beef up … the most obnoxious school zone signs that flash and give you the speed limits,” Grama said.

Speakers also urged the city to look at alternatives and complements to automated enforcement. A city official noted the cost of staffing marked patrol cars for every school, estimating roughly $2.5 million a year, and suggested using camera data to deploy officers at the right times or to measure the effects of signage and striping. One commissioner said she was wary of the program’s privacy and equity implications and questioned how overlapping revenue streams from the city and school board would be coordinated.

No formal action was taken; staff framed the proposal as a test and described follow‑up steps, including inventorying existing school‑zone infrastructure and identifying sites for improvements if the test proceeds. City staff said the next phases would include specifying program metrics, confirming legal requirements for fund allocation, and coordinating with the Panama City Police Department on the adjudication process.

Residents and officials agreed on the goal of safer school zones, but they differed on means: some preferred cameras as a backstop to engineering and education; others recommended broader neighborhood enforcement and behavioral campaigns funded from any ticket revenue.

City staff and commissioners said they would return to the subject in a formal meeting for further deliberation and to provide more detail on the legal allocation of revenues and proposed site list for the pilot program.