PANAMA CITY — While same-sex couples can legally obtain a marriage license starting Tuesday, they will not be able to get married in most Panhandle county courthouses.
Bay County stopped performing marriage ceremonies in September.
“We are out of space,” Bay County Chief Deputy Clerk Jody Walls said.
With expansion of the courthouse planned, Bay County moved probate offices where the ceremonies were formerly conducted, next to the records office.
Also, Bay County will keep the same hours Tuesday — 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. — but are prepared to continue issuing licenses in cases of a line at 4:30 p.m.
“We’ve had a lot of phone calls,” Walls said. “We can do 40 or 50 licenses in a day. We’ve done 40 licenses before, on Valentine’s Day.”
Washington County also had space concerns when they stopped performing marriage ceremonies on Aug. 1. The clerk’s office moved out of the courthouse after it was condemned because of mold in 2013.
Washington County Clerk of Court Lora Bell said the county was preparing for a large crowd before federal Judge Robert Hinkel’s ruling on Jan. 1 that clerks across the state must issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Now she is not sure how many couples the county will serve. Regardless, the clerk of court will keep the same hours, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Jackson, Gulf and Calhoun counties also made decisions about conducting ceremonies at the end of the 2014 fiscal year in September. Holmes stopped doing ceremonies in July and Franklin County stopped earlier in 2014. The common explanation was a lack of staffing in each department.
“We stopped doing it at the end of December but we made the decision in September,” Jackson County Clerk Dale Guthrie said. “We have two employees now but we used to have three. Budgeting factors kept us from hiring another employee.”
Jackson, Holmes, Gulf, Franklin and Calhoun counties are all keeping normal courthouse hours.
In Walton County also, any hope of same sex couples being able to marry at the courthouse has been dashed by Clerk of Courts Alex Alford.
Alford announced Monday that he and his deputy clerks would no longer be presiding over courthouse weddings of any kind.
In the news release, Alford said “limited resources and facilities” had led him to make the decision.
The decision was announced less than 24 hours before clerks of court across Florida will be obligated to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples.
Daily News writer Tom McLaughlin contributed to this report.