Brevard carved into three counties which would have been named - from north to south - Brevard, Hudson and Indian River. Titusville would have remained Brevard's county seat, Cocoa would have become the county seat for Hudson county, named in honor of the senator who was to sponsor the bill, and Melbourne was to be the county seat of Indian River county. This did not happen. The United States Army Corps of Engineers objected to the idea of the Sebastian Inlet for several reasons. The chosen location presented the distinct possibility that once the cut was opened it would cause sand shoals to form in the Indian river and block the East Coast Canal. The Corps was obliged to maintain the East Coast Canal at that time and didn't want the extra expense of dredging out new shoals. Additionally they disagreed with the idea that the inlet would be dug, as had the East Coast Canal, using private funds which they viewed as a precursor to failure. The Corps insisted that for them to approve such a plan a local tax district would have to be created to raise funds for the inlet's maintenance so that federal tax money wouldn't be needed. Mainly because of the lack of a tax district the Corps continued to deny Inlet supporters their needed War Department permit all through 1915. The Inlet's supporters wouldn't take a "no" from the Army Corps and persisted with their efforts to be granted a permit to dig the Sebastian Inlet. They repeatedly petitioned the government and were granted several public hearings to discuss the inlet issue at greater length during that year. Perhaps hoping to help persuade the Corps to grant a permit for digging to begin, Jessie Goode volunteered to grant an easement across her barrier island property for the new cut. If her offer had been accepted the inlet would have been called "The Goode Sebastian Inlet" in honor of her late husband. Two things important to the Sebastian Inlet plans occurred in 1916. The Corps agreed to grant a permit for a private consortium to proceed with work on the Inlet if they could post a $20,000 indemnity bond to cover the cost of the Corps repairing the East Coast Canal should the Inlet cause shoals to form and a wealthy physician, Dr. Hughlett, from Cocoa was elected to the state senate. Hughlett had been