MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TASK FORCE
A Regular Meeting of the Economic Development Task Force was held this date in Council Chambers at City Hall. Vice Chair Trent Young called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m.
I. ROLL CALL
The following Task Force members were present: Vice Chair Trent Young, Joan McGill, Ray Modjeski, H. Lee Thacker, Jr., Mack Wilcox, and Ex-Officio Councilmember Kit McKeon. Chair Paula Dumas and Dan Bechtold were absent.
Also present: Finance Director Jeffrey Snyder and Recording Secretary Susan Schult.
II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Mr. Modjeski moved to approve
Minutes of the Regular Meeting held
III. NEW BUSINESS
1. Election of Chair and Vice Chair –
Continued later this meeting
There was a consensus
of the task force to continue this item to the next meeting when all members
are present.
2. Economic Development
Corporation (EDC) Incentive Programs – Joan McGill
Ms. McGill left the dais at 3:32 p.m. to give
the presentation. She distributed an EDC
book for
Ms. McGill reviewed the new EDC goals including
strengthening the competitiveness of existing businesses, becoming the leader
for business and services that service the older demographic, and optimizing
people, policies and investments. She talked about the services EDC offers, their
proactive approach to connecting with businesses, explained eligibility criteria
for state incentives, including number of new jobs, capital investment,
business type, average wage of a company, and noted the average wage for the
county. She announced the targeted industries identified by the state including
manufacturing, life sciences, information technology, aviation and aerospace,
homeland security/defense, financial services, and emerging technologies.
Ms. McGill outlined the state incentives
offered including the Qualified Target Industry Tax Refund that is most used in
the state, the Incumbent Worker Training Program, Economic Development
Transportation Fund, Capital Investment Tax Credit, enterprise zones and
brownfield incentives. She touched on the success of the programs, and deferred
answering questions concerning PGT’s expansion to
Ms. McGill talked about the local county
economic development incentives, reported the county established a $2,000,000
fund, explained how the county allocates funding at their discretion, and outlined
different programs established with the fund. She mentioned the second round of
Recovery Zone Facility Bond applications are due by the end of the month, and talked
about road impact fee mitigation and rapid permitting incentives by the county.
She further outlined the services EDC
provides businesses locally and internationally, workforce development through
websites such as jobfocus.com, employflorida.com and jobs, etc., quick response
training, incumbent worker training, and employed worker training. She expanded
on the training programs available, reviewed other resources available to businesses,
and mentioned county incentives that kept Medical Education Technologies, Inc. (MEDI)
in
In response to questions, Ms. McGill stated
it took a few months for the county to agree to mitigate the impact fees, it
was critical to let MEDI know the county wanted them to remain in the county,
the approval process was public, noted it is hard to determine why companies do
not relocate to Florida, referenced companies who relocated to Manatee County,
the perception that Sarasota County does not welcome businesses, and remarked
the county does not have the workforce base to attract big companies.
Discussion ensued on the type of businesses
that relocate, the average county wage base, higher housing costs in
Ms. McGill returned to the dais at 4:12 p.m.
1. Election of Chair and Vice Chair –
Continued
Mr. Trent noted he will not be present at the
February meeting, queried the board on holding elections, suggested the task
force maintain the current chair and stated he is willing to remain the vice
chair.
Mr. Trent nominated Ms. Dumas serve as
chair of the Economic Development Task Force. Seconded by Mr. Thacker.
Mr. Modjeski nominated Mr. Trent to
serve as Vice Chair of the Economic Development Task Force. Seconded by Mr. Wilcox.
SEEING NO OTHER NOMINATIONS MS. DUMAS WAS
ELECTED CHAIR AND MR YOUNG WAS
ELECTED VICE CHAIR OF THE ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT TASK FORCE.
1. Public
Education on Economic Development Funding Programs
Mr. Young noted this item was covered sufficiently in Ms. McGill’s presentation.
2. Economic
Development Ad Valorem Exemption Program
Mr. Snyder reported council authorized staff to move forward on the tax abatement program and thanked the task force for their support.
Mr. Young queried the task force for agenda topics. Discussion followed on the status of the white paper, and the county working with the cities to develop a complete incentive marketing package that includes available incentives in all cities, county and the state.
Mr. McKeon
noted council will be holding their strategic planning session
Discussion continued regarding incentives from the city for building projects such as Tra Ponti and the Wasserman hotel project, whether the city is willing to do anything to help these projects move forward, and the process of communicating recommendations or questions to council.
Mr. McKeon stated he would address possible incentives on the two hotel projects at the next council meeting.
Discussion ensued on the importance of a good economic environment being communicated to the public, the importance of businesses to the community, finding the right mechanism to communicate to the public, tourism driving the economy, reduction in room rates, communication issues between city boards and council, and possibly having a joint meeting between the task force and council.
VI. ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to come before this Task Force, the meeting was adjourned at 4:28 p.m.
(Approved by the
Chair person and the Recording Secretary at the