PDE-27-0083

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1. 1Oct 20, 2026
   Board of County CommissionersR27Regular businessNo outcome in the minutes

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   Jack MarianoChair

   1:54:09Very good. Alright. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thank you very much. Thank you. Alright, we'll go to R twenty seven, M Skills Cooperative Funding Agreement.

   David Engel

   1:54:17Good morning, David Engel, Planning and Economic Development Director. It's my pleasure to be here today to present R27. This is a cooperative funding agreement for AMSkills. We heard a lot about people today in the morning support uh comments. We we make a difference in people's lives here in Pasco. But AmSkills has a larger mission than that. It makes a difference for our economic sustainability and prosperity in our community. Years ago people migrated

   1:54:48to be by the company. They were called company towns. But nowadays things have flipped around. business is fi looking for workforce. Skilled, indigenous, reliable labor. And we are in a not a renaissance, but an evolution in our economic prosperity journey. We are getting advanced manufacturing not only knocking on our door, but already establishing here. Gary Plastics, six hundred people. Balduco, it's gonna be probably up to a thousand.

   1:55:18My Tech, Southeast Culvert, you know, I can go on to list and list. But I want to tell you that the industrial pipeline in Pasco County for the eight and a half years I've been an employee here has never looked better. We have massive uh uh Fortune 500 companies looking hard at Pasco and we want to gear up. Now M Skills is specifically in job skills training. We they train advanced uh people from advanced manufacturing. for technical training.

   1:55:49And uh right now, AmSkills is basically branching out and uh doing the work we need to have done to support business, to attract business and to also partner with our other other job skills partners. And um so let me just uh review a couple of quick things. Uh this the slide here is just an introduction. We all know that AmSils is a support of Uh as a training concern. Uh they used to do just exclusively manufacturing skills training.

   1:56:19Now they're involved in technical training, whether it be electricians or or even automotive mechanics and things like that, because we have a massive demand for these type of trade jobs and we don't have the skilled labor force to perform them. Uh in two thousand fourteen the Board of County Commissioners, which is twelve years ago, provided Amskills with some seed funding. It was just a concept then and this was a pilot uh organization and since then the board to date has provided approximately two point six million

   1:56:49dollars in funding. And uh over the last 12 years, AmSkills has developed and produced 29 workforce programs. Over 3,000 participants have gone through their training. And we have at 193 manufacturing job full-time employee placements, and almost 1,100 uh individuals have been in industrially credentialed. AmSkills hits on the four focus areas of her strategic plan It creates a

   1:57:20thriving community because our m our our population's engaged and they provide opportunities to earn a good wage and to be a viable part of our county. Enhancing quality of life. I think there was a discussion about homeless. We also focus on uh retire veterans that are out of the service looking for career tracks and also an upskill skilling track, very similar to the Career Source PASCO re-entry program. It's just much more advanced and technical this

   1:57:50in this type of training. And it certainly drives economic growth. and prosperity. So what's changed between two thousand fourteen, two thousand twenty, and last December when I was before you We have a new CEO, uh Natasha Sherwood. Um, and I have to say Natasha is loaded with energy, but she's also loaded with experience. In her past tenure at other uh career tracks, she she managed an electrician's training program that

   1:58:20started off in year one with about 200 uh people going through the system a year. And she built it over five years to go to 700 individuals. She's also skilled in taking um these job skills training programs and turning him around. Um, you know, unfortunately she had it well, fortunately for for the program, she got involved before she was into the IEC. and uh took us old school, converted into a training platform and

   1:58:51there's a successful program there today. I mean, great work. And what's happened also since is um I've been over at AmSkills. I bring our MBA Steve Smith over. We're we're we're we're focused on uh counting controls, bookkeeping, record keeping, and compliance. Um in the last three months, uh the board of directors have gotten together. They've defined their role through the business plan analysis and the budget. that I'm gonna present to you today was reviewed

   1:59:21and adopted by the Board of Directors of AMSKILS.

   1:59:25So the um the proposal is as follows. For we are proposing to offer RAM Skills eight hundred and ten thousand dollars per year for three years. Uh there the there's two groupings of uh disbursement. One is to pay them three hundred thousand dollars, which will be an annual will be an upfront payment if the board were to approve this today. And that money will be used specifically to train 200 Pasco residents. And might I add, all the money I'm

   1:59:56asking for today to fund this not for profit goes to the doesn't go to operations. It goes to program support. Just like we did have done with Career Source. We don't pay their salary and wages. We run it, they use our funds to run a program. Same thing here with AmSkills. The second component of distribution is $510,000. And we pay this at the time that they place 60 Pasco County residents into full-time

   2:00:26manufacturing or technical skilled jobs. And most importantly, we pay at the job placement. Amskills uh has mister Mr Jones. He goes through the system, he gets the job placement They submit the proof that he has a full-time job and then we pay on that. So we're not giving advanced money for this. It's totally performance based. And lastly, we all know that there is a outstanding um debt to the county uh totaling $150,000. And

   2:00:56we've built in a amateurization of this debt and retirement of the debt at the end of fiscal twenty-seven. This is a three. year deal. So the question is what if? What if AmSkills doesn't train 200 people in year one of the three year period, then they don't get additional funding. Um Number two, if AmSkills um, because we're paying by the full-time job placement, doesn't hit the full sixty, they only get paid what they

   2:01:26put in place. They don't get any advanced money. And if they don't hit the sixty um folks in year one, they can't pay off the hundred and fifty thousand dollar loan. So that's that turns off the funding spigot as well. And let's go into the to the final chart here. Um this just breaks down um how much it costs uh per student and I would say um it's it it's reasonable um fifteen hundred dollars through the training programs which are multi-days and involves

   2:01:57uh ski training um skill skilled instruction using equipment power et cetera And then eighty five hundred dollars a person for manufacturing and technical training. When you look put that in perspective, Career Source um utilizes seven thousand dollars of county funding per student and more remedial uh front-end jobs. So th this this is reasonable and sensible. And again, in year in year one of the eighty five hundred dollars going to the sixty

   2:02:27students for full-time placement. Amskills has pledged to provide two thousand five hundred dollars of that of that revenue to pay off their debt to the county. So that is my presentation. Um I have Natasha Sherwood to my uh rear. She's here to uh ask answer any questions, and I certainly am here to answer any technical questions or contract questions you may have. Thank you.

   Jack MarianoChair

   2:02:51Um, so it's twelve oh four for the board. Um, do you wanna hear Natasha speak or would you like to like have a conversation?

   Kathryn Starkey

   2:02:58Um well I'd ready to make I can make a motion. Um I I I don't know if you guys know but my husband had a stroke Friday. And we've been in the hospital all weekend and he's he's home recovering, but he is not answering his phone. So um I am freaking out here a little bit, but this is very important. Um and so I've sent Katie to go see if he's okay. But I'd I'd like to see if we could, you know, get through this. Um this is not a handout. This is this is helping

   2:03:29uh people get great jobs. You know, when I when I started this, my intention was to bring manufacturing back to America. Um And um and I you know, Trey was president of the um PEDC then and he said, Four manufacturing is only four percent of our jobs here in Pasco County. Why do you care so much? And I said, Well that's the problem. We we've shipped all our jobs overseas and we need to be making our stuff back here. Also, col not every col not every high school kid is going to college and they need to have vocational training and And

   2:03:59we are gonna specialize in manufacturing because it's important to this country. It's great jobs. When companies move here, they don't pick up and move their equipment easily. He's okay? Thank you. Um And um and so That was why we started it. Um And

   2:04:20What you heard today and I'm sorry Commissioner Oakley wasn't in when um Ethan and his grandfather were speaking. And and uh the um the social side of it has been an added blessing. Because there are so many people who have been touched by the training that we do. Um The boot camps are just one part of what we do. We had we were training the trainers last week when Congressman Luna came through and

   2:04:50she loves this program. She's asked us to apply for Newmark. We were training the trainers in industrial industrial maintenance, is that right? Sodom. Oh Sodom. Sorry. And there's a lot there's a lot of other things that we do, but many, many companies would not have been able to expand. if we didn't weren't supplying them with a trained workforce. And I get that we have career source. Um, but Career Source doesn't do training. Career Source sends them to people who does training. Um and we're giving them a million dollars

   2:05:20a year. We've been giving it to them for years. So when you saw that two million dollars there, some of that C D BG money, 1.2 is part of that startup cost that we can we contracted to with Will Weatherford. Um to get to get this going. We are so lucky to have a program like this in our county. We're getting ready to go with Moffitt, Spiro's, overseas to attract more Swiss, German, and German companies here. And it's because we have a program like AmSkills that they pench pay attention to us. So

   2:05:50um I don't know if you want to say anything.

   Natasha Sherwood

   2:05:53I I I've yes spoken with most of you all. Um we have put together a really good pay-for-performance plan that protects the county and it protects us. It it gives us um goals. We already have um the calendar ready to go. We have a new instructor ready to hire. We have another boot camp starting November second that we did the orientation yesterday. Um, so we are ready to go, we are ready to perform, ready to use. And as I explained, my goal is to have that building so loud that I have to cut shut my door. And tomorrow I meet with Zephyrhills on locations that the city is looking forward to give us to train

   2:06:24in East Pasco um as well. Um, already ready to go. So they're all waiting and we're ready to run. Um and to address it. Absolutely more students like Ethan and his grandfather, but also more students like the ones that are there right now getting ready that are employable as we speak. And open for any questions. Commissioner

   Seth WeightmanVice Chair

   2:06:40Weightman.

   2:06:48Commissioner Starkey's passion. and love and drive for successful manufacturing, not just in Pasco, but Tampa Bay has been absolutely unmatched. in her work and her drive is wholeheartedly Commendable. But you all have had twelve years. In business. And you solely rely, this organization has solely relied on governments from the federal, state, and local level to survive. This board bailed

   2:07:18you out once earlier this year, and you're asking for another one today. Of the county debt. Of the debt that's owed to this taxpayer Will the money that you're asking for today, will taxpayer money from Pasco County be used to pay down the remaining balance of this debt? Are we going to be paying our own debt that's accruing interest with the money that comes that you're asking for today?

   David Engel

   2:07:44Well well Commissioner

   Seth WeightmanVice Chair

   2:07:45It's a yes or no question.

   David Engel

   2:07:46No. How? We're gonna use uh if you look at the uh budget in exhibit A, uh this is eight hundred and ten thousand out of uh almost a one point four million dollar budget. They will be able to purpose their private contributions for the debt recovery and repayment to the county.

   Seth WeightmanVice Chair

   2:08:04You can guarantee that.

   David Engel

   2:08:06I will guarantee it because now I'll make sure it happens. Uh you know, because we are looking we're all watching their finances and bookkeeping closely. Well,

   2:08:20Thank you.

   Jack MarianoChair

   2:08:23Uh question. Any of these funds for Penny for Penny for Pasco?

   David Engel

   2:08:27The eight hundred and ten thousand dollars are exclusively from Penny for Pasco for Economic Development.

   Jack MarianoChair

   2:08:34Okay. So

   2:08:38And Tempe partnership years ago said there was thirty-two thousand unfilled jobs that are sitting in this area. If we had the training we could fill them. Gary's Place is a c perfect example. We had like no one out there. Five hundred jobs we thought we had three years to fill it. We had filled it in like nine months. There is such a workforce. And when I look at Ethan today, instead of him at Publix, he's in manufacturing. And I'll tell you there's something else I want to pull out too that I think we want I want you to think bigger because we talked earlier about the industrial park

   2:09:08in Hudson trying to partnership with between Ford and others that want to come in, RSG, a construction company to build thermal protected things that started in California that are weather resistant for like three hundred miles an hour. That company wants to come here, wants to partner with you. And I know I know you've had those discussions. Uh when I look at all that and I'll tell you something else I heard today, I don't know if you guys picked up on it, but when they talk about foster children. Eighty percent of 'em the serial killers, right? That is a market where you get kids that are going through high school it's probably tough. Mounts

   2:09:39are from house to house, depending some of them, et cetera. And once they're out of the eighteen years old, they're out of the house. They need a place to go. And I talked about M skills with some of the property down there. We've talked about it up at Hudson Industrial Park. I wanna get with you and I think if uh maybe Congressman Lunar actually gets a good look at this, there should be a good funding boost we can do with that to help those kids that are coming right up. If they're not gonna go to college, which they could. But maybe they're gonna go to manufacture instead? Let's go give 'em a hand to go forward. And I'd love to try

   2:10:09to take that 'cause I think that's something that federally they can get behind immediately.

   Natasha Sherwood

   2:10:13Yeah, I think it's a both and it's a college. You can do both college and a training skills. It can be an opportunity, a boot camp into it, with trainability into it. Additionally, the foster children is something very important to us. Um we had uh I think four or five at our um East Pasco camp over in Zephyrhills that were out of that foster care aging out program. So definitely have already looked into that as well as with Sandy looking to. I think we have three students coming up in our November 2nd camp at our last camp in Zephyrhills and they graduated, those young men, one of them stood up and said, I don't talk to people in the public. But

   2:10:43I'm gonna talk today 'cause I've never been treated like I have a future. Mm-hmm. And he talked about it. And he was about nineteen or twenty, and we also had about a sixty-four-year-old. You finish the program at the same time. who they had mentored each other throughout their program. And it's not just about the stories. Are those a heart Are great stories, but it's about the growth that they will go into a job and they will become taxpayers and they will become contributors. They go into a career. Yeah, they will go into a career after that. Um so we're excited about that. Definitely want to expand working with the school systems as well, work well with um those school systems and really becoming

   2:11:13a part. Um we've created really a four-legged stool between the school systems, career source, EDC, and AM skills is how we can continually feed each other. So um have a meeting with Bill coming up soon and meet with uh Pasco County School is pretty right early in Jerome.

   Jack MarianoChair

   2:11:26Well the L skills is done and I know that it's we're expecting better and better things and I think we're gonna get it between the three CEOs, Commissioner Starkey coming to see us the previous year when we finance that was great. But seeing they found such a great leader like you that'll do such a phenomenal job. at even over the previous years the total dollars per person was only eight hundred fifty six dollars all that you've done for all these people and M Skills has done I got I got full confidence every step of the way.

   Kathryn Starkey

   2:11:51We're excited.

   Jack MarianoChair

   2:11:51Alright so it's eight thirteen do we have a motion move to approve.

   Kathryn Starkey

   2:11:55Wait I I wanted to say something. I I'm gonna try this we'll see if we get there. Career Source, which is also a 501 C three and is federally and state funded. Um we gave them a very similar contract. We gave them a five year contract. Um they don't do any of the training. They pass they send their people on to other places to do training. um sometimes out of the county, but we are supplementing their federal and state money with a million dollars a year. Um for five years. Um And

   2:12:25I'm I'm very glad we do it because I think there's nothing better than helping people get a job. That helps our economy hands down. We s we started out. doing this one for five years and somehow, somewhere we got cut to three. Just asking for the same exact contract that we did for Career Source, so I just want to see if there's a possibility of three votes to take this to five years because you need stability. And um And And You know, before we were ev every year. It w th that

   2:12:56was crazy. But so I'd just like to ask and see if in my motion I can Um, do the same we did for Career Source and make this a five year program, not a not a three year program. This is economic development money that comes from the penny for Pasco that is required for I mean that is part of what we do whenever a company comes here is we give them workforce training money. It's almost at every contract that you give, right? They they uh that's part of their incentive money. So this is something

   2:13:26we do with the penny penny money.

   Seth WeightmanVice Chair

   2:13:28To be chair to to end with that. Cruz Horse does not need Pasco County government to survive.

   Kathryn Starkey

   2:13:35Well we

   Seth WeightmanVice Chair

   2:13:36this what this is. Is your is this company, this business, this private business Which was not created by the federal government like career source.

   Kathryn Starkey

   2:13:48It's unique. It's

   Seth WeightmanVice Chair

   2:13:50it's a private, not for profit. that's coming here to ask for a lifeline again.

   2:14:01And I'm not going to support it. I'm not going to support any of the proposal that's on the table.

   Jack MarianoChair

   2:14:08Uh Commissioner Starkey I think we should stick with the three years for now. We can always come back with an addendum.

   Kathryn Starkey

   2:14:13Okay.

   Jack MarianoChair

   2:14:14Um

   Kathryn Starkey

   2:14:14all right. Um I'll make the motion to um approve the AM skills contract. As written.

   Jack MarianoChair

   2:14:23I'll second it.