Pasco EDC Q1 update MOU and Penny

1:02:39I got a motion. Second. And a second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Right? Motion passed 5-0. Thank you, Mr. Bellas. At this time we're gonna move to uh Mr. Bill Cronin for a P D C update? Yep. He's always ready.

1:03:03Good morning. Thank you, Commissioner, for for hearing me this morning as I present to you the Q1 uh update on Pasco EDC's activities related to our memorandum of understanding and our penny for Pasco agreement. So this is covering uh the activities from October 1 to December 31st. And always start out with the good news. And you'll see your your photos there. That's not the good news, but it's nice to see you guys on the screen. Uh it's about the Baduco announcement that we had back in uh quarter one,

1:03:33uh our first win of the year, six hundred jobs. Over $233 million of capital investment. That means we'll be raising our goal for capital investment this year to go beyond that. And I know that's very important to everybody in this room, but especially the jobs that it'll be creating. If you look at our pipeline, still really robust, 133 active projects. And you might remember our normal time before maybe two

1:04:03years ago was about 35 active projects. So we are still have lots and lots of looks, and talking about things like resiliency and sustainability are some of the things that actually drive those leads too. But our leads are are strong too at 87 leads. And that includes both existing businesses looking to expand and also new businesses coming into the area. I think one of the coolest things though still is that we're still very high in the um advanced

1:04:34manufacturing. About forty percent of our leads are in advanced manufacturing and our projects. Um that's that says a lot about our community and also our ability to attract manufacturing because Florida historically wasn't really known for manufacturing. Um and I'll just quit Quick sidebar, this last week we had a job fare for another project that y'all approved, Gary Plastic, up in the uh uh north of Hudson, Spring Hill area, Shady Hills. Um

1:05:05and they had over a thousand people show up lined up around the block. And that shows that we not only have the workforce, we have the workforce that's interested in working in manufacturing. I get goosebumps when I talk about this. We've got videos and uh uh we're even at the point right now where uh TV channels would like to do more coverage on the area, and the company said, Hold on, we can't handle what we've got so far because they're going through those applications that they got so many. So uh A lot of good news and and

1:05:35that is uh um our voters, our citizens that are coming to to get those jobs.

1:05:40Bring them on, we can handle them.

1:05:42I love it.

1:05:42There was on on that one, you know, there was a lot of chat online that sadly was on one of those chat lines. Yeah. And um a lot of people commenting that they went and applied and ha you know, are hoping So it it was a very positive uh response from our public, I think.

1:05:57They needed to direct traffic out there. There were so many people. And uh on a Saturday as well too. Mr.

1:06:03Chairman M to to highlight that point is we're gonna go up to Tallahassee tomorrow, right? I know Mike's going up tonight. That is a great argument for us to go to through about talking about we want a people to work local.

1:06:14Yes.

1:06:15Right? That is exactly where we need to go to say why we need to protect our industrial and commercial spaces for these companies to be able to come in so they can work right here. So I want to do it. Yeah, we do. This is a this is a big if you can draw something up for us, a talking bullet point. We'll get it to everybody and we'll pass that up. But it's exactly the type of thing we're talking about. We need We need especially Pasco County as a bedroom community we have been avoiding for these years and made all these great changes, all these land use changes, all these comprehensive plan changes to make it better for our people, have the opportunities. And

1:06:46this is a great argument for it.

1:06:48And Bill's going up tomorrow I think too, so tonight

1:06:50I'll be up there tonight as

1:06:51well. So that's good. So we'll be sending that message out.

1:06:55We'll all have good full dance card and and Moffat will be up there as well talking about Spiro's. So a lot of job activity, but I would speculate that a lot of those that thousand uh plus that applied are Pasco residents, and that's people who probably right now, if they're employed, may be driving every day south or to another county. So that helps us in so many different ways in terms of congestion, but also providing opportunities right here in Pasco instead of seeing that drain into Yeah. Uh

1:07:25training programs and and uh would continue to work with Career Source, AMSkills, and a lot of our partners as it relates to training. Uh grants they're not so interested in lately. And uh uh it turns out that um uh part of the reach at From the federal government is to look at streamlining the process for career source and the intake for that. Because what we've learned is that a lot of people are having trouble with the compliance piece of it. So you're gonna see some really great stuff

1:07:55coming with training and working together with our state in terms of being more friendly to the employees and making sure that they don't just have To fit the WIOA requirements for those benefits. So

1:08:12you know, as Vice Chair of Workforce and Economic Development at NACO, we've been having a lot of discussions on WIOA, including Virginia Fox's staff. um and her counterpart on the Democratic side as they rewrite um WIOA and there are a lot of changes coming for workforce training money. They are really, really um listening to us and putting some changes in, so Real excited about about what's coming.

1:08:39And and they are uh the companies are taking advantage of the programs that aren't so cumbersome too. So that's what they're fixing and

1:08:45they're fixing that.

1:08:46Yes too. Yeah, so the so part of that Ernst and Young um strategy um That they did for Career Source will include more streamlining of that function to be able to make it easier for people to maneuver through that. Uh but they're also using the Career Source job postings. Um Gary Plastic was one that used it, Baduco uses it. So there's definitely a good partnership there and they are listening to each of the partners in terms of what the needs are of our our people. Company visits, still that's our bread and

1:09:17butter, is getting out there and working with our local companies. It's not just about bringing other companies into the area, but taking care of those that are here and the workforce connections, and that's working with our partners like EAM Skills, like Career Source, and getting them over so that they know that there's no wrong door to approach as it relates to workforce development. Marketing, uh you're looking at our our total earned media value, and I always joke we still haven't figured out how to monetize that yet. But

1:09:47I guess that is what we would spend if we had to just go out on our own and make these advertisements. Uh this comes from mentions from the media where they're telling our story instead of us telling our story. Uh two hundred and four thousand already in that first quarter. A lot of it had to do with uh uh some of the great news that came out of here. Who would have thought that Pasco would be associated with the Rolling Stones? For example, uh with the distillery with North Point and uh uh the deal that you guys worked on with the loan extension,

1:10:17that led directly into that contract. And now uh they're gonna be promoting that on their U.S. tour, and it does say uh that it's made here locally as well. So uh great job on on that. It's not necessarily our target industry, but it sure doesn't hurt us in terms of um uh of our brand. Mr. Chairman

1:10:36Mariano. So Bill on that slide you you've got be you might want to check the typo there it's run instead of rum

1:10:44Well that's Spanish for rum. Oh

1:10:46no.

1:10:49It could be either one, believe it or not. But uh I think it is supposed to be rum the alcohol. But it is a run of but it does

1:10:56work either way. Okay.

1:10:57It does work either

1:10:58way. And I wanna and I want to thank the board because this was this is a gentleman that actually takes A lot of local people that otherwise wouldn't be able to find work and go. And I wa I watched I watched these bottles running off the line. It's amazing what they're doing to make this thing go. It's a customized bottle that had to be built a certain way, and Spencer down there has got such knowledge. knowledge had to be, how it had to work, how he had to design it, and why he needed this run when he was working on it to make it all go. So I mean his expertise is

1:11:28well respected and the the product's been amazing coming out. It's it's really kind of a cool bottle.

1:11:37And um and they made a commemorative addition that went in the um uh the swag bags for the uh uh for the the Grammys.

1:11:45Nice.

1:11:45Or or what's the music what not the Grammys, the uh yeah, the Grammys. Yeah, Grammys. So they each got got something from Pasco.

1:11:53Nice.

1:11:54Um still getting lots of website hits. Uh those are unique hits, but interesting of what they're looking at. They're still looking at uh where the companies uh are looking to start. That's a lot of our local companies on Smart Start. But look at where they're coming from in other locations. California, New York, Georgia, Virginia, and Illinois. And you know that at least three of those states are high tax states. We may not be a low-cost state anymore, but we're definitely still a low-tax state, and that

1:12:24makes a big difference for long-term decisions. Uh again lots of followers in our year in review and our social media and again a lot of that is our local companies rely heavily on social media. Uh events. Oh by the way, if you didn't notice, we've streamlined this presentation to not get into the uh uh the minutiae in terms of the the metrics. There is an appendix at the back of your PowerPoint that gets into that. And in past presentations I

1:12:54skipped through a lot of that and went to the highlights. So we actually just made this uh uh to include the highlights. So the events have

1:13:02any. I don't have your attachment, I don't have presentation, I have nothing.

1:13:07Okay.

1:13:08Do you have it? I don't have it. It's not attached to your uh report. We'll make sure you get it.

1:13:16Yeah, we'll we'll um remind them when we submit it each time that it that they need to make copies to actually put it in.

1:13:21That would be great.

1:13:22Um usually we we're not gonna be putting anything confidential like project announcements and things like that in this packet, so uh no problem putting that in advance in the the packages. And we'll send out the the addendum that I just mentioned to you. Um events that we attended, it's a busy time of year of that first quarter. Uh some of those are international events, some of them are local events, um, but nothing really stopped during during that period. And where we're at with our stakeholders and shareholders, we're

1:13:52at eighty-seven total private sector investors right now. Uh forty-three board and policy council members. Tomorrow we'll have our Policy Council Chair, I think many of you know him, Mr. Andy Taylor from Teko Energy, will be joining us on visits in Tallahassee, as well as our board chair, uh Michelle Henson from Shoemaker. So this is one of the first times in Tallahassee that we'll have both of our chairs as well as myself working to visit and educate and advocate

1:14:22for economic. Economic development bills. Um six new members? Um What's gonna be a good thing?

1:14:29They're flashing they're flashing on and off. Go ahead, Bill. Keep going. But we don't have anything else to look at.

1:14:35Okay, then I will make sure to read some of this and not go through it too quickly. So uh new members, Eschenbah Land Company, uh West Pasco Board of Realtors, MNG Cleaning Services, who also uh was using uh Career Source with us as well. Um Health Tech LLC, Stantec and South State Bank. You might recall South State uh sponsored, was a big sponsor and a speaker at the economic development forecast this last week, which we had a uh

1:15:05overwhelming crowd sold out uh two weeks in advance. Um if I could advocate for anything, it's some bigger venues for events because we're filling them everywhere we go. Uh and it's not just our organization, uh the Education Foundation, some of them are are having to go outside the county, and that's the last thing we wanna wanna see. Uh upcoming events speaking of uh Growing Global and uh that'll be February 22nd at Florida Avenue Brewing. Uh Commissioner Starkey chairs that committee. We're

1:15:35gonna have uh speakers from uh Canada and Mexico. The consulates will be there. Um almost sounds like a NAFTA event, but we are looking at a large regional trade mission going into Canada later this year. Year, so it's a good time for a kickoff. Also uh learning about trade resources that day. So this is our second. Growing global uh event that coincides with International Day that you had a resolution for last year.

1:16:04And we we need um We need something that the we can send out to business our business contacts to encourage them to go attend. So

1:16:13we need a

1:16:13fly or something.

1:16:14We'll we'll circle back and work also with the PIO to make sure that we've got the right brand for both of us on that.

1:16:19Mr. Chairman Mariano. And they're talking about Canada. They're all like our largest trading

1:16:24partner for the state of Florida, correct? They sure are. Yeah. Yeah. In several ways. Not just trade, but uh foreign direct investment. And home ownership. So there's lots of times uh one of the times after one of our storms, we were talking about resiliency. I was calling on companies in Canada, and it was so funny because a lot of the CEOs wanted me to go check on their houses too. Um they are a little bit more difficult to get our arms around because they know Florida so well and they drive here. So we don't

1:16:54always know when they're they're coming, but they're here. Um and it's not just the plates you're seeing on the road of tourists, but you also have a lot of business owners uh that are here and have second homes too. And uh we should always take advantage of that. W they're easy sell if we know they already know what we have.

1:17:10Commissioner Mariano, in your district you have um a business that exports um stone crab claws to Canada and um it's uh it would be great to invite them because they have challenges because they hold them sometimes too long. They would love to come to this meeting. So I'll try and remember the name or we I can get with you on that. Perfect kind of business to come global. Making me hungry.

1:17:36Not

1:17:36a not necessarily target sector, but I'm sure a lot of people would be very interested in in crab claws and we've got other products that can go along with it uh from that area too. Um if you don't have any qu more qu questions about the MOU agreement, I'll move on to the penny for Pasco. And as your s are your screens up? Where you can see We don't have

1:17:58a copy of an MOU agreement.

1:17:59Okay, so so highlights to this program, uh we start out with the Ready Sites and a lot of discussion about industrial sites and protecting and preserving our sites for industry. I'll remind you that the Ready Sites program came with that second penny. And took us a good solid five years to really get that program up and going to the point that people were purchasing those sites. The first being Amazon and the Robotics Facility up off State Road 52 and Bellamy Brothers. I'm happy to say that that

1:18:29has restarted. You remember Amazon put all their projects on pause about two years ago. This particular project is up and going again. And then Baduco was another one of those. So it's working, the market is responding, and it is a perfect segue into that conversation about live local and protecting the industrial land that we've worked so hard as a former bedroom community to get that up and going. So those sound bites continue to be important. I'm glad that we've we uh took the chance

1:18:59of going out and certifying and assessing those. Sites for business because it really demonstrates that we are a forward thinking community in Florida.

1:19:09Mr. Chairman Mariano.

1:19:09Baduco took uh

1:19:12if I could to talk about Baduco. So we made a $2.3 million investment for water and sewer infrastructure in there. That was a big move by the board years ago when we started this program. Yes. And look what it led to.

1:19:23Ten

1:19:23times value right off that, never mind

1:19:25whatever else. comes. Yeah, yeah. So it it just reminds us that uh sometimes we're looking at those short term gains and sometimes we're planting seeds uh for the future and a lot of those big projects do take years for us to be able to uh materialize, but when they do, boy, we are extremely happy about it because it was Uh about five years ago that we put the money into the water and sewer there and working together with the city of Zephyrhills. Great leadership. Thank you. Um four ready site visits just this last uh This

1:19:55last quarter. And then we actually exhibited our Ready Sites at the National Commercial Real Estate Conference called NAOP. Uh international program. We coexhibited with Moffat Cancer Center to with to showcase the Spiro campus, and that was at Bio Japan in Yokohama. And we're still getting feedback from that and getting leads from that. It turns out there are several similar parks that uh have the same type of setup

1:20:25in Japan and they want to talk about collaboration. Uh but this is exactly the reason why Sparrows exist: to be able to bring partners in next to them, and for us to be able to co-market together really made a big difference. And we were able to take Moffitt to the SCUS Japan Conference. You might remember recall last year the governor hosted um the Japan conference in Orlando. We became co-host as Florida uh in Tokyo this year, so it was a really good showing for Florida, really good showing for our business

1:20:55community. Uh we also had Global Tampa Bay attended Medica shortly thereafter in Dusseldorf, and that is with ourselves, Pinellas and Hillsboro, had a number of uh one-on-one appointments with companies looking to come in, and you'll see again a lot of life sciences focused for for Pasco. And I mentioned before, we're planning an export trade mission. Vancouver, Canada, in September, dates are September 9th through the 12th. We're working with the embassy to

1:21:26secure appointments as well as the Council General, the Honorary Council located in Tampa, and then the Chambers, Canadian-American Chambers of Commerce. Enhanced marketing, uh that is marketing these penny programs that are over and above our normal marketing. Pasco is a place to do business. Continue to see big upticks in social media, Workforce Connect after Turner Arbor was was recognized by FEDC,

1:21:57and the program has got national attention on the Opportunity Connect. Uh, we're getting lots of great hits with that. And then also with our our local partners. And the digital campaign Uh we actually will go into different areas of the United States when we're doing a business development mission, and we'll do what's called a takeover, uh, and where we're putting out targeted media to the companies we want to get in front of well in advance before we get there. So by the time we get there, they say, Wow, isn't it a coincidence? I just saw something

1:22:27about Pasco. And of course, I don't tell them that it's not a coincidence. But we are targeting those areas before we even get there.

1:22:35Yeah.

1:22:36Uh and then again, Workforce Connect. We hosted Pasco 50 uh in quarter one. We presented at the Zephyrhills Economic Development Summit, and that was very timely because of the new announcement with Baduco in that area. And then also our BRE business retention expansion team spoke together at a panel talking about why workforce and existing business become so very important to our community. Yeah. Executive

1:23:09success program. Uh they met this last time at our newest incubator, which is co-located with AMPSkills over on holiday. And if you haven't been there, I'd highly encourage you to to check it out. We've worked out a wonderful partnership with AMSkills and the the companies that are starting on the West Side uh are really focused on more of the manufacturing, the hands-on. So having that equipment nearby. Uh really resonates with them. And I'll also share the co-starters class that we started this week at the

1:23:39new location, had 15 companies sign up.

1:23:43Awesome.

1:23:44Yeah, co-starters usually is maybe seven to ten. We had 15 straight out of the box on the west side. So this is a really good sign. We're happy about the results there because this is an area where we where we need to put a lot of focus, especially as we look at redevelopment opportunities, too.

1:24:04And then uh Smart Start hosted our fourth food vendor fair with the county at the East Pasco Indust uh Incubator Kitchen, otherwise known as Epic. Uh I always enjoy that, not just for the food, but to be able to actually um let the owners of those companies see your face while you're eating the food. It is a big thing for them to be able to put uh a person with the with the With their product and see the reaction. But that has, remember,

1:24:34our our incubator in the east side historically had a lot of people from Wesley Chapel in those areas that would go into Dade City, and when they graduated, they'd come right back to Wesley Chapel. And we said, Well, that's not really helping the East Side as much as we wanted to. When we shifted to food in the commercial kitchen, it has been been a success every single year. Um I have no idea how our staff has managed to keep the weight off because they get to sample everything out there in the commercial kitchen.

1:25:03Mr. Chairman Mari Yeah,

1:25:04sure.

1:25:05So on the list of things coming up, we have the employee appreciation day coming. And there's a bit on the street I saw today or last night. that that bids out on the street. If you would let them know They may join together and put a bid in for us and they can showcase themselves with all the employees of the county.

1:25:22Okay. Okay.

1:25:26It's a pretty yeah, very good.

1:25:28It's a big one, yeah. Yeah, needs a big big big room. Um I'll definitely work with the administrator on on that. Uh and then uh lastly uh two of our our members Um uh got commercial space and you know this is this is extremely important because you know when they when they start uh you remember we had them at the crate for a while But they they test the waters to see if they're ready. Um the worst thing that can happen to a lot of these companies is they

1:25:58go out, rent some space, and then find out that they don't have a market or that their product isn't good and they've committed so many resources to not just marketing but to overhead like buildings and bricks and mortar. Um our programs help allow them to test the market to see if their product works before they make that commitment. And you might remember Lanky Lassie's over in Dade City.

1:26:27also had uh Saint Leo at the New Wellness Center came to us April of last year and said uh they were losing their cafe operator and we s had a pitch contest where uh people from our incubator on the east side were able to pitch their their creations and we've got two companies that actually now are located in the wellness center. So next time you're out there, check them out. They're good healthy food for the students and they're local. And with

1:26:58that I'll stop. This is uh the team if you if you you know most of them. Uh I always want to make sure that you realize it's not just me. I've got a wonderful team behind us and they continue to do Great work. Uh we do have an offer out right now for um somebody part-time at the incubator on on the east side. So hopefully you'll see another picture here soon. And With that, so the metrics report, the addendum that I mentioned is behind uh that and I'll make

1:27:28sure you all get a copy of that. So I'll stop there, see if you have any questions. And in in the interest of time, I hope you like the new format that uh We were able to get through some of the big bullet items.

1:27:39Mr. Mayor? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Bill, I just want to thank you and your team for doing such a phenomenal job. I mean, since you have come on board, you've just elevated this county to just tremendous new heights. Everything you're doing is dead on the money. We're seeing the rewards over and over again. So I just want to thank you for the great work you and your team are doing. And appreciate your pick in Pasco County. Ms.

1:28:00Starkey?

1:28:00Um if we get to it, we're gonna have a discussion on Live Local. And so um hopefully I'm hopeful we'll get it done this morning because there's people who wanna zoom in this morning and listen to it from around the state. Um so I would encourage you to stay. Okay. Because it has big ramifications for us if we get

1:28:18Yeah, we're not going to be able to do that.

1:28:25Uh when you look at the we've worked so hard as I mentioned before to get that industrial land up and going and uh David Engel presented I want to say about two years ago on the cost of losing that industrial land at over two million dollars an acre, but the opportunity cost of losing the job. the opportunity cost of of being able to put a company there and keep people from driving on the road to South uh Hill Hillsboro or Penellas. But then in addition to that the the double whammy of the um abatement type feature

1:28:55with the uh uh ad valorem is just It's horrible because it just exacerbates the the problem. But I know that there's still work to be done as it relates to the commercial side, but I do believe that the removing the industrial uh really helps us on the n economic development uh uh piece of that because uh it almost is reminiscent of the days of putting people on the you know poor people on the wrong side of the tracks. Yeah, why would you put people in an industrial area that doesn't have service,

1:29:25that uh is gonna have trucks and um um food deserts, things like that. It really exacerbates the problem to do that and we've worked so hard to develop that industrial land. I think the decision was made in a vacuum and the fact that we're required to have a comprehensive plan from the state. I think it's kinda hypocritic that they would reach down in and meddle with that when we've worked so hard to do it. So um I wanna make sure that that's on record because that is so important to what

1:29:55we do and honestly I don't think that the way it's structured right now actually helps anybody if they are eligible at 120% of AMI. And eighty percent of AM AMI, you're still looking at fifteen, sixteen hundred dollars for a one-bedroom apartment, and having children that are of that age in this community, that is not affordable housing. You're not helping anybody. That is market rate, and telling them that they only have to have 70 of those doesn't even put a dent into it. So we're pretty

1:30:26passionate about this one too. Next board meeting, um Commissioner uh Weightman is gonna be speaking about it along with our policy council, and that is gonna be something that you'll

1:30:35What when is that?

1:30:37Uh next week.

1:30:38All right. Thursday or something.

1:30:39Needs

1:30:39to be quick. Yeah.

1:30:41Yeah. And we w this is gonna be something we'll pound that drum with you uh as we're in in Tallahassee this week. But uh I've been doing this a long time in a lot of different places. This is the wrong way to do it.

1:30:52Yeah, you'd think the Live Local was for affordable housing and all, but not at all affordable. to an anybody I know so

1:30:59it is it is a hundred percent market rate. Not only is it market rate, it's high market rate. It's not helping the people it was intended to help and on top of that to give a refund to those developers on top of that. Uh when we're losing that opportunity cost, it just again it's problem after problem after problem. Uh we'll have to learn how to serve those areas and and like I said, it goes back to the days of When poor people used to live on the other side of the tracks. That's the vision that I I picture. I'd love for people to remember. You're

1:31:30not really helping people when you do that.

1:31:31What it's not gonna be to developers, it's gonna be to institutional investors.

1:31:36That's that's correct. And uh um that's and that's what you're seeing with the majority of our multifamily. There is not really any local developers that are doing multifamily. They're all out of state. Um so their allegiance to this area and their understanding. uh I would question, uh, because they don't have the same skin in the game as as we do. Um we definitely need housing, but it needs to be planned. We need to be at the table. Uh you guys have put a lot of money into transportation networks around the county. Uh that's all

1:32:06for nothing if we ignore all of that.

1:32:09Yeah.

1:32:11Mr. Wayman. I'm not sure if you're aware but this would be part of the conversation today, but

1:32:18uh clause in there where existing class A can apply and be reclassified as Live Local. And we have two in Pasco existing. buildings, existing multifamily units that can be reclassified, which is a game changer. So anyway, uh just More to pay attention to. So how

1:32:36how can you all make plans if somebody's reaching into your pocket after you've already set an agreement and and expecting um those revenues coming in? I'd heard that last week as as well too, and I I I don't I I just don't see how that's possible, but yeah, people are trying to find ways to take it. advantage of it. This is very opportunistic uh for some people and and I hope we all remember who they are too when they'd come back later and ask us for more.

1:33:03All right. Very good.

1:33:05Mr. Chairman Mariano.

1:33:07Thank you.

1:33:09Uh I need some help I guess. We bounced around on so many different items. items. I still have res one waiting for eleven forty five.

1:33:20Okay. R thirty five they're here.