R-2 Concourse Council celebration of lights

55:03Okay, we'll do R two. Yep.

55:07Uh I'd like to add C fifty two for a poll for just quick discussion.

55:11Okay. Um R two please.

55:19One minute.

55:24Um is anyone here from the Concourse Council? You're talking about R S two? Yes, they're right. Yes. Please come up to the podium.

55:39I'm gonna go ahead and read the resolution first.

55:43Yeah.

55:45We're gonna go quick.

55:49Okay. Resolution number 22-069, a resolution by the Board of County Commissioners of Pasco County, Florida, commending the Concourse Council for their charitable donations to the community and declaring February 22nd, 2022, as celebration of lights at the Concourse Day in Pasco County. Whereas in 1976, a group of citizens met to discuss bringing cultural programs to Pasco County. As a result, several theatrical productions were brought to the area. The productions were well attended, well

56:19support which were supported which supported the group's theory that a formal organization should be established to encourage cultural services for the area. And RAS, the group was originally called the Civic Center Council, but a naming contest was held in 1978 to the group to the group was renamed the Concourse Council. Today the Concourse Council is a nonprofit organization that seeks to partner with charitable organizations for the development of activities and programs which will enhance the Concourse,

56:50Pasco County, and surrounding counties. The Concourse property is a 216-acre venue available to host a wide variety of events, including concerts, plays, Weddings, family reunions, birthday parties, rallies, and cultural events such as arts and craft fairs, musical festivals, and civil war reenactments and fundraisers. And RAS, the Concourse Council, has worked since its inception to bring programs and activities to Pasco County that serve our community while

57:20partnering with local nonprofit organizations. And RAS, today the Concourse Council's Park venue. is home to a variety of spaces a variety of spaces and attractions, including Pasco Safety Town, the Rotary Pavilion, an event center, the Gre the Grand Concourse Railroad and Progressive Air Systems Railroad Depot. This venue, Also host an array of events throughout the year, including the celebration of lights. And RAS, since 2019, the Concourse Council has invested over a hundred thousand in electric

57:50and light repair and refurbishing to make the Celebration of Lights event larger for more than for more of the community to enjoy.

58:042021 Celebration of Lights to Pasco County, to Pasco Safety Town, West Pasco, Saratoma, Pasco County Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Summer Scholarship Program, Pasco County Sheriff's Office Explorers Post Number 916, Wheelchairs for Kids, Crew de Forte Future First Res Responder Scholarship Program, Essential Church Crew of Chasco and Hope Lutheran Church Hudson. And now therefore be it resolved by the Board of County

58:34Commissioners of Pasco County, Florida, that said Board hereby commends the Concourse Council for their charitable donations to the community and declares February twenty second, twenty twenty two, a celebration of lights at the Concourse Day in Pasco County, done and resolved in regular session with the quorum president voting this twenty second day of February twenty twenty two.

58:54Second.

58:55All in favor?

58:56Aye. Opposed? It passed. Would you like to address the board? I think.

59:03Sure. Well thank you. Good morning. My name is Liz Meismer. I am the Director of Operations and Marketing for the Concourse Council. And I think um everything has has been read that we wanted to read, but we wanted to thank you so much for having us here this morning and for presenting us with this proclamation. It's it's very important to what our mission is. And Um at this time we were going to ask for an opportunity to get a photo with commissioners and our recipients of our donations. The donations from the 2021

59:33event and from the Concourse Council totaled $44,995. Nice. We're very proud of that. And also our Grand Concourse Railroad partner have an additional $4,000 they're donating back to Pasco Safety Town. Very nice. I know we're we don't want to take up too much time, but thank you again. We appreciate it.

59:52So we're gonna send um

59:59Wonderful thing.

1:00:00There's a lot of people. And we thank you so much for um all you guys do. I know it's a volunteer organization and we're we're lucky to have you.

1:00:06Thank you so much.

1:00:12Yeah, I'll then have thank you so much.

1:00:16Yeah. Oh

1:00:19I mean

1:00:20right.

1:00:26How are you?

1:00:27How are you? How are you doing? I'm I'm tall all about enough.

1:00:34That's all right.

1:00:44Yeah, maybe we are.

1:00:47So it's everybody right here. One, two, three. Perfect. Thank you all.

1:00:54I don't know. Hang on one second, but I thought we would say.

1:00:57Okay, one more.

1:01:02Very good, thank you.

1:01:03All right. Thank you.

1:01:04Thank you.

1:01:14Microchip, right?

1:01:21Okay. So we have a time certain now.

1:01:25Always

1:01:26on R S one. I'm very excited about and I see everyone's wearing their pin. I think everyone's wearing their pin. Yeah. All right, so um we will let these guys clear out. And then um our clerk will read RS1.

1:01:59Council General Andre Siegel. Could you please come up to the podium? And did I pronounce your name correctly?

1:02:09Yeah.

1:02:12You can correct me if I need to be. Okay. All right. I'll go ahead and read the resolution. Resolution number 22 071, a resolution by the Board of County Commissioners of Pasco County, Florida, welcoming Council General Andre Siegel of Germany to Pasco County and celebrating the document of friendship with the District of Gamersheim, Germany. That's

1:02:34good. Gamersheim,

1:02:35as they say in Germany Gamersheim. Gamersheim. I won't I I will um I apologize now I will do my best. All right. Whereas in 2008, Pasco County District School Board, in partnership with Pasco County Board of County Commissioners, established a relationship with Landrat of German Sh Gamersheim by forming a student exchange program. This relationship has flourished over

1:03:05the past decade by promoting cultural exchange and economic development. Yeah. and whereas Counsel General Siegel is a career diplomat and was assigned to his diplomatic duty to Florida in July of twenty nineteen. And whereas Council General Siegel works to strengthen the political, economic, and cultural ties between Pasco County and the District of Gamersheim, and whereas, since the Council's uh signman in Florida, he has been actively involved

1:03:35in efforts to promote the trade relationship between Florida and Germany. These efforts include providing guidance to Pasco County during its most successful trade mission to date. This mission resulted in the document of friendship between the District of Gamersheim, Germany, and Pasco County, Florida. And Raz, the Board of P Pasco County Commissioners and Council General Siegel believe Pasco County and the District of Gamersheim share common values, including supporting their citizens, enabling cooperation. Furthering

1:04:06education and fostering understanding relationships. And whereas at the october twenty sixth, twenty twenty one Pasco County Board of County Commissioners meeting, Commissioner Kathryn Starkey spoke regarding a document of friendship with the District of Gamersheim, Rhineland Palatinate. Thank you. You know it's gonna struggle. Uh Federal Republic of Germany, represented by District Administrator Dr. Fritz Bretchel, ANRAS, a motion was presented for Commissioner

1:04:36Starkey to execute the agreement on behalf of the board, which was subsequently adopted by the Board. And RAS, the Document of Friendship establishes the basis for developing and promoting the trans-Atlantic Transatlantic Exchange. Of mutually beneficial information, cooperation, and furthers the relationship and understanding between the peoples of the District of Gamershine and Pasco County. And RAS, the Document of Friendship will continue promoting the increase of economic development, educational opportunities, and cultural exchange.

1:05:07Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Board of County Commissioners of Pasco County, Florida, that said board hereby welcomes Council General Andres Siegel. of Germany to Pasco County and celebrates the document of friendship with the District of Gamershein, Germany. Dunna resolved in regular session with the quorum present and voting this twenty second day of February 2022.

1:05:26Move for approval. Second. Second. All in favor. Aye. Aye. Opposed. Good morning. I'm so excited to have you here with us this morning. And we'd love for you to say uh some words to the board and then we'll we have a little presentation and we'd love to take some photos.

1:05:42Thank you very much. Um I'm very honored and with great pr pleasure that I'm here. And uh needless to say I agree and I'm in favor as well uh of this uh uh um uh proclamation. I think this was really an ex a very uh excellent business trip to Germany, the last one you did, but it was not the first. Uh it was building on a long-term relationship. relationship developed since two thousand seven if I if I understand correctly, starting with a school exchange. And one

1:06:13thing I want to do uh as soon as I can by m when coming back the next time is to visit the River Ridge uh High School, which I think w is where the where it started uh started from. And I understand they still have an ongoing German program, uh, which uh I think is very is the basis for mutual understanding to to learn the language. But what you're doing is building bridges on several levels. Um first of course it's it's on

1:06:43the administration side, but it's uh it's actually the people to people exchange that that matters and the economic. uh exchange and uh I mean in Tampa Bay you have the the habit of building bridges and you and the experience. So doing it in a transatlantic manner is uh is even more extraordinary. And I can only congratulate you that you have chosen this reason this this region of uh Rhineland Palatinate, uh Germersheim, which is uh full of innovative uh

1:07:13companies and where I think you discussed also the dual vocational training uh model uh which Germany um has to offer and which we're trying to establish here in Florida by the way. Uh first we have it already on the Space Coast with a couple of tech uh companies. And uh there are ongoing talks to maybe have other company clusters that may be interested in this. So uh the German consulate will, as we have done before, will

1:07:44try to assist and help wherever possible. Uh I think our next meeting will already be on Thursday with the Economic Development Uh Committee. We will have time to develop a little further. further the economic aspects uh of this. And uh yeah, so this is uh really a great day and uh I congratulate once uh congratulate you once more. on your excellent team that you have who prepared uh the mission and who carried it out with you and you personally uh

1:08:14uh that you have this uh engagement to to f to uh promote this uh mutual friendship. Thank you very much.

1:08:22Thank you so much. And um board members, we have a little presentation. Um we've been holding off talking about our trip um until you were here, so they haven't seen any of our pictures. So we um we just have a little A little slideshow of our our mission. Um That we did in October. October, right? November?

1:08:43November.

1:08:44November. Um and we were the first economic development um and trade mission into Germany in two years. um our our our Pasco County delegation. So um this is uh Uh go ahead. You can so uh we had um Commissioner Fitzpatrick. Um representative Mariano, Bill Cronin, uh Sergio represented Amskills. I think I counted, we had fifteen or sixteen people on our track. I mean on our trip. We

1:09:14had five different tracks and we're just gonna just give you real real quickly uh a little um look here at some of the things we did. Um the uh council general mentioned the um the innovative business community in that area, and I can tell you Carlsru. And some of those communities around there, what w what they have going on is amazing. We actually already have been visited by a company from Carlsrue that we met over there with very innovative pipe

1:09:45sheathing. And uh so We're already having dialogues and I think a number of the companies are are coming here and working with Bill Cronin. So um in in the bottom there, that's it's that that the uh I think that's the Mercedes the Mercedes truck. factory. We were the first people to ever out outside of um the Mercedes employees go in and see the smart trucks and the Mercedes plant

1:10:15there. uh in Germany. So that was that was very cool. I think it had opened like three days prior. So I bet you haven't even been there. It's very cool. Very, very cool. Um, I think the is this a video, Derek? So we went to uh um uh a pro we went to a school And what's so interesting about this school is it's in partnership with France. So it's two countries working together. Do we have any we don't have any sound? So um this is a smart a

1:10:45smart factory vocational school and the and this this machine It's m it's it's a very expensive machine. It's It's well in a million dollars. And they are building This builds iPhones. And it's it's uh it was an amazing, amazing program and I don't know if you'll see it on here. But there's robots that move the phones around. and um the technology of the future. So they are training German youth and French youth with this program.

1:11:16So very cool. Um what's what's another next slide? Um we did um have an event at the uh The uh US Consul General Timothy Liston's um residence And um oh well before that we did this. Wait, we did this. We signed our friendship agreement so Our uh our commissioners have not seen this yet. We have it framed. And we wanted to make sure that everyone got

1:11:46to see this. It's our first one. We hope we'll we'll have more agreements with with other areas around the world, but certainly this was the right place to start since we spent so many years developing our relationship with the wonderful people in this area. So I'll be happy to pass this down. Um and here we are um Signing it with our good friend Dr. Fritz Brechtel. And uh Let's see. Then we we met with the Consul General and here here's a little idea of where

1:12:16we're talking about and a little bit of history of Gemersheim. It started as a Roman military camp in the second century, And um it's a garrison town. They still have some of the old walls uh in the downtown. It's beautiful. Um And there's some more stats there on uh On the area.

1:12:39And we met um this is our second or third visit to this high school. It's a vocational Technical high school. And what else do we have here? We met with the different um chambers, the Ihaka, and we for the first time in maybe my six or seventh trips, we've m visited with the craft. um chamber. So that was my first trip there. So um just a very successful trip.

1:13:06Exhausting. And we never knew um if we were gonna be able to go on to the next meeting because of all the COVID things that were breaking down. But um we had great hosts and um I think as as you heard it was our most successful trip ever and um we look forward to going back and continuing our relationship. So with that We're gonna come down and take a photo on like Everybody come down and um Jenny, you come get in our photo too. Hmm.

1:13:41Did anyone have any questions on your CM or

1:13:49They do it, sir. Can be too.

1:13:58Yeah. Well.

1:14:00I put my flexibility.

1:14:05We all have our pins?

1:14:07All right, folks, right here please first.

1:14:08One, two, three. Right here? Thank you.

1:14:15Thank

1:14:16you.

1:14:18Thank you. Uh you know I didn't give anyone else a chance to say anything. Did anyone want to say anything to the Consul General on the mic? So we'll go back

1:14:26on we may have some more comments. I also wanted to acknowledge that Ms. Bernard Ann S is here. Hello Agnes.

1:14:37You

1:14:37know, I have one thing I want to say.

1:14:46Um, you know, I did want to say something. Because of the times we're in and uh And what's going on overseas. I just um grateful for the German government's standing with us and us with your with our European friends. um taking a stand against the aggression that we're seeing overseas. So I'm grateful for that.

1:15:11Um

1:15:12Commissioner Moore?

1:15:12Hey thanks. Hey welcome. We appreciate everything. And I just wanted to obviously uh Commend or also commend, you know, Chair Starkey too, because she's been working obviously with you in Germany for all these years. Um the apprenticeship program you've helped bring to Pasco County, so again in your work with the EDC. So th thank you to the Chair Starkey and everything everything you've done. So we appreciate it.

1:15:37Well they have the gold standard in manufacturing, so we we started at the best place. So Commissioner Yeah.

1:15:45It's it was a very exciting trip. Thank you for coming out today. And I twelve to fifteen hour days I would agree. Was very exhausting, but it was very exciting as well. And I noticed when we were there they were mentioning that we usually send three to five students and they're able to accept up to fifteen students. So I'm gonna work on making sure all of our students have that opportunity. Yeah. To get that experience. So thank you for everything you do, and I'm exciting excited

1:16:16to add more students to the apprenticeship program.

1:16:19Commissioner Mariano.

1:16:20Thank

1:16:21you.

1:16:21Uh

1:16:21this is the father of the representative who went on the trip.

1:16:29So they were both uh very, very intrigued. Uh my daughter Amber represented Mariano was very, very big with vocational education. So for here hearing about Chair Starkey's passion for this to carry on forward through. I've had my plaque there since probably two thousand eight when we first started this relationship. So it's it's great to see it. I remember reading about the German apprenticeship program. Just growing up in school, learning how intense it was and to see it be developed. And now to see Pasco County taking full advantage from River Ridge. uh in the county itself with AMP skills is phenomenal. So we

1:16:59appreciate the friendship and the uh continued working with you.

1:17:03Well I'm I'm myself an ex a former exchange student to to the US with uh American Field Service at the time. Uh so I'm very much attached to to the exchange programs that you're working on. So if I can be of any assistance in that or have uh sort of uh a visit of of anyone who has participated in these programs, alumni, so I'd be very happy to do so. Um as far as vocational. Training is concerned where uh right now in the Tampa Bay area I'll meet several

1:17:34people who are involved in uh vocational training as well. And uh I understand there's a current discussion in the Florida uh House and and Senate about a bill uh sort of subsidizing uh certain types of high quality vocational training. Yes. Uh and uh but it's not through yet. Yeah, I understand, so um I'll try to work out with the interlocutors that I have that we can maybe sort of push a little bit in that direction.

1:18:02Um members, I think it's um tax credits for um companies who participate in an apprenticeship program, which I tried to get years ago, but at the time the um the voucher tax credit was going through in the father of that one didn't want a little competition, but I think now maybe there's space. 'Cause apprenticeships are so important and so valuable. So I'm I'm really excited that our state is embracing the concept. So Thank you very much. Um we

1:18:32have more copies of the resolution, Jenny. If you want to grab some of these. And then um I look forward to seeing you Thursday. Maybe both of you, I don't know. Yes. Oh go ahead, Commissioner Oakley, sorry.

1:18:45We certainly appreciate your friendship and What it will bring to your country and also what we can share back and forth will help our country at the same time and our district. And um really appreciate That friendship and Hope it continues for the Whether in the future, and surely it will. So thank you.

1:19:07Well

1:19:07when we um when we have the celebration of uh some of the companies that I think we were successful in speaking with in Germany when they open their doors here. Um especially part of our life science uh um campus that's coming in the central part of the county we for sure will um invite you up and then I think there's a a few other companies too that are are gonna be coming here. So we're we're very excited and we're we'll be strengthening our relationship. So we'll see you up here a lot I hope.

1:19:39Very much. Yes, I'm looking forward to that. And well see you on Thursday. See you Thursday. Thank you very much for for having me here today. And uh well, good further procedure here today.

1:19:50All right. Thank you so much. Thank you.