Manufacturing Month and Manufacturing Day

1:09:14All right, if you are here for manufacturing month, please step up to the podium. Yeah,

1:09:21yeah.

1:09:32Mm.

1:09:36I'll go ahead and read the resolution, resolution number twenty-five-three Mm-hmm. A resolution by the Board of County Commissioners of Pasco County, Florida, declaring the month of October as Manufacturing Month and Friday, October 3rd, 2025 as Manufacturing Day in Pasco County. Whereas October is nationally recognized as Manufacturing Month, and National Manufacturing Day is observed on the first Friday of October. Throughout the month, manufacturers across the county host students, teachers, parents, job seekers, and other local community members

1:10:07to open houses, plant tour, plant tours, and presentations designed to showcase today's advanced manufacturing technology and high-wage. Career opportunities. NRAS during National Manufacturing Month and Manufacturing Day, we commit to strengthening and supporting the manufacturers and hardworking manufacturing employees of today as well as the manufacturers of the future.

1:10:41re-establish the U.S. as the global leader of manufacturing education, advocate for education and job training policies that strengthen the U.S. manufacturing workforce and inspire the next generation of manufacturers. And REST Florida is taking steps to diversify its economy and strengthen its workforce by establishing a plan to invest in skills-based education to make Florida number one in workforce education by 2030 so that companies can continue to draw from an outstanding pool of talent. And whereas Pasco

1:11:11County is fortunate to be home to many great manufacturing businesses, some of which are world leaders in their respective fields. along with the Bay Area Manufacturing Association and AMSkills, whose mission is transforming lives and strengthening communities through technical training and apprentices. And whereas by working with educational institution, the Board of County Commissioners and Local Manufacturers have and continue to work together to continue with future generations, build the next generation of skilled

1:11:41labor skilled manufacturing employees. Taking charge in the public image of manufacturing and ensuring the ongoing ongoing prosperity of whole industry. And whereas Manufacturing Month and Manufacturing Day serve as opportunities to recognize all professionals, agencies, and organizations who bring value to Pasco County's manufacturing industry and economy. Now therefore be it resolved by the Board of County Commissioners of Pasco County, Florida, that said board hereby declares the month of October as manufacturing month and declares Friday,

1:12:12October 3rd, 2025 as Manufacturing Day in Pasco County. Done and resolved in regular session with a quorum present and voting the 16th day of September, 2025.

1:12:21Approval.

1:12:22Second.

1:12:22All in favor. Aye. Aye.

1:12:25Commissioner Oakley, I'll start with you. Do you want to say anything?

1:12:31Good afternoon.

1:12:32Well um hang on one second. Because first we say give all you you we give you all these congratulations and then you guys go. Okay.

1:12:42And if you don't if you don't ha want to, that's that's fine too.

1:12:46Uh um certainly appreciate everything you do. It's it's hard work and it's It's been a Long haul. I know Tom's been through it. Over the years, working hard and hard and it's it's finally coming to a lot more fruition than we've we've seen in the past, so A lot of good works and a lot of good things happening in in this area.

1:13:08Um and who we have here, um just so everyone knows, you know, maybe I'll have y'all introduce yourselves first and then we'll say we'll say something. Because we have Bama here. Every every one of you, if you don't mind introducing yourselves.

1:13:20Morning Commissioner Starkey from the Pasco ADC. Happy to support the month through our Workforce Connect program and show um all the additional opportunities in the county for jobs in manufacturing. We have over 400 in the county. Happy to support.

1:13:35Good afternoon. I'm Beth Gallic with the Bay Area Manufacturers Association. We're here to advance Tampa Bay Manufacturers through workforce development, networking, education, advocacy, and technology. Happy to be here. Thank you so much for this recognition.

1:13:54Good morning. My name is Kelly Kitson and I'm the Youth Workforce Coordinator for Career Source Pasco Hernando. We're very happy to come back. Um it's been about ten years now we've been supporting this initiative, so we're always happy to support manufacturing in our in our counties.

1:14:11Good morning.

1:14:11Wendy Via, PHSC Outreach Director with Workforce Division. Thank you.

1:14:20Yeah.

1:14:21Good morning. Ryan Gessman, Pasco Economic Development Council. These programs are absolutely fantastic to leverage as we recruit new companies into Pasco County in these advanced manufacturing areas. So thank you for all you do.

1:14:33And then um it If you want to just introduce yourself but then you can address us after we Address you. Because I know you have some words you want to say to us, and I'm not sure.

1:14:42Uh my name is Bobby Ralston, uh CEO of uh RG Manufacturing.

1:14:46So um so that's who's that's who we're thanking here today. So if anyone else has any words then I'll say something.

1:14:53You left Tom off.

1:14:54Oh yeah, Tom. Well y'all know Tom. Y'all know who Tom is. But go ahead, Tom, introduce you.

1:14:59Tom and I are president CEO of AM skills.

1:15:01Okay. Yeah,

1:15:03thank you, Chairman Thank you all for showing up to work every day. And teaching others how to show up and come to work every day. It's such a Critical piece of our social infrastructure here, not just in Pasco County, but in Florida and around the the world. So thank you for investing in the future and uh also investing by doing this, investing in yourself so your doors can stay open. So glad y'all are here today.

1:15:26Commissioner? Well first of all congratulations. I am a Hooper um Super huge fan of I think I made up a new word. Anyway, super huge fan of uh the career in a year. Um I encourage students and adults, you know, to um seek out opportunities like manufacturing so they can go right into the workforce and even if they choose the college path, they can earn a higher wage as they're as they're going to school. So So I absolutely love everything you

1:15:56guys are about. So um good job and Keep up. Keep up the recruiting and teaching our students. Thank you.

1:16:04Right. Um I just want to say com Commissioner Starkey you could actually be up there as well what you've done over the years. Um You know, Tom, from you've taken this program, what you've done with it has been absolutely amazing. The the progress is just incredible every step of the way. Mike, I hope you have your uh our policy our our advertising people that are gonna promote this and take this so we can get it to the state. Um I know you guys are under a little bit of attack right now, but I'm gonna tell you what you guys have done is phenomenal. Uh Commissioner Starkey have been working with our lobbyists later baylists on trying to make

1:16:34sure that we get The support. It may not be exactly what the state anticipated. COVID slowed things down, some things going but your apprentice program that's coming along and what you've done for trainings. I hope you'll talk about all the trainings that you've done. You've provided so many opportunities and for a for a commission that has a slogan of bringing opportunities home, you guys embody that better than anybody. What you do for people to improve their quality of lives. From from ladies that could be homeless, uh just people that are just may not be able to find another job somewhere

1:17:05else creating these things, the opportunities. What you're doing is absolutely phenomenal. I know Congressman Laraka supports you a hundred percent and we're gonna keep fighting for you guys every step of the way 'cause you're doing a phenomenal job.

1:17:15And um I I just wanna say uh you know when I first got involved in the manufacturing world, well first of all my parents were manufacturers. My my mother, my grandmother, my aunts, they were clothing manufacturers and uh my my stepfather was in armaments. And um Like you are. Uh, you know, all those jobs went overseas. Miami was a huge manufacturer of clothing um when I was growing up. I that was my first job working in my grandmother's factories and in my mom's um cleaning sewing machines

1:17:46and then sewing and F packing and labeling and Um And it was one one um factory after another working there and

1:17:59So uh I to see all these jobs go overseas and to see the what I think the precarious position the United States put themselves in by Um letting all these jobs go overseas is not good. So uh That's One of the reasons why I got into workforce training for manufacturing because I just felt these jobs need to come back home. And then we had COVID and then no one could get anything. So um I think, you know, it's that ball is rolling faster

1:18:30and faster and harder and harder that we need to know how to make things. Last last week I was on a uh a ship called the Victory Ship. Um it's it's down in uh Tampa Harbor there. We built that ship in World War Two in fifty-four days. A ship? Engine rooms. You know, it's one of the last few World War Two ships that still function. But but we built that in fifty-four days. Because we needed them. And

1:19:00we just uh We just love our manufacturers here in Pasco County. I know when my husband was head of the PEDC and I was doing all this work in manufacturing, he said Why do you care so much? It's only four percent of our jobs. And now look at us. We we um we know these are great jobs. We want to help our local manufacturers any way that we can. And um we're just so happy. This is one of my favorite, this in the trails when we do uh, you know, bike month and manufacturing month, those are my favorite

1:19:30ones. So um glad to honor you here today and would you please come up and address us.

1:19:38Good afternoon. On behalf of everyone at RJ Manufacturing, I want to express my sincere thanks to the Pasco County Board of Commissioners for the special proclamation recognition of October as Manufacturing Month. It is an honor to stand here today representing not only our company, but also the thousands of dedicated men and women in Pasco County who work every day to make things, literally things. From aerospace components to medical devices, from precision machine to cutting-edge technology. Manufacturing is alive and thriving

1:20:08right here in our community. at R J Manufacturing We are deeply committed to the future. That is why we continue to invest in advanced technology, workforce training, and partnerships with local schools and technical programs. We believe in growing not just our business, but in the growth of opportunity and across Pasco County. This proclamation award is more than recognition of what we do, it is a reminder of who we are. We as builders We are the problem solvers, we are the neighbors, and together

1:20:39we are creating something that is will last far beyond any one month. So again, thank you to the commissioners. for your continued support of manufacturing Industry. and for your commitment to the economic strength of our re of our region. are proud we are proud to be a part of this community and we're excited about the future it holds.

1:21:00Um are can we announce any kind of contract signing or do we know yet?

1:21:04We're about We have a large contract. Um it's probably gonna go to at least seven years. Um it's weapons manufacturing. Um We are about to close one of the twelve contracts for the next 35-45 days.

1:21:17That's so awesome. That's the DOD contract. And um, you know, we had two other DOD related uh businesses move into the county last month. So um we are we are as I said on the phone to someone who's helping you pull all this together. Other anything that we can do at the county to help you stand up? Because I know you have to get a lot of machines stood up pretty quickly.

1:21:41We have lots of ideas to make sure that you stay in the county and that you're successful.

1:21:45I'm not going anywhere I'm happier.

1:21:46Yeah, yeah. We are with you. Okay, let's go down and hand these out. I own I have two of these. Does this go to Bama? I I could I can always get Tom one. I have I don't know who the guests is. Maybe Ron Oakley. Okay, yeah, that's it.

1:22:01Yeah, we stayed up.

1:22:12And then you'll ask.

1:22:15What do you

1:22:15think?

1:22:17And then perfect.