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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCEDS 0316 minsDraft Subject to Modifications Minutes of the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) Committee Meeting Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council (TCRPC) March 10, 2016 Greg Vaday, Chair called the meeting to order at 2:05 p.m. ROLL CALL Staff called roll and announced a quorum is present. Committee Members: Artice "Art" Cobb, via conference call Palm Beach County Henry Copeland Martin County Edwin Maxwell Martin County Frank Tidikis, alternate Martin County Bill West Martin County Michael Corbit Palm Beach County Andrew Duffell Palm Beach County Brian Fowler Indian River County Mark Mathes, via conference call Indian River County Harold "Buzz" Smyth St. Lucie County Greg Vaday, Chair Palm Beach County Excused: Pauline Becker Martin County Helene Caseltine Indian River County Luis Dominguez Martin County Gary Hines Palm Beach County Robin Snyder, alternate Martin County Al Rivett, alternate St. Lucie County Peter Tesch St. Lucie County Absent: Derrik Moore St. Lucie County Jeremy Theisen St. Lucie County Council Staff: Peter Merritt TCRPC Kim Koho TCRPC Draft Subject to Modifications AGENDA Michael Corbit moved approval of the agenda. Bill West seconded the motion, which carried Motion unanimously. APPROVAL OF JANUARY 14, 2016 MINUTES Henry Copeland moved approval of the January 14, 2016, meeting minutes. Ed Maxwell Motion seconded the motion, which carried unanimously. COMMITTEE REORGANIZATION — MEMBERSHIP APPOINTMENT Kim Koho read the following members into the record: Indian River County Joe Griffin, Commissioner Flescher, District 2 Mr. Merritt pointed out that as of March 2016, Glenn Heran, Indian River County, Commissioner Solari's appointee, has resigned. COMMITTEE REORGANIZATION — ELECTION OF OFFICERS Mr. Merritt said that at the last CEDS committee meeting there were no members present from St. Lucie County, and only one member from Indian River County present. The committee felt that they would be better served to wait for additional members to be present in those counties. Mr. West nominated Harold "Buzz" Smyth as Pt vice -chair. Joe Griffin nominated Mark Mathes as 2nd vice -chair. Mr. Smyth and Mr. Mathes both agreed to accept the nominations as Pt and 2nd vice -chairs respectfully. Mr. Smyth moved approval of Harold "Buzz" Smyth, representing St. Lucie County, as Pt vice- Motion chair and as Mark Mathes, representing Indian River County, as 2nd vice -chair. Mr. Maxwell seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. Mr. Smyth asked that Mr. Merritt send a letter and reach out to the St. Lucie County administrator asking that he verify if the St. Lucie County appointees are interested in attending and participating in the CEDS committee. Mr. Merritt recapped the 2016 CEDS committee officers as follows: Greg Vaday, representing Palm Beach County as chair; Harold "Buzz" Smyth, representing St. Lucie County as 1st vice - chair; Mark Mathes, representing Indian River County as 2nd vice -chair; and Ed Maxwell, representing Martin County as Yd vice -chair. FLORIDA SUNSHINE LAW PRIMER — FOLLOW-UP ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS 2 Draft Subject to Modifications Mr. Merritt reviewed the Sunshine Law follow-up answers to questions memo from Keith W. Davis, Council attorney. There were three questions asked at the last meeting regarding the Florida Sunshine Law primer memo. The first question asked was, "If there is a properly noticed meeting, but there is a failure to obtain a quorum, is it a violation of the Sunshine Law for the committee members to continue as a "gathering" of members for discussion of items without an action?" Mr. Merritt said based on the memo from Mr. Davis, the answer is that it is not a violation as long as the meeting is properly noticed, open to the public, and minutes are kept for the meeting. The second question asked was, "Is it a violation of the Sunshine Law if a member and their designated alternate member meet off the record to discuss committee business so that the alternate member could vote in concert with the member's thoughts when the alternate member attends the meeting in place of the member?" Mr. Merritt said that the answer, based on the memo from Mr. Davis, is that it is not a violation as long as the alternate only participates to vote in the absence of the regular member. Mr. Davis, in the memo, advised caution and added that it should be a matter of policy that alternates only vote when the regular member is absent. Mr. West wanted to be able to freely discuss CEDS business with his alternate and suggested Motion that it be detailed in the CEDS bylaws. Mr. Merritt said the committee should make it a priority to update the CEDS committee bylaws. Mr. West moved that the CEDS adopt a formal policy stating that an alternate member can only participate in a vote in the absence of his/her regular member. Mr. Maxwell seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. The third question asked was, "Is it a violation of the Sunshine Law if any member and any alternate member meet off the record to discuss committee business?" Mr. Merritt said that the answer, based on the memo from Mr Davis, is yes, it is a violation of the Sunshine Law, since speaking to an alternate member is similar to speaking to a regular member. 2016 ECONOMIC SUMMIT DISCUSSION Mr. Vaday said that at the January 14, 2016, CEDS committee meeting it was decided to move forward with the planning of an economic summit. The CEDS committee will be looking at current and future trends, growth industry, and opportunities in charting a course for the next five years. Mr. Vaday provided background regarding the Federal Department of Commerce's Economic Department of Administration (EDA), explaining that it is the organization that provides funding to the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council (TCRPC). The EDA is looking for each of their regions to develop a five year plan for economic development. The current plan expires in 2017. Mr. Vaday reviewed EDA's criteria thresholds for funding stating that EDA is currently interested in job creation with higher value added industry, research, and training opportunities. It is not looking at traditional main street enterprise projects such as restaurants, hotels, or other local "mom and pop" establishments to fund. Instead, they will look at projects such as warehouses, airports, distribution centers, and intermodal logistic centers. EDA's entire annual budget for projects nationwide is about $250 million dollars; however, the EDA has five regions, Draft Subject to Modifications which allows for about $50 million dollars per region. Florida, for example is a part of a region which includes eight other states. This makes it a very competitive process. He suggested that the CEDS committee start considering new projects for the application process no later than the end of summer 2016. Mr. Maxwell asked what the threshold would be regarding regional projects. Mr. Vaday said that the effects of the project would need to spill over to adjacent boundaries. He cited a roadway widening project for the City of Lake Worth Park of Commerce as an example. There are many companies locating in the Park that will most likely do business outside of Palm Beach County. Mr. Maxwell asked if a 70-acre tract of land being developed into a high tech warehouse could be considered for roadway projects and eligible for EDA funding. Mr. Vaday noted without actually reviewing it, it sounded as though it would meet EDA's threshold requirements. Mr. Maxwell asked if a project could increase its competitiveness by earmarking a certain percentage of jobs for a nearby economically distressed community, and Mr. Vaday said it would. Mr. Griffin asked if EDA selects projects on the percentages of jobs created in a small city or town as it relates to the region or as the region as it relates to the other states in the region. Mr. Vaday said that EDA will look at the impacts of the project to the Treasure Coast region. Mr. Merritt added that the Treasure Coast is in competition with other areas regarding project job impacts and if the job creation is too low a project could be outcompeted. Mr. Griffin asked what type of match would be needed regarding grant funding. Mr. Vaday said that a fifty percent local match is required. If the community is distressed in terms of poverty or per capita income, a higher grant rate may be obtained. For example, a distressed community might be eligible for an eighty percent grant rate with a required twenty percent local match. Mr. Griffin asked if EDA funds could be used to supplement a local match requirement such as using EDA and FDOT funds for the same project. Mr. Vaday said that it could just as it was done in Fellsmere, however federal funds cannot be matched against other federal funds. For example, EDA funds cannot be matched with funds from the Environmental Protection Agency. However, federal funds that have lost their federal earmark coming into the State, such as the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and Community Block Development Grant programs can be used as a local match. State and local dollars can be combined with federal dollars to be used for the local match. Mr. Vaday said that grants are becoming a smaller portion of overall project costs. For example, a major project like a port is going to use many different funding sources with federal funds only making up 25 to 30 percent of the project. Mr. Tidikis asked if a retrospective analysis of job creation factors into job requirement calculations. Mr. Vaday said it factors into job calculations going forward. He explained that EDA will ask the applicant to provide report updates of jobs created. This report is required every three years up to a nine-year period, which creates a rolling matrix. Mr. Tidikis asked if there is transparency in the reports to develop a Hit Rate of jobs. Mr. Vaday said that he did not know and added that information would have to come directly from EDA. 2 Draft Subject to Modifications Mr. Smyth asked if a greater emphasis will be placed on what is working and what is not regarding the region's economic trends, changes, and successes. Mr. Vaday said that it would. EDA is currently looking at how the CEDS plan guides economic development without prescribing it. Instead of getting involved in the details of a project, they are more interested in project's policy directions of goals and objectives. The summit provides an opportunity to look at industries that will provide regional benefits while assessing their successes. Mr. Merritt said that the purpose of the 2016 CEDS economic summit is to engage regional stakeholders as part of the CEDS plan update process. The summit will bring together the region's business development boards, all of the economic players, colleges, universities, counties, and cities, and will provide an opportunity for a full complement of ideas by expanding the input area to the entire region. Mr. Merritt reviewed the summit's planning considerations. It was decided that the best date for the summit is October 28, 2016, and the location will be the Wolf High Technology Center, Indian River State College — Chastain Campus, 2400 SE Salerno Road, Stuart, FL 34997. He suggested that the title of the summit be Economic Development Summit for the Treasure Coast Region. The room has been reserved from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., and suggested that the meeting should start at 9:30 a.m. and continue until 4:00 p.m. He then engaged the committee on discussion regarding the meeting structure. Mr. Vaday suggested that the meeting structure include a general discussion of economic trends throughout the state of Florida as well as regionally. It is important to be aware of the larger trends developing within the State. Mr. Merritt said that the list of possible speakers provided on the summit memorandum. Mr. Merritt said that he and Mr. Busha also suggested providing a series of presentations to the summit attendees focusing on economic trends. The attendees would then break out into groups focusing on different topics such as economic trends; strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis; the region's vision, goals, and measurable objectives; economic strategies; economic resilience; and regional connections. The breakout groups would be facilitated by TCRPC council staff and the results of the breakout groups would be presented to the summit attendees. The larger group would then use the Council's polling software to survey the breakout group results. The information would be summarized for use in the CEDS Plan update. Mr. Vaday referred to Agenda Item 7, and suggested leaving the summit direction outline to a CEDS plan update subcommittee to bring back its findings to the CEDS committee. He also suggested that each person on the subcommittee as well as the CEDS committee members be assigned to a different breakout session. Mr. Vaday suggested inviting the District IV Secretary for the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to discuss the FDOT's transportation plan, which might incorporate several upcoming projects. Mr. Merritt suggested also inviting Jeremy Upchurch, FDOT, Freight Coordinator, who receives the CEDS committee agenda, and attends the meetings when possible. Mr. Vaday suggested having someone speak from Florida Atlantic University. He felt it is important to tie in workforce development and educational trends with job creation ideas received from the summit. Mr. Duffell suggested inviting the president of FAU since the college 5 Draft Subject to Modifications straddles all the counties of the region and offered to make the request. Mr. Merritt said that he would get with Mr. Duffell to provide him with information prior to him doing so. Mr. Maxwell asked if planning strategies for the update being used are for five, ten, or twenty years. Mr. Vaday said that the plan is a five year plan and asked Michael Corbit for workforce timelines. Mr. Corbit said that CareerSource uses two, five, and ten year projections, since anything beyond that is unrealistic. Mr. Vaday said population projections and demographics usually go out ten years also. Mr. Smyth asked why more local businesses and business organizations were not included on the proposed list. For example, in St. Lucie County, aviation is struggling and it might be helpful to have someone from that industry involved in the discussions. Mr. Smyth suggested including representation from the following industries: aviation, tourism, and marine industry. Mr. Vaday suggested soliciting recommendations from the region's business development boards and economic development councils. Mr. Smyth concurred with the idea. Mr. Merritt suggested that an industry clusters types would be a good topic for a panel discussion. Mr. Merritt said since the summit is being done in one day, the process will need to be well organized. Mr. Smyth said that fact-finding with regards to local industry is very important. Mr. Maxwell said that it would be interesting to hear from the regional business executives to find out what they will need for future industry growth. Mr. Vaday agreed that it is important to solicit concerns and issues from people who are suppling services and goods to and outside the region. Mr. Smyth said that the topics for the breakout groups are on target, but discussions need to be directed by industries. Mr. Vaday said that it will be important to have the private sector in attendance to counter balance the public sector. Mr. Griffin wanted the committee to be aware that the date for the summit is scheduled to be about a week prior to the election, which could influence some of the discussions. He suggested including the Treasure Coast Sports Commission to the list of resources for the summit. They have the ability to zero in on sports assets as economic drivers available on the Treasure Coast such as competition pools and ballfields. Mr. Duffel suggested including agriculture to the list of targeted industries since it is important to the economy of the region. Mr. Copeland liked the panel discussion concepts and suggested obtaining perspective from the counties. Discussions could include performance matrices and how counties approach their local matches. Mr. Corbit asked when the last time the CEDS committee conducted a summit. Mr. Vaday said that the CEDS committee participated in a summit that was organized by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO). The CEDS committee used the DEO's summit economic development discussions to craft the current plan. Mr. Merritt said that the Florida Chamber Foundation's Six Pillars framework was introduced at that summit. Mr. Vaday said that EDA is having a national conference in Washington D.C., and Mr. Merritt said that he would be attending. Mr. Vaday suggested either inviting one of the keynote speakers from that conference to the summit or obtaining one of the power point presentations to view at 2 Draft Subject to Modifications the summit. Typically at these conferences, EDA will review their vision for EDA, where the nation's strengths are economically, and what EDA is looking to do. It is important to be in sync with their vision. Mr. Merritt said that he is hoping to make some contacts there and will bring back information that can be utilized by the CEDS committee in its planning process. Mr. Merritt said the proposed breakout facilitators would be TCRPC staff, which is extremely experienced at facilitating. TCRPC staff served as facilitators at the 2011 DEO summit. Mr. Duffell asked what type of attendance was anticipated and Mr. Merritt said that the maximum attendance allowed at the venue is about 200 people. The mailing list and invitations would be prepared by Council staff. He will work with Mr. Vaday and the subcommittee on summit and save the date announcements. Mr. Duffel suggested adding the local Chambers to the mailing list. Mr. Corbit suggested that the CEDS committee provide the save the date announcements to different organizations asking that they send it out with their regular newsletters and Mr. Maxwell agreed. Mr. Corbit said that if the organizations are allowed to be more inclusive by putting their logo on the announcement they might tend to be more supportive of the event. Mr. Merritt agreed and said that the registration could be set up on a website making it simple to register. Mr. Copeland suggested sending invitations to the municipalities and their commissions such as the Town of Jupiter Island. Mr. Corbit suggested contacting Pat Christianson at the League of Cities for assistance with reaching out to the municipalities. Mr. Vaday suggested including a representative from Enterprise Florida as a speaker. Mr. West suggested inviting Florida Power and Light's president or economic team. Mr. Merritt discussed the possibility of including breakfast snacks and a working lunch. Under discussion the committee decided there would be a higher attendance rate if people paid to attend the event. It was the consensus of the committee to charge between $20 and $25 for registration, which would include lunch, beverages and miscellaneous snacks. Mr. Smyth stated that October 28, 2016, is a good date for the summit in spite of being close to the national election. The committee recommended the summit hours should be from 9:00 a.m. until 4 p.m. Mr. Merritt said that after the May 12, 2016, CEDS committee meeting, staff would be able to consolidate the additional summit details and send out the announcement and registration request. He encouraged the members to email him or Ms. Koho with any ideas or suggestions that they may have regarding summit. Mr. Tidikis liked the idea of having morning discussions about where the region is today, where it wants to go, and what resources are available with breakout sessions in the afternoon. Mr. Merritt said that lunch would be a working lunch with a keynote speaker or presentation. Mr. Corbit suggested having an interactive lunch by using the polling software. Mr. Merritt said that the software could be used to assess the outcomes of the different breakout groups. Mr. Tidikis said that breakout group guidelines could be preloaded into the audience response system. Mr. Merritt said that a survey could be created for the working lunch based on the morning presentations and discussions. 7 Draft Subject to Modifications Mr. Maxwell and Mr. Tidikis said that focus of the summit should be the region's local issues while providing economic information on state and national levels. Mr. Vaday suggested having one speaker represent federal government, one represent state government, and the rest represent local governments and interests. The committee concurred. CEDS PLAN UPDATE SUBCOMMITTEE Mr. Vaday asked that a four person planning subcommittee be created for purposes of working on the update of the CEDS Plan and guiding staff regarding the preparation and marketing of the summit. There would be one person representing each county, and as chairman of the CEDS committee, he would represent Palm Beach County. The following members volunteered to serve on the subcommittee: Joe Griffin, Indian River County; Frank Tidikis, Martin County; and Harold Buzz Smyth, St. Lucie County. Mr. Vaday suggested that the meetings be held after the regularly scheduled CEDS committee meetings to make it as convenient as possible for the subcommittee members and staff. If additional meetings are needed, they can be arranged via conference calls. Mr. Duffell stated that the subcommittee meeting does fall under Florida Sunshine Law and will need to be noticed and recorded with minutes provided and Mr. Merritt agreed. Mr. Merritt said that he would work with Mr. Vaday regarding the plan update and upcoming summit, but that he would leave it to the chair's discretion to call for subcommittee meetings. He will start to make contact with potential speakers for the summit and asked the committee members to send him any additional suggestions. None. PUBLIC COMMENT COMMITTEE COMMENT Mr. Smyth asked for an update on Commissioner Christopher Dzadovsky speaking to the CEDS committee and the Seven50 project. Mr. Merritt responded saying that Commissioner Dzadovsky had previously agreed to attend the March 10, 2016, CEDS committee meeting to discuss the possible creation of a regional utility between the City of Fort Pierce and St. Lucie County. However, the Commissioner contacted him saying that he would prefer to delay his speaking commitment as the parties have grown apart on the issue. If there is future progress, the Commissioner will reschedule with the CEDS committee. Mr. Merritt stated that TCRPC has not been spending much time with the Seven50 plan implementation. South Florida Regional Council has set up a database and has followed up on some of the elements of the plan. The Seven50 plan is available online. Indian River, Martin, and St. Lucie counties pulled -out of the plan before it was completed in 2014. In the Treasure Coast Draft Subject to Modifications region, Palm Beach County was its only supporter. Because of the lack of support for the plan throughout the region, Council staff has not made implementation of the plan a major priority. Mr. Vaday said that good points were made by Mr. Copeland and Mr. Smyth who suggested looking at larger industry issues and needs. Mr. Merritt suggested reviewing the Seven50 plan with regards to the CEDS plan update and extracting relative information. Mr. Vaday said that the CEDS plan joint document suggests overlaps in industries such as port planning, aviation, commerce and transportation between South Florida and the Treasure Coast regions. There is also information in the Seven50 plan that addresses those overlaps and such information might be useful in the current CEDS plan update. Under discussion the committee determined that joint regional communication is important to the counties, regions, as well as the state. They discussed regional effects of existing Developments of Regional Impact (DRIB), comprehensive plan amendments, and elimination of the DRI process by the state. Mr. Vaday asked that environmental sustainability be included in the economic resilience portion of the plan update. He suggested that the summit include someone to address the topic and look at how environmental sustainability could be tied into the some of the larger projects that are currently moving forward in the region. Palm Beach County has hired a sustainability coordinator who is part of the larger climate compact. Many projects now are looking at how to incorporate energy conservation and establish Properly Assessed Clean Energy programs. Mr. Smyth asked if water farming could be incorporated into a future CEDS meeting agenda. Mr. Griffin suggested inviting Jason Nunemaker, City Manager, City of Fellsmere, to speak on the topic. Mr. West and Mr. Maxwell suggested inviting someone from Caulkins Water Farm located in Indiantown. The committee discussed the purpose of water farming, the purchasing of water rights, economic opportunities to address agricultural water runoff, local and regional water issues, and the benefits of including other regions in water discussions. None. STAFF COMMENT ADJOURNMENT Mr. Corbit moved adjournment of the meeting. Mr. West seconded the motion, which carried unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 4:05 p.m. 0