HomeMy WebLinkAboutCEDS 092016 Draft Minutes Draft
Subject to Modifications
Minutes of the
Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS)
Committee Meeting
Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council (TCRPC)
September 8, 2016
Chairman Michael Corbit called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m.
ROLL CALL
Staff called roll and announced a quorum is present.
Committee Members:
Helene Caseltine Indian River County
Brian Fowler Indian River County
Henry Copeland Martin County
Edwin Maxwell Martin County
Kathie Smith, alternate Martin County
Frank Tidikis, alternate Martin County
Bill West Martin County
Michael Corbit Palm Beach County
Gary Hines Palm Beach County
Adam Locke, via conference call St. Lucie County
Al Rivett St. Lucie County
Pete Tesch, alternate St. Lucie County
Excused:
Joe Griffin Indian River County
Pauline Becker Martin County
Andrew Duffell Palm Beach County
Harold “Buzz” Smyth St. Lucie County
Absent:
Mark Mathes Indian River County
Jeremy Theisen St. Lucie County
Luis Dominguez Martin County
Art Cobb Palm Beach County
Council Staff:
Peter Merritt
TCRPC
Kim Koho
TCRPC
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AGENDA
Frank Tidikis moved approval of the September 8, 2016, agenda. Al Rivett seconded the motion,
which carried unanimously.
APPROVAL OF JULY 14, 2016 MEETING MINUTES
Gary Hines moved approval of the July 14, 2016, meeting minutes. Mr. Rivett seconded the
motion, which carried unanimously.
2016 ECONOMIC SUMMIT DISCUSSION
Peter Merritt reviewed the confirmed speakers and moderators at the summit and provided an
updated preliminary draft agenda.
Mr. Merritt then reviewed each panel’s open speaker and moderator positions. The Industry
Group Trends Panel Discussion needs a tourism industry expert. Mr. Merritt said that staff
reached out to Mr. William Seccombe, President, and CEO, Visit Florida, who is unable to
attend due to a scheduling conflict. The staff is still working with Sally Davis, Executive
Operations Representative, to secure a panel member. Mr. Merritt asked if the Committee had
other suggestions.
Bill West stated that Visit Florida would provide the best representation for the panel and Mr.
Hines agreed, but suggested Mr. Jorge Pesquera, President, and CEO of Discover Palm Beach
County, as another possible panel member. Chairman Corbit commented on the excellent lineup
of speakers and moderators.
Mr. Merritt said FDOT has committed to provide an expert in highways for the Transportation
Infrastructure Trends Panel discussion, but they have not confirmed who it will be. Mr. Merritt
has asked Jeremy Upchurch, District Freight Coordinator, for suggestions regarding an expert on
railroads since Bill Cross, Manager of Planning and Capital Development, South Florida
Regional Transportation Authority, could not attend. Mr. Tesch suggested that the panel give
thoughtful consideration to rail discussion. Mr. Merritt stressed the importance of finding an
expert who is knowledgeable and can represent all of the State of Florida’s interests with regards
to the different types of rail. Mr. Maxwell said that rail has always been an essential part of
Florida’s economy. Mr. Copeland suggested having a discussion regarding current and future
trends in all local freight service, since it is better to know if freight trends will be a limitation or
a selling point as an economic driver. The Committee agreed that discussing the region’s freight
trends is important.
Mr. Merritt reviewed the Educational and Workforce Development Trends Panel, which
Chairman Corbit has agreed to moderate. Andrew Duffell has not been able to obtain a
confirmation from John Kelly, President of Florida Atlantic University (FAU). Mr. Hines said
that he would ask Kelly Smallridge, President, Business Development Board if she could contact
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Dr. Kelly. Mr. Merritt asked the Committee for an alternate if Dr. Kelly has a conflict. Mr.
Hines suggested Mr. Dan Flynn, Vice President for Research, FAU, as an excellent resource.
Mr. Tesch suggested Keiser University as an alternate to FAU if one is needed and Mr. Maxwell
agreed. Under discussion, the Committee reviewed education needs with concerns for skilled
labor within the region. Mr. West felt that Keiser University would make a good addition to the
Educational and Workforce Development Trends Panel Discussion, but Mr. Tidikis was
concerned with the time allowed for discussion. Mr. Copeland suggested that the universities
come prepared to align what they do with what they achieve.
The consensus of the Committee was that Mr. Hines will follow through with Ms. Smallridge
regarding contacting Dr. Kelly and if he is not available, he will follow through with Mr. Flynn.
If Mr. Flynn is not available, Mr. Merritt will contact Mr. Tesch, who offered to reach out to
either Dr. Keiser or Belinda Keiser who has served on the Board of Directors for both
CareerSource Florida and Enterprise Florida.
Mr. West asked if FAU is close to the region’s workforce trends. Chairman Corbit said that Dr.
Kelly is an excellent and engaging speaker who has a phenomenal message and has done an
excellent job in aligning FAU with workforce trends.
Mr. Merritt provided the Committee with a summary of the current registration for the summit.
He indicated there are 28 attending, which includes staff, panel members, speakers, and
registered participants. We have not received registrations from the other regional planning
councils, but we have received notice that several of them are planning to attend. Mr. Merritt
said Mr. Busha has confirmed the CEDS Committee will not need to pay the registration fee or
fill out the registration form, but please advise Kim Koho of attendance. By a show of hands,
Chairman Corbit asked the members who were not planning on attending the summit. Mr.
Tidikis said that he has prior plans and could not attend and Mr. Locke was not sure of his
schedule. It was duly noted by Ms. Koho, who will send the attending members an email
confirmation. She said she will also send out an email reminder to the Committee asking for
additional confirmations of attendance.
Mr. Tidikis asked if the summit would be electronically recorded. Mr. Merritt said that since
there would be many different components to the summit, plans have not been made to record it.
The meeting will be advertised and a summary of the meeting will be available. Mr. Tidikis said
that he would like to hear the speaker’s portion of the meeting since he will miss it. Chairman
Corbit said that Indian River State College (IRSC) has the capability to video tape presentations.
Mr. Copeland and Mr. Maxwell suggested having Martin County Television (MCTV) record it
as well. Mr. Merritt said he would contact IRSC. Helene Caseltine said that since Dr. Edwin
Massey will be a guest speaker at the summit, the room may be offered at no charge as an in-
kind contribution.
Chairman Corbit asked if staff would be usin g IRSC’s catering service. Mr. Merritt said that
staff would coordinate with a private vendor to bring food into the summit.
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Mr. Merritt confirmed that commissioners and school board members from the fifty-four local
governments within the region have been invited. Under discussion, the Committee suggested
that a press release or advertisement be placed in the local papers. Mr. West suggested posting
the summit on a Facebook event page, and Mr. Merritt said that the TCRPC and the CEDS
Committee did not have a Facebook page. Mr. Tesch said that he would have it posted on the
Economic Development Council of St. Lucie County’s Facebook page. Mr. Merritt said that it is
posted on TCRPC’s website.
Mr. Merritt indicated that he envisioned more of a back-and-forth discussion in the panel
sessions rather than a series of PowerPoint presentations. He requested that each moderator
organize a conference call with their perspective panel members by the first of October to
coordinate the discussion. The moderator has discretion in determining the style of the
discussion. Mr. Merritt said the panel member meeting conference call discussions prior to the
summit would not be in violation of the Florida Sunshine Law, since there would only be one
Committee member per panel on the conference call discussions. Special advertising of the
summit will be done for the CEDS Committee to comply with the Florida Sunshine Law.
Chairman Corbit asked if Ms. Koho could provide Mr. Tesch with contact information for his
panel members, the Industry Group Trends Panel Discussion. Mr. Merritt said that once the
contact information is organized, staff will send it out to all of the moderators so that they can
organize their respective conference calls.
Mr. Tidikis suggested that the moderators provide an overview of the issues, which will lay the
baseline and parameters for the discussion. The panel members provide an overview of their
industries contributions to the economy and its future. There needs to be a balance between
fostering interaction among the panel members, while allowing them time to speak individually.
Mr. Tesch said because of time constraints the panel members should share one opportunity and
one challenge in terms of a trend for their particular industry. Another suggestion is that the
discussion could focus along the lines of topics that are specific, which can be addressed in a
concentrated amount of time, such as workforce readiness and the acquisition of human talent for
the Industry Group Trends Panel.
Mr. Copeland felt it important that the panel members have a conversation that includes the
upcoming trends and what is driving those trends. There should also be a distinction made
between statewide trends and regional trends, since not all trends are moving in the same
direction. Mr. Maxwell said that it might be important to find out what is driving the region’s
special niches.
Mr. Tesch said that Industry Group Trends panel is a great idea but expressed his concern about
time constraints. Mr. Merritt suggested that the panel focus on the most important items.
Mr. West asked if any topic could be combined to reduce the discussion time. Under discussion,
the Committee decided that the panel members would remain as listed on the agenda.
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Mr. Copeland asked what impacts the Federal Government can have on the general funding
landscape for transportation and Mr. Merritt said he would discuss those concerns with Kim
DeLaney.
Helene Caseltine asked if the aviation discussion will focus more on general aviation rather than
commercial. The Committee determined that the discussion would be better served if it focused
on general aviation since all of the counties in the region have general airports; these airports are
economic drivers in the communities. Mr. West clarified that the aviation discussion should
focus on infrastructure and not on trends. Mr. Maxwell said that upcoming changes in aviation
will also create changes in airports infrastructure requirements. Mr. Merritt agreed that receiving
updates regarding the different county’s key airports is important.
Chairman Corbit stated that three board presidents will be sitting on the Educational and
Workforce Development Panel and asked for the Committee’s input regarding topics of
discussion. Mr. Rivett suggested asking the panel if their respective institutions focus on
workforce development. Mr. Hines suggested asking if their graduates with two and four-year
degrees meet the current job openings for businesses in the communities. Mr. Maxwell suggested
asking if the institutions have an emphasis on internship programs. Mr. Tidikis suggested asking
the panel how their institutions plan on meeting their community’s needs.
Mr. Rivett referred to his wife, Donna Rivett, Dean of Industrial Education at Indian River State
College and her experience. He explained that in order for colleges to meet the state’s funding
criteria, they are requiring that colleges and universities focus on getting graduates into jobs.
Kathie Smith asked if local school board members were being invited since there are a growing
number of high school students taking advantage of college dual enrollment and certificate
programs. The curriculums are being tailored to match the needs as early as middle school. Mr.
Merritt said that he will confirm that staff reaches out to the school boards in the next outreach.
Ms. Caseltine asked that staff make sure that CareerSource is on the email list for both Palm
Beach County and the Treasure Coast and suggested that we ask if they could send it to their
respective boards.
Mr. Copeland suggested during the panel discussion a statement be made to encourage the
continuing of adult education. There might be follow-up opportunities for higher level skills
using certificate programs since many smaller employers might not have skills training available
to them. Mr. Maxwell agreed and cited the manufacturing industry as an example with their use
of adult education, internship, and certificate programs.
Mr. Merritt provided a handout that described instructions for summit breakout group
facilitators. The breakout groups are as follows: Talent Supply and Education; Innovation &
Economic Development; Infrastructure and Growth Leadership; Business Climate &
Competitiveness; Civic and Governance Systems; Quality of Life and Quality of Places;
Economic Resilience; and Regional Connections. Six of the breakout groups are tied to the six
sections in the CEDS Plan and each section contains a goal and several strategies. All of the
CEDS Plans in the State of Florida were designed to match the Florida Chamber Foundation’s
Six Pillars framework. There are two additional breakout groups, one being Economic
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Resilience, which is a new requirement of the CEDS Plan. The second additional breakout group
is Regional Connections, which was created to identify opportunities and projects that reach
across regional boundaries. The purpose is to identify these activities and projects and include a
discussion of them in the Plan.
Mr. Merritt explained that two exercises have been planned for the breakout groups. The first 30-
minute exercise is a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) Analysis . The
second exercise will be Strategy Development, in which a list of strategies will be developed
related to the topic of each group. At the end of the session, a volunteer from each breakout
group will present their group’s summaries to the summit attendees.
Mr. Copeland inquired about the possibility of being able to change one's participation in a
breakout group. Mr. Rivett asked if assignments should be made to each group to make sure that
there are experts at each table. Under discussion, the Committee determined that it would be best
to have a sign-in sheet for each breakout group at the general registration table. Mr. Tidikis
suggested assigning staff, panel members, speakers, and CEDS Committee members to different
breakout tables prior to participants signing-up at the registration table. Mr. Merritt said that he
will discuss it with staff as to determine the best solution for assigning breakout groups.
Ms. Caseltine asked if the breakout group would provide a statement of the context of the goal or
plan that the breakout group would tie back to in the CEDS Plan. Mr. Merritt referred t o the
handout and said that in exercise 2 the facilitator will review the existing goal(s) and strategies in
the CEDS plan or provide a list of discussion ideas to help focus the discussion.
Ms. Caseltine asked if the summit would allow walk-ins. Mr. Merritt said that if there is room,
they would not be opposed to it. She asked if there is a registration deadline, and Ms. Koho
stated that it was September 30, 2016. Under discussion, the Committee decided that the
deadline for registration would be changed to 1 week prior to the summit (October 21, 2016) and
the registration fee will increase from $25.00 to $40.00 for anyone registering after the deadline.
Mr. Merritt said that summit attendee name tags will be marked by different color ribbons. The
colors will be sorted by affiliation as follows: CEDS Committee members, Council staff, panel
members along with guest speakers, and elected officials.
Mr. Merritt said that a program for the summit will be prepared that will include a short
biography of the speakers and panel members. Lunch details will be coordinated with Council
staff. Mr. Merritt suggested the facility’s table and chair arrangement include a podium and
lecture style seating at the front with breakout tables at the rear of the room. Mr. Hines asked if
there would be enough room between the tables to allow for ease of conversation. Mr. Merritt
said that staff will make sure the tables are spread out as much as possible.
Mr. Merritt said that staff will organize and develop polling questions and there will also be
polling questions based on the breakout group results. Mr. Tidikis asked if the polling will be
connected to the room’s audio video system so that the attendees can see the results. Mr. Merritt
said the system is designed to be used with audio video systems.
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Chairman Corbit thanked Mr. Merritt for an excellent job organizing the details of the summit
and appreciated his hard work. The consensus of the Committee is that they are happy with the
direction of the summit.
PUBLIC COMMENT
None.
COMMITTEE COMMENT
Mr. Copeland asked if staff would contact IRSC or MCTV in order to video the summit speakers
and the panel discussion portion of the summit so that it can be televised for the residents in the
region. This could help build bridges between the different interests within the region. Mr.
Merritt said that he will review this idea with Mr. Busha.
Chairman Corbit indicated the summit is a good opportunity for the CEDS Committee members
to move economic development forward in the region.
Brian Fowler asked if staff could periodically keep the CEDS Committee members updated on
the registration numbers for the summit.
STAFF COMMENT
Mr. Merritt announced that a new staff member will be starting on October 6, 2016. His name is
Tom Lanahan and he is currently the Assistant City Manager with the City of Greenacres. He
will be Council’s new Economic Development Coordinator. As the Economic Development
Coordinator, the CEDS Committee will fall under his department. Mr. Merritt stated he will be
retiring in early 2017.
ADJOURNMENT
Mr. Tidikis moved adjournment of the meeting. Mr. Hines seconded the motion, which carried
unanimously.
The meeting was adjourned at 3:40 p.m.