Editor's Note: The following was written by Volusia County Chairman Frank Bruno regarding economic development:DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- It’s been 10 years since the County Council created the Voles County Department of Economic Development because the private sector-driven Volusia County Business Development Corporation wasn’t working.
The County Council made a wise decision a decade ago; I see no justification to change course.
The Daytona Beach chamber is leading an effort to change the way economic development services are delivered. The County Council is being asked essentially to dismantle the county’s economic program and to provide more than $500,000 a year over the next three years to a private organization to do the same work.
The chamber’s Metro Daytona is a new name for a failed program of the past.
However, I do agree with the chamber that the private sector should have a bigger voice. The CEO cabinet concept, which brings local business executives and corporate money to the table, is an excellent idea and a good way to enhance the county’s multi-faceted business development program.
The Volusia County Department of Economic Development has a highly successful, proven track record with public accountability. Raydon, Sparton Electronics, Southeast Fabricators, CDC Enterprises, Edgewater Powerboats, ODI…. on and on goes the list of companies that have created quality jobs with direct assistance from the county.
Trade missions to Europe, business assistance services to startups, the creation of shovel-ready industrial parks, and emergency loans to hurricane-ravaged local companies are but a few of the wide array of tools in the county Department of Economic Development’s toolbox.
Our excellent staff members come from diverse backgrounds, most of their experience in the private sector.
My friend and respected business leader George Mirabal recently published an opinion piece in the Daytona Beach News-Journal touting the merits of the new economic development model, he and others from the Daytona Beach chamber have been pushing. The maneuvering behind the scenes is very troubling.
It might be useful to go back in time and recall what led to the County Council taking the lead in economic development with the creation of the county Department of Economic Development.
Let me quote from an editorial in the Daytona Beach News-Journal published in October 1999: “Construction of a new private group is more of a problem. That group would recruit businesses, show prospective employers around, talk up all of Volusia County as a great place to do business, and then hand them off to the county for any official help they might seek.”
Here’s an excerpt from an editorial in the Orlando Sentinel in October 2001: “This kind of unilateral approach makes no sense.
For starters, the chambers cannot set economic development priorities alone. It is not their responsibility to decide what kinds of businesses to recrui.
If the chambers are to play such an important role, to whom will they be accountable? Who will answer to the public if the recruiting effort falls short? This gives the appearance the chambers are making a power grab, trying to regain the role for the business community that was lost with the demise of Enterprise Volusia.”
Mr. Mirabal in his column lists a string of reasons why a chamber-led economic development model is the new path to economic success. He cites trust, transparency and collaboration as tenets of his group’s proposal.
I agree these are essential ingredients of a winning economic development program. But I believe the County Council, elected countywide, is the only body that can represent the interests of all corners of Volusia County – with no vested interest except community prosperity. It matters not to the County Council where a business prospers as long as that business is somewhere in Volusia County.
While the decisions of corporate America are made in private board rooms, the business of the public must be open. This is transparency. This is the way the County Council operates. After all, the biggest funder of the chamber-pushed economic model is the taxpayers!
The Metro Daytona proposal is based on $1.5 million over the next three years. Yet so far, the county has not received a response from the Daytona Beach chamber to our request for copies of the interviews conducted by the chamber’s study on which their model is based. That’s incredible since the county (taxpayers) paid for half of this study.
Collaboration and fairness are hallmarks of the county Department of Economic Development. The county’s economic development successes involve every city in this county. The county’s economic development program creates a level playing field for our cities and our existing businesses.
The county, not the private sector, is the proper conduit for matching economic development grants from the state and federal governments. I have not heard anyone say they don’t trust the county’s economic development department.
The county, not the private sector, is the proper conduit for matching economic development grants from the state and federal governments. I have not heard anyone say they don’t trust the county’s economic development department.
Let me cite a quote from Edgewater City Manager Tracey Barlow that will appear in an upcoming publication:
“It is impossible to overstate the importance of our relationship with the county, and, in particular, the Department of Economic Development.
The county’s assistance has been invaluable and has kept us in the economic development hunt while we ramp up our own city specific program.”
Here’s a quote in the same publication from Southeast Volusia chamber Executive Director Steve Dennis: “Economic development officials from New Smyrna Beach and Volusia County often have worked together on projects.”
The recent series of guest commentaries in the News-Journal focus on the many positives our great community has to offer. They speak to the need for harmony and teamwork.
I am confident my colleagues on the County Council would support me when I say we wholeheartedly pledge to work with our business community partners to achieve greatness.
The private sector plays a crucial role in economic development. The privately-funded CEO cabinet created by the chamber’s economic development concept is noteworthy and welcome.
I encourage our business leaders to join with the County Council as we lead an economic development program that’s focused on implementing a strategic economic development plan that was crafted in the Sunshine with broad input from citizens, governments and businesses.
Since becoming the first elected chair of Volusia County, I have been committed to building consensus through partnerships. And nowhere is teamwork more important than in the economic development process.
I am proud of the leadership and accomplishments of the Volusia County Department of Economic Development and I welcome the involvement of the business community through the Metro Daytona / Volusia Organization.
Together we will continue to make Volusia County a great place in which to do business.