May 3, 2010
Volusia County chair
Frank Bruno responds to chamber economic development proposal
By Frank Bruno
Volusia County Chair
It’s been 10 years since the County Council created the Volusia 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 recruit… 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.
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.
