November 6, 2015 at 8:00 AM **Breakfast will be served at 7:30 AM** I. CALL TO ORDER - Denis Noah, Chair II. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Approval of the October 2, 2015 Minutes... 1 NEW BUSINESS Secretary Candidates and At-Large Applications - Denis Noah... 4 2016 Calendar Approval - Amy McQuagge... 12 Year-to-Date Review - Antranette Forbes/Shane Farnsworth Marketing Review and 2016 Plan - Amy McQuagge EDO Business Plan/Performance Metrics - Rachel Busch Horizon Council Strategic Plan Review - Dennie Hamilton... 13 2016 Task Forces o Sunset Review - Dr. Larry Antonucci... 24 o Commercial Corridor Revitalization Work Plan - Dan Eveloff... 25 General Membership Survey - Chris Spiro IV. OPEN DISCUSSION V. ADJOURN Next Meeting: Friday, January 8, 2015 8:00 a.m. Lee County Economic Development Office 2201 Second Street, Conference Room 118 1 st Floor Fort Myers, FL 33901 Horizon Council Exec. 1
HORIZON COUNCIL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES October 2, 2015 Members Present: Wilson Bradshaw, Gray Davis, Rana Erbrick, Gary Griffin, Dennie Hamilton, Alan Mandel, Gail Markham, Denis Noah, Mike Quaintance, Russell Schropp, Chris Spiro, Janet Watermeier, Jim Wilson Guests and Staff: Glen Salyer, Doug Meurer, Michele Shumann, Greg Adkins, Rachel Busch, B. Pat O Rourke, Warren Baucom, Antranette Forbes, Amy McQuagge, Barbara Kelly I. CALL TO ORDER Chair, Mr. Noah called meeting to order at 8:12 a.m. II. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion to approve the minutes of the August 7, 2015 meeting made by Mr. Schropp, seconded by Mr. Spiro, and unanimously approved. OLD BUSINESS Healthcare Task Force- Gary Griffin The task force held the yearly signature Workplace Wellness event. The partnership with Lee Memorial Health System provided successful speakers and the School District provided a great venue. The group is still trying to reach more CEOs and decision makers as a goal for next year. Business Issues Task Force- Russell Schropp The group continues to look for alternatives for County infrastructure funding sources. Mr. Schropp has prepared a draft white paper which is currently being reviewed by the EDO office. Once the review is completed, the white paper will be taken back to the task force to hopefully begin to formulate suggestions by the end of the year. Mr. Schropp also reminded the Board of the Business Court Proposal brought forth by Kevin Jursinski, which would expedite business court matters. Mr. Jursinski had asked for Horizon Council participation, but at this stage, this matter is simply in dialog as more information is needed. Mr. Quaintance asked the Board to consider collaboration with a Small Business Outreach Proposal, and Mr. Salyer suggested a possible partnership with LEARN as well as SBDC. A motion was made for the Council to collaborate and market the Small Business Outreach Proposal made by Mr. Spiro, seconded by Mrs. Markham, and unanimously approved. IV. NEW BUSINESS Marketing Contract o Mr. Noah asked the Board to consider the current Marketing contract between Priority Marketing and the subcontractor DCI to be split into two separate contracts. The mission will remain the same, but the focus will be strengthened if the EDO team can deal with each entity directly. A motion was made to move forward with discussion to bring a modification of the current Marketing Contract back to the November meeting for approval made by Mr. Griffin, seconded by Dr. Bradshaw, and unanimously approved. Horizon Council Exec. 2
Industry Appreciation Event Location o Discussion ensued regarding next year s event, as Harborside Event Center will likely be under construction. The Board discussed holding the event at Hyatt Coconut Pointe, and possibly holding the event at an earlier date. The possibility of holding a dinner event was mentioned, but the Board decided attendance would drop if the event was changed from a luncheon. Industry Appreciation/Annual Meeting Event Production Contract o Mr. Salyer requested the Board approve the renewal of Priority Marketing s contract of the annual Industry Appreciation/Annual Meeting event production. Mr. Salyer stated that in previous years, the office had attempted to put the contract out for bid, and Priority is consistently the only company who bids for the event; therefore, in the interest of saving time and effort, it is in the best interest of everyone involved to award Priority the contract. A motion was made to award the Industry Appreciation/Annual Meeting Event Production Contract to Priority Marketing made by Mr. Quaintance, seconded by Mr. Spiro, and unanimously approved. Draft Agenda for November Annual Business Meeting Mr. Noah reviewed the proposed Draft Agenda for the upcoming November Agenda. To add, Mr. Noah requested a survey be added. Mr. Spiro asked if anyone had question for the survey, to please submit them to him directly, and he would then build the survey. A request was also made to have the strategic plan be emailed to the Exec Committee. Mr. Noah reminded everyone that Dr. Antonucci will be the Chair and Mr. Griffin will be the Vice Chair and suggested the two get together to plan their vision for the upcoming year. V. DIRECTOR S REPORT- GLEN SALYER The following updates were provided to the Board: o The upcoming October and November General Membership meetings will have a change of venue: they will be held in conference room 118 at the EDO Offices. Furthermore, the General Membership meetings will focus on Education and Workforce as a series beginning in November; o Somero Groundbreaking Ceremony took place October 1 st - a Lee County success story; o LEARN December 8 th Kickoff; o CCRSC workplan will be available next month; o ACI expanding in Lee County, advanced manufacturing with 42 jobs; o Staff had a successful site visit to Gartner; o Shane and Warren currently on recruitment trips; and o Currently the EDO office is recruiting a permanent Director. VI. ADJOURN With no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9:20 a.m. Horizon Council Exec. 3
Daniel Eveloff Senior Vice President Ft. Myers City President Daniel Eveloff serves as President of Ft. Myers and is responsible for all banking operations including Consumer, Business, Commercial and Private Wealth in Regions 14 branch offices throughout the market. Daniel Eveloff joined Regions in 2006 as a Business Banker, was promoted to Business Banking Sales Manager in 2009 and to his current position in August of 2013. Daniel is a 5 time Chairman s Club winner and also leads the West Florida Healthcare initiative for both business bankers and branch managers. Daniel spent his first 5 years in the industry as a branch manager for Bank of America. He is a graduate of Southern Illinois University College of Business and Administration. Prior to relocating to Ft. Myers, Daniel was an active member in the Sarasota- Bradenton community and a graduate of Leadership Manatee Class of 2009. He has been involved in numerous nonprofit organizations as well as several organized healthcare associations. He served on the board of WeCare Manatee Inc., was a member of the Manatee Chamber Healthcare Committee. Since arriving in Ft. Myers, Daniel has become active in the community as an Atlarge Member of the Lee County Horizon Council, a Member of the Horizon Council Healthcare Task Force, a Board Member with Lee Community Healthcare and he serves on the Executive Committee of the SWFL Heart Association. Horizon Council Exec. 4
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2016 Calendar JANUARY 8 Horizon Council Executive (8:00 am) 29 Horizon Council Annual Meeting (11:30 am) Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre FEBRUARY 5 Horizon Council Executive (8:00 am) 26 Horizon Council General Membership (8:30am) MARCH No Meeting TBD Day at the Stadium JULY No Meetings, Summer Break AUGUST 25 Industry Appreciation (Hyatt Regency Coconut Point)-Reservations required Networking (10:30 11:30 am) Program (11:30 am) SEPTEMBER 9 Horizon Council Executive (8:00 am) 23 Horizon Council General Membership (8:30 am) APRIL 8 Horizon Council Executive (8:00 am) 22 Horizon Council General Membership (8:30am) OCTOBER 7 Horizon Council Executive (8:00 am) 28 Horizon Council General Membership (8:30 am) MAY 6 Horizon Council Executive (8:00 am) 27 Horizon Council General Membership (8:30am) NOVEMBER 4 Horizon Council Exec Annual Business Meeting (8:00 am-1:00 pm) Location 18 Horizon Council General Membership (8:30 am) JUNE 24 Horizon Council/Horizon Foundation Investor Update and General Membership Meeting No Meeting DECEMBER *Meeting locations will vary. Monthly meeting notices will provide venue information. Lee County Economic Development Ph: 338-3161 www.leecountybusiness.com Horizon Council Exec. 12
Attached please find the most recent version of the Horizon Council Strategic Road Map for your review, along with the minutes from the November 7, 2014 Executive Committee meeting during which time discussion ensued regarding the draft Strategic Plan. Horizon Council Exec. 13
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HORIZON COUNCIL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES November 7, 2014 Members Present: Guests and Staff: Lawrence Antonucci, Wilson Bradshaw, Mei-Mei Chan, Doug Congress, Roger Desjarlais, Rana Erbrick, Dennie Hamilton, Wayne Kirkwood, Bob Koenig, Alan Mandel, Ben Nelson, Denis Noah, Cecil Pendergrass, Mike Quaintance, Russell Schropp, Ben Siegel, Chris Spiro, Janet Watermeier Glen Salyer, Gray Davis, Antranette Forbes, B. Pat O Rourke, Warren Baucom, Michelle Rodgers, Barbara Kelly, Liz Arnold, Brent Kettler, Shane Farnsworth I. CALL TO ORDER Chair, Mr. Hamilton called meeting to order at 10:05 a.m. II. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion to approve the minutes of the October 3, 2014 meeting made by Mr. Schropp, seconded by Mr. Noah, and unanimously approved. ADOPT HORIZON COUNCIL 2015 CALENDARS Horizon Council Executive Committee Horizon Council General Membership o Meeting Topics Mr. Hamilton addressed the Board members to get input on 2015 meeting topics. Some of the Board s ideas were: Presentation of the Strategic Plan. The relationship between the Council, the EDO and the IDA and how they work together. This could be done in February during orientation, because this is the first formal Executive meeting for the year. Having Kevin Druzinski, who contacted Mr. Spiro directly, do his PowerPoint presentation on bringing a Business Court to 20 th judicial circuit. A motion to adopt the Horizon Council 2015 Calendars made by Mr. Congress, seconded by Mr. Antonucci, and unanimously approved. IV. STRATEGIC PLAN DISCUSSION Mr. Hamilton reviewed a handout and an excerpt of last year s Strategic Road Map with the Board, going over how Mr. Herb Marlowe was brought in to facilitate so that the County planning activities and the Horizon Council s planning activities would be supported by each other. Also discussed were how the task forces have been orientated towards these objectives from a regional and business issues perspective, augmenting that with the Outreach Task Force, and marrying-up the Advocate for Existing Small Business with the Business Issues Task Force. The presentation to the Council at the last retreat had four objectives thought most important and mission-like: Serve with a strong voice and vision as the economic development advisory body to the Lee County Commission. The Board feels that this objective is primary and should be continued. Horizon Council Exec. 21
Unite community partners to achieve common goals for a better economic future. Not enough progress has been made with this as was talked about like becoming aligned with the VCB as well as others and getting involved in the County planning process. A possibility might be to combine with the Outreach Task Force. The Board thinks we should not only unite community partners but become one. Advocate for governmental permitting and approval process streamlining. More work is needed on the biggest issues facing small businesses today and the Business Issues Task Force is completely committed to continue working on this. Bring together regional partners to define a regional economic development initiative. Change verbiage from bring together to engage. This is just starting to gain ground and the Regional Task Force is completely committed to continue working on this. The Board expressed their desire to continue to let the Task Forces follow the objectives that had been set up. V. 2015 TASK FORCES Business Issues Task Force There is more work to be done here, although the Business Survey has brought attention to the issues facing small businesses such as: business permitting; occupational licensing; and signs; it has expanded this task force s focus onto other objectives such as policies and having access to capital. Also, ideas are being scripted on issues like, how do you prepare for a business loan? The objectives are broad enough to cover a wide variety of issues to also deal with things like Impact Fees and the Lee Plan effort. Regional Task Force The Board discussed whether or not we need this as a task force or just a liaison. Some members felt that since we have a $20,000 SWFLEDA sponsorship item on our budget that we didn t need to continue this task force. Ms Chan recommended that this task force be refined in its objectives to be an Economic Regional Task Force not limited to just the Alliance, because there is a lot of momentum right now on many fronts related to business development with regionally connected opportunities. Discussion ensued. Ultimately it was decided that this task force still had enough paths it could go down and should continue. Outreach Task Force After the last few months of gathering all the information, getting all the mailing lists and the FCC Compliance to put it together in Constant Contact, this task force is getting ready to start implementing the presentations. The City of Cape Coral which is the first volunteer and Commissioner Pendergrass have agreed to be a part of the presentation. The Lion s Club and various chambers have already requested presentations. Healthcare Task Force The healthcare TF is doing 3 things: Holding events to bring Workforce Wellness to businesses; bringing information to the Horizon Council; and discussing whether or not they should possibly recognize a business for operating great bonus programs, then selecting one business to recognize as outstanding at a Industry Appreciation type awards program. Lee Memorial has been very supportive of this task force believing that workplace wellness and community wellness is a key part of economic development and should continue because it is an important part of the Horizon Council. Mr. Griffin thinks we should wait until after the August event to see if there is some way we can hand this off, so that we don t lose Horizon Council Exec. 22
the momentum we ve started. Mr. Bradshaw suggested the Healthcare Task Force be re-named to Wellness Task Force. Mr. Kirkwood believes there is still nurturing to be done for this and the other task forces to raise those awareness s and feels that the Horizon Council is still on task with keeping all of them going. Workforce Task Force Last year Mrs. Watermeier tried to hand off this task force to the Workforce Now but was met with resistance. The good that this group does is brings together everyone to sit around the table to discuss how we can make things stronger. Mrs. Watermeier has stressed though that she has run out of tasks, with only two things left on her plate which are: the Young Professionals, but this is really more regional; and the other is the curriculum being written for the soft skills, which is curriculum that can be used on a regional basis. VI. OPEN DISCUSSION A housekeeping issue with the task force By-Laws does not provide for a chamber executive to be part of the Horizon Council because he is a paid executive. The way to fix this would be to make that person an ex-officio and therefore it will fit into the By-Laws structure. A motion to do this was made and seconded, but never unanimously approved, because discussion ensued from a board member saying that serving as the Horizon Council representative of the chamber and serving as a Task Force Chair are two separate things, and that anybody in the community could serve if appointed by the Horizon Council Chair. Ultimately Mr. Salyer asked the Board if we could bring this issue back to the Board in December with the By-Law revisions that will be on the agenda. There are still applications coming in and the Horizon Council is not far enough along to identify what the new task forces will be. A sub-committee of the Business Issues Task Force is being discussed that will focus on access to capital for small businesses. Talks with commercial lenders, accountants, lawyers, etc have already begun and this will help us to build an actual revolving loan fund or guaranteed loan program. Discussions with the Industrial Development Authority providing the seed capital for this have been ongoing. For the time being all task forces will remain in effect, but ideas of maybe having a three year limit on task forces to reach their goal and automatically sunset was given. VII. ADJOURN With no further business, motion to adjourn made by Mr. Mandel, and unanimously approved. Meeting adjourned at 11:52 a.m. Horizon Council Exec. 23
2015 Task Force Chairs Business Issues Task Force: Healthcare Task Force: Outreach Task Force: Workforce Task Force: Russell Schropp/Mike Quaintance Gary Griffin Chris Spiro Janet Watermeier Horizon Council Exec. 24
Commercial Corridor Revitalization Steering Committee 2015-2016 Work Plan The Commercial Corridor Revitalization Steering Committee (CCRSC) was formed by the Lee County Economic Development Office and the Horizon Council. The committee consists of a group of business owners and civic leaders. Its mission is to provide a forum to discuss creative ways to revitalize areas of Lee County that have lagged the ongoing economic recovery. The steering committee has formulated the following work plan for 2015-2016. The CCRSC is broken into three sub-committees that focus on the following geographic areas: North Fort Myers; Dunbar; and Lehigh Acres. Each of the three committees will focus on the steps below to achieve their mission. Goal 1: Identify key stakeholders for each group. Invite civic and business leaders to participate. Goal 2: Convene the group of key stakeholders to study each region. Each area has its own unique strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Analyze the current state of each area and identify considerations necessary for its revitalization and provide creative solutions to encourage development. Goal 3: Develop the strategy appropriate for each area. Goal 4: Translate the strategy to an action plan for each area. Goal 5: Implement the action plan for each area. Goal 6: Measure success. Periodically, report back committee progress to the Horizon Council. Horizon Council Exec. 25
North Fort Myers Action Plan The North Fort Myers Subcommittee has met several times and has identified the following long & short term actions to proactively stimulate development, promote investment, attract new businesses and create more jobs. Action 1: On-going identification of key stakeholders to participate in the effort. Engage & retain property owners, developers, business leaders, service providers, Collaborate with North Fort Myers Civic Association & Chamber, and others on their revitalization efforts Action 2: Develop a marketing strategy to promote the commercial opportunities of the identified corridor. Strategy will include branding strategies, website, and collateral materials. Strategy will promote tools that may incentivize development in the area o Revisions of Parking requirements o Land Development Code changes Action 3: In order to better understand the market dynamics at play, collaborate with the study being commissioned by Lee County. Study shall include: Inventory and Analysis of Existing Conditions Market & Trade Area Analysis Identification of short and long term end users Market-based assessment to determine the highest and best uses for the area Recommendations to stimulate revitalization Redevelopment options under existing land use patterns Redevelopment options that may require regulatory changes Action 4: Research the feasibility or development of other programs, initiatives and/or strategic clusters that may revitalize the area, such as: A Business Ambassador Program interviews with new businesses, exit interviews with one s going out of business, ribbon cuttings Attraction of a Signature Event A Retail Recruitment Program Horizon Council Exec. 26
A Shop Local Program A Dine Local Program A Farmers Market or Farm-to-Table Concept A case Study of the parking changes Signage code recommendations Cluster analysis of Healthcare-related industries, Assisted-living facilities Action 5: Make recommendations to the Horizon Council for next steps. Dunbar Action Plan The 21 st Century Collaborative has been meeting since 2008. They are a well organized group of stakeholders and people who care about the community. The CCRSC will support their efforts to implement this plan by marketing their successes. Development of a subcommittee that focuses on business recruitment and job creation. Create a website and marketing plan for the Dunbar area. Lehigh Acres Action Plan Action plan: Identify a viable group of stakeholders. Horizon Council Exec. 27