RECESSION RECOVERY AND BEYOND NORTHEAST FLORIDA PARTNER COUNTY MEETINGS SUMMARY REPORT Purpose of the Partner County Meetings JCCI’s Recession Recovery and Beyond study is a regional undertaking examining the economic realities faced by residents of Baker, Clay, Duval, Flagler, Putnam, Nassau, and St. Johns Counties. These seven counties are all members of the Cornerstone Regional Partnership. Seven partner county meetings took place during the period from October 26, 2010 through December 15, 2010. The meetings - combining elements of a site visit, town hall meeting, and community focus group - were designed to gather first hand information regarding recession recovery efforts from the people who live and work in the partner counties. Each county’s economic development organization was charged with hosting their community’s meeting. The EDO was responsible for choosing the resource speakers, inviting participants, and providing input on the style and length of the meeting. Meetings held outside Jacksonville helped support the regional thrust of the study and provided study participants with a firsthand opportunity to experience the economic diversity of Northeast Florida. Meeting Description Not all participants were familiar with the study and JCCI, therefore each meeting started with local introduction of the Study Chair, Elaine Brown who early in the process spoke about the study planning process and in later meetings shared the commonly repeated themes from the previous meetings. JCCI Executive Director Skip Cramer provided background information about how the study topic was chosen and information about JCCI’s experience as a consensus building organization. This introductory piece was followed by local resource speakers that included business owners and economic development professionals who were charged with providing the audience with information about the county’s economic resources, unique characteristics, and insights on improving the community’s economic future. At the close of those presentations participants were invited to ask the speakers questions. The question and answer period was followed by either large or small group discussions where participants were asked to share their ideas regarding the community’s assets and challenges, as well as provide direction on the jobs and businesses best suited for their community. The participants were also asked to consider how the counties might work more effectively as a region. After each meeting JCCI staff provided a written summary of the meeting, which was posted on the study website. JCCI also captured the contact information for every meeting participant, so that he/she would receive study updates and a reminder to attend subsequent study meetings. Over 300 people participated in these study meetings from October through December. The summarize information below includes comments/themes that were repeated more than once over the course of the partner county meetings. Please review the meeting summaries available on the study website at http://jccirecoverystudy.blogspot.com/ for a complete overview.
JCCI: Recession Recovery and Beyond
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Summary Highlights from Speaker Presentations Strong, consistent public and private leadership is critical to the future of Jacksonville and the whole Northeast Florida region. Due to the recession capital markets will be dysfunctional for at least 10 years, which requires internal community investment that is best accomplished through public-private partnerships. Partnerships between higher education, economic development organizations, industry, training entities, government, and trade concerns are necessary for strong economic development outcomes. Steady population growth is not a sustainable economic development model due to the combination of regional low growth trends that have not kept pace with peer regions over the past 40 years and the national recession which has fundamentally changed the State’s economic future. Rather than focus on one economic growth area like the port, it is critical that the Jacksonville region focus on a vision for its future. What makes us who we are? What do we want to become? The Northeast Florida region as defined by Cornerstone includes seven counties; however many of those counties also have other geo-economically important partnerships. For example: o In Nassau County the St. Mary’s River is not a barrier to work. Residents of Camden County, Georgia work in Nassau County and vice versa. o Baker County is a member of a 14 county North Central Florida Rural Area of Critical Economic Concern (RACEC) that includes Bradford, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Jefferson, Lafayette, Levy, Madison, Putnam, Suwannee, Taylor, and Union counties. o Flagler County has strong economic ties to Volusia County and Central Florida. The county is also a partner in both the Cornerstone Regional Partnership and the I-4 High Technology Corridor which spans 23 counties across the state, connected by three research universities (UF, UCF, and USF), more than 20 local and regional economic development organizations, 14 community and state colleges, and 12 regional workforce boards. The partner counties outside of Duval County have large amounts of available land for nonresidential development; however developers are generally seeking existing built space. In Northeast Florida 90 percent of the available industrial and commercial space is located in Duval County. The State of Florida defines high wage jobs as those paying 115 percent of a county’s average annual wages; therefore a high wage job varies from county-to-county. A high wage job in Baker County is $29,850 in Duval County it is $49,250. Note: Calculation based on average annual wages $25,957 in Baker County and $42,826 in Duval County. Rural and suburban counties have the challenge of wanting to maintain the quality-of-life and the character of the community, while also needing to become more economically competitive and create jobs. At present, these counties have few employment centers and most residents commute for work. 2434 Atlantic Boulevard
Jacksonville, Florida 32207 904-396-3052 Fax: 904-398-1469
JCCI: Recession Recovery and Beyond
What site selectors see as assets - labor costs, highway accessibility, tax exemptions, energy availability and costs, corporate tax rate, availability of skilled labor, occupancy or construction costs, state and local incentives, good-faith local investment, availability of advanced information, technology services, and inbound/outbound shipping costs – are often different than what a community’s residents view as assets. The Jacksonville Region is viewed through a Florida lens, which is not always positive – lack of incentives, high crime, perception of a poorly educated workforce, thought of as an unfriendly state to do business, etc. JAXPORT’s expansion plays a prominent role in the future plans of a majority of the region’s counties. Beyond Duval, inland ports and distribution centers are seen as job and business development opportunities. Regional Transportation Authorities exists in every region of Florida except Northeast Florida, which places the region at a competitive disadvantage. This is particularly true because the Northeast Florida region is a multi-modal transportation gateway (rail, highways, and waterways) that connects Florida with the rest of the nation. It is important to consider that by 2030, 60 percent of the population in Northeast Florida may live in the counties that surround Duval as opposed to 90 percent in Duval County today. The public schools in the counties that surround Duval County are often ranked higher based on FCAT scores and are perceived as better systems as a result. Per the Florida Legislature Office of Economic and Demographic Research (based on census data), the percentage of persons over the age of 25 who have a high school diploma ranges from 70 to 87 percent, while the number of persons with a college degree varies from 8 to 33 percent. County HS Diploma over age 25 College degree over age 25
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Baker 72% 8%
Clay 83% 20%
Duval 83% 22%
Flagler 86% 21%
Nassau 81% 19%
Putnam 70% 9%
St. Johns 87% 33%
The housing bust has significantly slowed the growth of the region’s fastest growing counties – people are not moving to the area to buy new homes and some businesses dependent on population growth have failed or contracted. What is the vision for Northeast Florida independent of serving the needs of the new residents who were expected to relocate to the area? Funding economic development efforts is an issue at the State and local levels and is closely tied to an understanding of the return on investment of such efforts by the public and politicians. The region has significant targeted industry opportunities including manufacturing, logistics, and tourism, however greater attention must be given to removing obstacles and inattention to creating jobs in those areas. Understanding, packaging, and selling Northeast Florida’s unique quality of life and job creation assets is important for creating a vision and a brand for the region.
2434 Atlantic Boulevard
Jacksonville, Florida 32207 904-396-3052 Fax: 904-398-1469
JCCI: Recession Recovery and Beyond
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Assets/Opportunities that Enhance Efforts to Create, Retain, and Attract Jobs Logistics infrastructure and multimodal Health care systems and hospitals capacity JAXPORT and its growth potential Inexpensive and widely available land Good climate Availability of retail and commercial Quality public education in Nassau, space Baker, St. Johns, and Clay Counties Low cost energy Economic diversity across the region – Low cost of living/low taxes manufacturing, tourism, healthcare, military, agriculture Workforce with a strong work ethic, Higher education institutions (and their particularly in the rural counties graduates) in the seven county region Willingness to work locally to and those in Alachua, Volusia, and attract/grow businesses (i.e. suspended Orange Counties or changed impact fees, legislator working to enhance business lending, Waterways useful for trade, pro-business elected officials) transportation, entertainment, etc The Cornerstone Regional Partnership Affordable housing Region’s geographically central location Proximity to Jacksonville as the region’s business center Quality of life Challenges that Make it Difficult to Create, Retain, and Attract Jobs informed about Cornerstone or the Attracting and retaining a trained and need for regional cooperation educated workforce Regional competition that sells the Businesses access to capital other region’s communities short Availability of built and speculative (…don’t want to be Jacksonville…don’t space outside Duval County want to be Orange Park…) Business retention efforts/incentives Large number of workers who commute Florida agencies have no tools to retain beyond their home communities businesses, which requires a legislative depresses support for local businesses fix Industrial/commercial development vs. Ability to effectively market the region’s residential development is not balanced assets outside Duval County Regional vision, which leads to a Ties to Jacksonville - in some counties regional brand are not particularly strong Leadership in the private and public geographically or culturally (i.e., strong sectors ties to other regional partners OR Perception of public education as low aligned with different transportation, quality – Duval and Putnam Counties judicial, or social services than Duval Cultural and social amenities in some and other NE FL counties) rural counties Communities in many counties tend to Elected officials lack a regional focus on highlighting negatives (real and perspective and are not well enough perceived) 2434 Atlantic Boulevard
Jacksonville, Florida 32207 904-396-3052 Fax: 904-398-1469
JCCI: Recession Recovery and Beyond
Direction on Creating, Retaining, and Attracting Jobs Short term focus should be getting all people back to work no matter their skill level, focus on high wage/high skill jobs as a long term strategy Focusing on targeted industries provides a structure for recruiting efforts and is a solid long term recruitment/retention strategy Targeted industries should match the county’s resources as well as the skills and education level of the local population Strengthen efforts to recruit and strengthen small businesses (“ten businesses with ten employees is better than one business with 100 jobs”)
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Large sites take too long to build and small companies can use currently vacant commercial space Build infrastructure to support large businesses Large businesses create linkages that support and grow small ancillary businesses Focus on both attracting and retaining small and large businesses Focus on clean industry, semi-pro sports franchise opportunities (i.e. Giants and Sharks), arts destinations, tourism (i.e. St. Augustine’s 450th year anniversary), downtown Jacksonville (“the region’s downtown”)
Working Together as a Region to Create, Retain, and Attract Jobs develop a plan for a regional Cornerstone continues to do a good job transportation authority promoting each county equally, which helps the counties work toward the Use the region’s assets to define the same ends regional brand People outside the region know Work together at the state level on Jacksonville – the “Jacksonville Region” creating better business incentives is the regional brand, each county has to Focus on leveraging regionally strong leave its boundaries at the door sectors (i.e. logistics and A regional focus in areas beyond medicine/healthcare) to create jobs economic development will enhance Develop strategies to retain businesses the region’s economic competitiveness in Northeast Florida it is encouraging that the Jacksonville More opportunities are needed for the Transportation Authority (JTA) has been region’s county leaders to interact directed by the Florida legislature to Next Steps The information collected during the partner county meetings should be used by the study committee to inform their questions during the subsequent findings (information gathering) meetings that will take place beginning January 5, 2011. This information should also be used when the study committee begins the report development phase of the study on March 16, 2011 starting with reaching consensus on the study’s findings and closing with developing recommendations from April 20, 2011 through May 4, 2011.
2434 Atlantic Boulevard
Jacksonville, Florida 32207 904-396-3052 Fax: 904-398-1469