Manatee County approves more ‘accountable’ contract to create new local jobs
Six months after cutting their funding, Manatee County commissioners approved a new contract with clear benchmarks for a local nonprofit tasked with creating new jobs.
The Bradenton Area Economic Development Corporation returned to the Board of County Commissioners on April 7 to discuss a new contract, which addressed issues some commissioners had in the original contract. Some of the key changes include measurable goals and public records, two major concerns that officials highlighted several months ago.
In September, the board voted 4-3 not to renew the EDC’s contract which provided reimbursement for services like “business recruitment, retention and expansion.” At the time, some commissioners questioned the return on investment and were not satisfied with the EDC’s track record, which cited success stories from years ago.
The denial meant the EDC lost $336,900, which, at the time, was more than 60% of the organization’s public funding.
Since the last contract conversation, former EDC CEO Sharon Hillstrom retired. The EDC chose Amanda Parrish, chief operating officer of Fawley Bryant Architecture, as the interim CEO while the organization searches for a permanent replacement.
“This is a performance-based agreement, not a reimbursement agreement, which means you are no longer paying for the tools of the trade,” Parrish said of the new contract. “You’re not paying for our data source…our payment is tied to the performance and hitting metrics of a scorecard.”
Contract sets strict performance goals
According to Parrish, the EDC’s main objective is to recruit businesses within the corporation’s target sectors — advanced manufacturing, aviation and aerospace, corporate operations, sport performance and technology — to boost economic growth in Manatee County.
“We attract and retain target sector businesses. And those businesses are the businesses that can bring high-wage, high-skill jobs to our community, and therefore we’re raising the average wage of our citizens here. We’re raising the tax base,” Parrish said. “Not only that, in parallel path, we connect established businesses to the resources they need to be successful.”
A lack of recent success stories and metrics is what made some commissioners wary of renewing the county’s previous contract with the EDC.
“I just don’t feel confident that we’re going to get anything out of the same exact contract that we’ve been doing for the last three years,” Commissioner Tal Siddique said in September. “The success stories that we’ve been hearing about — Honeywell, First Watch — those are stories from years ago.”
The new contract reflects a new direction for the EDC. Parrish said when she became interim CEO in January, one of her top priorities was a “listening tour” where she held over 150 meetings with community stakeholders and investors to ask how the EDC could improve.
“What I’ve learned is that the Bradenton Area EDC is a dot connector,” Parrish said. “We sit in the middle of an amazing economic development ecosystem where we are all responsible for the economic vitality, diversity, resiliency of Manatee County.”
How will Bradenton Area EDC use the money?
This updated contract with Manatee County includes $292,450 to be paid in quarterly installments of about $73,000 to the EDC. This agreement will be effective through September and will automatically renew unless a 90-day notice is given by either party.
About $251,000 of that funding will be allocated to personnel, while the rest will be for marketing. $50,000 of the personnel funding will go toward the CEO’s salary. Parrish said the personnel funding will be needed to ensure the EDC is working toward the metrics outlined in the new contract.
For example, the EDC must generate at least 10 leads per quarter, over 65% of which must meet the county’s target industry and wage criteria. The EDC must also contribute to creating at least 150 full-time jobs and $25 million in capital investment per year.
Overall, the EDC must meet a performance score of 75% through a scoring method established in the contract. If the EDC falls short of that goal for two consecutive reviews, the county could withhold funding.
The contract also specifies that, in the event the EDC is short of its goals for a period of more than six months, the EDC must explain why activities are down and what it is doing to correct the trend.
Under the new agreement, the EDC must also maintain public records and publish annual reports, strategic planning documents, workshop records and meeting minutes on its website.
“I’m glad to see some things that were removed that weren’t necessarily adding value, like some of the social media promotion,” Siddique said. “I’m glad to see the scorecard. I’m glad to see the metrics, because it holds everyone accountable, but also recognizes the difficulty of economic development as we’re experiencing in our economy today.”
Commissioner Jason Bearden, who was also opposed to renewing the previous contract, agreed with the direction of the new contract.
“I know I was probably the hardest on the EDC on this board, but it’s for good reasons, so that we could prosper in the future and understand where we’re headed,” Bearden said. “I think in the past we just didn’t really know, or it was unclear where we’re headed. And now I think we have a very clear path on where we’re going.”
