NEWS ANALYSIS

BY MILT THOMAS

Anyone starting a new job is filled with enthusiasm about what he or she can do to make a difference. That applies to newly elected officials as well, and certainly applies to Tim Zorc, who is now commissioner for Indian River County’s District 3. “I requested to be liaison to the Economic Development Council, which I was granted.”

Zorc researched the EDC first and saw what he thought were problems he could solve. “In the last two years, 30 percent of members missed meetings. I thought they had no goals and objectives, so I came up with 12 of them. I felt this would give them a purpose. I also had other people who wanted to become involved with the EDC but couldn’t because there were only a limited number of seats at the table, half of which – eleven – were held by government officials.” (Actually, eight voting members represent government plus Zorc, a non-voting member.)

According to Helene Caseltine, economic development director at the Indian River County Chamber of Commerce who attends the EDC, “Mr. Zorc presented his 12 goals and objectives at the end of our February meeting but no discussion occurred because it was the end of the meeting and no one had copies of his 12 points.”

Zorc now admits he misunderstood the EDC’s purpose and his role within it. “I could never get any traction on my ideas, but then I also did not look up the definition of liaison.”

He felt as county commissioner, he had the responsibility for making changes. However, he found out the job of liaison is an advisory one to the committee. “I can make suggestions to the council but have no authority over them.”

That is often the case when a new employee or appointee takes on a job. He or she may be long on ideas but short on knowledge how the company, or in this case, the Economic Development Council works.

The Economic Development Council is one of a number of committees, like the Tourist Development Agency, Beach and Shore Preservation Advisory Committee and others that advise the Board of County Commissioners on those subjects to help commissioners make decisions.

The EDC creates the economic development element of the county’s comprehensive plan. It outlines the goals and objectives for the county and the Chamber of Commerce’s economic development efforts. Then the element is adopted by the Commission and sent to Tallahassee as part of the overall comp plan.  At one recent County Commission meeting, County Attorney, Alan Polackwich advised Zorc to read the economic development element for a better understanding of the EDC’s role.

Even though Zorc’s 12 goals and objectives were not timely, he says, “They didn’t purposely avoid my items because there were other more urgent matters like jobs grant applicants, who would make presentations to EDC that often took up an entire meeting. I asked for more time and the council added another half hour, moving the meeting time from 4:00 to 3:30. I asked that it be moved back another half hour to 3:00, but I couldn’t get much support.”

“Still, there were a number of people who offered to work on individual items and the committee also suggested that Helene (Caseltine) research my items, but I didn’t want to dump more work on her. She’s already so busy.”

According to Caseltine, after Zorc joined the Economic Development Council she met with him and Bill Shutt from county staff. “He wanted to know how other counties handled economic development, whether through the Chamber or other group. We met several times and worked up a competitive study.”

Even after the last EDC meeting, Caseltine and EDC chairman, Beth Mitchell, met with Zorc at his office to go over the 12 goals and objectives.

There have been four EDC meetings since Zorc joined as the liaison. He says, “They have discussed three of my ideas so far, so I expect we will eventually get to all of them.”

One item discussed was his suggestion to expand the Enterprise Zone, currently designated in an area abutting the Vero Beach Municipal Airport and Gifford. Helene Caseltine, who administers the Enterprise Zone program, says, “There are a number of requirements for the state to grant a zone or an extension of it, not the least of which is the poverty and unemployment levels in the area to be considered. When the Enterprise Zone was first established in 2005, all census data was explored to see what areas could be included. Roseland and Sebastian were among them, but did not qualify.

According to Penny Chandler, president of the Indian River County Chamber of Commerce, “The Economic Development Council represents all areas of the county and is a great advocate and supporter of our Chambers economic development efforts. That council is the public mechanism where economic development issues can be heard. In fact, the Chamber takes all our economic development issues to the council so they can be discussed in an open forum.”

Zorc is having the community development department look into analyzing other areas to extend the Enterprise Zone, including ones that had been previously reviewed. “I talked to the guy in Tallahassee about it and he asked what was wrong with the current zone. I told there were two problems, one being it is only served by one utility provider whose rates are 30-40 percent higher than other areas. The other problem is we are only using two square miles of which half that is controlled by the airport and FAA.”

( NOTE: FPL serves part of the Zone, while Vero Electric serves the rest.)

Since most of Zorc’s 12 goals and objectives are already being worked on in the Chamber or have been considered, and the Chamber is our county’s official economic development agency, has Zorc avoided working with them for any reason? “In December I met with Penny Chandler who told me if I need anything to let her know. I’ve gone to prospect meetings with Helene and as busy as she is, Helene drops everything when a prospective business comes to town. I am not looking to change anything in terms of the way the Chamber operates. But I have heard from enough people not associated with the Chamber who want a place they can express their interest in helping with economic development and don’t think the Chamber is where they can go.”

According to Penny Chandler, “Over the years, we have interacted with local active and retired CEOs and others who have expressed ideas and opinions on economic development. The Chamber’s Community Leaders Summit has met since 2007 about economic development, which has been a way to get a variety of opinions from about one hundred people at each gathering. We have had a great working relationship with county government staff and elected officials. While Commissioner Zorc is new to county government and to economic development, it is great to see that he also very supportive.  Commissioner Zorc knows he can call upon the Chamber staff, including myself, to provide him information or explanation of programs used by our organization or the state.

Although Zorc still needs to get up to speed on how the economic development process works and his role in that process, his enthusiasm, honesty and multi-generational ties to the community will earn him the trust he needs to have a successful first term.