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EDC, county to end their relationship
By SAUNDRA AMRHEIN © St. Petersburg Times, published February 3, 2001 As more board members bailed, the Economic Development Commission of Hernando County decided Friday to abandon ship, ending the group's 41/2-year relationship with the county. The last to leap was the county itself, as two more county commissioners pledged Friday to join two colleagues, forming the majority needed to dissolve the imperiled agency's contract. The agency's future began sinking after a week of waning community support, the withdrawal of private funding, resignation of board members, loss of a treasurer, shouting matches and name-calling. "I just think it's been too tumultuous," said state Sen. Ginny Brown-Waite, a Brooksville Republican and EDC board member. "It just needs to go on a hiatus and go and come back in a new and revised form, maybe under county auspices." EDC president Don Clifford polled EDC board members by phone about the agency's future Friday after learning that County Commissioners Nancy Robinson and Chris Kingsley had reversed earlier positions and wanted to pull the plug on the agency. Clifford could not be reached for comment. The EDC lawyer was ordered Friday to draft a letter to the county agreeing to end the contract. The County Commission is scheduled to vote on the contract Tuesday. After the County Commission votes, the EDC must meet to discuss the end of the agreement within 24 hours or as soon as possible, County Administrator Paul McIntosh said. He plans to recommend that the contract end March 1 to give him time to prepare a transition. He said economic development likely would become the county's responsibility. "One would presume it would have to come back into the county," he said. "How we do that, we don't know yet." A big question is what to do with three EDC staffers, whose salaries total about $120,000. McIntosh will recommend holding off on hiring a new executive director to replace Rick Michael until after the completion of a University of Florida study in August. At that time, he hopes the county will be able to make new plans for economic development. The EDC has been embroiled in controversy since last fall, after a St. Petersburg Times story raised questions about Michael and the EDC's exaggerated accomplishments, an improper closed-door meeting and board complaints about Michael's brusque management tactics. Michael was forced to resign in December. Thinking its problems were over after it jettisoned Michael, the EDC board met in early January to approve a number of reforms to make the agency more accountable to the public. Members all but slapped each other on the back following that meeting. But it didn't take long for cracks to appear in the solidarity as the County Commission pushed to make the agency obey the Florida Sunshine Law. County Commissioner Diane Rowen questioned the agency's finances and urged the agency to open its books for inspection. Michael threatened a lawsuit if he didn't receive the final $5,000 of his severance package, which was supposed to be drawn from private funds. EDC board members searched for ways to pay Michael after Hernando Progress, the non-profit organization responsible for most of the EDC's private money, withheld payment. The group set a new policy late last year requiring the EDC to submit detailed spending plans before it could get more money. Then this week, Hernando Progress' representative to the EDC, Duane Chichester -- also publisher of Hernando Today -- resigned from Hernando Progress and the EDC board because of the appearance of a conflict of interest. His wife, Bonnie, worked for the EDC. The organization's commitment to the current EDC seemed tenuous. "We just felt like with everything that has been going on, the wise thing to do was be still with those funds until we could get a clearer read, if you will, and more comfortable position with the EDC and the challenges that they've had to deal with here for the last couple of months," said Jim Kimbrough, interim chairman of Hernando Progress and chairman and chief executive officer of SunTrust/Nature Coast. "Our hope and belief now is that at the appropriate time, if the plug has been pulled -- and I would say that that is probably a good thing -- that at some point down the road the county, EDC and Hernando Progress would come back all together for all the right reasons," he said. "There just seem to be too many ripples in the water." Another deserter this week was the Manufacturers Association of Hernando County. The group removed its financial support for the EDC, prompting the removal of its representative, EDC treasurer Gus Guadagnino. On Thursday, Kingsley floated ideas from County Attorney Garth Coller about loaning a county budget employee to the EDC to replace Guadagnino. That same day, he voiced support for continuing the EDC contract. But then Friday, Kingsley circulated a memo to the other commissioners advocating the end of the contract and return of economic development to county control, as was the arrangement before the EDC was created in 1996. "It has become increasingly apparent that these intermediate steps have not properly been able to satisfy my concerns," he wrote. "I have always believed the termination of the EDC contract should be of last resort. At this time, I do not believe rehabilitation can occur." Several hours before Kingsley's memo came out, Robinson was involved a conference call with McIntosh, Clifford and Coller. Kingsley's memo on Thursday about the lack of a financial overseer at EDC and the Manufacturers Association pullout left Robinson disturbed. Joining the sentiments voiced weeks ago by Rowden and Commissioner Mary Aiken, Robinson switched camps and told the group she thought it was time to end the contract. "What changed my vote 100 percent, and my concern level, is that they seem to be so fractured at this point that they have a negative impact on the county's ability to have its most effective economic development," she said. Rowden applauded Kingsley's and Robinson's change of heart, though she was disturbed that decisions were made in private meetings this week and without a full public commission hearing. "This is what I've ultimately asked for," she said. "But I could have waited until Tuesday. What's the hurry? Why all of a sudden on a Friday when no one's around? It makes you kind of wonder if maybe everyone is bailing out for a reason." Before anything is handed to the county, Rowden wants to see a full audit done on all EDC business, including the building housing the EDC that the agency bought last year. Its mortgage must now be absorbed by the county. The feuding Robinson suspected among EDC board members had reached a fever pitch before Friday's decisions, starting in mid-January when Brown-Waite and Kingsley got word that Guadagnino told a staff member to go on disability and not use the EDC as a reference. They learned of the comment within hours of a meeting by the search committee working on Michael's replacement, where members talked about making Guadagnino the interim director. Guadagnino denied he ever told the employee not to use the EDC as a reference. The disability comment stemmed from a personal discussion with the employee, who confided in Guadagnino about his health problems and asked his opinion on the EDC's future, he said. But Brown-Waite and Kingsley decided that Guadagnino would not be fit for the interim post. The dispute boiled over into a yelling match between Brown-Waite and Guadagnino on Thursday at the EDC offices. Kingsley then blamed the withdrawal of the Manufacturers Association on Guadagnino's inability to obtain the interim director's post, likening the action to a child not getting his way. Al Fluman, president of the manufacturers association and the former county economic development director, called Kingsley's accusation "poppycock." "I think we made it pretty clear that when things get squared away and the county determines what they are going to do (with EDC following a university study), that we stand ready to join in again," Fluman said. The association pulled its financial and representative support out of the EDC because the agency lacks any meaningful programs related to expanding existing industry. Even before Friday's decisions, Brown-Waite and other board members were ready to call it quits. "The biggest mistake of my life was when I volunteered to help straighten this thing out," she said. "You know, I'm almost ready to say, maybe it's time to go back to the county. Maybe we're not sophisticated enough yet to have an EDC." Guadagnino said micromanagement is killing what took years, more than $1-million and hundreds of hours of volunteer work to build. "What's going to happen is that the bureaucracy of this county has put the EDC in a position that it can no longer go forward," he said. Board member Len Tria says he thinks the EDC board showed a lot of responsibility in making improvements over the past four months but that it was dogged by mistakes and personality clashes. Fatigued from the battle, Tria had planned to step down at the next meeting and ask that the EDC disband for a "cooling off" period. "My experience here is like being sent into a minefield without a map," Tria said. "This is probably one of the worst experiences I've gone through." What they said"This is what I've ultimately asked for. But I could have waited until Tuesday. What's the hurry? Why all of a sudden on a Friday when no one's around? It makes you kind of wonder if maybe everyone is bailing out for a reason." -- DIANE ROWDEN, County commissioner "Our hope and belief now is that at the appropriate time, if the plug has been pulled, and I would say that that is probably a good thing, that at some point down the road that the county, EDC and Hernando Progress would come back all together for all the right reasons. There just seem to be too many ripples in the water." -- JIM KIMBROUGH, Interim chairman of Hernando Progress and chairman and chief executive officer of SunTrust/Nature Coast. "What changed my vote 100 percent and my concern level is that (the EDC seems) to be so fractured at this point that they have a negative impact on the county's ability to have its most effective economic development." -- NANCY ROBINSON, County commissioner "I just think it's been too tumultuous. It just needs to go on a hiatus and go and come back in a new and revised form, maybe under county auspices." -- GINNY BROWN-WAITE, State Senator and EDC board member "I think the (contract's death) is just the cumulative effect of all of this going on, and this is like pulling out the wrong peg at the wrong time." -- PAUL MCINTOSH, Hernando County Administrator Recent coverageEDC ex-chief demanding more money (January 25, 2001) Commission backs sunshine for EDC (January 19, 2001) EDC will provide detailed reports on panel's spending (January 11, 2001) EDC effort to oust chief is hardly its only problem (December 15, 2000) UF study must take a hard look at EDC (December 3, 2000)
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