Accuracy of EDC promotion questioned

The group presents the short movie before its request for matching funds from the county.

By BRIDGET HALL

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 24, 2000

INVERNESS -- County Commissioner Vicki Phillips had some problems with the CD-ROM that the Economic Development Council created to market Citrus County. Several key parts of the seven-minute production do not accurately reflect Citrus County.

The movie shows a shot of the Hernando County Courthouse in Brooksville, with a statute of a Confederate soldier standing in the foreground, as if it was Citrus County's own historical courthouse.

The film shows the Suncoast Parkway coming through Citrus County, even though that stretch of the roadway is not a done deal.

And as the narrator describes the access provided by Inverness, Crystal River and other "regional" airports, the movie shows footage of a jetliner taking off from a giant runway -- a snippet that prompted laughter in the audience at Tuesday's County Commission meeting.

"I ran it through six times to make sure I didn't make a mistake," Phillips told EDC executive director Rick Jensen as she outlined her concerns about the CD-ROM's accuracy regarding the county courthouse.

"When you're marketing Citrus County, you need to show Citrus County," she continued.

Jensen said the mixup in county courthouse shots was "news to me" and that he would look into correcting it.

The Suncoast Parkway mention was warranted, he said, because the CD-ROM should be a valid marketing tool five years from now, not a dated picture of the county in the year 2000.

And he said showing the big city airports is important because the EDC must market the entire region's assets. "When you recruit the high-powered executives, that's what they're looking for," Jensen said.

The EDC presented its CD-ROM to commissioners before making its semi-annual request for matching funds from the county. The commission voted 3-2 to grant the EDC's request for $31,675 from the occupational license fee fund.

Commissioners Roger Batchelor, Jim Fowler and Brad Thorpe all voted in favor of the funding.

Phillips, who has historically voted against any county funding for the EDC, voted against the request. She was joined by Commissioner Gary Bartell, who said he felt the EDC should have raised more money in membership dues and other cash donations.

Only $4,150 of the EDC's revenue for the past six months has come from membership fees. The bulk of its donations were in-kind: $6,811 in rent and office expenses, $694 in donated cell phone air time, and $20,020 in grants and donated work for the promotional CD-ROM. Several residents also spoke out against giving more county money to the EDC, saying the group uses the money to help only a few businesses.

In other commission news:

CEMENT PLANT: The board agreed to write a letter of concern to Hernando County about Florida Rock Industry's proposal to build a cement plant just south of the Citrus-Hernando county line. Assistant County Administrator Richard Wesch said Citrus County needs to be involved in the discussions to safeguard its own interests.

UTILITIES GROUP: Noting that they still had unanswered questions about the proposal, commissioners postponed a vote on joining a Governmental Utility Authority, a multi-county group that can buy water and sewer systems that want to sell.

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