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Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce
Quarterly Government Relations E-News
June 2, 2017
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Each Week, the Daytona Regional Chamber sets up meetings with elected officials and attends numerous City, County and School Board meetings. Below is a recap of our recent activity along with information for upcoming events. If you have any questions, please contact
Jim Cameron at 386.566.2140.
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Legislature to Reconvene for Special Session
Governor Rick Scott has reached accord with House Speaker Richard Corcoran and Senate President Joe Negron to hold a Special Session June 7-9 to discuss education funding, VISIT Florida, and Enterprise Florida.
Governor Scott also signed a nearly $83 billion state budget with approximately $12 billion in line item vetos.
Scott stated he is vetoing general fund revenues which he believes it should be allocated to students in public schools.
Included on his veto list was Daytona International Airport Economic Development $3 million; Daytona State College Writing Lab Partnership with UCF $1 million; Williamson Blvd; Volusia schools STEM/blended learning $14,000.
In regards to economic development, a new grant program under Department of Economic Opportunity would be used to target industries for job training and education as well as infrastructure.
There is word that additional per pupil education dollars will be added as well.
No word yet if medical marijuana will be discussed.
Click here to see full list of Governor's line item budget vetos.
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Property Appraiser presents 2017 Real Estate Values
Attendees at the Volusia County Real Estate Values Forum heard for the 4th successive year, that property values increased in each city in Volusia County. The 'taxable value' increased 7.3 percent countywide. Daytona Beach's taxable value increased 9.6 percent, Port Orange increased 7.0 percent and Ormond Beach increased 7.6 percent.
Other data showed -
- Volusia median home sales prices increased 4.5% from 2016.
- 2017 countywide new construction taxable value increased $428 million.
- 2017 new construction is
- 71% residential
- 18% commercial
- 9% government/institutional
- 2% industrial
- Volusia Top 5 Commercial Construction projects in 2017
- (Daytona Beach) Tanger Outlet Mall $38.6 Million
- (Daytona Beach) Bethune Cookman University $26.8
- (Daytona Beach) Cobb Theaters $7.4 millin
- (Daytona Beach) Eagle Landing Apartments 7.2 million
- (New Smyrna Beach) Massey Apartments 6.9 million
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Tom Self, Lynette Phillips, Zane Beard, Heather Post
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Chelsea Aaron, Jim Chisholm,
Commissioner Paula Reed
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Chamber Hosts Staff from Gov Scott's office, Sen Rubio's office, Sen Nelson's office, Cong Desantis' office, CFO Atwater's office, Rep Leek's office
On March 14, Chelsea Aaron (Gov Scott) met with Daniel Smith (Consolidated Tomoka Land Co), Cheryl Coxwell (Intl Speedway Corp), Daytona Beach City Mgr Jim Chisholm & Commissioner Paula Reed, and Team Volusia's Matt Chesnut.
On April 7, Naomi D'Antonio (Cong Ron Desantis) met with Attorney David Vedder and Sam Agular to discuss immigration.
On April 18, Barbara Arthur (Sen Nelson) met with Dee Schaeffer (Halifax Health) and attended the State of the County Luncheon.
On May 5,
Tom Self (Sen Marco Rubio);
Zane Beard
(CFO Jeff Atwater - the Governor to soon name Atwater's successor) and
Lynnette Phillips
(Rep Tom Leek) attended
the County's Q2 Economic Report, followed by a meeting at
DME Sports with CEO Mike Pannagio; County Councilwoman
Heather Post,
Ocean Center Marketing Director Angela Daniels, then with
CareerSource Executive Director Robin King, and
ending with a tour of the new Streamline Hotel provided by General Manager Shannon May.
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| David Vedder, Sam Agular, Naomi D'Antonio |
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Dee Shaeffer, Barbara Arthur
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Eggs & Issues hosts key speakers addressing key issues
On March 9, Ed Schons, president of the Florida High Tech Corridor Council, talking with Chamber members about the council's efforts to bring high tech industry and jobs to the state of Florida.
On April 13, County Chair Ed Kelley spoke of Volusia's transportation budget and its link to economic development.
On May 9, Hard Rock Hotel's Abbas Abdulhussein and StreamLine's Eddy Hennessey and Shannon May spoke of their outlook for A1A.
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Ed Schons of Fla High Tech Corridor
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County Chair Ed Kelley
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Len Marinaccio,
Abbas Abdulhussein, Eddy Hennessey and Shannon May
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Chamber AND Residents Stand United in Support of City's PRO-ACTIVE
Efforts to Address Blight....
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Govt Affairs VP Jim Cameron addresses Planning Board
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At the April 4 Daytona Beach City Commission meeting,
Commissioner
Aaron Delgado
requested that the City explore code amendments to expedite their procedures related to condemning unsafe, dangerous, or dilapidated structures.
On May 25, the Planning Board approved 2 amendments to align the City's Land Development Code with the International Property Maintenance Code relating to cond
emnation of unsafe or dilapidated structures.
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BNW President Amy Pyle speaks in support of the new code enforcement tool
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Eggs & Issues Breakfast
(New Topic)
Thursday, June 8, 7:30 am
Holiday Inn - LPGA, 137 Auto Mall Circle Daytona Beach
United Way's ALICE Report -
Asset-Limited, Income-Constrained, Employed and speaks to almost half of the households in Volusia & Flagler communities struggling to survive. The report details the importance for supporting families that are one car repair away from homelessness.
Cost is $15 for Chamber members (advance RSVP) $20 day of event.
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Our "Welcome Back Breakfast" for the Legislative delegation has been rescheduled to July 13......
(Invited) Speakers- Senators Dorothy Hukill, Travis Hutson, David Simmons; Representatives Patrick Henry, David Santiago, Paul Renner
Topic - Recap of the 2017 Legislative Session
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TownHall Mtgs - Rep Tom Leek
Port Orange (hosted at Thompson Pump) - June 26 at 6pm
New Smyrna Beach - (hosted at Hottie Coffee) July 12 at 6pm...
Daytona Beach - (hosted at Daytona Cigar Club) July 19 at 6pm
another event will be set for Ormond Beach at a later date....
for more information, call Dylan Fisher or Lynette Phillips at 238-4865
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| Robert Mons, Drew Meiner, Jim Cameron and Dustrin |
On May 31, Cong Ron Desantis' staff hosted an "open house" to meet with constituents and discuss issues. Chamber Government Affairs staff attended and spoke with Chief of Staff Dustin Carmack and District Directors Robert Mons and Drew Meiner about Volusia county issues including the need for aerospace jobs (connected to the Kennedy Space Ctr), water quality (Mosquito Lagoon, Halifax River) and homelessness throughout east AND west Volusia.
On a somber note, we're sorry that District Director Naomi D'Antonio will be moving to Tampa. She and her husband Dan have new jobs they'll soon be starting on the west coast. We wish them the best!
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Jim Dinneen, Cheryl Coxwell and LGC members
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Local Government Committee meets with County Manager Jim Dinneen
On March 9,
County Manager Jim Dinneen discussed the outlook for the FY 2017-18 budget, homelessness throughout the County, transportation funding, economic development and tourism.
The Chamber's Local Government Committee (
Cheryl Coxwell, Chair) works extensively with City and County elected officials as well as staff. The group's focus is economic development and tourism.
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Legislative Action Committee to begin work on 2018 priorities
The Chamber's Legislative Action Committee (
Bob Williams, Chair)
has worked extensively with members of the Volusia delegation throughout the session. In addition to Volusia Days at the Capital, committee members communicated with Volusia delegation members via conference call each week.
On June 21, the committee will begin its process for developing its 2018 legislative recommendations and will have them complete by September.
With the legislative session starting January 9, the Chamber will host 2018 Volusia at the Capital on January 10 and 11.
Look for more details to come.
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| Chamber reps AND residents |
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Chamber Reps AND Residents Tour Beachside Neighborhoods
On May 19, a team of Chamber and Beachside Neighborhood Watch/Citizens 4 Responsible Development reps as well as Daytona Beach City reps toured several streets in the area between A1A x Main St and East ISB. The major concern expressed was to beef up code enforcement in order to redevelop this area and make it more inviting for residences and businesses.
The Chamber applauds the City's action to take on dilapidated properties and bring them up to code
. At the same time, the Chamber looks forward to working with residents to "re-populate" this area.
"If we're going to redevelop this area, it has to be a team effort between the City Commission and staff, the Chamber AND residents working together"....a quote from an "old friend"
Paul Politis...
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Participants discuss suggestions to improve the area
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Gov Rick Scott touts Job Creation in Volusia
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Ormond Comm Robert Littleton, Gov Scott, BCU's Sophia Huger-Baldwin
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| Councilwoman Deb Denys Gov Scott and Boston Whaler employees |
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On April 4 and May 4, Gov Rick Scott was in Volusia in support of economic development.
"We have the best business model of any state in the country but if we don't compete economically with other states, we lose!"
"Marketing dollars for economic development and tourism are vital for us to maintain our share of recruiting new business."
"It comes down to what is in the budget. Has anyone here seen the final budget? I haven't even seen the final budget......."
"We need to maintain our economic viability because it all comes back to jobs for our citizens."
Along with the Governor was
Dept of Economic Opportunity Exec Cissy Proctor and
Visit Florida President Ken Lawson.
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| Gov Scott, Comm Ruth Trager |
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| Jayne Fifer, Gov Scott, Michael Zaharios |
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Chamber Hosts Volusia Days at the Capitol
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Gov Scott addresses luncheon
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Rep Leek addresses luncheon
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On March 21-22, the Chamber hosted Volusia Days at the Capitol. We began with a luncheon meeting that included
Dept of Opportunity Exec Cissy Proctor; Asst Transportation Secretary Brian Blanchard; Visit Florida President Ken Lawson and Governor Rick Scott.
Approximately 50 people are in Tallahassee attended to lobby on behalf of business issues and Volusia County projects.
Some of the major issues included funding Enterprise Florida at $85 million and Visit Florida at $76 million
(which the Chamber supports). H 7005 would eliminate both Enterprise and Visit Florida and H 9 would reduce Visit Florida's budget to $25 million.
The group also heard legislative updates from House members Tom Leek, Patrick Henry, David Santiago, Paul Renner as well as Senator David Simmons.
We'd like to thank our sponsors
Charter-Spectrum, Daytona Intl Speedway, AT&T, GrayRobinson, FPL.
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Government Relations E-News is made possible by....
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Chamber Supports First Step Shelter Plan
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Mayor Henry Addresses County Council
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As a means to manage the Volusia's homeless situation, the Chamber has endorsed the proposed First Step Shelter plan. This would be an expandable use facility on Red John Road (west of I-95).
Years from now, this 24/7, come as you are facility could take care of approximately 200 s
ingle men and women.at full capacity. However, the initial plan is to begin with a smaller/more manageable number of individuals. The key is having enough Case Managers on board.
However, the premise of the facility would be built around it budget. The Chamber has been working with
Ron Durham, Executive Director for First Step, to lobby local governments in support of funding for this facility.
Daytona Beach Mayor Derrick Henry and Chamber President Nancy Keefer spoke in support the First Step Shelter at the County Council meeting on April 20. The Council agreed to draft a contract between which should be ratified later this month.
We'd also like to thank
South Daytona Mayor Bill Hall, Holly hill city Manager Joe Forte, and DME's Mike Pannaggio for their support of the plan.
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Chamber President Nancy Keefer addresses County Council
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Any questions regarding this e-newsletter should be directed to Jim Cameron,
Sr Vice President, Government Relations, 386.523.3673.
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Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce |126 E. Orange Ave., Daytona Beach | 386.255.0981 |
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