Last week’s article (On the Road Again) apparently hit a chord both here and in Palatka. We had a couple of folks from Palatka take the time to write nice comments thanking me for the kind words. I appreciate the feedback.
My father-in-law thought enough of the article to print out a copy and take it to my counterpart in Palatka. The mayor advised him that he had already seen the article and “it was all over town”… I’m glad to hear it. Palatka and New Port Richey have so many things in common and share many of the same challenges.
We got our first peak at New Port Richey’s proposed 2014-2015 budget Tuesday night. I spent a good part of Saturday morning working my way page by page and line by line through the budget. I sent my questions to the finance director, who should be able to clear up the items I wasn’t sure about. We will have a series of public meetings on the budget over the next couple of months. I’m pleased that the hard decisions we made a couple of years ago have paid off and we are going into the process looking at holding the line on taxes and adding back some much needed staff positions.
As great as the whole week was, Thursday was an especially good day:
I had the opportunity to accompany Sen. Wilton Simpson on a tour of the Business Incubator Thursday morning. One of the startups in the Incubator, Brilliant Factory, showed us a promo video they had created for the city. I believe it is going to be shown at Tuesday night’s city council meeting. It will be worth attending the council meeting just to see the video. I’m looking forward to seeing it on the city website.
Lunch Thursday was at the Recreation and Aquatic Center where a picnic lunch was served to city employees. We have quite the team of hard working city employees. Thanks Gary Joiner for the excellent BBQ.
Just when it seemed that the day couldn’t get any better, it was time to head over to the ribbon cutting at Applicant Insight’s new building. This business was looking at having to move to Pinellas, taking 100 plus jobs with them, when they outgrew their offices on School Road. The city and the PEDC were able to help Applicant Insight find a wonderful new location mere blocks from their old office and get them the high speed (fiber) Internet connection they needed.
I chatted quite a while with Applicant Insight’s CEO. It is clear that the city staff worked as a team to make everything happen the way it should. Former Interim City Manager Susan Dillinger, Councilman Jeff Starkey, Chief Kim Bogart and Economic Development Director Mario Iezzoni deserve special recognition for going the extra mile on this project.
What happened with Applicant Insight should be a model for how we recruit and retain growing businesses in New Port Richey. We should be continuously asking: “What can we do to make New Port Richey “the” place in the Tampa Bay area for innovative businesses to take root and thrive?”
It is not always about money or financial incentives. T. Rowe Price just walked away from the sweetheart incentives that Pasco County threw at them. I’ve lost count of the times the county has been left empty handed after trying to score the big deal.
I believe it is about creating a business climate and an authentic home town atmosphere that the nouveau communities simply can’t match. Why would you live in a pre-fab bedroom community and commute to Tampa when you can live in a REAL community and be at work in minutes?
We don’t need to be Tampa, or New Orleans, or anywhere else. We simply need to be New Port Richey, authentic and ourselves.
In sharp contrast to a decade ago, we now have a city staff and leaders that “get it.” We’re beyond playing “gotcha” when someone comes to City Hall to open a business in New Port Richey. From the building department on up, the question now is: “What can we do to help you?” Anyone that throws up road blocks is going to have to answer to the city manager. She has her marching orders direct from the mayor and council.
We’ve got some great restaurants with more coming. They aren’t all big chain places either. We’ve got two live theatres within a block of each other right downtown. We have great city parks that are about to get even better. We have lots of great special events with free music and free parking. We have very affordable housing, including some older homes with “character” that you simply won’t find in a subdivision.
Remind me again why anyone would want to live in a pre-fab community and spend a couple of hours a day commuting to Hillsborough or Pinellas?
There is still work to be done. We haven’t done a very good job of promoting our city to growing businesses that need a place to call home. I’d like to think that has changed as everyone at City Hall realized how little Applicant Insight knew at first about New Port Richey and the resources the city could bring to bear to help them expand into a new building. We were lucky this time, but we are learning fast.
We will be better prepared and more proactive going forward. We intend to create our own luck.
Hang on tight, this ride is just getting started.
Rob Marlowe, Mayor
City of New Port Richey