The Wake up Call for Tuesday: Catching up with Former Pensacola Mayor Ashton J. Hayward

 

Today on the wake-up call live on WPNN 103.7 we discussed state, local, national, and international topics of interest.  We also welcomed onto the show former Pensacola Mayor and the current President of the Andrews Research and Education Foundation Ashton Hayward.  He and I discussed ST Engineering, Economic Development, the upward trajectory of Pensacola and Escambia County, his days as Mayor and his recollections of that time, his work at the Andrews Foundation, and his interest in OLF 8.  It was a great discussion.

In addition to this, we discussed:

-local news and information

-The hostages in Gaza

-Tulsi Gabbard’s upcoming confirmation vote

-25% Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum going into effect

-Tucker Carlson’s statements on who it was to blame for the attempts on Donald Trump’s life

-Federal Judges attempting to block Trumps reforms

-Rob Blagojevich’s full pardon from Trump today

-Charges against Eric Adams dropped by DOJ

And much more….

Listen to my interview with Ashton Hayward here

You can hear a complete recording of today’s live show here.

We are live each weekday morning from 6:00AM-8:00AM on WPNN-Pensacola's Information Station, where local, conservative morning-drive talk radio is ALIVE and Well and where we give you the most powerful hour(s) in local morning drive talk radio.

News, weather, traffic, humor, and educated, intelligent discourse with no PC filters....

The Wakeup Call with Jeff Bergosh on WPNN FM 103.7:  Radio UNRESTRAINED.

I'll be on 1370 WCOA at 7:00 This Morning Discussing DR Horton Offer for OLF 8

I'll be on the area's most factual, trusted, and highest rated morning drive news program "Real News with Rick Outzen"  this morning at 7:00 AM to discuss the OLF 8 offer in detail...

Rick Outzen, host of the area's best, most connected, most accurate, most insightful, most listened-to and most trusted morning drive news show "Real News with Rick Outzen"--has asked me to come on the show this morning at 7:00 AM to give insight into the latest DR Horton offer for the county's OLF 8 property in Beulah.

My intention is to go through the offer piece by piece with Rick so his listeners will know exactly where we stand with this deal, how we got here, and where we are headed.

Listen live this morning at 7:00 -- or download the podcast which, once posted, I will link here.

More Big Economic Development WINs for Escambia County at Triumph Gulf Coast Yesterday!

Approved Yesterday:  $20 Million + in Economic Development Projects for Escambia County from the BP Oil Spill Settlement Proceeds--$14.2 for District 1's OLF-8 road infrastructure initiative...

Yesterday was a huge day for Escambia County as two big projects moved forward and were approved at the Triumph Gulf Coast meeting in Panama City.  The projects, totalling more than $20 Million Dollars, will allow for the growth of jobs at Escambia's OLF 8 property in District 1 via the construction of a high quality, durable road from 9-Mile Road to Frank Reeder road, as well as associated drainage and utilities.  This will bi-sect the property and has been something multiple potential developers had looked upon as "must have" infrastructure for the field's development to commence.

The second project approved yesterday, project laser, will help to fund a manufacturing research center of excellence.

The board members received the below email notifying us of the vote by Triumph yesterday afternoon from Scott Luth, CEO of Florida West Economic Development Alliance.  From the email:

"The Triumph Gulf Coast board voted to support two Escambia projects yesterday afternoon totaling over $20 million. 

 The County OLF8, $14.2 million, road and infrastructure project term sheet was approved and recommended for a full contract. This is a tremendous milestone project to develop publicly owned, competitive, light industrial park property to help our community keep and expand our existing business and attract new business.

 The PEDC, $6 million, Project Laser full application was approved and recommended for term sheet development. This is a partnership project between PEDC, Pensacola State College, Space Florida, and LIFT to establish a new manufacturing research center of excellence in our community (Please see the Triumph Staff recommendation of our project attached).

 I would like to thank the Triumph staff and our two Triumph board members from Escambia County, David Bear and Collier Merrill, for their support and leadership. 

 Both of these projects would not have moved to this stage without the help and support of the City, County, and many other partners. 

 While these are great first steps and represent a lot of work thus far, we will now begin to move the projects forward to realize the long term benefits this potential investment will have within our community.  I appreciate your support of our community"

About Florida West

About Triumph Gulf Coast

44th Coffee With The Commissioner: A Great Discussion on Economic Development

We had our 44th Coffee With the Commissioner live chat online yesterday morning, and the conversation was primarily focused on the importance of economic development to a community--particularly as it pertains to a community recovering economically from the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Janice Gilley gave an update from the county administrator's office, and then turned the conversation over to our other guest.

This special guest was Scott Luth, CEO of Florida West Economic Development Alliance. 

Scott gave an update on several ongoing Florida West initiatives, including The Bluffs Industrial Park, OLF 8, the downtown Tech Park, ST Engineering, and Navy Federal Credit Union.

He also discussed our community's local small business incubator, Co-Lab.

A really good discussion ensued, and you can watch the Facebook live video of this event here.

Or you can watch the YouTube video here

44th Coffee With the Commissioner this Wednesday Morning

Our 44th Coffee with the Commissioner event will take place online this Wednesday, June 10th from 6:30-7:30 AM.  This online chat will focus on economic development and our local efforts at attracting new businesses to our area.  Our guests will be County Administrator Janice Gilley and Florida West Economic Development Alliance Executive Director Scott Luth.

We will discuss:  ST Engineering, The Bluffs, OLF 8, Co-Lab small business incubator, our commerce parks, and the continued expansion of Navy Federal Credit Union   

To join the event live Wednesday morning, simply go to https://www.facebook.com/CommissionerBergosh/

"See You" online this Wednesday!

Massive, Positive Local and International Media Response to ST Engineering Aerospace Deal

Huge Economic Development Deal for Escambia County and Pensacola goes viral worldwide in the press.  Historic!

The Escambia Board of County Commissioners joined the city of Pensacola and Florida West in attracting the World's #1 leader in Air Frame Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) services to come to Pensacola.

The County has now committed a total of $18 Million to this effort.

This week we signed an Historic Agreement in Singapore to massively expand this operation and bring thousands of GOOD jobs to our region!

The press coverage of this historic event has been huge...and it has been international.

Check out the coverage locally--- and overseas--of this monumental announcement and agreement!

Here

Here

Here 

Here 

Here 

Here

Here

and in lots of other outlets.

While some still believe economic development is "not appropriate" for local governments to pursue--I could not disagree more.  Actually---I believe what we are doing to grow jobs and diversify our tax base locally is an ESSENTIAL GOVERNMENT FUNCTION!  I'm extremely proud of this agreement, this deal, and bringing these jobs home to Escambia County!

What is Project Titan?

No, it's not that science fiction movie on Netflix.. It is not a scientific mission to Planet Saturn's moon Titan.

It is a massive project to bring more good-quality, high-paying jobs to Escambia County that will be presented by Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward our next upcoming meeting of the Board of County Commissioners.  It will be added onto the written communication portion of our September 6th meeting.

Elected Officials (l to r Senator Doug Broxson, Escambia Commission Chairman Jeff Bergosh, and Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward  Celebrated the Opening of the first ST Engineering Aerospace MRO Hangar in Pensacola on June 8, 2018

Project Titan has been approved by Triumph Gulf Coast to the tune of $56 Million over the next 4 years, and there are multiple entities that may contribute to this project which will more than quadruple ST Engineering Aerospace's operations and employment here in Escambia County!

ST Engineering Aerospace opened their first hangar in Pensacola this past June (that opening was a fantastic day for our community), and they are ramping up toward 400 jobs in that current facility. 

As the worldwide leader in the Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) Industry--ST Engineering Aerospace has facilities worldwide--but they want to massively expand their footprint here in Pensacola to keep pace with their growing business.  Although their current project here in Pensacola is fantastic....it is about to get much better with Project Titan.

I was honored to speak at the ST Engineering Aerospace grand opening last June

This project, if the city and the county are intelligent and go forward, will add three additional hangars at the Pensacola International Airport, as well as a brand new ST Engineering Aerospace administration facility.

The collective impacts---an additional 1,325 new direct jobs, 3400 indirect jobs, and upon full implementation, an influx of over $2 Million yearly in new ad-valorem revenue for the county as well as nearly $1 Million more in sales tax expenditures locally to support the operation which will flow back to the Board of County Commissioners.

The tentative financing of the $210 Million deal deal breaks down as follows:

Triumph Funds                                   $56 Million
ST Engineering                                  $35 Million
FDOT Funds                                      $50 Million
Governor's Job fund (year 1)             $4 Million
Legislative appropriation 2019          $3 Million
Governor's Job fund (year 2)             $20 Million
City of Pensacola funds                     $8 Million
Escambia County funds                     $12 Million
EDA (Federal funds)                         $17 Million
Additional funding to be identified   $5 Million

The massive positive benefits of this project will be a tremendous economic infusion into our community along with a further diversification of our jobs base.  The most compelling attribute:  we will get all of this financial activity and long term revenue for a very small commitment of local taxpayer funds.  $91 Million, representing 43% of total project budget, is derived from non-taxpayer funding sources!  When we look at just the county's portion of the deal, in order to leverage this $ 210 Million dollar initiative, our investment is a mere 5.7%.

This is a tremendous opportunity for our area, and I hope we will be able to move this forward despite the naysayers that do not believe in economic development.  Economic development is vitally important role of government, no matter who says otherwise.

I'm bullish on the future of Pensacola and Escambia County--Kudos to Mayor Hayward, Governor Scott,  Senator Broxson, and Florida West for helping to put this together!

Read Mayor Hayward's letter here.

Thoughts from the Economic Development Summit

The Escambia County Board of County Commissioners held an economic development summit meeting Tuesday.  After we had brief presentations from Neighborhood services and a discussion about the Brownsville Community Center, we discussed Escambia County and our economic development efforts.

Those who are interested in doing so can watch the video of the meeting here--there was lots of very interesting conversation.

The presentation began with an overview of the demographics of the two-county (Escambia-Santa Rosa) area.  Zach Jenkins, Director of UWF's Haas Center, gave a  presentation that described the median family income, median age, race/ethnicity, and other characteristics of our area as compared to the state and also to the nation.  It was interesting.  of note were the following take-aways:

--employment wise, we have just recently recovered and stabilized our unemployment levels to pre-Great Recession levels

--2,500 new jobs yearly will need to be created in order to keep our unemployment levels at today's rate

--nearly 42,000 persons (out of 500,000 total population in our MSA) are currently not working.

-- a net of roughly 20,000 commuters come to Escambia County to work but live out of Escambia County

--tourist related occupations, while important locally, do not generate much in the way of additional ancillary jobs created when compared to just about every other category of jobs--especially manufacturing and cyber security jobs

--The highest paying segment of jobs, on average, are from the Military and Civilian DoD jobs, followed by the Financial Services Sectors

After Zach gave his presentation, Scott Luth from Florida West gave a presentation on efforts his group is making to increase the jobs base locally.  His focus areas of industry revolve around cultivation of employers who export products, thereby importing new money into the community. 

Areas of focus include the following:

-Manufacturing
-financial and professional services
-information Technology and Business Process Outsourcing
-Offshore Vessel Service and Support
-Aviation Manufacturing and Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO)
-Defense, Homeland, and Cyber Security

A stirring discussion about employee readiness/preparedness begins at minute 57:05 and continues through minute 71:00 of Items 3 & 6.  In this segment, Luth states that about "90 percent of the issue revolves around employers' concerns about the readiness of the graduates of the schools."  Luth continues "I'm not trying to throw a negative on our schools but I'm told we have to increase that, that level  [ of preparedness] of the students coming out [of the schools locally]."

I spoke about this as well--the emphasis of my comments (67:22) was that we have tremendous social dysfunction, combined with generational dysfunction, mixed with poverty, that is hindering our