- December 15, 2025
The fourth countywide economic development assembly May 13, wasn’t a summit, said Don Upton, group facilitator. It was a business meeting.
“This has been a furious and focused process,” he told the group of 60-plus elected and nonelected county representatives, at the start of their fourth day and 28th hour of workshops. The first part of the meeting, Upton explained, would comprise presentations from the five focus committees formed at the last session, March 18 — enhanced regionalism, target industries, entrepreneurship, new talent development and excellent customer service.
The second part, he continued, would ask, “What’s it to you? Where do we go from here?”
The groups presented their plans, which came to a preliminary cost proposal of more than $7 million, with a return of about 2,500 new area jobs, plus big revenue generation.
The draft strategy was approved, tentatively. Funding remains a topic for another meeting.
County Administrator Craig Coffey was assigned the job of scheduling the fifth "summit," sans Upton, which will be held sometime after June 15. In the interim, each committee will iron out methods and payment plans for their individual stimulus strategies. Enterprise Flagler will create a job description for a possible CEO “quarterback” to lead the group moving forward.
For now, SCORE — Counselors to America’s Small Businesses — will play as acting group coordinator.
At the next meeting, the county hopes to assign a team CEO, agree on action strategies and talk funding.
See the print version of the Palm Coast Observer for more.
