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Northwest Florida Business Briefs - Aug. 2005
ESCAMBIA COUNTY -- Escambia ranked first in the number of roofs left covered in blue tarps after last year's hurricanes, according to a Gannett News Service analysis. The county's 30,974 roofs covered under the federal government's Operation Blue Roof were nearly three times the number in runner-up Charlotte County. Contractors placed blue tarps on at least 46,900 Ivan-damaged homes in 11 counties, GNS reported.
LEON COUNTY -- Commissioners approved $1.6 million to help the Leon County-Tallahassee Economic Development Council lure a Canadian air-conditioning company. That was after commissioners held back the EDC's annual $210,000 funding, complaining it's not been producing enough jobs. The city also is being asked to provide $1.6 million.
MARIANNA -- Republican Marti Coley, an English teacher at Chipola College, won a June special election to claim her late husband's District 7 seat in the state Legislature. David Coley died of cancer in March. The House district runs from southern Leon County to Okaloosa County beaches.
OKALOOSA COUNTY -- Longtime County Manager Chris Holley, 52, has shifted his attention to 67 counties, taking a new job in June as executive director of Florida Association of Counties, based in Tallahassee. Holley was hired in 1993 as Okaloosa's first county manager.
A Circuit Court judge has ruled that Okaloosa-Walton College Foundation can proceed with an $8.1-million sale to developers of property left to the foundation by the late Mattie M. Kelly, settling a Kelly family claim that a sale would be contrary to her intentions.
PANAMA CITY BEACH -- Earl Durden has sold his Rail Management Corp. to Genesee & Wyoming for $243 million. RMC's 14 short-line railroad operations, located mainly in the South and employing 300, operate more than 928 miles of track, 88 locomotives and 1,751 freight cars. Publicly traded Genesee, based in Greenwich, Conn., operates 8,200 miles of leased and owned tracks in five countries. Its Jacksonville-based subsidiary, Rail Link, will run the acquired business.
PENSACOLA -- The University of West Florida board of trustees has approved statewide extension of a tuition break for Alabama students, part of an attempt to grow student enrollment, now at 9,200. Tuition was lowered in 2000 for students residing in 26 neighboring counties to $122.31 per credit hour, just $21 more than Florida residents pay. The lower rate is comparable to what Alabama residents pay at their own state universities, trustees Chairman K.C. Clark noted.
PENSACOLA BEACH -- Portofino developers are adding $600 million in new construction to the five condominium towers already built or under way on this white-sand barrier island. The phase 2 project, to begin in March, will include a $50-million spa and fitness center, 157-unit hotel and two 21-story residential towers. Allen Levin and Robert Rinke are partners in Portofino.
PENSACOLA/TALLAHASSEE -- The Florida Black Chamber of Commerce made its debut official in June, installing a 26-member board at a program at Mary Brogan Museum in Tallahassee. The organization, based in Pensacola and with a Tallahassee branch, is one of 123 affiliates of the National Black Chamber of Commerce. Among its aims: Boost economic development in northwest Florida.
TALLAHASSEE -- New Florida A&M University leader Castell Bryant can't be blamed for not acting quickly since being appointed interim president in January. Faced with $51 million in over-budget spending, flawed accounting, phantom employees and a state criminal investigation involving the school's Institute for Urban Policy and Commerce, Bryant promptly froze spending, fired more than a score, including the football coach, put the law school dean on leave and temporarily suspended the urban institute.
TAYLOR COUNTY -- Environmentalists and public interest groups in Leon, Taylor and Wakulla counties are protesting proposed construction of a coal-burning power plant, probably in Taylor County. The city of Tallahassee is considering partnering with developers, a group of four public utilities led by Jacksonville-based JEA, and could contribute $300 million toward construction of the $1.4-billion plant in an effort to cut city dependence on natural gas. Taylor commissioners support plant siting in their county.
WAKULLA SPRINGS -- Scientists at Florida State University's Center for Advanced Power Systems have quieted "Alligator," a tour boat at Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park, by providing a new all-electric DC propulsion system. Conversion of the rest of the park's fleet of tour boats could follow.
