The Mayor & The Manager
Join Mayor Jack Hilligoss and City Manager James Slaton as they talk about happenings in Lake Wales, Florida. What can we look forward to? How are problems being dealt with?
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The Mayor & The Manager
Partnership - #010
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Mayor Jack Hilligoss and City Manager James Slaton take time to talk about attracting companies to Lake Wales and the economic impacts that brings through different avenues.
They also answer a question that a listener submitted!
Hello, Lake Wales, and welcome to episode number 10 of the Mayor and the Manager. This podcast is a part of Providence Voice, which is the media ministry of High Point Church. And we created it so that you can get to know the people you elect and pay to lead our city, as well as to keep you up to date on issues and decisions that are important to the city of Lake Wales. And I am here this morning again with our city manager, James Slayton. James, good to see you. Good to see you, Mayor. You've been gone for a couple of weeks. So in your absence, we interviewed our chief of police. And then last week we had Skip Alford, who was our chamber and EDC president with us. And he spent some time talking about uh economic development here in the city. Um, but from the chamber and EDC side, which is more the private perspective on it. But today, I think what we want to talk about is if a city is going to thrive economically, it really does require a positive public-private partnership. And so often we see those two played off against one another, which is extremely negative and counterproductive. So local government really does have to be business friendly, doesn't it? Without question. Okay. So we are working hard to become a business-friendly uh community. So let's talk about some of the ways that our city has been working to create a welcoming environment for business from the government side. Uh I in the last few months, uh, the items that have come before us kind of coalesce around a few things. But let's talk about how can a local government and what has Lake Wales been doing to incentivize uh businesses to come to Lake Wales?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So one of the first things that that we absolutely have to do um to make Lake Wales more attractive is um, you know, it's gonna sound boring, but we have to have the land available and entitled. It's gotta have the the, you know, it's got to be within the city limits and it's gotta have the land use and zoning applied um, you know, for for the industry. Sounds boring. However, speed to market, and you've probably heard this talk in a skip, is is absolutely priority number one um here here in Florida. We've had so much. I just read an article this week. Um, in in 2024, um, there there was more wealth moving into Florida than any other state in the nation.
SPEAKER_02Crazy. Yeah.
SPEAKER_0021 billion dollars of new wealth moving into Florida. And by the way, uh uh California had lost about 12 billion annually.
SPEAKER_01Going to say they're moving here from communist countries.
SPEAKER_00So um, you know, so speed to market is number one. They they want to set up shop and they want to get going. And so what happens is, you know, you have the that land entitled, it's gonna shave off months, you know, and in some cases, in the case of uh advanced drainage systems, it might save off, shave off a year, yeah. Right. Right. Uh depending on on uh you know what that process looks like. So so that's that's number one.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00Um let's talk about that for a little bit more though.
SPEAKER_01So got to get land ready, got to get the land um prepared for them to come. So what are specific actions that we've taken in that direction in the last year?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So um, you know, the biggest piece I think is is working with the the actual landowners. Okay. Quite honestly, we can't just apply, as you know, um, you know, uh the people have um private property rights and you you can't just assign whatever land use and or zoning you want to somebody else's property. Right. So I'd say one of the most significant things that we've done, and and with the help of the EDC, is working with um some of the landowners, identifying some some of the uh, I'd say optimal areas for industry and then working with those landowners to get that property um annexed and and titled.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so one, and we have done a lot of that. That goes back to we talked about strategic planning a few episodes ago. We actually um have been working on a strategic land use plan and we've we've picked out areas of the city where we felt like it would be very conducive for industrial development, business development. And just in this last year, you say working with private landowners, we, for instance, talk about what we've done over on Hunt Brothers Road.
SPEAKER_00Hunt Brothers Road, uh, a couple of uh a few important things have happened there. Um, so uh several hundred acres long Hunt Brothers Road um have been annexed uh at the request of the Hunt family to the city limits, uh, land use and zoning applied. Um we have been designing because uh we we don't have infrastructure, underground infrastructure utilities specifically, all the way down you know Hunt Brothers Road. So we've been designing uh uh engineering the utilities, which will be under construction very, very soon to make sure we can serve everyone uh in that area. Um so we've been working on that. Um there's been a Duke Energy uh site readiness study that's been performed on all of that property, by the way, on Hunt Brothers Road, hundreds of acres. Um and there's a lot that goes into that site readiness study. Um, but you know, just uh a lot of detail. Sure. You know, land use, uh, you know, they'll even do geotechnical work, yeah, you know, you know, taking soil samples, uh a lot of things of that nature. And that's important because, you know, typically when there's a uh I'm sure you know this, but you know, we've got a real estate contract like that, that there may be a lot of contingencies in there, you know, during that due diligence period where where um you know that work's got to be performed um before the contract will close. So it's it's it's really good if we can have that work done on the front end through the Duke Energy site readiness study that Duke Energy, by the way, pays for. They've been a great economic development partner. Um, and uh it just again further shaves off, I think, that um you know, some of the time it takes to get that property developed.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so you said a couple of things as you were talking there that uh that piqued my interest, and I would assume it would anyone that was listening. Um, so let me put a pen on Duke Energy paid for that. So that's important. I'm gonna come back to that. But all of that description, why is it important? Some guy, some gentleman or some lady owns a large manufacturing company in Illinois, and they've been in Chicago or on the suburbs of Chicago for years, and Chicago is just eaten them up with regulations and or their business is growing so much they need to expand operations to the southeast. And uh, so they start looking. Um, they reach out to governmental organizations who refer them to different municipalities. This happens, right? They reach out to the Polk County Economic Development Council, Polk County Economic Development Council may say, hey, there's a little town called Lake Wales that's got some stuff going on, you may want to reach out to them. But they're also going to tell them about Winter Haven, Hain City. So if that owner comes walking in to talk to you or calls you, if you're able to give them a piece of ground where the utility work has been done, those site studies have been done, maybe even some of the building has been done, that becomes incredibly attractive to them.
SPEAKER_00It it absolutely does. Um that that that's gonna be extremely important. Um and you know the deal is we're competing. So you you asked about incentives. So um, you know, we're gonna be competing with other areas, not not in Polk, you know, just in Polk County, but throughout the entire state.
SPEAKER_01All over the world, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And so, you know, a lot of these sites, so you look at the the interlocal logistics center just up the road from us, a few miles west on Highway 60. Well, you've got an industrial part that's got it's are it's already built out, it's got infrastructure, it's got roads, it's shovel ready, it's ready to go. Yeah. Well, we're we're competing against sites like that all over Florida.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00And so even with our um, you know, we've got we've got land annexed and it and it's entitled, and we we you know, we have utilities, well, you know, someone were to uh I'd say advance a project on that property, well, there's still so much more that has to be done, right? Engineering, construction, and it's a longer, much longer, you know, timeline before they're they're operational. And so we, you know, we we don't have sites like that in Lake Wales. So then we think about, okay, well, what can we do to tip the scales in our direction to maybe, you know, be a little bit more competitive with some of those other communities. And so what we've done and what you all have approved was um, you know, about a year and a half ago, we created a couple of economic development programs, both focused on impact fee mitigation.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00And they're all contingent upon um, you know, the capital investment that's being made and the amount of jobs they're creating and how much how much the the you know uh the median wage is for those employees. And so that that was one thing that that we did um about a year and a half ago. And by the way, no one has, you know, contrary, I think, to probably what would some folks may believe, we we it's been a year and a half, we've not been able to um, we have not utilized that program yet.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00Um so recently, uh, you know, uh we we came up with a couple of new ideas. Um, and so one one of which was uh the ability, again, it's proportionate based on the jobs and and the capital expenditures, just like the impact fees, but to be able to waive a percentage of their billing permit fees. Okay. And then that this week you all voted first reading on the third economic development uh incentive, which would be a uh uh similar program, but a reduction in their um site development review fees.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00Which, by the way, can can be very, very expensive here in Lake Wales.
SPEAKER_01Um and so how expensive? Let's just say a typical um mid-sized company that we're attracting, give just ballpark, the the amount of money that they save with these mitigations.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So, you know, um it's I I believe it's about three our fees are about three or three and a half percent of the construction cost of the capital investment there. Yeah, so you know, milli a hundred million dollars of uh of construction, you know, those site development review fees are you know three and a half million dollars or so. That's pretty significant. And I know you know it sounds like the you know, these large projects don't come along every day.
SPEAKER_01Well, they come along very rarely. Very very, very rarely and it only takes one if for a city the size of Lake Wales. So for instance, when we when Skip and I were talking, Lake Wales has for generations relied upon and been blessed by the citrus industry. But that that is dying. And and so now we have to diversify, we have to find something else. So this for a city like Lake Wales, just one of those kind of projects makes a huge impact generationally on the city.
SPEAKER_00It does make it in a lot of different ways. You you nailed it. And so while we may give up um, you know, uh I I'd say a little money, a little revenue on the front end through these incentives, you know, the the the investment pro approach that we're taking is going to pay dividends.
SPEAKER_01Sure. You know, let's that let's talk about that because that brings me back to something I said I want to put a pen in a few minutes ago. Duke Energy, which is uh a privately held company, comes in and says, we'll do this work and they pay for the work to develop well why would they do that? Why would they make that investment? Because it leads into the same question that we hear. Why does does a city why would a city give away three and a half million dollars of um impact fee revenue and the other fee revenue? Um, you know, I've we've even heard it. We've heard people say to us, it feels like we're begging these people to come to us. And, you know, and why are we giving away this money that can go into our our coffers? Well, it's not just when, you know, it's one thing when you see your government do it, but there are other local companies that are giving money to this. Why do they do that?
SPEAKER_00Well, because they know that really it's a long-term investment that you know they're gonna get a return on that investment um every year. Sure. In perpetuity. You know, and and so, and so let let's again, I'll use the example. We we'll we'll say three and a half million dollars. Let's just use that, you know, on a hundred million dollar. Yeah, yeah. We'll use that fictitious number. But but you know, if we're getting, you know, five to seven hundred thousand dollars every year in in ad valorum tax revenue while, you know, for 20, 30, 40, 50 years, we've gotten a pretty good return on our investment um, you know, as a city. Um, but you know, over and above that, you know, we we bring in higher, higher paying jobs. Right. Everybody that lives in Lake Wales benefits from that. You I've told you, um, I've told you this story uh one-on-one before, and I've also told uh you know it to a group of people, and this is the truth. Um, you know, I I remember closing on my house when I moved to Lake Wales. And you know, we'd pulled up to a red light, and this kid, elementary kid, had dropped a bunch of groceries on the ground, and my wife got out of the car. And she, you know, she she helped him, she had we had a bag in the car, she helped him pick up his groceries, and you know, we got back in the car. And quite honestly, I don't know that we thought a lot about it until we got up, you know, to the the crossing guard who came up to to our car window and and said to my wife, you know, thank thanked her, number one, which she certainly didn't have to do that, but she said, you know, he he comes by here every Friday with his groceries that he's he's bringing home to his uh his little brother and sister so we can eat. And so, you know, we we talk about bringing in, you know, industry and increasing the median income in like Wales, the real world impact is we're impacts or we we're providing jobs that pay well enough for people so that uh that the the school doesn't have to send food home for their kids.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. And that's that's life, right? So it it is it is the investment the get the the forgiveness of three and a half million dollars on the front end is a is investment more than we're not giving money away, we're making an investment. So you've mentioned you're making an investment simply because you're going to recoup that over and over again in tax base. That's right. But and that's great for the government, but the government is supposed to see to the welfare and quality of life of the citizens. And the welfare and quality of life impact is if this hundred this corporation that makes a hundred million dollar capital investment is also bringing 200 high-paying jobs above the median income, you have people who are not sending their kids out, you know, to get handout groceries to feed their family. Um, they're able to feed their families. And not only does the quality of life become better for maybe a hundred more families in the city of Lake Wales, but those families are shopping, spending in local businesses. So there's tax revenue coming in that way. And the local businesses are doing better because of it.
SPEAKER_00Right. Every everybody prospers. You know, they they I don't know if you know if this is accurate and or true, but you know, kind of kind of the rule of thumb is there's about a you know six to one ratio of of you know local dollars when they're spent, how much more it really generates for for the local economy. Sure, sure.
SPEAKER_01So that is that's why, again, um you don't, you know, we don't want to play off private against public because the public government responsibility is to see to trying to improve the quality of life of our citizens. And these investments in economic development are a big part of that. Okay, so we've talked about um zoning and planning, trying to make sure that land is made ready. We've talked about financial incentives that the city has enacted. Can you review those three for me again, real quick, the three incentives that we've put together?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so uh the the first one we did was uh impact fee mitigation where we could waive a percentage of the impact fees um of those projects. Um the second would be the um the the building permit fees right for reviewing the the vertical building plans. And then finally, um the most substantial um would be the site development review fees. And just so so folks kind of know what that is, what we you know and this happens on every project, including these the residential ones. You know, something gets approved by the city commission, let's say legislatively, then the real work begins. Yeah, the all the civil engineering and every you know, architectural, geotechnical, everything involved um with designing that project to build it gets underway. And that that that's very expensive and it takes a long time. Well, once those those plans are done, well then we we begin um to review them. Every every city department, um, as well as some external agencies, but there's a lot of people that that have to review and comment on these plans, and we we we do that several times, and that that could take you know, could take months, tons and tons of you know, you know, uh uh or a year, um for for example. But you know, so um that that's what the site development review fees pay for. Um but we we've um you know, I think that I think it's three or three and a half percent. I yeah, yeah, that's forgiving. I can't recall off the top of my head. Um, you know, we'll we'll they could be substantial. Yeah, a lot.
SPEAKER_01So it's it's um we're creating, we're trying to create an environment where a business um could can see themselves moving quickly and being able to do business, speed to market, and we're trying to create, make it as a you know, as affordable as we can. And again, the typical um response to that, and it's understandable um if you don't, you know, if you don't spend your time in government, is to look at that and say, wait a minute, why are we giving all these breaks to the big guys, to the big business, and I'm not getting them as a as a homeowner? And why are we um pandering or begging? But it's not at all that. It's it's more about promotion, and it's done because unlike an individual homeowner, uh a business comes in and has such multiplying positive impact if it's the right business. That's right. Okay. So um I I don't know whether we've already covered this, but I'm gonna bring it up again because it seems like we have, but I've got listed here also developing infrastructure. So you've mentioned that a little bit when you were talking about putting down the pipes and other things, but um, we actually would we're actually considering and may consider even building out, pre-building out buildings in order to, you know, to incentivize people to come here. Is that correct?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, what what we did was uh it's a we created a program. Uh so we've got programs A and B. We we have uh a lack of inventory of existing buildings for businesses to move into. And so what we've done, and we're I'm sure we're the only ones in the county that it that have done this. Um, not not necessarily, you know, the city building the the structures, but what we've done is incentivize developers that may maybe they they're you know they're not the business themselves. Yeah, but all of these programs also apply to the development companies that so that we can encourage them to come in to to build the structures that they could then lease to to private businesses. So uh we've we've done that as well. And by the way, when we're talking about you know these incentives, um, the the county through the Central Florida uh development council, their economic development arm, they also have incentives, by the way. They have three, you know, three, three different programs as well. And and with ours, we we can stack them. So for large corporations moving in, we can stack our incentives on top of the counties and really, really make it um, you know, I'd say attractive for business to move in. Um and and of course, you know, in addition, I just have to say this, in addition to you know, the the median income and the and the local economic impacts of having the jobs, you know, for for the government, um, you know, it it's we're being prudent and responsible by being deliberate and intentionally diversifying even our revenue streams. You you know what's being discussed right now and has been discussed, you know, by by the governor over the last year, you know, potentially eliminating property taxes for homesteaded properties. Well, we have to continue to to you know operate as government. We have to continue to provide public safety and parts and all the things that that we do that that get paid for out of the the ad valorum. So, you know, as much as we can, if we diversify our economic base, then we're less in, you know, we're impacted far less when when there are you know uh downturns in the economy related residential. You know, I I was here at worked through um you know the the recession uh 2008-2009, you know, working for the city and the and and the property values and everything just tanked. Well, man, we did everything. Everything we can do to just keep the lights on. Yeah. You know, quite honestly. And so forget about having funds to invest to improve the quality of life for the community. You know, we we were doing the bare minimum. So the more industry that we can bring in and rely on, it just makes us more resilient as a government. And you know what? We will end up paying lower property taxes for the residents in the end when they've got big business contributing annually. Right. So we take, you know, our approach has been, I think, you know, we we can take a short-term loss on the front end for a very long-term game.
SPEAKER_01Sure. And you brought up something that is more uh relevant and pressing, I think, than most citizens who don't pay attention to politics are aware of. It's a very real possibility that uh property tax will go away, um, which you know causes a lot of people to celebrate because I don't want to pay, you know, if I don't have to in into perpetuity for for a my home. Okay, that makes perfect sense. But on a local level, the local government level, it's gonna be a real problem. So it that's another reason where if you're a big fan for eliminating property taxes, then you ought to be cheering on your local government to incentivize and develop business, big business. Otherwise, all of the funding for the services that you rely on goes away. Absolutely. Yeah. And and I don't think that, again, I'm not I'm not speaking for or against this whole property tax thing. I see the benefits on both sides, I see the pros and cons on both sides. It's a big issue, um, but that I don't have time to get into. But if if you are um a big fan of that, then you do need to understand you ought to be a bigger fan of bit of a of a local government that's working hard to bring in an economic base. A city like Lake Wales will be left in the dust if we're not thinking forwardly about this. Absolutely. Yeah. Okay, well, let's let's one more thing. It these things fly by, believe it or not. We're already up to about a half hour. We try and keep it there. But the uh last thing that I wrote down here when it comes to um the public-private partnership, that what's real important is what is the reputation of the community? How important is it when we're trying to recruit business, the reputation of the city?
SPEAKER_00I I I could not uh I think uh emphasize enough how how important it is. Um quite quite honestly, the you know, if you've got a bad reputation for for you know being business friendly or not being business friendly, um there there are businesses we'll never even hear from, quite honestly. You know, when there are negative news articles, um, you know, they're they're just not even gonna look our way. They'll spend time, they'll spend money uh, you know, in a community that that may not want them there and they're just not they're just not gonna risk it. We're you know, we're literally talking about you know, hundreds of millions of dollars for some of these projects. Right. And that's just not a gamble businesses are are really willing to take.
SPEAKER_01Well, you if you're if you're a CEO uh of a of a multi multi-million dollar corporation and you're about ready to put a hundred million dollars on the line in a project, you have to take seriously the idea that the future of your company rests in the vote of five people. That's right. Three, really. Three out of it.
SPEAKER_00That's exactly right.
SPEAKER_01So you really do pay attention to um you know, these three people, quite honestly, who may not be business savvy um or who could be easily swayed by people who are not. That's a big deal, you know.
SPEAKER_00It's a big deal, and they're just not going to risk it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um they're they're just not they're just not gonna risk it. Um, but you know, if you have if you do have a reputation for being business friendly and working for businesses, these developers, um, particularly these big ones, you you know, uh they they know each other, they communicate from not just around the state, but but eat you know, around the nation and they talk to each other. If you're doing a good job and you're being proactive, um they'll tell each other that. Um, and uh that's gonna, you know, that's just gonna continue to spread, um, particularly if we we can um you know back up what we say we're gonna do in terms of being business friendly. And then we build that positive reputation, we'll get more and more, it'll snowball. We'll get more and more industry looking our direction. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Well, and again, we started off, I think you started off our time talking about the fact that one of the greatest geographic wealth transfers actually in the history of the United States is taking place right now. Money is moving from what used to be considered the financial centers of our country, and tons of it is coming to the state of Florida. And a big reason for that is because of the punitive uh stance that has been taken towards business owners, successful businesses in some of those other places. Um it's a politics of greed and selfishness more than an understanding that um they all bring something to the table. And if we work together, we create an environment where everybody prospers. Um so that's my plug. That's my plug for capitalism, by the way. So, okay, so incentivizing zoning, planning, developing infrastructure, reputation, things are looking really good for the city of Lake Wales. Uh, we've seen a lot of good things happen, and uh, I think we've created a runway for a prosperous future for our city. Let's hope so. Okay, well, I appreciate your time and we appreciate you for listening. Uh before we quit, though, today, I'm I'm kind of springing this on you, James. We do always ask for you as citizens, if you have a question, um, to send them to us here at Providence Voice. Uh, we got one after we did our episode on recreation, parks and recreation, and somebody asked about pickleball courts. So the question came to us this way: more pickleball courts, question mark, and what more is to come for downtown? I think we've done a lot on downtown since that episode. But pickleball courts, they other than what's painted on the tennis courts, any plans that you know of that are coming on that?
SPEAKER_00I'd have to look at our parks and rec master plan, but I I would uh uh I'm pretty sure that there are there, there's an expansion, I know, of the tennis courts uh within that um Crystal Lake Park master plan. And I'm sure that they're pickleball, but I'll get back to you, I'll confirm that. But I will tell you, we we have some indoor pickleball courts currently in the Albert uh Kirkland gymnasium. We did that several years ago. And as a matter of fact, we've got a group, uh a pretty large group that meets in there uh, you know, several days, several mornings a week. Okay. Um, you know, uh large group of pickleballers. So if you if if folks want to come play, you know, in the air conditioning, um, we we've got pickleball uh courts and lines inside the gymnasium.
SPEAKER_01I bet you most people didn't know that because the mayor didn't even know that. Pickleball courts indoor at Albert Kirkland Gymnasium, which is on Seminole Avenue. Yeah. And um also um take a look at the Parks and Recks master plan, which is on the City Web's page. You can download that or just open it up on the web page and you'll see plans for the future there. And it's my plan here within the next month or so to get our Parks and Rec director on the podcast, just like we've had our chief of police, and hopefully you'll get more answers there. Okay, that's the end of episode number 10. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Mayor and the Manager. The goal of this podcast is to keep you up to date on all that is happening in the great city of Lake Wales. To that end, we would love to take questions from you and take the time to answer them. So if you have any questions, just click on submit a question in the description above this podcast.