At the regular Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) meeting on July 13, 2021, the board approved unanimously the merger of the current Economic Development Technical Advisory Committee (ED-TAC) and Airport Advisory Committee (AAC), which creates the new Economic Development & Airport Technical Advisory Committee (EDA-TAC). This merger is intended to reduce redundancies and enhance productivity. The new ordinance is to take effect immediately.
The EDA-TAC will act in an advisory capacity. The committee will provide input, feedback and assistance on economic development and airport issues such as strategic planning, goal setting, prioritization, policies, programming, investments, and incentives.
“It has become evident to staff and the members of both committees that there is significant overlap in the mission and efforts of the two groups,” Valerie Pianta, the economic development director explained. “All of the members of the committees are for this, they would like to work together rather than having the two concurrent groups doing the same thing.”
According to the language of the policy, “Membership of the EDATAC shall consist of nine to eleven persons appointed by the BOCC; with specific areas of related professional or technical expertise. Areas of expertise may be comprised of but not limited to the following sectors: aviation, manufacturing/logistics, workforce, entrepreneur, education, healthcare, real estate, financial services, construction/development, community based organization or association. Diversity of expertise should be retained as much as possible.”
While this merger is effective immediately, it will be on September 30, 2024 that the AAC is to sunset and the ordinances governing the AAC will be repealed.
