By DOTTY NIST
With a Local Triumph Committee meeting and a Triumph Gulf Coast meeting coming up in January, new Walton County District 2 Commissioner Danny Glidewell is enthusiastically tackling his new role as new chairman of the Local Triumph Committee.
“Our committee I think can do great things for Walton County,” he said.
On Jan. 4, Glidewell told the Herald/Breeze that Walton County has submitted three projects for funding through Triumph Gulf Coast and that there are also “lot of worthy business projects” that have been submitted for funding by the organization within Walton County.
He said he and staff were getting ready for the first Local Triumph Committee meeting under his chairmanship on Jan. 22 and that the meeting could bring additional project submittals. His vision was for the county to “be a facilitator” for successful applications for Triumph funding, as one means of bringing in new businesses and helping existing businesses to prosper.
At least $15 million in Triumph Gulf Coast funding will go to projects in Walton County this year, according to Billy Williams, Walton County RESTORE Act coordinator.
Created in 2013, Triumph Gulf Coast is a nonprofit corporation tasked with overseeing 75 percent of the funds recovered by Florida’s attorney general for economic damages to the state resulting from the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Funds are required to be used for the recovery, diversification, and enhancement of the eight Florida counties deemed to have been disproportionately affected by the oil spill, consisting of Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Bay, Gulf, Franklin, and Wakulla counties.
Triumph Gulf Coast’s members are appointed by the state and currently include Don Gaetz, chairman, Allan Bense, Pam Dana, Ben Lee, Steven Riggs, IV, Jason Shoaf, and Susan Skelton. Stan Connally, Jr., an original board member, resigned several months ago, and his replacement is to be appointed by new Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
In 2014, Triumph Gulf Coast was established by the Florida Legislature as repository and administrator for the settlement funds obtained by the state attorney general. $1.5 billion in settlement funding was obtained, to be paid out over 15 years.
The Local Triumph Committee is tasked with reviewing and making recommendations on applications for projects within Walton County that are submitted for Triumph funding, with those recommendations going before the Walton County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) for confirmation.
The committee consists of appointees from each county district, one representative from each of the county’s municipalities, and one representative each from the Walton County School Board, the Walton County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO), and Northwest Florida State College.
Committee membership consists of Glidewell as chairman, along with Gus Andrews, Juliet Milam, Bob Brooke, Bonnie McQuiston, Freeport Mayor Russ Barley, DeFuniak Springs City Councilman Ron Kelley, Paxton Mayor Hayward Thomas, WCSO Major Joe Preston, Walton County School Board Chair Kim Kirby, Jeremy Goss of Northwest Florida State College, and newly-appointed Walton County District 3 appointee John Reichenbach.
In 2017, BP made its first payment of $400 million to the state, $300 million of which was transferred to Triumph Gulf Coast.
Williams noted that $15 million of that amount is guaranteed to go to projects in Walton County this year, with the possibility also existing for the county to qualify for additional funds from a competitive portion of the $300 million. A four-percent portion of the each yearly payment will also be guaranteed to Walton County over a 15-year period, he explained.
As directed by Triumph Gulf Coast, the Local Triumph Committee approved a list of recommended projects in November 2017. The BCC confirmed the recommendations, and pre-applications for the projects, 36 in number, were submitted to Triumph Gulf Coast.
Three of those applications were county requests, the first of those a $39 million project to put water and sewer in place along U.S. 331 between the Choctawhatchee Bay and DeFuniak Springs, with 50 percent of the cost proposed to be paid from Triumph Gulf Coast funds.
Relying somewhat on the latter project are two other county proposals, the Walton County Research Education and Innovation Center, which would research environmental issues in connection with the Choctawhatchee Bay, and Walton County Broadband, which would entail building a six-mile wi-fi radius around the Coastal Branch Library to provide the opportunity for connection to the Internet to benefit a number of categories of users.
Glidewell commented that a private sector project submittal, Stone Clinical, would likely be a “poster child” for job creation. This is a proposed comprehensive, full-service research laboratory to support the medical community by collaborating with physicians, hospitals, law enforcement and educational institutions, with offerings in a variety of areas to meet new challenges in the medical field. It is anticipated that the lab facility would initially create 40 jobs in Walton County, later as many as 120, at salaries ranging from $80,000 to $115,000 a year. The project location would be in the central to northern area.
According to Triumph Gulf Coast’s December 2108 Semi-Annual Report, of the 177 pre-applications and 58 completed applications submitted from the eight-county area, the organization has given initial approval to 14 applications.
Among these approvals was a $10 million grant to the Port of Panama City for a major expansion of the port capacity. A $1.5 million grant to Okaloosa County was also approved to go toward improving water and sewer infrastructure for that county’s industrial development site at Shoal River Ranch.
An agreement with the city of Pensacola is pending for the largest Triumph Gulf Coast award to date, a $56 million grant for the expansion of the city’s Commercial Aviation Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul (MRO) facility at Pensacola International Airport. Also pending is an agreement with Santa Rosa County that is to provide $8.5 million for site development at Whiting Aviation Park.
Thus far one Walton County application has been approved by Triumph Gulf Coast, a $2.2 million request by the WCSO in partnership with Emerald Coast Technical College (ECTC). This is for the DRIVE (Developing Resilient Individuals for a Vibrant Economy) program, which is to expand ECTC offerings for training and certification of Walton County Jail inmates and released inmates in welding, HVAC repair and computer skills. The approval took place at Triumph Gulf Coast’s Dec. 7 meeting at the Walton County Courthouse.
Triumph Gulf Coast’s next meeting is scheduled for 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (12 noon local time) on Jan. 14 in Building A, Gulf-Franklin Campus of Gulf Coast State College, 3800 Garrison Avenue, Port St. Joe. The meeting agenda and other information on Triumph Gulf Coast are available on the organization’s website, www.myfloridatriumph.com. Triumph Gulf Coast meetings are also recorded and live streamed for viewing on The Florida Channel.
The Triumph Gulf Coast meeting agenda for Jan. 14 does not contain any items related to Walton County requests, but Glidewell was optimistic that Walton County items would be considered at future meetings of the organization.
He encouraged submittals of requests for funding for new businesses and projects in connection with existing businesses—and emphasized that the county and county staff would seek other sources of funding, even if Triumph Gulf Coast deemed that submittals would not qualify for funding through that organization.
The Local Triumph Committee meeting is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Jan. 22 at the Walton County Courthouse. It is to feature updates by Williams, a presentation by Glidewell and Bill Imfeld, Walton County Economic Development Alliance director, on the economic climate and opportunities in Walton County, open discussion, questions and answers, and public comment. Community members are encouraged to attend.