Meeting of the Full Advisory Board, October 12, 2009

A meeting of the full Advisory Board was conducted on Monday, October 12, immediately following the Big Bend Regional Partnership meeting at Tallahassee’s City Hall. The meeting enabled each ORT Task Force to present a report on recent activities and to receive direction and guidance from the Advisory Board.

In addition, the Advisory Board received a report from Roger Miller of Florida’s Great Northwest regarding the newly launched Sites and Buildings tool on their Web site. This tool enables site selectors from throughout the nation and across the globe to assess opportunities for expansion into the northwest region of Florida. The web-based application is available for anyone to use.

The Advisory Board also heard a presentation on Reality Check from Rob Palmer of the Urban Land Institute. This presentation was a more extensive discussion of a similar presentation made to the Land Use and Environmental Conservation Task Force in September. Advisory Board members agreed that the Task Force should convene again to make
a final recommendation on whether ORT should pursue a Reality Check program and how to coordinate with other efforts already underway.

Representatives of the counties in attendance were able to offer reports on their recent activities. Each county reported on active engagement with their Tourism Development Councils, as they refocus on attracting visitors to their communities and building a vital tourism market.