Largo Turns To Business Owners For Friendlier Partnership

Over the past few months the has conducted outreach via surveys and interviews to assess what local business owners want most from their city government. Based on comments collected at the business roundtable at the last week, city staff will present a final report to commissioners in the June 14 work session.

Community Development director Carol Striklin sat at the table and opened with her desire to provide “red carpet treatment.” She conveyed the city's messages to cater to businesses.

Although business owners didn't disagree with receiving red carpet treatment, to achieve it a few said the city needs to see a culture change. That, they said, needs to come from the top down.

Some things ran constant: business owners want more flexibility and consistency in fees, regulation and communication.

Gary Patenaude, owner of , said he had a customer who wanted to build a six foot privacy fence around a backyard pool—the same size the neighbors had around their backyards. Regulations have since changed and now there’s a four foot limit. This isn’t enough privacy for customers and the business owner was told that exceptions were almost never granted.

“My customers are taxpayers,” Patenaude said, emphasizing that city government needs to work for them.

Merchants also complained of inconsistency in information delivered by city departments. 

 “One department would say one thing while another would say another,” said a bar owner present at the roundtable discussion. 

To solve some of these issues Striklin said that the city is in the process of hiring a business ombudsman, who will be an “outsider to create compromise” between city government and business owners. The position is already authorized and the department is currently interviewing applicants.

Teresa Brydon, economic development manager, later said that the final report will have three major suggestions for the city commissioners. One of them will, “...allow the front line more flexibility in decision making that will benefit businesses and property owners, along with the city,” she said.

Brydon said this flexibility would make it easier for the Community Development Department employees to “work with a business to make sure they get what they need."

Brydon recently started the final interviews to fill the ombudsman position and hopes to have the job filled by the middle to end of June.

“If we have to say no, he or she will make sure to find a way to facilitate what [businesses] need,” she said.

While business owners strongly supported having an advocate in city government, one said “the person you get needs to have enough clout. They need to be able to say ‘Okay, let’s get it done this way.'"

According to Brydon, the Community Development Department is currently undergoing a “reset,” which is in its final stages. They want to create conditions so that when businesses come to City Hall there’s "one set of doors" for community development.

The department meets with prospective business owners individually whenever they are introduced, according to Brydon. They are trying to become more active with local business associations and welcome contact from ones they’re not already in touch with.

By the end of summer community development will hold another roundtable focusing on the downtown area.