Agencies battle over taxpayer-funded economic development project

A blistering public fight over how one government department used money for economic development has ensued between two high-ranking Collier County officials: Clerk of the Circuit Court Dwight Brock and County Manager Leo Ochs.

Brock’s office, in an audit released March 21, shredded the Collier County Business and Economic Division (BED) and a nonprofit it hired, Economic Incubators Inc. (EII). The division, under approvals from Collier County commissioners, hired EII to oversee the Florida Culinary Accelerator @ Immokalee, in eastern Collier County. The goal of the project: nurture upstart food businesses, from providing networking and marketing assistance to use of offices and equipment, in an underserved part of Southwest Florida.