- December 8, 2025
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The Bradenton Area Economic Development Corp., some two weeks after Manatee County commissioners essentially defunded 26% of its annual budget, now seeks to get the elected officials to change their minds.
The EDC, after an internal meeting held Thursday, Sept. 25, created a 90-day task force made up of multiple board members to carry out that mission. The goal, says EDC Board Chair Andy Stultz, is to present commissioners with some important information EDC officials believe wasn’t included, or was overlooked, when a motion to approve a new contract — worth $336,900 a year — was voted down 4-3 at a Sept. 16 meeting. And after proving that, the EDC plans to ask commissioners to sign a new contract at the same annual value. (The previous contract, which expired Sept. 30, was $1.61 million over five years.)
“We firmly believe we can respond to and resolve the county’s questions about measuring our performance in a future contract,” EDC President and CEO Sharon Hillstrom told the Business Observer in an interview Monday. “The relationship with county government is not just about funding; it is vital to the services we provide to recruit and retain high-wage jobs and facilitate capital investment in Manatee County.”
At the Sept. 16 county commission meeting, three commissioners peppered Hillstrom with multiple questions. Many of those queries pertained to what commissioners perceive as both a lack of transparency on behalf of the EDC about what it does and a poor return on investment. In statements then and after the meeting, county officials, both elected and staff, stressed two core points: that they don’t believe they are getting value from the EDC, which at its core is a vendor, and the EDC is using outdated strategies of business recruitment and retention.
“We look to hold all our vendors accountable when the vendors are not performing to our standards,” Manatee County Director of Government Relations Stephanie Garrison told the Business Observer in a separate interview Monday.
“We expect our economic development partners (to) deliver results,” adds Manatee County Deputy County Administrator Courtney De Pol in the same interview. “We have not been seeing that.”
Garrison is both a member of the EDC board and the liaison between the EDC and county commissioners. She says the decision by commissioners was not political or personal, while also saying “there is a loss of confidence in leadership of the EDC. We want to see someone who is accountable, someone who looks ahead, someone who is much more collaborative in this space.”
Stultz, in a separate Monday interview from county officials, took a similar position, to focus on the data, not the personnel. “The goal is in 90 days to get a new contract,” says Stultz, who is also president of Sarasota-based Atlas Building Co. “We want to get a new contract in place that makes sense for both parties and work for the betterment of Manatee County.”
“We want to separate the people from the process,” adds Stulz. The task force, as of Monday, was still being formulated, say EDC officials, and a chair had not been named. Stultz, in the interview, says Hillstrom will not be on the task force — and he also defended her abilities and track record, which county commissioners questioned at the Sept. 16 meeting.
“She is the consummate professional,” says Stultz, who says he’s known Hillstrom for 15 years. “By far she is one of the best in her field. She is the envy of all leaders when it comes to economic development in this region.”
Garrison and De Pol, in the Monday interview, say Manatee County is pro-business and continues to do economic development work internally, even with the contract now expired.
The officials pointed to a one sheet, five-year review of the EDC. That document shows the EDC, over the five years of the contract, presented eight projects to commissioners. Those projects — there were none in the 2024-2025 fiscal year, the document shows — produced 32 jobs of a projected 288 jobs. Garrison, in comparing the EDC to a sales and marketing firm, says those numbers do not warrant a new long-term contract. In terms of lead generation, follow ups on leads, analysis of what succeeded and what didn’t, Garrison says the EDC “needs to do more and we are just not seeing it from them.”
Hillstrom counters that the county’s assessment only looks at companies and entities that came before the commission seeking economic incentives to move or expand a business in Manatee County. The EDC, she says, works with dozens of companies, in and out of Florida, that never come before the commission and don’t seek incentives.
EDC officials provided the Business Observer with a document that says the organization’s company expansion pipeline has 25 companies in-progress with an expansion that equates to a projected 920 jobs and a $103 million capital investment. The EDC’s company recruitment pipeline, meanwhile, has 36 projects in progress with a projected job creation of 13,325 and a potential projected capital investment of $4 billion.
On a more tangible basis, the EDC document, under company recruitment pipeline, says it completed 10 projects in the past four years that created 358 jobs and led to a capital investment of $300 million. Those companies, the document states, include four manufacturers, a life sciences company, a tech company, a food distribution facility and a downtown Bradenton restaurant, Taverna Toscana.
Taken in total, Hillstrom and Stultz say they believe that data, and the work the task force will do, warrants another look — and contract. And Hillstrom, like De Pol and Garrison, say the EDC will continue to fulfill its mission, even as they look to get back in front of the commission as 2025 comes to a close for another shot at a contract. (Hillstrom adds that the document is public record and all the commissioners were provided it or had access to it before the Sept. 16 vote.)
“Through the years, the EDC and county have mutually developed a workflow that outlines each party’s roles and responsibilities to best serve the businesses that want to invest in our community,” Hillstrom says. “We trust we can continue that effective partnership, with or without a contractual agreement.”
Even with their poor assessment of the EDC, both De Pol and Garrison say they requested commissioners extend the contract for one more year, to use that period to get on the same page in terms of accountability, transparency and results. They add they are keeping an open mind on the future of the relationship, but are also open to new ideas about everything from utilizing a different outside entity to working again with the EDC.
Commissioner Tal Siddique, in an interview Monday evening with the Business Observer, says he’s open to hear from anyone who comes before the commission. But upon learning about the 90-day task force, Siddique questioned why he and the other commissioners weren’t made aware of any other data earlier, and that further proves “they are not the right vendor for us.”
"I'm hopeful for change, but it doesn't make sense for us to restore funding until they enact severe reforms,” Siddique said in a previous interview with the Observer Media Group. “Lots of changes are needed before I would consider restoring funding with them. Perhaps the question is whether there are other EDCs we could partner with."
This story was updated to reflect that a document about the EDC's pipeline was public record and all county commissioners had access to it prior to the Sept. 16 meeting.
