Diana L. Shoemaker

Q. What will be the top issue impacting businesses in the coming year? What role should the County play in addressing it?

In the coming year businesses will most likely face economic uncertainty as a result of factors such as inflation, supply chain disruptions, and labor shortages. The County Commission can play an important role in helping our business community to support profitability, operational efficiency, and growth. Creating a business friendly environment should include the implementation of programs that grow Manatee County’s small businesses, which represent a significant portion of our business community. The County Commision can also prioritize infrastructure improvements that enhance business operations and attract new business. Additionally, the County Commission can partner with local educational institutions in workforce development to help provide training programs to address the current skills needed.

Q. Manatee County continues to lack a sufficient supply of affordable, workforce housing to support the local workforce. This impacts businesses in terms of attracting and retaining talent as well as the community’s quality of life. What role should the County play in addressing this issue?

As the former President and CEO of Habitat for Humanity in Manatee County, I have a profound interest in creating more affordable housing here. In order to address the current affordable workforce housing shortage, the county must build a long term plan to close the current gap. This plan should include reforming and updating zoning laws that allow for the needed housing. Incentives for affordable housing developers in the way of tax incentives, grants and subsidies should continue while also seeking ways to collaborate with private developers and non-profits. All of these efforts are necessary to create a balanced housing market that sustains our workforce and our quality of life.

Q. Adequate infrastructure is critical to our County’s economic development and quality of life. What are your top two infrastructure priorities and how would you prioritize funding for them?

Investments in infrastructure are necessary to support the growing population and the needs of businesses. One of the top priorities to address is to begin to relieve the pressure that our current growth has put on the transportation infrastructure. Our roadways are jammed making travel difficult for both residents and affecting workers and their ability to reliably get to and from work. To help fund these improvements, we should continue to pursue having the developers creating this growth pay their fair share for the infrastructure to support it through impact fees. Foundational to our economic development as a community is access to housing for all residents. Providing essential workforce housing is another critical infrastructure priority. Without adequate housing we jeopardize our current quality of life and future growth of our community. A funding priority strategy should include comprehensive assessment to determine the most crucial needs and then developing long term planning that includes leveraging state and federal grants and opportunities and seeking additional private-public partnerships.

Q. The Manatee Chamber serves as the voice of business. What challenges or opportunities would you like to see greater business involvement in to move our County forward?

The Chamber can effectively tell the story of the pressure and impact that our current growth has put on workforce development, access to housing, maintaining sustainability and resilience and infrastructure investments. The Chamber and the businesses they serve have a pulse on what our community needs to thrive economically. We have a tremendous opportunity through the Chamber to continue to create public conversations on what matters most to residents and businesses and together advocate for and encourage public-private collaboration, pooling resources and expertise to meet our essential needs.