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Thursday's Daily Pulse
What you need to know about Florida today
› Tallahassee's mayoral candidates address small business owners at first debate
Tallahassee’s four mayoral candidates took questions from the small business community at their first debate of the election season. The Network of Entrepreneurs and Business Advocates (NEBA) hosted the debate and luncheon at the Capital City Country Club — where about 170-180 people dined on fried chicken and listened to candidates offer their views on a range of issues, including the local economy, homelessness, crime and city ethics.
› Marion County gets serious about littering/illegal dumping, considers big boost in fines
Over 1.4 million pounds of litter were picked up in Marion County in 2021, a number that highlights the ongoing litter problem the area is facing. In an effort to combat the issue, area residents may soon be seeing more of “Marion” the horse and “Rubbish” the raccoon – two mascots for the Marion County Litter Task Force’s proposed “No Horsin’ Around with Marion” campaign.
› Manatee County Scott Hopes scores another raise, CFO Jan Brewer resigns amid turmoil
Embattled Manatee County Administrator Scott Hopes will receive another pay raise and extended contract despite ongoing turmoil in the county and outspoken attacks against his leadership. Hours after Chief Financial Officer Jan Brewer resigned, county commissioners voted 4 to 3 to give Hopes a $10,000 raise to his base salary and extend his employment to September 2023.
› Builder, in war to retain employees, rewards employees with $1.6M
Southwest Florida construction executive Brett Diamond says hiring people is (somewhat) easy at the nearly $400 million builder, DeAngelis Diamond, where he’s chief administrative officer. That’s in spite of the pinching labor market. The real bugaboo? Keeping them. “One of the toughest challenges of construction is retention,” says Diamond, 32. “You can get the people in the door, but getting them to stay when a headhunter comes calling to poach them is a real challenge.”
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