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Pasco economic development chief to step down

 
Published April 15, 2015

WESLEY CHAPEL — The Pasco Economic Development Council will be looking for a new leader after its chief executive officer and president, John Hagen, said he will leave the organization after five years.

Hagen, who turned 65 last month, told the EDC's executive board in a conference call Monday that he would not seek renewal of his contract, which expired April 1. He cited personal reasons for his departure.

EDC board chairman Lex Smith said Hagen indicated when he was hired in early 2010 that he likely would retire in five to seven years, and affirmed Monday that he wanted to leave this year. He is expected to stay on during the search for a successor.

"This is going to be a very orderly transition that (Hagen) is going to help with so that we get the right person for Pasco County,'' Smith said.

Prior to coming to Pasco, Hagen had been economic development director for Surprise, Ariz., a city of 110,000 people in the Phoenix area. He has spent 30 years in economic development in Arizona, Indiana and Michigan.

"I really have mixed feelings about it,'' said Hagen. "I really like working here. It's a great place and we're doing lots of stuff with more in front of us.''

However, he said he didn't want to continue full-time work for another year that a contract extension would have required. He said he plans to stay with the EDC during the transition, then live part of the year in Pasco County and part of the year in Michigan, where he has family members.

The change in command comes as the county embarks on administering its economic development trust fund, financed by voter approval of the Penny for Pasco sales tax in 2012. The tax will provide $45 million over the next decade, mostly as incentives for what the EDC calls product development — a business park, industrial spec buildings and pad-ready building sites to accommodate companies seeking to expand or relocate to Pasco.

But, over the past year, the county has suffered significant economic disappointments, most notably T. Rowe Price's announcement last spring that it was abandoning its expansion that had been expected to create 1,200 new jobs at a 72-acre campus in central Pasco. Months later, Raymond James Financial Inc. acknowledged that its proposed expansion to Wesley Chapel was at least five years away. The company said previously it planned a two-tower satellite campus, creating about 750 jobs, in the Wiregrass Ranch area.

Meanwhile, Hagen noted in a recent online column for the Tampa Bay Partnership, that more than $700 million is pouring into the State Road 54/56 corridor for residential, commercial and industrial development, including the Tampa Premium Outlets and Cypress Creek Ice and Sports Complex, both of which are scheduled to open later this year.

Other successes under Hagen's watch included a new micro-loan program and partnering with Pasco County and the cities of Dade City and New Port Richey to begin business incubators on both sides of the county.

"We're sad to see him go,'' said Dewey Mitchell, immediate past chairman of the EDC board. "John came in during the throngs of the recession, and we're pleased with the foundation he's built. It's kind of a shame he's not going to be around to realize the fruits of his labor.''