Corporate Report: February 8

City reappoints Blalock Walters as Palmetto city attorney
The Bradenton-based law firm Blalock Walters PA has been reappointed as city attorney for the City of Palmetto. Mark Barnebey and Scott Rudacille are the principal attorneys serving the city. The firm has worked for the city for the past four years.

Barnebey was previously the chief assistant county attorney for Manatee County and has served as attorney to the School Board of Manatee County. Blalock Walters represents a number of local government entities along the west coast of Florida.

U.S. Transit Administration grant awarded to Tampa training program
The Federal Transit Administration's Innovative Transit Workforce Development Program awarded a $234,281 grant to the Corporation to Develop Communities of Tampa Inc. (CDC of Tampa) for a recruitment and training partnership with Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (HART). The partnership is being called “Meeting Today's and Tomorrow's Job Needs in Mass Transit” and is focused on helping to recruit, train and employ up to 30 people for transit operations and maintenance worker jobs.

The CDC of Tampa is one of 17 organizations in 12 states to share $7 million from the FTA Innovative Transit Workforce Development Program. The purpose of the grant is to help local public transit agencies, institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations and Native American tribes train people for transit professions.

The CDC of Tampa will provide candidates with certification-based transit training, job placement services and case management services. HART will work with the CDC of Tampa to develop benchmark standards for training, provide training staff and facilities and assist with training compliance standards.

Pavese Law Firm partner joins SWFMD Water Advisory Committee
Fort Myers attorney Neale Montgomery, a partner in the Pavese Law Firm and one of the Business Observer's “50 Most Powerful People on the Gulf Coast” in 2011, has been appointed to the South Florida Water Management District Water Resources Advisory Committee. The committee provides recommendations to the South Florida Water Management District's Governing Board and the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force on decisions affecting water resource issues.

Montgomery's legal practice focuses primarily on real estate, environmental and permitting issues related to land development.

Aramark providing food, retail services at Raymond James Stadium
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers announced an agreement for Aramark to become the exclusive provider of food, beverage and retail merchandise services at Raymond James Stadium.

Aramark will manage all of the stadium's concessions, club level, suites and restaurant dining programs. Aramark will also handle the Buccaneers' retail merchandise operations, including the team store, retail kiosks and the team's online store.

“The Buccaneers and Aramark will work together to create a distinctive dining and shopping experience — focused on quality, culinary and retail innovation and unparalleled service — for both football fans and patrons of other stadium events,” Buccaneers Vice President of Business Administration Brian Ford says in a press release. “Aramark will utilize its industry-leading insights and hospitality expertise to develop and showcase menus with a wide variety of food and beverage options and service offerings that are unique to Tampa Bay and Raymond James Stadium.”