Wednesday marked the beginning of an organizational transition for the Golden Triangle Development LINK.
The staff restructuring is designed to better address the needs of both the LINK — whose primary focus is job creation — and the city’s chamber of commerce, which seeks to advocate for and improve existing area businesses.
The chamber has long been a branch of the LINK. The biggest restructuring change achieves near-complete independence between the two. They will only share a boss and a bank account.
This summer, Lowndes, Clay and Oktibbeha counties renewed their commitments to the LINK to represent their economic development interests. Each signed three-year rolling contracts agreeing to pay $350,000 for their services.
Previously, LINK Chamber Vice President Macaulay Whitaker and Chelsea Baulch, director of programs and events, dedicated time to both the chamber and the LINK. Now, as Vice President of Internal and External Affairs and executive assistant to LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins, Whitaker and Baulch will no longer work with the chamber. Two other positions that served both economic development and the chamber were eliminated.
There used to be an economic development representative for each county. Brenda Lathan held that role for Lowndes County, Joey Deason for Oktibbeha County and Ron Maloney for Clay County. The county-representative approach is no longer in place now. Deason is now the Chief Operations Officer and Lathan is Vice President for Research and Economic Development. Higgins, Deason and Lathan will represent all three counties. Working under Lathan in research and development is Mallory Darby. Jennifer Pridmore will oversee accounting and existing industry. Maloney left the LINK last year.
LINK officials announced the restructuring in January, citing the need for more streamlined dedication to the LINK’s and Chamber’s missions.
“It’s vital to the success of the community that you have an office dedicated to taking care of what’s already here,” Whitaker said. “It doesn’t need to be a branch of an organization. it needs to be its own office. what it was before was a branch of a much bigger organization.”
The LINK is in the middle of conducting interviews for a newly created position: Columbus Lowndes Chamber of Commerce President. It will likely be November when that vacancy will be filled. A programs director will also be hired to work directly under the to-be-named CLCC president. Those two positions will exclusively serve the chamber.
“Extrovert type positions end up morphing into chamber work,” Whitaker said. “The most important thing is somebody who is committed to the community and has a high standard and work ethic. That’s very important for us because it is a representative of the business community and it needs to be someone who takes that very seriously.”
Boards overseeing the operations include the GTR LINK Executive Committee, a 13-member board comprised of five officers, four Lowndes County representatives and two representatives from Clay and Oktibbeha counties. That board gets to vote on matters such as land purchase options and the annual budget. The GTR LINK Board of Directors, which is around 20 members and comprises four members from each county among several business leaders, ratifies executive committee action and has veto power. The LINK also has a trust board comprised of six members that contribute their own money that meets with the executive committee and votes on any Trust expenditures. The CLCC will have its board of directors.
The chamber currently accounts for 23.5 percent — approximately $500,000 — of the LINK’s overall budget. Chamber funding is generated by portions of appropriations from Lowndes County and the city of Columbus as well as the estimated 500 member businesses it serves.
Whitaker said the restructuring is also going to result in the LINK having a higher profile.
“We need to be a bigger part of the community,” Whitaker said. “We have a gigantic story to tell, and I don’t think people locally understand how much we get recognized regionally for what we do.”
Nathan Gregory covers city and county government for The Dispatch.
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