Representatives from Lowndes, Oktibbeha and Clay counties have formed a steering committee to examine the possibility of forming a tri-county coalition for economic development.
The Columbus-Lowndes Economic Development Link issued a news release Friday regarding the committee’s formation.
Although there has been speculation the Link would partner with the Greater Starkville Development Partnership, mirroring a three-year joint agreement the Link signed in April with the West Point-Clay County Community Growth Alliance, the new coalition — if formed — would take over the GSDP’s industrial development duties, GSDP Board Chairman Steve Langston said. GSDP would retain direct operation of Starkville’s Convention and Visitors bureau, Main Street Association and Chamber of Commerce.
No decision has been made regarding the Link’s partnership with the Growth Alliance, which is paying $350,000 a year for three years for the Link’s industrial recruitment assistance.
“They’re looking at all the moving parts, and they’ll determine what’s good, what’s bad and what’s feasible,” Link Vice President of Economic Development Brenda Lathan said.
The steering committee will submit a cooperative proposal by Sept. 14.
Lowndes County representatives are Gordon Flowers and Link Board President Jim McAlexander. Representatives for Oktibbeha County are Jack Wallace, Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors President Marvell Howard and Starkville Mayor Parker Wiseman. Clay County is represented by former Clay County chancery clerk Robbie Robinson and Jackie Edwards, president of the West Point-Clay County Community Growth Alliance.
Lowndes County District 1 Supervisor and Board President Harry Sanders said the coalition would be separate from the existing economic development foundations.
“This would be a whole new organization,” Sanders said. “This will be for industrial development only.”
Sanders said it’s nothing new for the counties and cities of the Golden Triangle to work together to recruit industrial development.
“All of the counties came together to help bring Eurocopter to the area,” Sanders said. “We got together and pooled our resources.”
One regional partnership has been in existence more than 40 years. The Golden Triangle Regional Airport Authority was formed in 1971 as a partnership between Lowndes County, Columbus, Oktibbeha County, Starkville and West Point.
“You look at what has happened for Blue Springs (the site of a Toyota plant) with the counties coming together,” Sanders said. “Regional economic development has been very successful for other parts of the state and the country. Our congressional delegation has told us that we have a much better chance of getting funding for regional projects as opposed to individual county projects. Everyone has something to bring to the table — Lowndes County has the megasite, Oktibbeha County has Mississippi State and West Point has a $5 million industrial sewer from when Sara Lee was there, they have a railroad that runs north to south — they have great infrastructure. They just don’t have the leadership.”
“It’s just going to make it a much stronger regional alliance for the three counties to be together,” Growth Alliance Director of Community Development Cynthia Wilson said. “There are so many things when you look at all of the assets — there’s that much more to market.”
But the proposal of a tri-county development coalition raises several questions, including what role Link CEO Joe Max Higgins, the area’s most prominent economic developer, will play in the new organization. Since its inception in 2003 as both Columbus and Lowndes County’s chamber of commerce and industrial development recruiter, the Link has helped create more than 8,000 jobs and added more than $4 billion in investments by landing American Eurocopter, Stark Aerospace, Severstal and other technology and manufacturing companies to a mega-industrial site located near the GTRA.
All of the projects were brokered by Higgins, who has brought national attention to the area.
Langston, like Sanders, stressed this would be a completely separate organization from the Link but Higgins would resign to work with the new organization. Higgins’ contract with the Link, which was originally set to expire May 31, 2012, was extended five years in 2010 with a maximum compensation of $210,000, as stipulated in his current contract, to remain unchanged.
“Under this deal, Joe Max would leave the Link,” Langston said.
Higgins could not be reached for comment by phone but did respond via email, although he revealed nothing about what his role, if any, would be.
“A committee was formed with representatives from each of the three counties to determine if a new organization should be formed and, if so, what would be the make-up, funding stream, duties, etc.,” Higgins wrote. “A report is planned for mid-September.”
Sanders said he has no idea who the leader of the new group would be nor how it would be structured.
“The reason they have formed the steering committee is to see how it would work and how it could best represent all three counties,” Sanders said. “They have two months to get it together. It’s on the fast track but there haven’t been any final decisions made on anything. But the Link, the GSDP and the Growth Alliance will continue to exist.
“It was reported in The Dispatch (online) that Starkville was going to be joining the Link. That’s not true. They will continue to exist. This about the formation of a regional industrial development body.”
Oktibbeha County officials were also unable to provide much detail about the new organization, but Wiseman said that is what the next few months will be for.
“It’s premature to know how this would budget,” Wiseman said. “Starkville has typically made a $20,000 appropriation to the GSDP, and the city’s two-percent tax helps fund two organizations under the umbrella of the partnership.
“That is the essence of what we will be working to figure out — in addition to the governance of the organization, how the organization would be funded.”
Wiseman said Starkville and Oktibbeha County, combined, provide $21,000 to the GSDP annually, with the county committing $1,000. Calls to Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors Board President Marvell Howard were not returned.
This story contains additional reporting by Carmen K. Sisson.
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