Work at Starkville’s industrial park and issues regarding tax exemptions and incentives for local industries are some of a handful of topics economic authorities and public officials could discuss at Monday’s meeting between representatives of the Golden Triangle Development LINK and the Starkville Board of Aldermen, Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors and Oktibbeha County Economic Development Authority board.

LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins said planning for the meeting started a few months ago, in part to catch up new officials on the boards on a range of local economic matters.

The meeting is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. in Starkville City Hall.

For the industrial park — which sits on about 400 acres north of the Highway 82-Highway 389 intersection in north Starkville — Higgins said some work has been completed on the park’s substation. He also said a notice to proceed on water, sewer and rubble work should be issued to Burns Construction in August. The LINK is also working to finalize a grant with the Tennessee Valley Authority and Appalachian Regional Commission for the park’s water tank. That, Higgins said, should be ready to go to bid in a few weeks.

Work began on the industrial park earlier this year and is expected to be completed by summer 2019.

Higgins said he also expects there will be some discussion at Monday’s meeting about ongoing work to determine if there are Native American artifacts on the land for the industrial park.

“I’m sure there will be some questions about the archaeological work,” he said. “Some of that we’ll be able to answer and some of that we won’t be. We won’t talk in code, but some of that stuff is pretty detailed and confidential because it can involve grave sites and stuff like that.”

Higgins said the LINK will also discuss potentially setting a procedure for tax exemption requests for projects in Oktibbeha County. The issue arose at a June supervisors meeting, where District 4 Supervisor Bricklee Miller questioned whether the county should allow a 10-year tax exemption request from local manufacturing company, Southwire, for a recently-completed $3.1 million expansion. Supervisors ultimately approved the request, but it may have highlighted the need for some sort of regular procedure.

Higgins said he’s not asking the boards to take action regarding a procedure for tax exemptions at Monday’s meeting. He added that, if a decision is made, he’s not necessarily looking for a written order, but an understanding of what officials are interested in.

He pointed to Lowndes County as an example, where supervisors require to companies to make at least a $5 million investment before requesting a tax exemption. Still, he said officials can decide where to set the limit, if they set one at all.

“I can tell a company that, hey, supervisors aren’t interested in it unless it’s better and bigger than $5 million,” he said. “Now, in Clay County, it’s right the opposite. They’ve had harder times not too long ago and they said, ‘Hey if you get something that qualifies and is making an investment to create jobs, you bring it to us.'”

Mayor Lynn Spruill, who is also the president of the OCEDA board, said she’s looking forward to the collaborative meeting. She said she’s optimistic about the future, with the LINK working on economic development projects.

“It is important for us to stay in contact with each other so that we can foster the best working relationship and explore all the ways we can partner for the future,” Spruill said. “The industrial park is but one avenue of our collaboration and there are future opportunities to consider as well. This meeting should allow us to visit about the many ways we can succeed together.”

Board of Supervisors President Orlando Trainer said he’s interested to hear what comes of the meeting. The joint meetings are valuable for the working relationships between the entities, he said, and he’d like to see them continue in the future.

“Any time that you can talk and discuss things that are a mutual interest, it’s a better situation for keeping everyone on the same page,” Trainer said. “Projects going on in the city are just as important for those of us with the county.”

Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.