OKTIBBEHA COUNTY – Mayor Lynn Spruill thinks Golden Triangle Development LINK should issue a refund to Oktibbeha County Economic Development Authority.
In the two years since OCEDA, for which Spruill serves as president, began covering a $150,000 increase to the county’s contract with the LINK, Spruill said the level of economic development brought in by the organization has been disproportionate to the rate hike and to development in other parts of the region.
“I think that there is a disparity … in the ability for us to receive as much value for Oktibbeha County as … Lowndes and Clay received, and it’s not based on anything other than their and our different asset division,” Spruill told The Dispatch after a Monday meeting of the Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors. “So I don’t think our upside is going to be a s great as the upside Clay and Lowndes have.”
Spruill attended the Monday meeting, where LINK CEO Meryl Fisackerly met with county supervisors to discuss the path forward after the board served notice June 23 to potentially end its contract with the LINK in 2028. The board cited recent turnover with LINK leadership as a primary reason. Spruill has also publicly expressed concerns about turnover and what she sees as poor communication between the LINK and its clients.
The LINK fired longtime CEO Joe Max Higgins in August 2025. His successor, Iain Vasey, stayed in the job only four months before resigning as part of a “mutual” decision. Fisackerly, who had served as chief operations officer, became CEO in May.
The LINK holds $500,000 contracts with Oktibbeha, Lowndes and Clay counties for economic development. Oktibbeha County holds agreements with Starkville, The Greater Starkville Development Partnership and OCEDA to pay a portion of the $500,000 value in exchange for access to LINK’s services.
Acting as president of OCEDA, Spruill suggested the LINK should refund OCEDA $150,000 it paid on behalf of Oktibbeha County when the LINK increased its contract two years ago. Each of the three counties were charged a $150,000 increase at the time.
Spruill told The Dispatch she thinks bringing the contract down to its value prior to the increase via refund or payment decreases over the next two years.
“I was just merely suggesting that it might be a show of good faith on the part of the executive committee to revisit that concept prior to the expiration of that two years,” Spruill said.
Fisackerly said Monday’s meeting was the first time she had heard of the request. She defended the LINK’s regional approach to economic development.
“What’s wonderful about the LINK is that it is a regional approach,” Fisackerly told The Dispatch. “… It’s not going to be an apples to apples comparison because each is different and is unique, and so I think you’ve got to look at it from a bigger, more long-term picture … than just this individually of what my county is getting versus the others.”
Spruill said she believes the LINK and its regional approach has provided value. It is just about proportionality, she said.
“This is just a way to look at what the expectation might be for our ability to have some – again I hate to say it – but return on the investment, basically which is what we are talking about,” Spruill said.
Is regionalism ‘coming to a head’?
Mark Castleberry, a Starkville developer who also sits on LINK board, said he doesn’t believe Oktibbeha County will ever see the kinds of industry Clay and Lowndes counties see because of how expensive it is to build and issues with how land is zoned.
Castleberry said that while Starkville and Oktibbeha County have benefited from the regional approach, the area has also benefited greatly from its own investment in infrastructure. That investment attracts those who work in neighboring counties’ industries to live in Oktibbeha County.
“That’s taxpayer funded dollars that pay your salaries and recruitment and retention and all that. So I do understand the sister city concept and the regionalism, but it’s coming to a head,” District 1 Supervisor Ben Carver said at Monday’s meeting. “… It’s time to see some real fruition, some real benefits. So I will say this individually to you and professionally to anybody. I will discount anything that happened in the past and just give you a new step forward and an opportunity to retain our business.”
Castleberry said he thinks whether the county decides to cancel its LINK contract won’t significantly impact either party.
“It is a shift but it’s not … a better (or) worse, you can argue both sides. You can argue the synergy of having one source is great. If Oktibbeha (and) Starkville believe that since they have a different product they want their own representation, then so be it,” Castleberry told The Dispatch.
Looking to NorthStar
The difference in economic development in Oktibbeha County versus the LINK’s other clients was a primary point of discussion Monday for the board of supervisors, who wondered how the county could see more increased industry investment specifically at NorthStar Industrial Park on a 384-acre site off Highway 389.
The park currently houses Garan Manufacturing and an Amazon Last Mile Facility.
“NorthStar is sitting there, and it’s ready to go and we have been close so many times,” Carver said. “That’s what’s most frustrating as an elected official.”
Joe Williams, District 5 supervisor, asked what the county could be doing to attract the industries that keep falling through.
Although it has been three years since the park was opened for industry, Fisackerly told The Dispatch it is normal for an industrial park to remain unfilled as sites are marketed, noting it took roughly a decade to fill the 1,144-acre Infinity Megasite in Lowndes County, now home to Aluminum Dynamics.
The LINK hopes to place a support industry – smaller industries that relocate to support or supply larger ones – in the park, Fisackerly said.
At the meeting, Fisackerly noted concerns about communication and said the LINK will implement a “sounding committee: for elected officials to sit on, where they will be presented with development updates, while also working to maintain more of a presence at local meetings. Carver asked for quarterly meetings in addition, to which Fisakerly said she would be open.
Fisackerly, Spruill and Marvell Howard, District 3 supervisor and board president, all said they felt today’s meeting was a good first step.
“I think we established this morning that somewhere in the future we’ll sort of put together some tangible mile markers, so we can be able to track growth and progress,” Howard told The Dispatch after the meeting.
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
