Charles Oliver
charlesoliver@daltoncitizen.com
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Local government officials from across Northwest Georgia and Southeast Tennessee agree they need to work together more to foster economic growth.
“But the devil is in the details,” said Whitfield County Board of Commissioners Chairman Mike Babb.
Babb and Dalton Mayor David Pennington traveled to Chattanooga on Wednesday for a meeting hosted by their counterparts in that city and Hamilton County. Joining them were mayors and county commissioners from several cities and counties that border Hamilton County.
“The meeting was basically to discuss economic development in Southeast Tennessee and Northwest Georgia. How do we all work together and plan for the future because what we do will affect one another,” said Babb.
Babb and Pennington described the meeting as basically a chance to meet the other officials and discuss common issues. They say no concrete plans were made other than to continue meeting.
Pennington said that he hopes at the next meeting the group can “come up with two or three things we really want to do and focus on them.”
“But usually when you have so many groups involved you come up with a long laundry list and nothing gets done,” he said.
Babb said he told others at the meeting that working more closely together is a solid idea.
“But there are some realities here. One reality is that we have a state Legislature in Georgia, and y’all have a state Legislature in Tennessee,” he said. “Both hand down edicts and hand out money, and we’ve all got to meet their requirements. It’s nice to talk about how we will work together but there are outside influences on what we can do.”
Pennington said that one thing local leaders will have to deal with is that while manufacturing is still a major part of the local economy, “we are in a country and we are in a state that doesn’t seem to value the importance of manufacturing.”
In addition, the group heard from several local business leaders about the challenges they face.
“Education was at the top. Are the people coming out of high school trainable to master the skill sets they need? That is a big concern for them,” said Babb.
“We all know that we are struggling there,” said Pennington.
Infrastructure was another major concern for business leaders.
“The I-75/I-24 interchange, everybody who looks at that can see it’s a bad situation, and it’s right near the border” of the states, said Babb.
