Making it happen in Murray

CHATSWORTH — Celeste Martin remembers growing up in Chatsworth and going into various stores along Main Street and Murray Plaza to shop and see the people who worked there.

“They were available and close by, the routine places my family visited,” said Martin, a schoolteacher and the newest member of the Chatsworth City Council. “The buildings are still there and the necessary maintenance has been done on them. But there’s no redesign to catch the attention of people going by. We need to improve our downtown business image ... I believe there’s a lack of pride in our town.”

Martin and many other community members have bought into the idea of prodding economic development in a county with more than 12 percent unemployment. The local economy, built like Whitfield County’s on carpet, floor covering and their ancillary industries, has struggled since midway through 2007. That fact was not lost on David Ridley, who won the sole commissioner’s seat in Murray County in 2008.

“It’s something I talked about when I was campaigning,” said Ridley. “I told people I will strive every day to try and bring economic development to Murray County.”

Ridley said his day-to-day efforts have included contacting Walmart, Golden Corral steakhouse, a Hammers (department) store, Ryan’s Family Steak House, Logan’s Roadhouse restaurant, CarMax, Tyson Foods poultry operation and others.

He said he’s also talked to “local investors” about building a movie theater, a bowling alley or “franchising a Shoney’s (restaurant).”

“I’ve worked on getting a water park here, but they’re very expensive,” he said. “There’s not one north of Marietta (in north Georgia), but they’re a big money maker. I’ve talked to the Country Inn and Suites, and I told Walmart when I got elected that they were going to learn my name.”

While Martin applauds bringing any business to the county, she noted that “companies with 20 or fewer jobs create 80 percent of the jobs in this country.” She and others in the downtown area are attempting to “revive” the old Downtown Development Authority.

“We need to entice and bring in those (small business) type jobs, too,” she said. “We think the big box store is the silver bullet, but we have to find ways to get the small businesses to come. And I don’t want people to think we’re ignoring existing businesses. We need to be retaining them, because 80 percent of job growth comes from existing businesses. That’s the least expensive way to bring in jobs, because they’re already there.”

Keys to economic growth

Martin said two other “large pieces” to economic growth are community development and work force development.

“We have to develop a ‘work force ready’ community, and we have to have a collaborative leadership effort between the city, county and the school system,” she said.

Ridley believes the possibility of bringing a college campus to Murray County is a step in the right direction.

“We’ve been in touch with (Georgia) Northwestern Technical College, and I feel good about them coming,” he said. “Every day I try to make a contact with someone to build here or come take a look at us.”

The downtown area is framed by massive Fort Mountain to the east, which beckons travelers to its namesake state park. But Ridley said more can be done to encourage tourism.

“We have a lot of national forest land in the county and are really blessed with natural resources, but it doesn’t bring in a whole lot of revenue, so we’ve got to tap into the tourism market,” he said. “We have to make a way for the people passing through to stop here and see what we have to offer, in tourism and economic development.”

Steve Anglea, a regional manager for Georgia Power and a participant in the economic plan that was developed last year with the help of consultant Market Street Services, Inc. (www.murraycountyga-visionplan.com), said economic development is “a funny animal.”

“We’ve had several (empty) buildings that (business or company) people have visited,” he said. “But prospects don’t want you to know they’re looking so the price won’t be ‘jacked up’ on them. Many times they’ll use consultants to check out Web sites and pertinent properties that are available, and those consultants will also visit and check on quality of life issues like education, commercial businesses and shopping.

“They’ll contact the chamber of commerce and still not let you know what kind of business they are, because they don’t want the competition to know they’re looking. They’re very secretive, and if you blow it by finding out who they are and letting it out, or if you don’t have a site ready, they’re gone. A lot of times you didn’t even know they were there.”

Anglea said “a lot of education” goes into helping people “understand what you’re trying to do” in regard to economic development.

Economic development director wanted

“I feel really good about this (current effort),” he said. “David (Ridley) is really on board, and we are recommending that an economic development director be hired. We need someone who can get our name out there and who knows who to contact (about bringing business in).”

That’s the next step in the Market Street Services program. The consulting group was hired with $123,000 of the county’s Industrial Development Authority funds.

Ridley said his desire to make things happen economically goes back many years.

“It comes from years of seeing Murray County citizens go outside the county to make purchases and losing all that tax money to other counties,” he said. “And when I was (firefighter and chief) at the fire department, I saw us not being able to afford new equipment because of the lack of a good tax base and the revenue it brings in. Murray County has always had to struggle to get by with the revenue that comes in.”

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