News from Boyette Strategic Advisors
Neighboring development leader issues challenge to community
Starkville, MS – 03/28/2008
By PAUL SIMS Starkville Daily News
A neighboring official issued a challenge Thursday to Starkville — decide who runs economic development in the community and provide the resources to do it. Joe Higgins, CEO of the Columbus-Lowndes Development Link, was one of several presenters at an economic development training session for public officials and volunteers in Starkville and Oktibbeha County.
State, regional, city, county, Greater Starkville Development Partnership and Mississippi State University officials were in attendance.
Since Higgins’ arrival in Lowndes County, the community has grabbed more than $1 billion in investment and more than 1,000 jobs and may be poised to gain more, with an announced, large outdoor shopping center and plans to build as many as six speculative buildings.
Lowndes County’s success has left some in Starkville and Oktibbeha County evaluating Starkville’s position in economic development, even as officials remind the community that prospects look beyond county and city boundaries when choosing a place to do business.
Higgins asked a question about who runs economic development in the county. He noted that two people pointed to Greater Starkville Development Partnership President David Thornell.
He then asked what other entity is widely seen as running economic development in the county. Someone said, and he replied, “The university.”
“ … Nobody’s saying it, but right now, nobody knows who runs the show in Oktibbeha County. The board needs to decide who runs the show,” Higgins said.
“… We had a very similar situation in Lowndes County when I got there,” Higgins said, noting that officials decided that the Link would run the economic development efforts in the county.
Higgins expounded on his thoughts later in his talk.
“First of all, Mississippi State University is not Starkville’s. Eighty-two counties in the state of Mississippi own it. It just happens to be here. … The community needs to run economic development, not the university,” Higgins said.
With his board, Higgins has allowed board members to sit in on at least one economic development prospect visit. “They all got to see how it went,” he said.
Higgins meets with his executive committee every Tuesday morning and “in the course of about six months, we created a culture that they understood what was going on, they understood what was happening, they understood what the intent was,” Higgins said. Officials in Lowndes County defined the board’s role, which includes providing resources being an advocate and positively talking about the community, Higgins said.
“You’ve got to have that faith and confidence and you guys need to make sure the resources are there,” he said.
“If you are not happy with your program, put enough money in your program. With the money comes expectations,” Higgins said.
During his talk with the help of others providing figures for Oktibbeha and Clay counties, Higgins noted that Lowndes County has $560 million in assessed valuation, Oktibbeha County in $300 million and Clay County about $140 million. “When you’re looking at this, make sure we have apples and apples,” he said.
Also, in his talk before Oktibbeha County officials, Higgins reviewed his community’s plans to build up to six speculative buildings, each at a cost of $3.2 million funded with largely private money.
Thursday’s training session got organized after city officials attended an economic development session in Birmingham, Ala., for elected officials and approached Thornell about a similar session locally, said Ward 5 Alderman Matt Cox.
Thornell reviewed the Targeted and Prepared Community report, a product of consulting group Boyette Levy on behalf of the Tennessee Valley Authority.
The TaP report, as it is defined in the report, has several recommendations for the community to create an attractive environment for targeting industry, the community’s general population and those who may consider coming to Starkville.
“We’ve got a good diversity of companies here, we’ve had good success … and this community is growing in a lot of ways we can be proud,” Thornell said.
Officials heard from a number of other presenters on various aspects of economic development.
“Now that we have this strong foundation, we will work on a small set of community goals that we’ll implement in short order,” Cox said after the meeting, noting that he sees this as an opportunity to for the Board of Supervisors and the Board of Aldermen to work with GSDP officials to set those goals.
“This is not an attempt to do more studying, to do more research. … I think we all share this sense of urgency. We know that we have tremendous assets in this community and yet we’re still sometimes the best kept secret in Mississippi,” Cox said.
Thornell said that action teams will be formed and one of those will look at developing speculative business buildings for the community.