Rutherford County’s Economic Development Commission advisory committee will form two new sub-committees after its meeting Monday. One group will focus on recruiting new business and the other group will work with local politicians, grant funding organizations and others to highlight the resources in the county that might attract new firms.
“We are recommending we modify two committees with an eye toward researching new industry, as far as what industries would be good fits for the county and narrow that down to a list of businesses,” EDC Board Chair Keven McCammon said. “With that in mind, it keeps (EDC Executive Director Tom Johnson) and his folks focused on when they get the call from the Department of Commerce or get leads.”
Board members embraced the idea of the two committees, saying it would help make their role as advisors more clear. The two committees will be made up from the pool of nine board members. Five will serve on the technical committee to narrow down the list of businesses recruited to focus on certain fields. Four will serve on a more political or public committee.
“The second side is the political side – which is the communication of all the assets in the towns, the cities, the county, the grants and the public officials that we can access,” McCammon said. “And also it would work with our local legislators and officials to say what things are hampering us in economic development.”
For the first industry group to be targeted, the board agreed on looking into more green businesses.
“One area where we might start would be green industry because we have many businesses in the county that could do the manufacturing of those items, like turbines,” McCammon said.
“Something that might be helpful, too, is determining who among those green companies that you mentioned is already involved in or potentially involved in the county,” EDC Marketing Director Kerry Giles added. “If there is a supplier or customer in the county, who can help make a call, that would help dramatically than the staff just cold calling and trying to set up an appointment or meeting.”
