Governors vow to close gaps in jobs hunt

By Staff
February 7, 2004
By Fredie Carmichael/staff writer
LIVINGSTON, Ala. Two governors vowed Friday to work across state lines in efforts to boost the economies of East Mississippi and West Alabama.
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and Alabama Gov. Bob Riley were both physically absent from the 2nd Annual Leadership Summit at the University of West Alabama an event they had promoted for months due to inclement weather that prevented them from flying in.
Nevertheless, both spoke to a crowd of about 700 people through an amplified intercom phone system. And both said they were committed to joint efforts between the neighboring states to improve the region.
Barbour even endorsed the completion of an interstate from Montgomery to Meridian, Miss. even though much of the construction would benefit Alabama.
Leaders from the neighboring states met for the second time in two years, part of The Commission on the Future of East Mississippi and West Alabama's "Closing the Gap" conference. Last year, more than 300 officials met at Mississippi State University-Meridian Campus at the inaugural event.
The goal: To combine efforts to improve the quality of life in the 16-county region through education and economic development.
Bill Crawford, who spearheaded the summit and joined Barbour's team last week as deputy director of the Mississippi Development Authority, said the large turnout to this year's event sends a message to the region that its people are ready to move forward.
Crawford said having both governors behind the project has been a big help in promoting the commission's efforts.
Riley said it's going to take a different level of cooperation to get the job done, cooperation that "we've never had before between our states."
Two area congressman U.S. Reps. Chip Pickering, R-Miss., and Artur Davis, D-Ala. touted the benefits of bi-state promotion and pledged their assistance from the federal perspective.
By working together, Davis said, any problems can be overcome.
Officials said a more focused hunt for better-paying jobs should be a regional priority and that Mississippi and Alabama shouldn't always be fighting each other for such mega-projects as the multibillion-dollar Hyundai plant being built near Montgomery.
Mississippi was in the running for the plant until former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove insisted on a site near the Rankin County city of Pelahatchie that the company said it didn't want. Meanwhile, a potential site in the Kewanee area of Lauderdale County got scant consideration and Hyundai took its project to Alabama.
December unemployment statistics announced earlier this week seem to bear out the need for more jobs in East Mississippi.
Ten of the 12 Mississippi counties bordering Alabama had unemployment rates higher than Mississippi's 4.7 percent rate in December, according to the Mississippi Employment Security Commission. The highest was Noxubee County's 8.7 percent. Only Itawamba County and Jackson County recorded rates lower than the state average.
Also, economic development professionals believe a more cooperative regional approach to industry recruitment helps bolster the argument that prospects might take advantage of incentives in both states. There has not yet been any formalization of how such a bi-state compact or similar effort might work.