TVA working with officials on development plans

By Staff
Nathan Strickland
County and city officials gathered together Thursday morning to listen in on how to develop a better strategical plan program for developmental growth throughout Franklin County.
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) coordinated and presented a Community Strategic Plan program so that local officials can asses set priorities, action plans and ensures that these goals are within the scope of economic development within Franklin County.
TVA manager of community and economic development Philip Scharre presented key economic data trends Franklin County has followed over the years.
“There is some good news here and some rather not so good news found in this data,” Scharre said. “But when you look at the numbers, they show that Franklin County is actually doing better than some of the neighboring counties. It is good to look at the numbers to see what needs to be done to move forward.”
Scharre expressed a few ideas to officials on how to be ready once the national economy turns around: communities must “differentiate” to succeed,
available, suitable buildings must be built and shovel-ready sites have become a must have for communities to bring in industry.
“As of right now we have a spec. building and two shovel-ready sites available to offer,” said Mitch Mays, executive director of the Franklin County Development authority, which also hosted the event. “We have other communities in the county working towards building those available sites, so we are heading in the right direction.”
Scharre suggested to officials to ask themselves “Is our product and processes ready?” to help with accomplishing the ultimate goal of bringing more jobs and revenue to the area.
The meeting then gradually turned into a focus group where each person in attendance was given a chance to identify recent accomplishments and then were asked to identify preliminary goals and actions for the future.
After past accomplishments for the area were discussed, everyone turned to make a list of possible improvements that can be made to benefit the county.
Some new ideas officials discussed for the future included:
Scharre said Franklin County has come a long way and he hopes to see the growth continue in the area.
“Ten years ago there wasn’t even a Development Authority here in this county,” he said. “Now you have a professional person leading an office who is committed to economic growth which is a huge step forward.”
Another session of TVA’s Community Strategic Plan program will be held on April 15. For more information contact the Franklin County Development Authority at 332-8728.