Pictured from left: Angela Steedley, The Steedley Firm; Toccoa Mayor Ron Seib; Bob Davis, terminal project manager; Governor Sonny Perdue; John Taylor, Airport Authority Chairman; Cam Parker, SCDA Chairman; Tim Martin, SCDA Executive Director.
Toccoa-StephensAirportAuthority – Building Construction
Equity grant funds will be used to assist with construction of a 5,948 SF terminal facility at the Toccoa-StephensCountyRegionalAirport at R.G LeTourneau Field. Presently a small office within a privately-operated maintenance hangar serves as the airport terminal. The airport, located in the northeastern corner of the state, is centrally located near the Georgia and North/South Carolina borders and serves as a gateway to the NortheastGeorgiaMountains. Statistics reflect that this Level II airport handles comparable traffic to other Level III airports (Cornelia, Blairsville) and is Georgia's northernmost airport before entering mountainous terrain, serving as a hub for Blue Ridge and SmokyMountain tourist traffic. While neighboring Franklin and HartCounties are served by two airports, neither have adequate facilities to welcome/meet prospective business clients. This proposed airport terminal will play a pivotal role in attracting regional business and tourism prospects to the Northeast Region. After losing 2,000+ furniture manufacturing jobs and similar amount of textile jobs, this region has adopted a plan to attract smaller diversified industry.
Equity Grant Award: $500,000 / Total Project Cost: $3.2 million
The Stephens County Board of Education was selected as one of only six school boards in Georgia to receive the title of "School Board of Distinction". The award was made by the Georgia School Boards Association at its annual conference and honors school boards that achieve a number of benchmarks.
Pictured (from left): Cam Parker, Stephens County Development Authority; Bob Troup, City of Toccoa; Representative Michael Harden; Harold Andrews, Stephens County Commission; Senator Jim Butterworth; Dean Scarborough, Stephens County Commission; David Austin, City of Toccoa; A.J. Pavliscsak, City of Toccoa.
Toccoa's local AM 630 WNEG radio and General Manager Phil Hobbs received the Beacon Award for Electronic Media support of public education in Georgia. The Stephens County School System nominated AM 630 WNEG for the award, which was made by the Georgia School Boards Association.
The Stephens County Development Authority held its final 2009 Developer Day on December 3, the sixth event this year bringing statewide economic development project managers to the community on a development-focused tour.Five project managers from Georgia EMC, ElectricCities of Georgia, Georgia Department of Economic Development, and Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority toured the community. The trip showcased StephensCounty’s development-ready sites, industrial buildings, work force, and leadership so as to help project managers better foster development in the area.
Former SCDA Chairman Bob Defenbaugh and Toccoa Falls College President Dr. Wayne Gardner served as the “chauffeurs” for the day. Nampac’s Plant Manager Michael Beecher led the group on a tour of the facility.They also viewed several available industrial buildings and sites in the MeadowbrookIndustrial Park and HayestoneBradyBusinessPark. Liberty Elementary Principal Terri Powers gave them a tour of her Title I school. The project managers also got a glimpse at the natural sights of Toccoa with stops at ToccoaFalls and PaulAndersonPark.
Local leaders from the City, County, and regional government, healthcare, education, and real estate sectors acted as luncheon hosts at the WillardKimseyEnvironmentalEducation Center. The statewide guests gave an overview of their agencies and projects, and local leaders were able to address their concerns and perspectives on local development projects.
The 2009 Developer Day events brought a total of thirty-three statewide project managers from thirteen different agencies to StephensCounty and placed emphasis on the community’s unified support of development efforts.Sixty-eight local leaders acted as lunch hosts at the events, the testimony of a County, City, School Board, and private industry working together to promote Stephens County as open for business.
Jim Blair, Georgia Department of Economic Development:“I came away much better informed about the opportunities in Stephens County and the support that I can expect as a project manager. A community can have inventory, it can have logistics, but if there’s no leadership it’s not a community we can sell to a company. Leadership is something I’ve certainly seen in Stephens County; it really shines.”
Carter Wood, Georgia Department of Economic Development:“One thing that always impresses me about Stephens County is the workforce that you have. The trainability and dependability of your workforce is incredible, and it is something that companies look for and that we as statewide developers can really market.”
Dennis Chastain, GEMC:I’m a native of Toccoa… so Toccoa will always have a place in my heart.I see a very bright future for this community.I know the widening of Highway 17 is a long running saga, but that will eventually happen, and you’ll be very proud of the property you have in the Hayestone Brady Business Park.”
Stephens County's Airport Authority was notified this week that it will receive a $500,000 grant from the OneGeorgia Authority to fund improvements to the R.G. LeTourneau Airport. The grant will be used toward a project to build a terminal building, new ramp, and new fueling station.
North Georgia Technical College and Piedmont College have signed a new credit transfer agreement for their criminal justice programs, allowing students to articulate into the 4-year Piedmont College and retain their credits from NGTC. This new agreement is in addition to prior transfer agreements for students in business and nursing programs.
Yesterday, AT&T today announced the availability of its 3G mobile broadband network in Toccoa. More than 100 square miles of new 3G coverage across Toccoa now opens the door to a new era of mobile services, devices and feature-rich audio and video content for area businesses and local residents. With 3G speeds, you can surf the web, download files faster than ever, and enjoy the very latest interactive mobile applications.
“Technology is such a big part of our lives both personally and in our businesses. Having infrastructure enhancements like AT&T’s 3G service here in Toccoa adds to our already high quality of life,” said Wendi Bailey, President and CEO of the Toccoa-Stephens Chamber of Commerce. “We’re thankful for AT&T’s capital investment in our community.”
StephensCounty is a community equipped for and supportive of economic development.This was the message of the second fall 2009 “Developer Day” event hosted by the Stephens County Development Authority.Five statewide economic development project managers from Georgia EMC, Georgia Department of Community Affairs, Georgia Department of Economic Development, Georgia Power Company, and the Georgia Mountains Regional Commission toured the community. The trip focused on StephensCounty’s development-ready sites, buildings, work force, and leadership so as to help project managers better foster development in the area.
Tim Ash, Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, and Representative Michael Harden served as the “chauffeurs” for the day. Joe Moore and Bryon Whitworth of American Woodmark took the group on a tour of the facility. The group also viewed several available industrial buildings and sites in the MeadowbrookIndustrial Park and HayestoneBradyBusinessPark, including the 80,000 square feet Rooker spec building. Stephens County High School Principal Felton Stephens gave them a tour of his school, highlighting the improved graduation rate. The project managers also got a glimpse at the natural sights of Toccoa with stops at Toccoa Falls and Paul Anderson Park.
The economic developers joined local leaders from the City and County government, healthcare, education, and real estate sectors for lunch at the WillardKimseyEnvironmentalEducationCenter (Straw House).The statewide guests gave an overview of their agencies and projects, and local leaders were able to address their concerns and perspectives on local development projects.
Rope Roberts, Georgia Power Company: “My job is to help communities with all faces of economic development. One of the positive things I can say about Stephens County – and I have always pushed this – is the labor force trained in metal working, which goes back to LeTourneau days. Not everybody can work metal. When we can say we have a metal working company, we can say we have a great work force in this area.”
Chip Wright, Georgia Mountains Regional Commission:“What I do at the Regional Commission is community design. I work with Toccoa and other communities to utilize resources that they already have in hand, which a lot of times are historic downtowns. To make these places gathering spaces again… branches out and helps with the attraction of business and economy building enterprises. Once people who are looking to relocate their businesses in your community see that you have a pride in your community, it makes Toccoa–StephensCounty the place they want to be.”
Taube Ponce, Georgia Department of Economic Development, Global Commerce Division:“Companies that export generally have a higher growth rate than companies that don’t export. They generally pay higher wages and are more stable. One of the silver linings of our current economic situation is that the dollar is low, which…for exporters is great because our products are even more competitive now. Exporting is a wonderful tool for economic development, and communities don’t often think about that. We and our offices can help companies find markets for their products.”
David Austin, City of Toccoa:“We are so glad to have you here today. We think a lot of our City and County and we’ve worked a lot with you over the years to make things even better.I welcome you to Toccoa-StephensCounty and hope you come back.”
Tim Ash, Toccoa-Stephens Co. Chamber of Commerce:“StephensCounty is ready, willing and able to accept new businesses and acclimate our workforce to those businesses. We are doing a lot of things right these days and just need the rest of the world to get the message. We appreciate your being here to see what’s taking place and to contribute what you can to help us along.”
Cam Parker, Stephens Co. Development Authority:“As local economic developers, one of the most important things we can do is try to be good partners with statewide organizations. We want to do our very best to help you help us, and part of that is communicating, just like we are today, what we think are some of our strengths.One of our strengths is our people, who know how to work and have a strong work ethic. They also give us the tools to be a good partner with you, passing SPLOST V – 80% of which was for economic development – with a 72% vote. Our leaders are also pro-business, pro-growth. They get along and they want to progress.We want to be good partners.If you need us to do something just let us know, and we’ll give it our best.”
Pictured from left: Angela Steedley, The Steedley Firm; Toccoa Mayor Ron Seib; Bob Davis, terminal project manager; Governor Sonny Perdue; John Taylor, Airport Authority Chairman; Cam Parker, SCDA Chairman; Tim Martin, SCDA Executive Director.
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