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By Jennifer Gentile
Daily Times Leader
For the West Point-Clay County Growth Alliance, the beginning of 2009 will be a time of transition.
Jan. 5 is the effective start date for new president Jeff Rowell — formerly the executive director of the Natchez-Adams Economic Development Authority. Rowell, will replace Tim Climer, who has joined his family in Batesville.
“I see a lot of potential within that organization,” Rowell said Tuesday. “I think it can be the economic machine the city and county need.”
In the coming weeks, the new president said he will be assessing strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats. One of his objectives is build up membership in the alliance and “strengthen the organization through its members.”
“The goal of the organization is to help West Point and Clay County maximize their economic potential,” Rowell said, “and that’s really what I want to help (them) to do.”
Growth Alliance officials refused to disclose the amount of Rowell’s salary. Growth Alliance Board President Michelle Easterling described the new president’s compensation as a “personnel matter.”
As the organization moves forward, Easterling said, “we want to continue our efforts to make West Point and Clay County a better place to live and work — not only for existing residents, but those we’re looking to attract to our community.”
The Growth Alliance will be working to increase exposure and attendance to local events like Business After Hours and Prairie Arts, according to Easterling, and January marks the inaugural class of the Growth Alliance’s Adult Leadership program,
“It’s an opportunity for various persons in the community who have a desire to develop leadership skills and learn about various aspects of our community.”
In spite of the slumping economy, Easterling said the Growth Alliance would continue helping businesses and industries with retention and expansion efforts.
“Of course,” she said in a prepared statement, “we will continue to respond to inquiries from potential employers and to use all available resources to market our community to suitable industrial and economic prospects. We will also redouble our efforts to make improvements in areas of community development.”
Other priorities the Growth Alliance will be addressing in the new year, alongside local leaders, include housing, cleanup and beautification of the city and the Highway 45 Alternate corridor, and education. The Growth Alliance was part of a partnership that announced a tuition guarantee program earlier this year, whereby Clay County high school graduates can attend East Mississippi Community College for free.
All of these issues, according to Easterling, “are essential to attracting new businesses and promoting growth.”
One of the issues the Growth Alliance hopes to revisit in 2009, Easterling continued, is a potential increase of the hotel and restaurant tax. In 2008, the organization recommended legislation to increase the tax from 1 percent to 2 percent, making it more line with the rate in other cities.
Those funds would be used to fund tourism and recreation improvements, Easterling said.
Like Rowell, Easterling said she anticipates a major membership drive early in 2009.
Other Growth Alliance efforts in 2009 will be focused on quality of life, community development, retirement and tourism. One plan, according to Community Development Director Amber Smith, is to form a committee composed of Highway 45A business owners that would set objectives for beautifying the corridor, design concepts for landscaping new entrance signs, help obtain funds for sign grants to offer merchants and work with Mississippi State University
Another committee would assist and train retailers on “how to showcase their window decor to draw and attract patrons into their stores,” Smith said.
Increasing the “committee and volunteer base under each leg of the Main Street Program,” including the design, organization, promotions and economic restructuring committees, was another goal Smith mentioned.
She also explained that the tourism committee has been researching attraction sites in West Point and Clay County to include in a brochure designed for tourists.
“This will be included in the 12 welcome centers in the state,” Smith said in a prepared statement. “highlighting a walking and driving tour of West Point and Clay County.”
Other tourism-related objectives are to help with upkeep of the Waverly mansion property and to highlight the Kitty Dill Memorial Parkway with National Recreational Trails signs along the walk. Another Mississippi Blues Trail marker is planned on Cottrell Street.
Mississippi Department of Transportation signage will be placed on Highway 45A, directing travelers to the blues trail markers and to downtown.
Smith said Program Associate Carolyn Ward has been taking charge of retirement initiatives — with assistance from volunteers, the city, Golden Triangle Planning and Development District and Mississippi State University Extension Services.
“The main goal under the retirement division of the Growth Alliance is to research and develop a senior citizen center to improve the quality of life for our senior community,” Smith said in the statement.
During a community forum earlier this month, Ward announced that the city’s Parks and Recreation Department had offered use of the recreation building on Wood Street for a senior center.
The Growth Alliance welcomes input from the community on this effort and invites interested residents to become involved.
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