On May 1 2016, I began working for Scotland County knowing I needed to give back to my community. My wife and I grew up here and chose to stay in Scotland County to raise our children. Scotland County is our home and we hope to assist in improving our community, for not just our children but for all future generations to come.
This time last year I was working for a local bank, where I was able to provide my customers with financial information that allowed them to make their best financial decisions. There were days when customers were singing my praises and then there were days I’m sure they wanted to run me out of town. The one thing I’m sure they would agree on is that I provided them with honest and dependable information that wasn’t biased.
People would come up to me and ask why I left the bank and what is economic development? The first question I answered by asking them three questions we all need to ask when making a decision. Can God use me in this new role, will my family support my decision, and can I assist in improving my community more in this new role?
The second question is a little harder and I have to admit my answer has changed since my first week on the job. To begin with I thought it was selling the assets of Scotland County and in my mind, assets were defined as land and buildings. After almost a year, I have learned that we have many more assets than land and buildings – both tangible and intangible. Now I define economic development as “providing wealth to all citizens of Scotland County.” This is a statement one of my board members made and I have used it many times. But what is wealth? Being a former banker I thought this meant I could sell a building or property for a profit and this would provide revenue for the county. WRONG! This is short term thinking (you only sell the property one time). Wealth needs to be perpetual income for all citizens and what do all citizens want? Income & Jobs. So my job is to recruit a company that will bring jobs to the county.
Recently we announced Mountaire Farms would become our newest private partner in Scotland County with the creation of 65 jobs and a $44 million investment. The announcement could not have been possible without the many public and private partners who assisted with the project; North Carolina Rail Road, Economic Development Partnership of NC, Southeastern Partnership of NC, Laurinburg Maxton Airport Commission, NCDOT (Rail and Hwy Division), CSX, Scotland County Government, Duke Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas, and our NC Legislators. Each of those entities have as part of their mission to create a better Scotland County, and although one person can make a difference, when you have a team such as this working together greater things can happen.
Since 2009, including the Mountaire Farms announcement, we have just over $267 million dollars in new investment with an additional 850 jobs announced. While these numbers are something to celebrate, we must not become stagnant. We must continue to push forward and look for our next corporate partner. My goal is to continue our trend of making multiple announcements of a new industry or expansion each year, and to do this I believe each citizen has a role by working together and promoting the positives of our community. We all need to work together to bring wealth to our citizens and make Scotland County a great place to live, work and play.
