Georgia County Government - July 2008 - (Page 9)

eeler Work Together velopment orgia’ wa t want to o business here. e agreed i want to do business here We agreed it ant bus nes ere. us ess ree would be a good thing to do.” Th ings wou would good thing o do.” Things oo hing do. o in n were off t he ground i sh rt order as the short order the were were off the ground in sho t order as t h e roun n county’s Development Aut hority, led by county’s Development Authority, l b ounty s evelo nt y y’s e u or y led Willie Paulk, president of the DublinW l ie u l k pre dent Willie Pau lk, president k, res he Dubline u in Laurens Chamber of Commerce and Laurens Chambe Laurens Chamber of Commerce and Chamb m mmerc erc n Development Authority, was aut horized Devel men Authority, s authorized Development Auth y, as aut horized velo t y, u riz to bolster efforts to attr bolster effor ts to attract new in usnew indu induslster er ts tract n tries, deve oped a comprehensive mardeveloped comp ehensiv marcomprehensive arte tries, evel p o n ive keting plan and Web site, and, with the ketin lan keting pla and keting plan and Web site, and w the sit h additional help of Cal Wray, vice presia ition additional h p Cal Wray, v ice presional ps dent of Economic Dev opment, began a began dent of Economic Development, beg e Eco omic evelop en bega m o campaign to market Laurens Count y. market Laurens County. campaign o marke au e s o nty. am aign g rket county on cted Wh tt r The county cont acted Whittaker & county contracted Whittaker unty ontr Associates of Michigan, an Economic A o iates Associates of Mic igan, a Economic tes Michigan n Econ mic o Development Consulting firm, to furnish Developm Consu i g m, furn s Developm nt Consulting rm, to furnish velopmen o s r solid leads on new businesses that would solid lead o i leads new busine ses that would w businesses tha wou s u benefit from locating in Laurens County. benefit from locating n Laurens County. benefi f nefi o a ing u s unty. t “They do the initial qualifying and we fol“They do the initial qualifying an h n t al ualif y n and foluali low up with direct mail, specifically engilow up with direct mail, specifically engio ith di ect ail, pe ificall ngi l, lly neered pieces to showcase the benefits we neered pieces to showcase e benefi s we eer iec ce how ase owc s benefi efits offer here,” Wray asserts. “Then we conoffer here,” Wray asserts. “Then we conhere e ray a s ts. Then on tact these prospects personally.” t the tact these prospects personally.” hese rospe s erso ally. he s y Wray says the county has had a good Wray says the county has had good ay ays t coun u a oo bit of success, although the initiative is, bit of success, although t he initiative is, succes lthou c ss ss, hou he nit ive is tiat ti v going on six months old at this writing, goin goin going on six months old t t his writing, onth ths h writing, iting, pretty much still in its fledgling stages. edgling stages. p etty uch stil pretty much still n its fle gl g stages. y ti s edg as “It c take two to five years to locate “It can ta ke t wo to five years to locate I can a ke wo ye s ears ea ocate one new company,” Paulk reminds. company,” au l reminds one new company, Paulk reminds. n py ds. “Meanwhile, we have a very diverse have very diverse “Meanwhile h hile, ave av re industrial base and we k now we can know industrial base dust build it further.” Substantial industries build build fur ther.” Substantial industries ue b a ndustrie e here include Mohawk Industries’ large here include Mohawk Industries’ large nclude ohawk Industries’ la g haw ndu ries larg ust manufacturing facility; SP Newsprint, m manufac uring facility; fact g facility; Newsprint, ewsprint, rint i a 100-percent recycled paper manufac100-perc n recycled pap 100-percent recycled paper manufac- rcen l a anufa ufac turer; WKK Architectural products; and turer; turer; WKK Architectural products; and rer Arch tect ra r u t c c AP America, Inc. America, c A America Inc. merica, Wray expounds furt her. “We’re look Wr y expounds further. We’r look Wray expounds f rthe “We’re lookxpound her r looking to bring in new industries including, in ing bring in new industries including, bri ring industries ncluding dustr nclu g ludi Rang Fuels’ ce lu osi ethan pla wi Range Fuels’ cellulosic ethanol plant will occupy 20 0 acres initially the Soper tonRange Fuels’ cellulosic ethanol plant will occupy 200 acres initially in the Sopertonng e ellu h l cu 0 a e nit a he o erto ro Treutlen County Industrial Park, and after anticipated expansions, another 135 acres. Treu Treut en Count y Industrial Park, and after anticipated expansions, another 135 acres. eutl u un Indu trial ark, n after ntici d i al f ic d expa s ons, nothe 3 cres an es More than $1 million in water and sewer infrastructure available to industries at the M re h More than 1 million in water and sewer infras tructure available to industries at the i lion wate n s e nf s in u e vail b e ilab il ndu t r e h park was a determining factor in Range Fuels’ selection of the Treutlen County location. park was determining factor n Range Fuels’ selection the Treutlen County location. ark as et m i fact c Range uels n ls’ ectio s on eutle Count y oca io Coun but not lim t to light m nufacturin but not limited to, light manufacturing o limited to, h manufacturing mi o, ac t r i n ing operations, such as small plastics, auto operations, such as small p asti s autope tio uh ma l plastics, autotics ti motive dust motiv industry sup l ers, and metal motive industr y suppliers, and metal tive str suppliers, d eta l stamping; bio-fuels industries t hat are bio-fuels industries tha ar stamping stamping; bi -f uels industri that are amping fuel u tries h heavily esear h oriented; h avily research-oriented; aggregates heav y research-oriented; aggregates ar ien d; g ega e gate companies t hat work w ith wood stocks, companies that work with wood stocks, omp nies that r with o mpan h tocks, soils, ck, tc. aeros ace anufactu soil , rock, etc.; aerospace manufactursoils, rock, etc.; aerospace manufacturil c.; er factu turing, eering o a hi her-tech operaing veering toward higher-tech operaing, veering toward higher-tech operaei -tec rations; back ffices such tio s; ba office su h as call cen e s tions; back offices such as ca ll centers, on ac a l centers, n data ente d a centers and the like; medical manudata centers and t he like; medical manunt d ike; dica a ; facturing companies, ncluding es ar facturin co panies, including research facturing companies, including research ctur n ct ring anies, di facilities xploring he anuf cture f cilities exploring t he manufacture of facilities exploring the manufacture of il e lori g uf ure new medical products; n ife sciences ne m dica produ ts and life sciences new medica l products; and life sciences dica d companies,” asser ts. c mpa ies, companies,” he asserts. sserts t “It’s tall order and “It’ “It’s a ta ll order and yet, we do our r n e our homework nd we believe we’ve reached home homew rk and we believe we’ve reached ewo k d el e w v reach c out in new way to dozens of prospects, out in a new way to dozens of prospects, ozens prospects, en s ospects, and we’re getting feedback.” we’re gettin feed ack getting feedback.” a and we r in edba Nation’s Fir st Commercial Nation’s First Commercial a ion s Fir s ommercia irst mercial Cellulosic Ethanol Pla Cellulosic Ethanol Plant ellulos c thanol Plant s hn lant Slated Slated for Treutlen Coun Slated for Treutlen County a eutle County len un The new emphasis on e nomic develThe new emphasis on economic develemphasis economic ev l pha s ic opment proactiv y in Laurens County proactively Laurens oun y opm opment proactively in Laurens County oi uren r unty may ha bee prompted by the need to may have been prompted by the need to a have been prompte een mpted h nee eed diversify dive di ersif but is a lso being fueled by the diversif y but is also being fueled by the s b n f ueled th watershed eco mic evelopmen ou wat s e economic development coup watershed economic development coup m of the whole region current ly, in neight he who e region cu r n y, in neighh hole egi n currently, neig i boring Treut len County. boring Treutlen County. or eut le oun y len the The county, last year, The county, last year, landed the coun y las ear, un st dt ethanation’s first commercia l cellulosic et afirst commercial cellu losic ethanation a ion’s omm a cell o c nol plant, slated o be built an operated nol plant, slated to be built an operated olt e ui and pe a by Colorado-based Range Fuels Corp. Colorado-based Range Fue s Corp. Col a o-base Rang Fu ba Rang Fuel ge orp Location L cation of the $400 million plant in Location o the $400 million plant in h 0 illio lant nt quiet Soperton quie S e on is landmark event the quiet Soperton is a landmark event – t he i nd ar ndmark vent n e firs plant i t he nat on to produce etharst first plant in the nation to produce ethar pl n atio roduce t h oduce u nol from wood via l w-impact environlow-impact, nv ironnol from wood vi low-impact, environom ood w-i impac rono mentally friendly processes. mentally friendl pro ss s. mentally friendly processes. l riend l The plant’s location here The plant’s location here is a major lant locatio ere oa major ajor or benefit not only for the region, but for benefi not only for t he region, but for enefi n y r he egion, t r gion, the entire state. The Range Fuel plant Range Fuels plan the entire state. The Range Fuels plant ntire tate e tate te. els l n will give Georgia a ground-floor place ground-floor place will give Georgia il ive G org v gi round-fl or lace d fl in the renewable energ y industry delivn t he renewable energy industry delivhe ne ab ne g i dustry deliverg eliv el ering cellulosic (plant-based) ethanol to erin cellulosic plant-b se ethanol ering cellulosic (plant-based) ethanol to n l lo plan h ol consumers s an alternative o fossil cons me consumers as an alternative to fossil ns lte na iv http://www.accg.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Georgia County Government - June 2008

Georgia County Government - June 2008 Contents President’s Message County Matters Laurens, Treutlen and Wheeler Counties Work Together to Leverage Economic Development 2008 Hurricane Season Forecast to be Active GDEcD: Georgia Is Bolstering International Marketing Efforts U.S. Communities Announces Auto Parts Service Contract Energy Innovation Center Opens in Warner Robins Coweta County Uses Innovative Road Construction Techniques Counties & The Law: An Analysis of Ten Commandments Displays in Georgia Courthouses Georgia’s Grand Old Courthouses: Talbot County Extension News: Youth Summit Teaches Civic Engagement Research Corner: Train Me! NACo News: NACo Seeks Obesity Prevention Programs County Parade Index of Advertisers

Georgia County Government - June 2008

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