The Community Room at West Kentucky Rural Electric Cooperative was the site of the quarterly Mayfield Graves County Chamber breakfast Tuesday. Hosted by Graves County Economic Development, the breakfast featured a panel of four regional economic development directors.
Jason Lemle, with GCED; Bruce Wilcox, with Greater Paducah Economic Development; Mark Welch, with Fulton-Hickman Counties Economic Development; and Hannah Chrieten, with Ballard County Economic Development answered questions from moderator Eric Walker.
All directors commented on the region’s multi-modal transportation assets such as the I-69 corridor, the Ohio River and rail systems. Welch said that once I-69 is completed he expects an organic shift of traffic from I-65 and I-75 to flow through the area, increasing traffic up to 300% of the current level.
Economic development can be compared to a puzzle. There are many pieces, and often times a large amount of time that goes into securing a project.
Many times community members want to know what is going on with the economic development in their counties because visually they do not see much progress. All directors agreed that potential projects have to fit within the parameters of what the area or county has to offer such as acreage, utility capacity, water pressure, sewers and workforce.
“Economic development is truly about being strategic. If a company comes here and isn’t willing to give you 50% of their effort and you give your 50% to make it a 100% good fit, you really don’t want to put all of your eggs in one basket per say. In addition, when you’re working with projects understanding utility capacity is very important for all of us,” said Lemle. “So every thing we do has to be taken in account of what we can serve, what our future can serve and also what our existing businesses might need.”
Lemle said directors must have a team in place of knowledgeable community members and show up to site visits prepared. He spoke of having a Delta team in a community, advocates for the community who will not say ‘no’ to anything or will find a solution to provide assistance. Lemle said that it’s important for directors to have close working relationships with county and city leaders and have them available when doing site visits with potential investors.
Current site development is also critical for economic infrastructure. “The opportunities here, if we are not ready for it, are going to another community. And again a lot of the preparation is that underground foundational stuff that’s not sexy, but it’s absolutely necessary,” said Welch.
The next chamber breakfast will take place in January 2023.