County Commissioner's Office

County Talk
By
Lamar Paris - Commissioner

Q. What about Wal-Mart?  We keep hearing that they are not coming. 
A.   Wal-Mart has still not purchased the property, but they continue to work on their designs and permitting.  The county has done everything and more that has been asked by Wal-Mart.  If the economy does not completely decline, we are hopeful that this project will still be built.  Because of the economy, Wal-Mart has already cancelled construction of well over a hundred locations throughout the United States, but so far we are not on that list.

Q.  Did we give Wal-Mart property tax incentives to entice them to come here?
A.  No.  However, they have not asked nor would we be in a position to grant this to a retail operation.   We have simply worked with them and the City of Blairsville to acquire adequate utilities for their site and with GDOT to provide them access off Hwy 515.  Whether you like or don’t like Wal-Mart, in these slow economic times, their presence would be an asset for the people of this community.  With the high cost of fuel and the sales lost to other counties and states, every penny counts if we want to keep our taxes low and try to continue to provide employment for our citizens.

Q. What else are we doing to attract good jobs?
A.  I have actively worked with a group of volunteers to achieve the important designation for Union County as a “Work Ready” community and an “Entrepreneurial Friendly” community.  We should achieve these two new and important milestones within the next six to nine months.  Several people are working very hard toward this end.   The Governor and the Georgia Department of Economic Development consider these designations to be very important as the state assists counties in bringing industrial prospects to our area.  We want to be ready so that we can be in a position to choose who we want bringing jobs to our county.   

Q. Does the County and the Development Authority work together?
A.  Absolutely we do.  There are nine members of the Authority. I have worked closely with them to increase their budget so they could actively search for a new executive director to replace Tom Murphy who retired a few months ago.

Q. Where is the county getting money to build the new access road to the airport?
A.   I have worked tirelessly with the Georgia Department of Transportation, making several trips to Atlanta and Gainesville and am proud to report that we will receive well over a half million dollar grant  to help  develop and build an access road to the airport and part of the industrial park property. This new roadway contract was bid and let last month and we are awaiting a permit from the Corp of Engineers to begin construction. This roadway will not only provide new and important access areas off Hwy 515, but will also allow the county to provide necessary utilities to Hwy 515 from the current industrial park to promote business in this area.  I want to particularly thank retiring Georgia Department of Transportation Commissioner Harold Linnenkohl, Board Chairman, Mike Evans and Russell McMurry, District Engineer, for assisting the county with this tremendous grant.  Without this roadway, it would have been impossible to provide these needed utilities across Hwy 515.   I also want to thank the Vaughn England family for their cooperation in working with the county to make this new roadway possible.

Q.  Why is this new road so important?
A.  We are calling the road Airport Terminal Rd at this time.  First, it will allow direct access to the new expanded Blairsville Airport from Hwy 515.  This will be very important for the future of the airport area.  Secondly, it is allowing access to nearly 30 acres of industrial site property that was previously land locked.  This will provide excellent industrial sites for the future.  Third, the road bed is engineered and designed to be utilized to install the sewer and water line to and across Hwy 515 achieving gravity flow sewer from Kiutuestia Creek Road to the pump station in the industrial park.  This will also provide sewer and water access to the new industrial sites, the new airport terminal area and adjacent property.

Because of the grant from the Department of Transportation, our cost will be minimal and will be funded out of SPLOST road and bridge funds to prevent this from being a burden to the taxpayers. 

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