Questions answered by Lamar Paris, County Commissioner
Q. Will the county have any jobs available for our new high school graduates?
A. Unfortunately the answer is no. We are trying to maintain all the employees we have. Currently, we probably have over 300 applications for jobs and none available. I have often lamented that if the Stimulus funds had been block granted to states and the states sent the money out to all the counties for temporary hiring (one to two years), counties and cities all across America could have put millions of people to work instantly. We would have had additional employees to help build our infrastructure and maybe been able to hire some of the people full time at the end, but no one asked me how to do it.
Q. What will our new graduates do for a job?
A. Union County just had 143 seniors graduate from Union County High School, 7 graduate from Woody Gap High School across the mountain in Suches and 74 graduate from the Mountain Education Center and 3 graduate from the Mountain Area Christian Academy. First, we should honor them for their accomplishments. Many will go to college, many to technical schools and many will be hitting the job market and work force. While it will be more difficult than in many years to find a job, there are still jobs out there. They may not be what you are looking for, but anyone willing to really work hard will be able to find some type of job.
Q. Why do we not have more jobs in Union County for our young folks?
A. Every community in Georgia and the whole country is looking for the same thing, jobs for our people. It is more competitive than ever and that is why we have a very active Development Authority. We have board members made up of all walks of life in the county and we hired Mitch Griggs as director and he is doing an excellent job. While we have only had limited success because of the economy, we are putting everything in place so that when the economy does improve, we will be as ready as any community in the state.
Q. What will make people want to come to Union County instead of another area?
A. The obvious answer is what many of us already know. It is our quality of life and beautiful scenery, but that is not enough by itself. We have just applied for interest free loans for a couple of small 8000 sq ft spec buildings to put in the industrial park, as most business that is looking for a location want a building already constructed. We have a new road and some new smaller sites in the industrial park. We are awaiting construction of the new fiber optic network with the grant funds received earlier this year. We will soon be building a new home for the Chamber of Commerce, Economic Development office, golf course and community center that will be the envy of many counties. We will be able to showcase our area, not from a vehicle, but from simply walking out on the back porch of this wonderful facility. In addition, our exceptional recreation, medical, school, library and public safety facilities all help make us a unique community that many can not match.
Q. I saw some work going on at Meeks Park this week across Butternut Creek. When will the new walking trails be open?
A. While this has been a very long and frustrating process completing these new trails mostly because of weather, we are almost ready. The rough grading should be complete by this week and all the cleanup and wood chips should be applied and ready to open by July 4th if not before.
Q. How long will the new trails be?
A. First, let me say that the new trail system will be absolutely beautiful and I do not think I can overstate our excitement at Meeks Park for having it completed and available for the public. There will be one long trail around 1.2 miles and a loop trail of .6 miles and several combinations of the two you can walk involving both new bridges and part of the current trail. The total of all new trails that are being built is about 1.5 miles.
Q. Aren’t we excited to have had a Union County resident be Sheriff in Cobb County?
A. We really are. Bill Hutson, who was shown in last weeks NGN had a road in Cobb County named in his honor (Bill Hutson Way). Bill was born in Union County and served as Sheriff in Cobb County for 28 years in this large metro county, the longest service in county history. He has received many honors through the years. While serving the residents of Cobb County, Bill has had a farm in Union County and has been coming back here all those years when he could. He is now retired and a full time farmer in Union County and we all proud to know him and proud of all his accomplishments. Congratulations Bill!