MINUTES OF THE
REGION ONE
ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETING
CALHOUN, GEORGIA
August 25, 2004

Roll Call

Fourteen of twenty members of the Regional Advisory Council were present. Members not present include Tyson Haynes, Brenda Johnson, Jim Jolly, John Lawrence, Craig McDaniel and Kyle Williamson.

Other interested parties in attendance included Tammy Cole from Catoosa County Chamber; Lou Comer from GMA; Ronnie Evans and Julie Espenscheid from Georgia Power; Susan Gentry from Coosa Valley RDC; Kristin Gunia from Fannin County Development Authority; David Huckabay from UDSA Rural Development; Paul Kreager from UGA/SBDC; Greg Laudeman from GTRI; Bill Marshall from Trenton Economic Restructuring; Olnie Meadows from Catoosa County; Peter Matthews and John Rayburn from Floyd College SBDC; Dinah Rowe from Murray County Chamber; Matt Sawhill from Sen. Chambliss' Office; Sue Spivey from Chattooga County Chamber; Annaka Woodruff from DCA's Office of Quality Growth; and George Woodward, Dalton-Whitfield Chamber.

Regional Staff present included Leamon Scott and Nancy Johnston from DCA; Alice Carson and Dawn Townsend from GDITT.

Call to Order

Council Chair Kathy Johnson called the meeting to order at 10:15 AM and asked members, staff and guests to introduce themselves. During the introductions, RAC member Curtis Lewis announced that the Coosa Valley RDC had recently hired Billy Beckett as their new Executive Director. Billy was formerly employed as City Manager of Riverdale and before that as the Fayette County Manager. He begins with the RDC on September 7 th .

First Order of Business: Approval of the May 26, 2004 Minutes

The Chair requested a motion to approve the minutes from the May 26, 2004 meeting in Calhoun. Jim Dixon motioned, Ken Gowan seconded. Minutes approved as distributed.

Second Order of Business: The Georgia Department of Economic Development (DEcD) Update

Dawn Townsend introduced Deputy Commissioner Chris Clark to talk about Georgia's Entrepreneur and Small Business Strategy (E&SB). According to Chris, the majority of businesses in Georgia employ less than 50 people. According to statistics, two years ago 31,000 small businesses closed. Governor Perdue has made it a priority to assist small business. A recent inventory of programs available for small business found 65 programs in 13 state agencies which assist or support small business. The Governor issued an executive order which offers entrepreneurs and communities the services they need, demonstrates and replicates best practices, ensures that E&SB development is fully integrated into state and local economic development strategy and provides better state agency coordination. As a result, the Georgia Entrepreneur & Small Business Coordinating Network was established. To assist with the efforts, DEcD formed the Office of Entrepreneur and Small Business Development to provide coordination and network support. The goals of the office are to increase rate of small business start-ups to above national average and drive GA's small business closure rate below national average. An Advisory Council of partners was also developed. Chris described the networks “no closed door” plan to assist small businesses and entrepreneurs. The key to coordination on the regional level will be the DEcD's Regional Marketing Manager (Dawn Townsend). Chris also discussed the Commission for a New Georgia which will look at state efficiency and effectiveness to see how we can improve. The goal is to make Georgia the best managed state by 2007.

Third Order of Business: Tourism Update

Alice Carson, DEcD's Regional Tourism Representative, introduced Bruce Green, DEcD's Tourism Product Development Manager. Bruce talked about the growth in Atlanta and how that can have an impact on tourism in our region. He emphasized that tourism is, in fact economic development which brings tax revenues to our region. Encouraging tourists to return for a second trip is also important. He discussed the importance of our downtowns, arts and culture, environmental beauty, religion, business travel, and family gatherings on tourism. He also mentioned agri-tourism and how it is becoming an important part of tourism. DEcD has a program of coop advertising matching funds which helps market our tourism.

Fourth Order of Business: 2005 Red Carpet Tour

The chair called on George Woodward of the Dalton-Whitfield Chamber to discuss the 2005 Red Carpet Tour. George stated that Matt Jackson of Dalton and Otis Raybon from Rome were co-chairs of the Red Carpet Tour Steering Committee. All 15 counties in Region One have a representative on the steering committee. The two venues during the day trip to Region 1 are lunch in Rome and dinner in Dalton with guests returning to Atlanta that evening. The last tour to the region was in 1999. The theme will be the same as in 1999, but with some redesign of the logo. All of the information about the region will be provided to guests by electronic media. George reminded the RAC that, during the quality growth management initiative, funds were collected from each county to use as part of the project. The Dalton-Whitfield Chamber has served as fiscal agent for the funds. After the project was completed, $16,876.65 remained in the account. The RAC does not have any current plans for the money and the Dalton Chamber would like to close out the account. George proposed that the all or a portion of the remaining funds be provided to support to the Red Carpet Tour. A motion was made by Jim Burran and seconded by Sanford Chandler to commit $14,000 to the tour with any unspent balance to be returned to the counties. After some discussion about other possible uses of the funds and the need for the funds by the red carpet tour, Dr. Burran amended his motion to read that all of the remaining funds ($16,876.65) be committed to the Red Carpet Tour. Any funds left after the tour should come back to the RAC for other uses. The amended motion was seconded by Jan Hackett. The motioned passed by a vote of 9 in favor and 2 opposed. One member and the chair did not vote.

Fifth Order of Business: Next Meeting Date

The chair advised the Council that she and vice-chair Sanford Chandler would be attending a meeting in Macon with other RAC chairs and the commissioners of DCA and DEcD to discuss the future direction of the Councils. The next meeting date of the Region One Council was set for Wednesday, November 17 th at 10 a.m. at the Gordon Chamber.

Adjourn

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 12:05 PM.