RSS Feed
 |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
As the director of the chamber, I am in charge of monitoring the membership, making sure existing members get the benefit of being a member of the chamber of commerce. And then generate and entice new members to join, so that the chamber grows and becomes a better central point of advertisement for local businesses.
What did you do before coming here?
I've had a few different jobs. Primarily I was a police officer in Alaska. I was in Alaska for about ten years. Most recently, the last eight years, I was with Harahah's Casino, both in Cherokee and in the Midwest. I was in Omaha for three years. I was born and raised right here, I was a graduate of the Class of 1983 when Hayesville High School was still one building.
How did you get from here to Alaska?
I was at Western Carolina University and went up one summer to make some easy money to pay for college loans, etc. and got talked into going into the police academy. At that time (and it's still a little bit this way) if you had a pulse, they put you to work, whether is be fishing or something, and I was studying criminal justice at the time at Western so... I went up for one summer and stayed ten years.
How did you get into this job specifically?
Well, this is home; it always has been. It's time for family and friends. I'm getting a little bit older and it's time to be home. I moved back about two months ago and wasn't really sure what I wanted to do and where I wanted to work and this opportunity came open and I applied for it.
What do you think Clay Countyneeds the most?
Boy, there's so much about Clay County that is positive and excellent. Off the top of my head I would say, to grow the housing and business infrastructure. I think that the real estate boom has created a gap in that there are lots of high-level residences for sale but there's not a lot of medium to even low-income potential for someone to move into this area who can't afford a $250,000 home. Now this, of course, is a personal opinion....
How do you expect the county to grow in the next ten years?
Exponentially. There's a couple reasons for that. One, as the Baby Boomers come to retirement, they're looking for non-city places to retire and there's nothing like Chatuge Lake in Macon County. If you go to Cherokee County, they have Hiawassee Lake but it's almost all TVA. [Chatuge] is the most accessible lake in the TVA system. It's two hours from Atlanta, so people have the convenience of being able to get anything they want, but they're away from it in the mountains. I see Clay County continuing to grow just as it has over the last 15 years... it's doubled in size.
Do you expect a Wal- Mart?
Yeah, it's inevitable. We've got 60 miles between Murphy and Franklin. The average Wal- Mart is every 20 to 25 miles. This is a logical [place]. We're coming to the point where we're not really rural anymore; we're becoming more urban. Will it be in the next two years? No. Five to ten years? Probably closer to five. [A Wal-Mart] would affect [smalltown business]. It certainly will. There's an old saying that I believe in: Changes aren't permanent but change is. My feeling, my philosophy of taking this job is to honor the past but embrace the future, because it's coming. When I was in high school here there were no apartment buildings, there was one stoplight, now there's two. Again, I went through 12 grades in one building. And that was only 25 years ago and now it's one of the nicer schools in western North Carolina.
What makes Clay County unique?
Demographics, for one. There's basically a zero crime rate. You don't find that in towns the size of Murphy and Blairsville. They have a different dynamic than we do. Now with progress, that's going to change a little bit.
What do you think is the biggest threat to the county?
Unmanaged expansion. For example, I've had people in here who are building new subdivisions and I think the county's doing a very good job making sure that no corners are cut. One of the biggest issues we're going to face with the expansion is our watershed system. Septic tanks have been the norm here forever, but septic tanks eventually start leaking into the ground. Asewer system does not. I think the county is doing a real good job with making sure that we don't have unchecked expansion.
Simple things, like maintaining the standards for billboards, so that you don't cut into the
scenery. When a new subdivision comes in, the maintenance of how the land is worked. Years ago the mountain at Young Harris was clear-cut. And that takes away from what we have here. But we've got to build houses. Our construction industry is one of the top. There are more people in construction and real estate here than probably anything else. It's going to take place, it just has to be managed.
How do you plan to make a difference here through your job?
Networking and communication, making sure that people who are interested in Clay County have as much information as possible before they come to this area and start their houses or businesses. Then the flip side of that is reaching out to perspective areas that are expanding. If you go to Atlanta at all-well, Gainesville is just north Atlanta now. It's expanding this way. Gainesville's going to start expanding past that. I think Atlanta is a real good resource for businesses and for tourism.
What's most challenging about your job?
Officially or unofficially? Officially, the biggest challenge is again the growth. We're experiencing larger growth than anywhere else in the area.
Unofficially, the political dynamics, which can be a positive as well as a negative. You touched on it with Wal-Mart coming in and how will that affect the "mom and pop" organizations. You walk that line and you manage that growth. A certain part of it is inevitable and you have to do the best that you can to ensure that you do as much as you can for those who will be damaged by that growth, to minimize and to lessen.
|
for larger version       |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
