What it takes to be a Councilperson

City government is one of the most influential governments to most people in the United States. Every time you flip a light switch, turn the water faucet on, build a building, or start looking for a job, your local city government is involved. Every two years about half of the City Council comes up for election and this November is another one of those years. Being a City Councilperson make you the driver of how electricity and water is provided and how much industrial recruitment should be funded, but with this responsibility comes difficult decision making.

The role of a city councilperson and the city council is to make policies and laws that they feel are in the best interest of their constituency. They are also entrusted with making sure that the city government stays on the right path towards the future that they desire for our community. A City Councilperson works with the City Manager, rather than directly with city staff, to ensure that the needs of their constituents are met.

Ask any city councilperson and I’m confident they will tell you there is a steep learning curve to serving on City Council. Annually the Council approves the city budget for the next fiscal year. A Councilperson should have a basic understanding of finances, debt management, and be able to read a balance sheet.

Additionally, within that budget will be several requests by the City Manager and Department Heads. Although broad, having a basic knowledge of administrative functions of an organization (procurement, human resources, and management), development processes, and construction processes will be extremely helpful in being able to better assess decision making about various departments and projects.

In Elizabethton, our service providing departments include Streets & Sanitation, Water Resources Department, Electric Department, Planning & Economic Development Department, Parks & Recreation Department, Public Library Department, Fire Department, and Police Department. As a councilperson, it is helpful to have basic knowledge of all of these areas, but the best part about the Council-Manager form of government is that the Council have professional staff people who specialize in these areas and can provide advisement to Council on a decision.

The City Council regularly makes extremely difficult decisions. Some may be between the best of two bad scenarios; others may be between two positive situations. Often times you must be open to compromising. You may see that a certain decision may be best while other councilpersons view another option as the better option. While being a councilperson may not be easy, it can be very rewarding to know you have served your community, completed your civic duty, and helped keep our democracy alive. Let’s talk about it!

The Future of Elizabethton's Economy

Thank you for the great feedback I got from my last column! I heard a lot of constructive comments and a few negative comments and I’m glad. I think it is extremely important for our citizens to be educated on and have these types of conversations about the future of our community.

With all of the feedback I received, I wanted to expand on the conversation from last week. I had a few comments along the lines of, “So what you’re telling me is Industry is dead in Elizabethton?” The answer to that is absolutely not! Elizabethton currently has many industrial businesses which employee a high number of people. As a matter of fact, 14 percent (over 1,500) of all of the jobs in Carter County are manufacturing jobs making it the third largest employer industry in the county. We must continue to build a symbiotic relationship with these industries and help them to grow and expand here locally.

With regard to recruiting a new industry, this also is still possible! There is, however, a realty that we must face. All of the low hanging, cheaply developable land has already been developed; therefore, the development of new industrial land (which I outlined last week) will be extremely expensive costing hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars and those dollars will have to come from local city/county governments and possibly some local businesses. This must be something you, as a tax payer, must consider when you demand new industrial jobs from your elected officials. Are you willing to sacrifice city or county services or face a major tax increase to get those industrial jobs?

Another comment that I heard a lot was, “What alternatives do we have to industry?” Well, there are some tactics that can help grow the economy without large industry and we can look to economic theory to provide those answers. Economic base theory divides all businesses into two categories – basic and non-basic industries. Basic industries bring money from outside the local economy in and non-basic industries help keep the money brought into the local economy stay within that local economy.

Locally we can look to this theory and strengthen our basic businesses to serve as an alternative to industrial jobs. Tourism is a basic business that injects money into our local economy by bringing people from outside Elizabethton/Carter County to our area, having them spend money, then leave the community (think Blowing Rock, NC). Agricultural related production, such as vineyards, wineries and large scale farms hire local people and sell the produce in other communities and counties (think Scott’s strawberry farms). Industrial construction firms employ locals to run the business and send workers off to work in other cities and counties (think Whitehead Construction).

Bringing in and starting these businesses locally can provide the same impact that industries currently provide. Couple these industries with strengthening non-basic businesses by encouraging people to shop locally in Elizabethton and Carter County and this strategy could be a realistic path to economic progress in Elizabethton and Carter County. No progressive path forward is easy, but no one else is going to do it for us! Let’s talk about it!

What an Industry Wants, What an Industry Needs

Sometimes I feel this column has turned into an economic development column! I do think, however, it is very important for our citizens to understand the reality of economic development in Elizabethton and Carter County. This is information you can use to make household decisions and use when you go to the polls to vote for your local politicians. This time, I want to talk about what industries (specifically manufacturing, warehousing, and assembly) look for in a location and how that relates to future prospects for Carter County.

First, they want access to a 4-lane highway. This qualification immediately eliminates three-quarters of the county leaving only Hampton, Elizabethton, Hunter, and Happy Valley/Central areas with potential locations. Ideally, industries want to be near (usually within 10 miles) an Interstate. Many will locate away from an Interstate, but this would be a preferred or ideal site. This preference would eliminate all but Happy Valley/Milligan/Central and the Okolona area.

Secondly, industries must have access to utilities. Water, of course, is a must and usually most would desire to see a minimum of an 8-inch water line with the preference of a 10-12-inch water line. Access to sewer service is also another must. Phase 3 power must also be available at the industrial site in order to operate the electric sucking equipment. Not all industries need access to natural gas or fiber optics, but these are typically considered must-haves especially if sites in other communities offer access to these services. Access to water and sewer eliminates some of our remaining potentials leaving Elizabethton, parts of Milligan/Pinecrest and the Okolona area.

Now that we've narrowed down a few potential areas, let's look for some sites. A potential industrial site must be flat (ideally less than 6 percent grade) so we would start looking for as flat a site as we could find in the remaining areas. The flatter the site that can be found, the less grading that will have to be completed by local governments in order to sell the site. The site will also need to be around a minimum of 10 acres with a preferred size of 20 acres. It's starting to get a little tough now! Where around Elizabethton, Milligan/Pinecreast, or the Okolona area is there 10-20 acres of relatively flat (less than 10 percent grade) land that is owned by one, two, maybe three people. Ideally, we would like to see more like 50+ acres of relatively flat land owned by 4 maybe 5 people in order to spread the expense over multiple properties and industries.

Assuming there is such a site, the land owners must agree to sell at a reasonable price, the cities and county will need to work together to purchase the property, pay to grade the property, and pay to extend utility services to the site. After all of this is done, an incentives package will need to be put together and we must make sure there is an available, educated or trained workforce to meet the needs of the industry.

As you can see, this process has a lot of moving parts! I hope this gives you an idea of what it takes to recruit and bring new industry into a community. Keep in mind this whole process may take 10 years or more from start to opening day of a new industry and require hundreds of thousands of tax dollars. While we most certainly continue our efforts growing and working with our existing industry, it is my opinion that Elizabethton and Carter County must begin looking at other forms of economic infusion in our local economy and tourism is a great start! Let's talk about it!

UPDATE: Read my follow-up column to this one -- The Future of Elizabethton's Economy.

Creating Communities for Aging Boomers

Like it or not, we cannot stop the aging process. With each new year comes another tally added to our age. In cities and in urban planning, we attempt to make our communities places for all ages from 5 year olds up through 95 year olds. But there is a unique situation that is quickly coming upon us – the Baby Boomers (birth years 1946 and 1964). There are so many people in this generation that communities and cities must change how they view aging and the types of services they provide in order to accommodate this aging generation.

We see this in some of the activities and services some of our neighboring cities are doing. Johnson City built a new Senior Center a few years ago to accommodate more people and have focused on building trail systems and walkable areas in their city (data suggests this generation desires walkable communities and trail systems so they can remain independent longer). Kingsport has installed a new downtown passive park with a carousel and has been working to develop additional trail systems and birding tours. Jonesborough has just completed a new senior center to accommodate additional growth.

Today, in Elizabethton, just under 30 percent of the city’s population is over the age of 60. According to recent estimates, just under 40 percent of the city’s population will be over the age of 60 by 2036. This means over 1,400 additional 60+ year olds by 2036 than today or roughly 10 percent more of the city’s population will be over 60. Interestingly, the age group under 40 is projected to remain stable during this same time period.

So how do we deal with and prepare for this age wave? Well, I think one of the first things we must do is ask the boomers themselves! What type of community do they desire? What amenities would they like to have in place as they age? Are there any additional services they would like to have as they age that they do not have now? All of these questions must be asked in order to provide the type of community that Elizabethton Baby Boomers desire.

We can also look to generational research to give us an idea of what type of community this generation wants as they age. The AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) has completed research on what communities need in order to be friendly to retirees and compiled it into an easy to use interface. It’s called the Livability Index and currently Elizabethton is rated 55 out of 100 (Johnson City is a 54, Bristol 50, Jonesborough 50, and Greeneville 48). Using this index and input from citizens, we can work to create a desirable, and livable community to live in not only for our aging population, but everyone. Let’s talk about it!

Elizabethton's Projected Population by Age Percent