CCT Isn't the Problem...Lack of Foresight Is

If you are a dedicated reader of the Star, then I'm sure you're tired of continually reading about Carter County Tomorrow lawsuit (as I am). However, I continue to hear a lot of, in my opinion, misinformed talk about how and why Carter County Tomorrow organization needs to be dismantled.

One of the biggest reasoning I hear is that CCT has not done anything since its inception. This reasoning then immediately spills over into discussion about how much better another economic development agency would be.

First, I would argue national and industrial trends suggest that CCT has had little control over the local economy during a majority of its existence. What control they have had has been positive. We've not fully recovered from the Great Recession yet, but our growth pattern matches those of the state and surrounding counties.

Secondly, the only reason CCT has not been able to produce better and more results is not because they are not effective or efficient. It is because our officials have not properly planned or looked to the future. I often pose the question, "Assume we did have an industry wanting to be in Elizabethton, where would we put them? We have no sites."

Keep in mind that for an industry to be interested in a site it must have water, sewer, electric, gas, and often fiber optics to their specifications, a 4-lane highway, environmental studies completed, the site appropriately zoned for industrial...the list goes on. Finding and developing these sites could easily take 8-10 years and cost hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars. If our local governments and economic development agencies started on such an endeavor today, taxpayers today would not likely begin to see results until students who are in the 5th grade graduate high school. That takes foresight!

We need to realize that starting or bringing another economic development agency into Carter County and Elizabethton isn't going to magically make all of our economic problems go away. It will still take planning, foresight, and financial commitments on the part of our elected officials today so that we can have jobs tomorrow. Those hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars will have to be dedicated to develop land if we choose to be an industrial community regardless of what economic development agency is here.

It's easy to point the blame at one agency or one person, when we're not quite sure whose fault something is, but the reality is that it's all of our fault. When our elected officials ran for office and promised jobs we failed to hold them accountable. We made them fearful that spending too much on economic development would result in us not re-electing them. We encouraged a lack of foresight. So what can we do to encourage investment moving forward? How can we encourage appropriate future economic development? Let's talk about it!