The Economy has Changed, We Must Prepare - Part 2

As we talked about last week, the national, state, and local economy has changed and is not going back to what it used to be. Advances in technology have drastically changed the way base-export businesses function and have changed the demands on the workforce to become more trained and educated.

The State of Tennessee now offers great programs for traditional and non-traditional (adult) students interested in going to college or receiving vocational training. For traditional students, TN Promise, TN Achieves, the Hope Scholarship, and various federal grants can make college debt free for those with financial need. For non-traditional or adult students, TN Reconnect, TN Promise, the Hope Scholarship, TN Student Assistance Award, and various federal grants can also make getting a certificate or degree almost debt free as well!

The best part of all of this is Elizabethton is in the best location to take advantage of these programs. We have a local Tennessee College of Applied Technology (TCAT), Northeast State Community College, and Milligan College right in our backyard! In addition, online programs and ETSU being a short drive away make certificates and degrees at these institutions hard to pass up.

With a few certifications or some training, people with a high school diploma can take advantage of top jobs in the Tri-Cities and make over $30,000 per year. Some of these include heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers, emergency medical technicians and paramedics, bill and account collectors, office and administrative supervisors, bookkeeping/accounting/auditing clerks, automotive service technicians and mechanics, sales representatives, and billing and posting clerks. If you want to pursue a degree and make over $40,000 per year, hot jobs in the Tri-Cities include school teachers, clergy/pastors, accountants and auditors, pharmacists, and medical doctors. All of these jobs are in demand, show positive job growth, and have at least 20 job openings per year in the area.

The point here is that all of these types of jobs require some form of post-high school training or degree. With educational resources like we have locally, you could get your administrative assistant or automotive technician diploma from TCAT here in Elizabethton in less than 2 years, your EMT or Accounting certification around your schedule with nights, weekends, and online classes at Northeast State in Elizabethton, a degree to be a pastor or accountant at Milligan College, or even a degree to be a teacher or pharmacist at ETSU. We have rich educational resources here that other communities covet.

If you’re interested, talk with your employer about working with you on flexible hours to attend classes or talk with representatives at Northeast State, TCAT, or Milligan about the different grant programs. A better trained workforce creates an attraction for new businesses and industry. We must work together to improve our community; after all, no one else is going to do it for us. Let’s talk about it!

The Economy has Changed, We Must Prepare - Part 1

Base export businesses, such as manufacturing, assembly, or mining businesses, continue to be one of the most important elements to a local economy. They export product to other areas of the country and import cash back into our economy to pay employees and purchase local products and services. These types of businesses help form the foundation of Elizabethton’s local economy as well.

We are, however, seeing a shift in what these base export industries look like. While they were once large behemoths employing hundreds of people, today, they employ only 100 of the 500 employees they once did and often can locate in facilities a third of the size they once needed. Despite this, many are still increasing production.

This shift is best attributed to technology. We have one local industry who is down over 10 employees than they were this time last year. Why? Not because their production has slowed (as a matter of fact they have increase production) or they are looking at shutting down, but because they have just replaced two production lines of people with two machines. One former line now only requires 1 person and the other requires no additional persons. Many times, industries are hiring less people with little or no training for those who have mechanical or robotics training or who may have a Master’s degree in engineering.

Our local, state, national, and even world economy has shifted with the addition of technology and robotics to manufacturing. Even if these types of industries began to on-shore (come back to the United States) most of these businesses will hire only a fraction of the employees they did when the left.

Of all of the job openings at this very moment in East Tennessee, 80 percent of them require a high school diploma, 3 percent of them require some type of vocational or post-high school training, and 17 percent require a degree of some kind. In Carter County, approximately 20 percent of the population doesn’t have a high school diploma or equivalent and 38 percent have only a high school diploma. We must work to ensure that students today stay in school through high school at a minimum and those who do not have a high school diploma go on to receive their GED.

In Carter County, the salary difference between having a high school diploma and not having it is over $6,500 per year. Even in today’s world a High School diploma is still worth something. What could your family do with an additional $6,500 a year?

Next week, I'll talk about some of the programs out there to help ensure our workforce is able to meet the demands of this changing economy. Until then, let's talk about it!

Small Business Development -- an Alternative to Industrial Development

Part of my job is to help develop, build, and expand Elizabethton’s economy, jobs, and tax base. One small thing I do is visit the businesses and industries who employ the most people and, often, we are asked to report employers with the highest number of employees to credit agencies and auditors to best determine the city’s economic status. Many times Snap-On, Sycamore Shoals Hospital, and Walmart make the top of the list, but what, really, are the other areas that employ a lot of people?

The United States Census Bureau help local governments by recording and tracking this type of business data for cities and counties. Based on data for Carter County from 2014, there were approximately 702 businesses and industries in the entire county. Over 77% of those businesses and industries employed less than 10 people and more than 95% employed less than 50 people! Truly, the industry that employs the most people in our community is small businesses! In the last 5 years, the largest growing number of businesses have been those which employ between 10-20 people.

Because of the lack of readily available, flat land, the cost of industrial development is extremely high here in Carter County. As I’ve mentioned before, industrial development and recruitment is not impossible, but when our citizens demand businesses that employ 100, 200, 300 people they must realize that the likelihood of finding an appropriate site is small and the cost of developing that site will result in higher taxes for existing property owners not just new businesses.

Let me pose an alternative to you, that we focus on small-business development. Sure, we must retain our existing industries and work to recruit new ones where it is feasible, but with the numbers I mentioned earlier all most all of our businesses in Carter County are small businesses and they provide many of the jobs in our community today.  Additionally, as small businesses grow, they tend to be extremely loyal to their originating community and purchase products for their businesses from other local businesses.

Small business development and tourism development go hand-in-hand. Many of the businesses that benefit from an increase in tourism are small businesses that have found a unique niche that becomes attractive to tourists. Small business development, just like tourism development, will require some investment on the part of our local governments, but it will likely be a far less expense than the development of new industrial properties. The impact of small businesses development will take longer to impact our community, but in the long run it can create a more stable, sustainable economy that will not as easily be impacted by national economic trends.

Do you think small business development is a good way forward? What else should we as a community and as a local government be doing to encourage small business development? Let’s talk about it!

Express Your Politics, But Keep It Legal

It’s that season again! No, not for football, campfires, or pumpkin spice lattes, but time for politics and elections (although football, campfires, and pumpkin spice lattes sound like a much better deal)! While elections can often be boring and fraught with conflict, many people choose to participate and show their support for a particular candidate for a certain office. While there is certainly nothing wrong with this, yard signs promoting a certain candidate can often become unsightly and clutter the community landscape. Last year, the City of Elizabethton revised our sign regulations including the regulations for political signs.

In order to ensure that you enjoy your first amendment rights to political speech, the Regional Planning Commission and City Council have placed some simple regulations to ensure that political signs do not visually pollute neighborhoods and do not interfere with driver’s safety.

Sign Size. Political signs are permitted in both residential and non-residential zones in the city. Sign located within residential zones must be no bigger than 4 square feet (2 feet by 2 feet) and signs located in non-residential zones must be no bigger than 32 square feet (approximately 5 feet by 6 feet). If you are unsure of the zone your property is located in, visits our website, www.Elizabethton.org, or give us a call at 542-1503 to find out. Under no circumstances are political signs allowed to be placed on public property including parks, street medians, trucks parked in public parking lots, or other governmental property. If you are unsure who owns the property, find out before placing a sign.

Sign Locations. Political signs must be placed on your property and not in the public right-of-way or near intersections which can block sight distances. Signs smaller than 4 square feet should be placed on the house side of sidewalks or power line poles. If your property has neither nearby, you should observe a minimum 5 foot setback from the edge of the stone/pavement of the road. Signs larger than 4 square feet should be place at least 5 feet on the building side from sidewalks or power line poles and 10 feet from the edge of the stone/pavement of the road if sidewalks or power line poles are not near you.

Also keep in mind that you may only have one political sign per candidate per each piece of property or parcel. Please keep these regulations in mind when you participate in helping to elect your candidate. Violations of these regulations could result in city staff removing the sign or a citation to City Court.

Don’t forget early voting starts October 19th and keep in mind that there is more than just a presidential candidate to vote for this year – a Congressman seat, a State Representative seat, 3 City Councilman seats, 3 School Board Members seats, and a City Judge seat. Go vote. Let’s talk about it!

Acceptable Political Sign Locations for Signs Under 4 square feet.

Community Pride Starts With Citizens

I have many people visit my office with some really great ideas. Ideas that could truly improve our community, make it more pleasant to live in, and make it more attractive to visitors. The reality is, city government staff are very busy simply maintaining and operating the city as it exists and often do not have the time to dedicate to the implementation of a great, new idea. Don’t get me wrong, it’s certainly not that we don’t want to or that we think the idea is bad, but rather that we currently do not have the time available to dedicate to such an idea or project. Believe it or not, but our local city government is extremely lean when it comes to human capital. This is where you come in.

Many cities all over the country are made better and improved not by its local government, but by the involvement and participation of its local citizens. Locally, the Blue Plum Festival and the new Little Chicago Festival are operated by the Johnson City Development Authority and the Downtown Business Association, respectively, not the city. Yes, the city supports it, but they do not find the sponsors, recruit the bands, and plan the event.

Here in Elizabethton, the Downtown Business Association (DBA) is wanting to improve the walkways in downtown. They have approved a plan, received the blessing of the City Council to improve the city property, and are working to raise the funds necessary for the project. While the city is supportive, it is the DBA who is moving the project forward. The same is true with the banners and planters in downtown; the DBA maintains and improves them because they see a need and have a desire to improve the downtown.

The Women’s Civic Club is another example. They saw and need and a way they could help the community so they installed a fountain in Covered Bridge Park and maintain the fountain annually. They also wanted to help improve the looks of the entrance into the city and worked with city staff to purchase and install new entrance signage at the Golf Course. Again, the city supported the effort, but it was local citizens who saw a need and took it upon themselves to come to the city and say, “Here’s what we want to do.”

The Bonnie Kate theater and Carter County Proud are other examples of local citizens taking it upon themselves with the blessing of the city to help improve our community.

About two months ago I was approached by a lady who stopped in my office to check if there were any underground lines between the road and the sidewalk in front of her house. When I questioned more about her inquiry, she told me, “I feel like we need more trees along this street like some of the other neighborhoods in Elizabethton do, so I’m going to plant some trees in front of my house.” She went to Lowe’s, bought a few trees, and helped do her part to make the change she wanted to see in her neighborhood and in Elizabethton.

If you have an idea or something you would like to see in Elizabethton, do it! Come talk with our City Manager, another city staff person, or come before City Council with your idea, get the blessing of the city to move forward, get a group together, and make the change you want to see in Elizabethton. It can be something as small as planting a few trees in your front yard or a park or as big as a new festival for our city. It takes citizens like you to shape and mold our community into what it is today, not solely city government. Ask yourself, what do I want my city to be, then take the first step and do it. Let’s talk about it!

The Status of Affordable Housing in Elizabethton

Housing is something everyone needs. Rich or poor, employed or unemployed, single or married, we all need some type of housing. In Elizabethton, housing takes two main forms – apartments and detached single-family homes. One is renter-occupied and the other is commonly owner-occupied. Either of these types can be analyzed to determine if they are affordable for the people who live in Elizabethton or not.

To determine whether the housing is affordable or not, we use the 30 percent rule. This rule states that no more than 30 percent of your income should be dedicated towards your housing expenses. This rule is typically used in personal finance budgeting. It is also defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Because the U.S. Census Bureau tracks aggregated household income as well as housing expenses (mortgage and rents), planners can use this data to determine the approximate affordability of housing in a community.

Let’s start by looking at owner-occupied units in Elizabethton. Approximately 53 percent of all of the people who own their home have a mortgage while 47 percent own their home without a mortgage. Because a mortgage can have such a large impact on a family budget I want to look at these groups separately. When it comes to affordability of homes without a mortgage, we are doing pretty good. Just over 91 percent of these households can easily afford their own home. This story changes, however, when we look at those with mortgages. Just over 1/3rd or 33 percent of the households do not live in a home where their home expenses are less than 30 percent of their household income.

Looking at renter-occupied units this number gets a little worse. 43 percent (almost half) of all renter-occupied units, including apartments, condos, and single-family homes, pay more than 30 percent of their household income in rental expenditures. This is quite alarming! This data then begs the question, what do we do about it or, maybe, should we do anything about it?

Elizabethton, in the history of the city Planning Department, has never had any types of regulations on providing housing for a specific type of family or income level. The free-market has been allowed to work in Elizabethton – if there was demand, the apartments or housing subdivisions were built. So when almost half of the renters in the city and over 1/3rd of the homeowners with a mortgage live in housing that is not affordable, is it time for the city to step in? Some cities have done this and require certain numbers of affordable units in each development. Others have not and claim they will never interfere with the local housing market. What do you think? Which side of the table should Elizabethton land on this topic? Let’s talk about it!