The message at the 15th annual Surry County Economic Development Partnership Inc. meeting Wednesday was that while the economic recovery of the county is not expected to change overnight, change is coming.Donald Kirkman, president and chief executive officer of the Piedmont Triad Partnership, was the keynote speaker for the event held at Cross Creek Country Club.Kirkman applauded the group for its efforts in the area of economic development.
“I think you have a community leadership here at the county and city levels, your civic leaders and your schools. You are all so very engaged in economic development and working together,” Kirkman said.
He said local leaders need to be realistic in their expectations for economic development.
“If you bring in 1980s or 1990s filters to this and you measure your success only by new project announcements or even project expansions, you are going to be setting yourself up for failure. You are probably not going to see the same level of activity as you did during those years. We have to think differently about job creation and investment creation. You can’t just recruit your way out a 12-percent unemployment rate, that just isn’t going to happen. So it puts a premium on existing industry retention and it puts a premium on entrepreneurism and assisting start up businesses — identifying those who have growth potential,” Kirkman said.
He said workforce development and education also are important to successful economic development.
“I know that North Carolina A&T University is working closely with you in the viticulture industry and that is the kind of partnership that I think you need to continue to pursue,” Kirkman said.
Todd Tucker, president of the Surry County EDP, thanked everyone for not only the investment of their dollars, but of the investment of their time.“Without investors we would not be able to do what we do on a daily basis. We thank you not only for your monetary investment, but for the investment of your time. The money is obviously needed, but the time is what we really like — to get you engaged in what we are doing and how we are doing it is very important to us. We really appreciate you taking the time and investing it with us and having faith in us to do the right thing,” Tucker said.
Tucker said while the road to economy recovery in Surry County is a long one, he does see change on the horizon.
“Our future is going to be very tough. It’s going to be very competitive, and I think it’s going to be a long recovery time. How are we going to maintain what we have and build on that? It’s pretty simple, it’s not magic — it’s partnerships, you can’t have too many friends,” Tucker said.
He said that keeping a good balance between recruitment and existing industries is vital to the recovery of the economy in Surry County.“We all have to work together. I think partnership and balance is how we are going to work ourselves out of this. We have already started down the path to that,” Tucker said.
“We’ve got to have patience, but we also have to work with urgency. What the partnership will be focused on is our existing industries and businesses and maintaining what they have. Secondly, we are also working with small- to medium-size businesses which are going to lead us out of this situation. Also, we will be working with entrepreneurs. We are going to put a lot of time and effort into that,” Tucker said. “I think we are moving in the right direction that’s for sure.”
He told the group that there should be a positive announcement from an existing company in the next two weeks.
Sandra Hallman, the new chairman of the board, recognized Ted Ashby for his achievements and work as past chair.“Ted has done an excellent job the past two years of leading this organization. I feel a bit remiss stepping into his shoes because he has led us through a very difficult time. The last two years have been, without a doubt, very challenging from a economic development standpoint. He led us through that with a lot of professionalism and a lot of dedication and then in his spare time, he ran a bank,” Hallman said.Hallman left the group with a word of encouragement.
“There is a lot of recovery that is coming about. And there are signs that show that is a true situation. The market is typically a leading indicator of that recovery,” Hallman said. “It’s a process not an event, so it not going to happen overnight or quickly.”
The Mount Airy News
Mondee Tilley
Surry County Economic
Development Partnership Inc. 118 Hamby Road-Suite 146 Dobson,
NC 27017 336.401.9900
