The “Banquet Chicken” post from last week continues to draw attention. The Commercial Dispatch has requested permission to reprint it after WCBI’s Steve Rogers referenced it in a column last week. I thought it was time to talk to Link CEO Joe Max Higgins to get his take on economic development in the Triangle.
Here’s what I learned:
Joe Max is a nice enough guy. A little crude, but a straight shooter. He doesn’t seem to have the rapid hate “for all things Starkville” that he is perceived to have. He’s paid a lot of money to promote Columbus and Lowndes County and has done that very well.
As of today, he has overseen $3.6 billion in new investments into Lowndes County with an increase of 5984 jobs since 2003. He has counted 2000 jobs and $100 million from the new Columbus retail mall which may or may not happen. That still leaves $3.5 billion and almost 4000 jobs created over the past five years. That would be almost equal to building another MSU in Oktibbeha county, but without the edam cheese.
According to Higgins, when the first Lowndes megasite was in the process of being certified, West Point and Starkville were both approached about a cost-share agreement to develop the project. West Point didn’t have the resources and Starkville didn’t have much interest. Two months after the megasite was certified, SeverCorr comes into the picture. The rest has led to the numbers above.
Higgins answers to one board whereas the CEO of the GSDP answers to four. That is one of our major problems. The CEO of the LInk has one master, while the CEO of the Partnership has many. The Link also concentrates on economic development along with running their Chamber while their CVB is a separate organization not under Link control.
The Link has a much, much larger budget to work with than the GSDP. $1.2 million was the number quoted by Higgins with a war chest in reserve of a few million dollars. They have the resources to move quickly and secure deals.
When I brought up the idea of a true regional economic development team, he said his folks might have jumped at the chance 5 years ago. Now, not so much. Why should they dilute their successes when they have had so many wins without Starkville or West Point’s help?
He also said that schools in Lowndes County were getting around $6 million a year in revenues from the new industrial investments. Not only has a job and investment gap been created between them and us, but their schools are better funded because of the wealth being created in the county.
It really is worse than I thought. Columbus has succeeded beyond their wildest dreams with more on the horizon. They are funding their schools, providing good paying jobs and generally running circles around Starkville.
The tenure of Thornell was a disaster. David was probably set up to fail from the start with four boards, little funding, and no freedom to implement a plan.
It is time for the GSDP to reorganize. The CVB needs to be under the control of its own board, but it should maintain offices at the Partnership. The Chamber and OCEDA boards needs to cede control to the GSDP Executive Committee. The Executive Committee needs to be cleaned out of the people who have allowed this to happen.
It is late in the third quarter. We are down by 35 and facing fourth and eleven. I don’t have much faith in our chances to make a first down, much less win the game, at least with our current team and coaches. All the silver cowbells and crystal cups given as appeasements to the gods of economic development aren’t going to help us now. We need a new plan and a new quarterback.
If we do not make systemic changes, the new CEO of the Partnership will likely be another ineffective stuffed shirt.
Until Starkville realizes that Oktibbeha County exists, they will never move forward. It is forgotten that those of us outside the city limits usually spend our money in Starkville; yet, we are forgotten citizens when it comes to upgrading such things as the school system in the county. There is no reason for us to have a GSPD and a OCEDA. There should just be one board to promote the entire Oktibbeha County area, not just Starkville.
It’s not rocket science. A conversation with Joe Max is an eye opening experience once again proving that Starkville leadership is its own worst enemy. The inability to stop protecting individual turf has taken over in the existing generation of leadership from the previous one. Leadership doesn’t mean one does what is best for the greater good of sphere of influence. Leadership can be good and bad. We’ve suffered with bad leadership that has NO understanding of true economic development fundamentals long enough.
This Joe Max character is indeed a very good salesman – he’s got StarkvilleNow convinced there is no hope!
Yet, very good article StarkvilleNow – and kudos to the Columbus Dispatch. If I remember correctly, the SDN didn’t want to print a letter to the editor from StarkvilleNow because it was too harsh to the GSDP. How funny to look back on that now!
What can we mere citizens do? What is our call to action? Clearly the banquet chicken didn’t do much beyond rhetoric.
I meet with Joe Higgens usually once a year and I’ve heard many of the things you just mentioned. What’s interesting is just how ambitious Joe is. If he’s competing with another city for a project, he’ll get a hotel room in that city for a few days until he knows every weakness that can be leveraged to help give Columbus/Lowndes the upper hand.
That aside I wouldn’t let him convince you things are that hopeless. Remember that it’s his job to promote to businesses why they should come to Columbus instead of Starkville; and, he’s very good at it.
Thank you Robbie Black. I own 2 businesses in the county and feel like I have personally done more for the county than any other supervisor or OCEDA. Regarding schools and county services, without new industry (taxes) the only way to accomplish that is to raise our current low taxes in oktibbeha county and with a county that outlaws possesion of beer or wine for cooking or any purpose, it is a hard sell to say we are ready for any industry other than those that existed prior to prohibition.
I think what is lacking here is that no one in charge knows how to market what we have and they definitely don´t know where to market us at. What outreach have our leaders done to other markets or geographical area besides through a few random successful MSU Alumni? As far as I know the gameplan has been:
Let´s talk about making some development steps, then feel good about talking about it.
Then maybe even make a development plan and feel even better for doing that~.
Then we´re gonna let the public know that we have a plan that is a golden egg and will hatch soon.
Then we wait for the plastic easter egg painted gold to give us what we have been sold on because the University will magically produce it.
Come on. While these ´good ole boys´are laughing it up, Starkville may have very well missed its chance with the current state of our nation´s economy and credit availability.
You want a blueprint:
Get someone in touch with the dynamics of today´s markets. Get Starkville in the media through ´newer non-traditional ways´….ex internet, Google, Yahoo, Craigslist, retirement magazines, water sports sites and magazines (the tombigbee is one of the best wakeboard sites in US), tech websites, right a letter to every tech company in America, the list goes on and on. Provide statistics that show what we can offer. Not the median income level, not unemployment, not statistics influenced by underproductive or dependent individuals.
Please just do it. There is no shortage of ways to accomplish it so if you are sitting in your office and don´t know what to do next, and no one else will tell you what to do then please contact me or any public forum and I assure you with a community with so many graduate degrees, we can do it.