Busby Outlines Development Goals - Local Business Owners Will Bring the Biggest Impact

August 8, 2017

Matt Williamson - Enterprise Journal

Busby’s speech to the McComb Exchange Club covered a lot of topics, but perhaps the one that resonated the most is her belief that mega-factories sitting on mega-sites aren’t going to come in and save Pike County’s economy.

If anything, Pike Countians have more of a role in determining the area’s economic destiny.

Growing existing businesses and attracting new  businesses that complement the local work force and take advantage of its interstate and rail connectivity are a more realistic goal, she said.

“Sixty-three percent of economic development in Mississippi in 2015-16 was based on expansion, not new businesses,” she said.

The man behind one example of that was Exchange Club member John Westbrook, the owner of Gigantic Bag and J&D Warehouse.

He opened the plastics plant and a warehousing operation in unoccupied industrial space in Summit about a year ago and has been growing clientele and payrolls ever since.

“We employ 33 right now,” Westbrook said.

Busby said workforce capability is the top priority for businesses looking to move into a new area, and with that, she’s looking at getting ACT Work Ready Community certification for Pike, Amite, Walthall and Wilkinson counties. The program gives a snapshot of the local workforce’s competency in math, graphic literacy and other factors.

“I can tell (prospective employers) that we have an educated workforce all day long, but I can show them that we have an educated workforce” with the certification, she said.

Busby’s goal is to bring in good-paying, head-of-household jobs, which she believes will make a more meaningful impact on the economy, but she acknowledged that’s only going to happen if the workforce is capable of meeting the demands of employers.

“I would rather bring 25 high-paying jobs than 250 low-paying jobs,” she said. “It’s about improving the well-being and quality of life for everyone living here, too.”

The type of jobs that do come can go a long way in creating indirect jobs, she said.

Busby said job market experts claim the addition of 100 service jobs will create 23 indirect jobs, while 100 new manufacturing jobs can lead to 79 others.

Busby said residents and officials can do a lot for the economic development effort by talking up the area, taking care of their properties and taking action against blight.

If someone has a negative perception of the area, then “you want to change the perception that people have of you, but we also want to work on the perception of our community from the inside,” she said. “That’s where I need everyone’s help.”

Busby, a Pike County native, said that when traveling through the state she meets a lot of people who have connections to that area and they tend to speak favorably of it.

She noted that land development is a big part of her job as well, and said Gateway was a good investment, even if it takes time to grow. Without it, Pike County is already knocked out of consideration for most projects, she said.

“When you have people come to town and you don’t have anything to show them, you’re cutting yourself out of a project immediately,” Busby said, adding that businesses “don’t want to wait two years for you to clear land and trees.”

While Pike County has new industrial park land, there’s a dearth of existing industrial facilities like the ones Westbrook moved into.

“We don’t have a lot of those buildings anymore so we have to talk about building new ones or acquiring more,” Busby said.

Overall, Busby said Pike County is in good shape.

“Our unemployment rate for Pike County is the lowest it’s been since 2001. ... With the oil and gas market where it is for it to go down to 5 percent in the past couple of years, that’s great,” she said.

Westbrook said the work the economic development district does for new businesses can be essential to seeing them open at all.

“I thank their department and everything Jill has done on Day 1 for this,” he said, adding that the office helped gather information on tax credits, infrastructure and other issues.

“I really give y’all credit and thank economic development because you all have done an outstanding job,” he said.

Doing the research and legwork for businesses looking to grow here is just part of the job, Busby said.

“I try to jump through all of those hoops for them,” she said.