“It’s a very diverse county with five distinct municipalities,” Flanagan said. “But if we don’t think in a unified way, we will miss opportunities.”
Flanagan said despite the gloomy national economic forecast, things are actually on the upswing in DeSoto County.
In fact, the year 2011 did not turn out act badly for the state’s fastest growing county as other areas.
“As it turns out it was one of our best years,” Flanagan said.
Flanagan cited more than $300 million in capital investment in the county and at least 25 industrial and business expansions.
“Last year, we also sought to take our county to Jackson and Washington, D.C. and present our challenges and opportunities,” Flanagan said. “We’re working on about 23 active industrial prospects.”
Flanagan pointed to what he was is an “uptick in manufacturing” nationally which is aiding re-locations and expansions in DeSoto County.
Countries in which goods were formerly outsourced have raised their wages to the extent there is some “re-shoring” going on, or companies which are bridging manufacturing operations back to the nation’s shores.
“We are beginning to see a reshore movement due to a variety of things, including a lesser quality of goods and services being produced by outsourcing,” Flanagan said.
Flanagan said there are presently at least seven pending industrial expansions.
He said thanks to efforts by the DeSoto County Greenways program and its coordinator Larry Jarrett, corporate entities are increasingly finding the quality of life in DeSoto County attractive.
Joint efforts between the DeSoto County school system, Northwest Mississippi Community College, the WIN Jobs Center and other agencies to improve area job skills are paying off.
“We are preparing our workforce at an earlier age,” Flanagan said.
Flanagan said efforts are under way to protect the county’s railroad network which benefits industries like Newlywed Foods in Horn Lake, which built a rail spur to help with export of their products.
“We’ve got to ensure that the Grenada Railway from Madison to DeSoto County is preserved,” Flanagan said. “If we take our eyes off the ball for making sure our infrastructure is in place we’ll miss opportunities.”
Having a state-of-the-art sewer system, especially to the western part of the county will also open up new opportunities with DeSoto County’s undeveloped port on the Mississippi River.
“Having a sewer system is critical to economic development,” Flanagan said.
Flanagan said he believes DeSoto County will emerge stronger than ever before as the economy continues to improve.
“I believe we are on our way back up again,” Flanagan said.
Source Article from http://www.desototimes.com/articles/2012/06/14/news/doc4fd9323885e30101243544.txt
