By LEON HUMPHREY
CARTER COUNTY MAYOR
I am so excited that October is finally here! With the arrival of October, we will start seeing changes for the better in the County. Changes never seen before. During the October 16th County Commission Meeting, Carter County will officially receive its new Tourism Asset Inventory and Master Plan. This is the result of an application submitted by Tourism Coordinator Kayla Carter to the Tennessee Department of Tourism for a Tourism Enhancement Grant. Mary Blair, Project Manager with DesignSensory, will be presenting during the meeting a video and report for Carter County, the Tourism Council and Chamber to use to promote Carter County and Tourism. It takes everyone in the County to get the word out! Our Citizens and Visitors are some of our greatest spokesmen and women. Spread the word!
Carter County will also receive its Marketing Promotion Support Corporate Attraction Video and Website. This is the result of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD) Grant Award that my office applied for and won earlier in the year. The video and website will be awarded to the County during the Governor’s Conference on Economic and Community Development in late October. The Video and Website will be presented during the month of November to the Citizens during a series of Town Hall Meetings that I will be conducting and during the County Commission Meeting.
My office of Economic and Community Development is also working on several grant applications that will be applied for in the October — December timeframe. These applications focus on out-of-the-box thinking and collaboration with many key stakeholders not only in the county, but in the cities as well, removing barriers and focusing on “all” citizens and businesses within our County borders. It takes everyone, regardless of City or County designations, to bring about changes for the better. Some of the grants that we will be applying for include the TNECD Site Selection Grant, Broadband Ready Community Certification, and the Work Based Learning Grant. My office will also be applying for the Courthouse Security Improvement Grant on behalf of Chancellor Rambo, our many Judges and Sheriff’s office to request support for a Single Point of Entry Project and Security Enhancement Plan. My office also has several meetings scheduled with Broadband Service Providers and Hotel Developers and Investors during the month of October. I hope to have good news to report on these opportunities and many other projects in the near future.
October is Manufacturing Month. Please join me in recognizing and thanking all of the manufacturers and workers who call Carter County home or who commute to Carter County to work. Many of the products these incredible manufacturers produce is distributed worldwide. These manufacturers are the lifeblood of Carter County and we are so blessed that they chose to setup their operations here and provide employment to our citizens. Carter County and the Northeast Tennessee Regional Economic Partnership (NeTREP) will be honoring Carter County’s businesses, along with Unicoi’s and Washington County’s, during their Annual Business Awards Event that will be held in late October. NeTREP will be communicating more details about the Event in the coming weeks.
The Mayor’s Office of Economic and Community Development is working hard to help Carter County grow and change for the better. Our population is down by 1,000 people since the 2010 census. We all have to do everything we can to change that trend and attract more businesses and residents to Carter County. There is an old saying, “time and tide wait for no man.” It is critical that we all work together to help each other grow our County and help ensure that our generation and future generations don’t have to leave the area to find good paying jobs like so many of our children have had to do in the past. If we work together and work hard to focus on what is important, supporting and helping each other, our hard work will bring even more success which is what our citizens and families deserve!
For the latest updates and breaking news announcements from my office, please see the County Home Page Latest News section on the internet at www.cartercountytn.gov . Great things are happening in Carter County.
Please feel free to contact me at mayor@cartercountytn.gov or by phone at 423-542-1801 if you have any questions or if I can be of assistance to you. My office is located at 801 East Elk Avenue, Suite 201 located in the County Courthouse in Elizabethton. I have an open-door policy and everyone is always welcome.