BY LEON HUMPHREY
CARTER COUNTY MAYOR
This week marks a very important milestone for Carter County, its economic future and prosperity. As I have shared with you before, the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Community Development applied for a Competitive Marketing Assistance Grant earlier this year offered by the State of Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD). The focus of the application and actual award was Corporate Attraction to help bring more employers and jobs to Carter County which we all know is desperately needed. The State awarded the grant to Carter County in February. My staff and I have been working with DesignSensory who the State hired to develop a new marketing video and website for Carter County. I am very pleased to report that footage from the new video was officially debuted at the Governor’s Conference in Gatlinburg on Thursday, Oct. 26.
It is with great pleasure and deep gratitude to the State of Tennessee and DesignSensory that I would like to introduce the new website and video to you. For those of you with Internet access, please go to www.cartercountyecd.com to view the new website and video. DesignSensory provided all the grant recipients with initial content with the intent that each of the counties would be able to constantly make their own changes to their websites to help keep the content updated and current. We should receive the editor access in the next few weeks or so.
As you know, Carter County is considered a Tier 4 “At Risk” County with 10 Distressed Areas, according to the Appalachian Regional Commission. During the Governor’s Conference, they shared with the attendees from across the State that one of the TNECD’s goals is to work hard to eliminate all Tier 4 County statuses by helping to improve their economic situations moving all Tier 4’s, like Carter County, to Tier 3’s or higher. I am extremely pleased to hear the State’s commitment to helping improve Carter County’s economy and look forward to partnering with them further on Corporate and Tourist Attraction and many other projects.
During the Governor’s Conference, I learned a great deal about other projects the State is working on and received some very good news about a couple of our other grant applications that we look forward to sharing with you in November after the State makes their formal announcement. Ms. Susan Robinson, as the County’s grant writer and Director for the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Community Development, has been very busy and extremely successful applying for grants for Carter County. Grants that are producing considerable benefits for our county, citizens and businesses.
There is also one new development that I would like to share with you at this time. The Elizabethton Star notified all elected officials in Carter County that effective November 17, 2017 due to the official kickoff of the 2018 Campaign Season we no longer will be able to share editorial comments with you. Consequently, my last “From the Mayor’s Desk” article will be published on Sunday, November 12. However, the Star sees the benefit of allowing Ms. Robinson to share with you weekly updates on Economic and Community Development information from the County just as Jon Hartman provides each week for the City of Elizabethton. I am truly grateful to the Elizabethton Star for helping us continue to get the word out about all the great things happening in Carter County. Ms. Robinson, like Mr. Hartman, is not an elected official. Her new column will begin next week. She will provide regular ECD information and progress updates on her efforts to help Carter County grow. Ms. Robinson, Mr. Hartman and Ms. Kayla Carter have been working together on several projects and in conjunction Mr. Mitch Miller and his staff with the Northeast Tennessee Regional Economic Partnership(NeTREP). These collaborative ECD efforts are benefiting not only Carter County but the region which is very exciting to see.
In closing this week, I will leave you with a hint of something else great to come for Carter County. During the upcoming Mayor’s Office Town Hall Meetings scheduled for November and December in each of the districts, I will be sharing with you not only my office’s Progress Report and Plans for the future but I will also be sharing with you information on the new Carter County and Johnson County Mayoral Economic and Community Development Alliance. While great things are happening as a result of our participation as a member of NeTREP and as we are part of the Johnson City MSA, Carter and Johnson share a beautiful lake, rivers and mountains and will be working together to maximize our combined assets to their full potential, helping each other and our citizens. Working together collaborating with other counties and the state, citizens, businesses and elected officials, we can make great things happen for us all and our region.
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.