Godwin: ADP had 'productive' year
BYLINE: Reuben Mees rmees@hattiesburgamerican.com
American Staff Writer
Area Development Partnership President Angie Godwin – like all ADP staff members – has a bucket that is partially filled with candy, notes and miscellaneous items at her desk.
How full it is measures how happy and successful she and the organization are.
Some days, such as the day she learned Dickten & Masch would be closing its plastics plant at the Hattiesburg-Forrest County Industrial Park, she wants to kick that bucket and start over.
But other days – like the day the ADP closed the deal to sell its speculative building to Safeguard Steel Homes, a steel-framing company that will create 75 jobs – the bucket is nearly overflowing.
"We serve a broad constituency with many needs, so some days it seems there is more dipping out of the bucket than going in," she said. "Even though we have a lot of demands we want to do a good job representing all these groups."
While the year has had its highs and lows as far as industrial recruitment goes, Godwin said Friday during the ADP's annual meeting that it has been a very productive year in other areas such as improving quality of life issues that are a key factor in locking businesses into locating in Hattiesburg.
Among some of the highlights, the ADP has showed the city 84 times to 53 companies who represent 2,710 potential jobs and a possible investment of nearly $250 million, Godwin said.
The ADP has also completed a medical study that shows Hattiesburg has nearly four times the number of physicians per capita as the national average, kicked off the first annual South Mississippi Arts Heritage Festival and begun a yearlong swan-themed series of cultural events that will stretch through 2007.
"It's really about a 360-degree view of economic development," she said. "It's not just job creation but wealth creation.
"In the 11th hour, when it's you and another city competing for a business, and the wife of the CEO gets on an airplane to come here, it's about quality of life," Godwin said. "When you have a strong workforce and you want to retain them, it's about quality of life."
Holt McMullan, president of Trustmark Bank, was elected to replace Frank McWhorter of Nicholson and Co. as chairman of the board of directors for 2007.
While quality of life will continue to be a driving factor, McMullan said unveiling and beginning to implement the metropolitan strategic plan that began just days after Hurricane Katrina will be one of the major hallmarks of his term.
"The metropolitan plan is a long-term look at what this area needs to do," he said. "It's not going to sit on a shelf; it's the ADP's directed effort to improve transportation and infrastructure. It won't be just my year but for many years to come."
He said that document, which is being created by a $200,000-plus contract with the Johnson Bailey Henderson McNeel consulting firm, should be released in the first quarter of 2007 and ADP officials will begin working to make its suggestions for the Pine Belt a reality.
Nate Bender, who retired to the Hattiesburg area from Cleveland, Ohio, in 2004 and attended his first ADP meeting Friday, said he was encouraged by the agency's direction.
"In the past two years, we've had an incredible amount of development," he said. "I was part of an organization like this in Cleveland and they seemed to be overloaded, but here it seems they are able to successfully manage a lot of programs and opportunities for growing business."
ADP lists year's highlights
Year's highlights:
* Business tours: ADP showed the city 84 times to 53 companies who represent 2,710 potential jobs and a possible investment of nearly $250 million
* Membership: 129 new members joined the ADP for a total membership of 1,137
* New businesses: 43 ribbon-cutting and three groundbreaking ceremonies
* Partnership for a Better Tomorrow: 49 companies have pledged $1.43 million toward the ADP's five-year goal of $2 million
* BearingPoint: The global business officially opened its software development center and began ramping up to expected employment levels of nearly 250 people
* Safeguard Steel Homes: The steel-framing company announced plans to invest $3.6 million in the speculative building that will be home to 75 employees
* Medical study: A recent ADP study shows the area has four times the number of doctors per capita as the national average and the area's medical community fuels $532 million, or 17 percent, of the local economy
* South Mississippi Arts Heritage Festival: ADP consolidated two previous festivals into one downtown event that was geared toward Mississippi artisans and musicians
* Pick-up the Pinebelt: Nearly 20 tons of garbage were cleaned from the area's roadways in the anti-litter campaign
* Festival of Swans: 2007 will be marked by swan-themed cultural events and large decorated swans throughout the city
* Metropolitan plan: A $200,000-plus contract to complete a metropolitan plan that began after Hurricane Katrina will be finalized in the early part of 2007
Low point:
* Dickten-Masch: The plastics company announced plans to close its Hattiesburg plant that employed about 110 people
Source: Area
Development Partnership