ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Jones County native Haley Watson was named full-time executive director of The Development Authority of Jones County just in time to manage a large prospect looking at Griswoldville Industrial Park.
The decision came in July after the Jones County Board of Commissioners voted to increase the budget allocation for the authority for the purpose of hiring its first fulltime director.
Watson began working with the authority in 2016 through her position with the Chamber of Commerce, which has long held a mutual assistance agreement with DAJC for administrative functions.
She took her first economic development course with UGA’s Carl Vinson Institute in 2017 and worked with consultant Pat Topping in 2019, leading to Watson being hired as a parttime executive director that October.
The authority began working on Georgia Ready for Accelerated Development (GRAD) under the leadership of Bill Matthews, and Watson continued that effort, securing Phase I and II Historical and Archaeological testing on the site.
She then began negotiating with the Army Corps of Engineers on mitigating wetlands in the industrial park for the construction of a rail spur.
The vote to hire Watson July 28 was a unanimous decision of board members present, including Chairman Laura Rackley, Mickey Parker, Treasurer Dottie Walker, Alan Childs, Greg Mullis and Josh Lurie.
Prospect looks at Jones County
During its Sept. 1 meeting, the development authority board was informed of work on a prospect that could fulfill the vision of Griswoldville Industrial Park.
Watson announced that a company came to Jones County for a site visit and follow-up visit with some of its upper management.
“This project is a $1.5 billion investment, and it’s a two-phase project with 1,500 jobs,” she said. County engineer Tim Ingram also met with the prospect and came up with some site plans that were presented to the board.
“We met with the officials who said they needed five million square feet,” he said. “The actual size is 12.5 million square feet. They’re supposed to send us a CAD drawing of the actual layout.”
Ingram said all the site work the authority has done has been sent to the prospect for review.
Watson said, after all of that information is reviewed, she should get a follow-up call from the state project manager to gauge the company’s interest in Jones County.
Timber plan
Board member T.J. Heath said clear cutting part of the site has been good for the park because downtown Macon is visible.
“Some of that stuff has started to grow back,” he said. “We looked at every so many years, it needs to be sprayed so it doesn’t look like a jungle. While we were at the park, the prospect looked back toward where the building would sit and asked what was behind there. It’s just pine trees. You really can’t see 50 feet.”
The cost would be expensive at $67,000 to spray it, and one option to pay for it would be to thin trees where they need to be thinned.
“That gives us enough money to spray to maintain it and maybe even put a little money back,” he said. “We could clear cut, but the timber is growing at a 6-7% rate of return. If we thin it out, you’ll at least be able to see across it.”
Parker asked if the authority could wait on the spraying until money begins to flow from thinning the trees.
Heath said it could take up to a year from signing the agreement until they actually go and cut the trees.
Parker made a motion to approve the timber portion of the proposal with James M. McKenstry Co. LLC. The motion was approved unanimously without the spraying portion of the agreement.
