The success of the Rome-Floyd Development Authority will be easy to measure, according to its incoming president and CEO, Robert Spencer Hogg.
“Our job is to raise the standard of living for everyone in this community by bringing in good jobs and businesses,” Hogg said, “and by helping our existing businesses thrive and expand.”
Hogg is stepping into a role most recently occupied by Missy Kendrick, who saw investment in Rome and Floyd County increase sharply during her tenure.
He’ll also be working with an experienced development authority team, specifically Project Manager Heather Seckman, Project Director JR Davis, and Project Coordinator Mary Grace Selman.
“According to the Southern Economic Development Council, Rome saw a 3.9% real employment growth in June year-on-year,” Hogg said. “That’s good for No. 2 in the southeast, after Myrtle Beach and ahead of Charleston.”
When marketing Rome and Floyd County to potential new businesses, Hogg stated that it’s essential to be strategic in identifying the types of businesses to approach and the types of jobs they bring.
At the same time, his priority is ensuring that the businesses already here receive the support they need.
“Our first responsibility is making sure that existing employers have what they need to thrive and grow,” Hogg said, “because their success is the best way to bring in new employers. Because word travels that says Rome is open for business.”
It’s also important to look for new employers that bring the right type of jobs, according to Hogg.
“We want high-skilled and high-wage jobs for Rome and Floyd County,” he said, “and we need to be strategic with who we talk to.”
The authority markets commercial properties in Rome and Floyd County in an effort to bring business and jobs. The authority also makes investments to purchase properties and prepare them to resell for quick occupancy.
There are several key projects that the authority is actively marketing now. One is the 200-acre Enterprise Corner site on Cartersville Highway at Bass Ferry Road. Another is the 130-acre Battey Business Complex in Rome.
The team is also involved with reconditioning existing properties, specifically brownfield sites, by applying for state and federal grants to clean up contamination and, hopefully, repurpose them.
There are several brownfield sites in Rome and Floyd County, including the former O’Neill Manufacturing site on Anderson Street in North Rome. An application for a grant to address hazardous materials left on the site didn’t make the cut this year.
“The $500,000 grant would have helped us identify and mitigate the brownfields,” Authority Board Chair Jimmy Byars said recently.
He noted that the authority can’t take on the financial liability for cleaning up the property. There are at least two 500-gallon containers of Wood Life, a wood preservative known to contain significant amounts of the probable carcinogen pentachlorophenol, which was used when the plant was operating.
Hogg was a political science major at the University of Georgia and has government affairs experience from working with the offices of former congressmen Tom Graves and Jody Hice.
He started at the Northwest Georgia Joint Development Authority as a project manager and worked his way up the ladder until he was named president and CEO.
“Economic development is obviously a long game,” Hogg said. “Some of these developments have been in the works for a decade, or longer, but our name speaks for itself.”