Rome needs faces and spaces
♦ Available workforce and affordable housing are key issues for job recruiters.
Workforce development and housing issues provided the fodder for discussion at the Tuesday morning meeting of the Rome Floyd County Development Authority. Both issues came up earlier this month as potential impediments to recruitment during a meeting with Georgia Power leaders and an executive with the Georgia Department of Economic Development.
Heather Seckman, the project manager within the new RomeFloyd economic development office, said the potential workforce numbers — residents between the ages of 16 and 65 — are very low all across the region. She also said that available, affordable housing is not just an issue in Rome, but is a challenge facing communities all over the Southeast.
New Development Authority President Missy Kendrick said the two issues are tied hand-in-hand and are going to have to be addressed.
“There is no magic bullet at this point. The economy is so good right now there aren’t many available workers,” Kendrick said. “Once you end up getting some great employees you’ve got to have a place for them to live.” Chairman Jimmy Byars, who was re-appointed to the authority and then re-elected to serve another year as chairman, said the housing situation applies not only to purchasers but to renters.
“There is also a shortage of rentals in the $750 to $950 range. We need that middle market and it’s hard to get it built for that,” Byars said.
The panel will find out later this month if Mark White, Fairbanks Co. vice president and general manager, will be re-appointed to one of the four Constitutional seats on the authority as chairman of the Greater Rome Existing Industries Association.
During the marketing report, Seckman said she and Kendrick attended the Southern Economic Development Council meetings in New Orleans and spent a lot of time making sure everyone knew about the change in the recruiting team in Rome. Kendrick said that activity remains strong.
Kendrick said she is working on a budget for her office with auditor Kirk Jarrett and treasurer Doc Kibler. A detailed budget would be ready to send on to city and county commissioners by their first meeting in October.
“We’re tweaking those numbers right now,” Kendrick said. The by-laws of the authority now require the city and county give their approval to the budget no later than their first meetings during the month of December each year.