MOULTRIE – The Moultrie-Colquitt County Development Authority is an entity that most residents in Colquitt County seem to know very little about or nothing at all.
The MCCDA was established in 1960 through an amendment to the Georgia Constitution and is governed by locally appointed board members. The board members are appointed by both the City of Moultrie and Colquitt County.
The MCCDA’s board includes Ross Dekle, who’s the chairman, Cole Posey, Susie Magwood-Thomas and Greg Yarbrough, all appointed by the City, and Jeb Griffin, David Herndon, John Mark Mobley III, and Joh Schwalls, all appointed by the County. The board itself appoints three members, currently Dan Jeter, Lee Brooks and Briley Edwards.
New MCCDA president Amy Johnson said, “The folks that are sitting on this board want to see growth and want to see development in a positive way. … And I believe that this going to be a working board. They want to be involved and who wouldn’t want to be involved when the community has positive things going on.”
She said the board includes a range of community leaders and that each member brings something different to the table.
“Some are in the industrial and manufacturing area, which is fantastic. Some are local business men and some are bankers. … They volunteer their time because they want to see great things happen here. I can promise you, I want to see the same thing,” she also said.
According to the authority’s website, key areas of focus for the entity are business retention and expansion, community marketing and attraction, entrepreneur and small business development, commercial real estate development, workforce growth and long-range community planning.
Johnson said that what she found, when she first started in her position as president, was that there were many organizations out there that would help the MCCDA in achieving its goals. She said the Georgia Department of Economic Development had already contacted her and said, “I need to connect you with A,B,C. Here’s what we can do to help you.”
She said that there were other leaders in Georgia that are willing to help, including Electric Cities of Georgia, Georgia Power and EMC.
“And all of those players will come together and not only help us, but those are the folks that will help promote us, as well,” she said.
She said that the State also bring projects to her and the board when a business is looking to locate in Georgia.
“There are so many things that these partners can offer us to help us and to put in our toolbox for economic development purposes,” she said.
Johnson said that Area Development Magazine named Georgia the number one “business-friendly” state for ten straight years.
“There’s a lot of incentives on the state level that are beneficial to expansions or businesses moving to our area. There are businesses that look to leave where they are and look to Georgia and they will turn to our partners and our partners will find the community that best fits that business’ need. And we want to make a great showing for Moultrie and Colquitt County. So, it’s important for us to let our partners know that we’re ready for business here,” she said.
Johnson said that she is already working with the State and the other entities that she mentioned above and she said, that they were excited to work with the MCCDA.
She said that the development projects didn’t happen overnight, however, and there could be some projects that the State or other partners bring to the authority that just don’t pan out.
“So, that’s a possibility, too. When you do start working with a project, a lot of times it does take months,” she said.
There are many things involved with bringing a project to fruition, Johnson said, and likened it to making a cake.
“You’ve got to have a lot of ingredients to make it good. We have to make sure that we have all the ingredients to go in the cake and I think we’re pretty well-suited for that. I only see us getting better,” she said.