Comments Regarding Economic Development
Over the past few days there have been several media reports related to possible changes in Brunswick County’s approach to economic development:
As outlined in the Star-News’ article, there are some who are ready to completely change our approach to economic development by moving away from our economic development commission structure to a county department under the supervision of the county manager. I am not yet at that point.
I am in agreement that some things need to change regarding our county’s approach to economic development, but it is unwise to marry ourselves to a specific solution before we have thoroughly considered the pros and cons — and potential unintended consequences — of every available course of action. Our current economic development commission was created by the N.C. General Assembly, and if we were to move away from the commission structure we would need to thoroughly consider the legal and legislative ramifications of moving to a different approach.
It would be prudent to give the economic development commission an opportunity to make necessary changes. Additionally, I am in the process of reaching out to commissioners from other counties similar in size to Brunswick County to find out the pros and cons of their economic development structure.
Regardless of whether our economic development efforts continue being managed by a commission or eventually transition to a county department, that course of action needs to be well researched and properly planned to ensure that it is the best long-term strategy for Brunswick County.