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County sees spike in number of industrial prospects despite downturn in U.S. economy By JOHN
MUNFORD
America's overall economic outlook might not be so rosy, but local economic developers have seen a spike in industrial prospects comparing activity so far this fiscal year to the previous year. Chris Clark, president and CEO of the Fayette County Development Authority, said that 155 industrial prospects have been recorded in the first half of this fiscal year, compared to 97 for the entire previous fiscal year. He shared this information with the Peachtree City Council at its regular meeting last week. The authority has also hosted 24 state and national project managers in the first six months of this fiscal year compared to 32 the previous year, Clark added. One large factor in the increased prospect numbers is that the authority has generated more in-house prospects while still relying on referrals from other economic development entities such as state agencies, Georgia Power and Georgia EMC. "We're looking for prospects that can grow," who don't necessarily come as referrals from those groups, Clark said. He gave the example of a business that pulls in $60 million in annual revenues from the United Kingdom that will relocate its two employees locally. "They're going to grow and add good, high-paying jobs," Clark said, adding that the initiative shows the authority "is much more proactive than we have been in the past." The authority is also using a consultant to reach into the Asian markets for prospects. Another key number, representing the amount of new jobs created (which doesn't count layoffs) is at 248 for the past six months compared to 290 total for the previous year, Clark added. Still, there were 305 layoffs this year and Clark said he thought that was a challenge the authority would continue to battle. But the authority is working hard to help existing industry in addition to recruiting new industry to Fayette County, Clark added. And they're being pretty picky about which industry can come here to protect Fayette's quality of life, Clark said.
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