Two supervisors oppose hiring development director
By Hilary Craig
Dissenters on the Rockbridge County Board of Supervisors don’t think the Rockbridge Partnership should continue to exist.
Supervisor Monty Fix said that the economic development agency, which serves the county and Lexington, has not contributed much to the county. Buena Vista pulled out of the partnership last year after rejecting a MeadWestvaco distribution facility that the partnership had sought to bring to an industrial park there.
“It may be the time to go out on our own,” Fix said.
On Oct. 9 the supervisors failed to approve moving forward with advertising for a new executive director for the partnership. The county and city have been without an economic development official since former Director David Kleppinger resigned in July.
Supervisor Mack Smith moved to reject the partnership’s recommendations for the advertisement and instead proposed that the county hire its own economic development director. In a 2-2 vote, Smith and Fix voted to break up the partnership. The fifth member of the board, Maynard Reynolds, was absent. Because of the tie, the motion will have to be reconsidered at the next supervisors meeting Monday.
The problem, Fix said, is that while surrounding counties’ economies are booming, Rockbridge County has not seen much economic activity.
“Rockbridge County needs a person of its own to find out why in the past four years we haven’t brought a lot to the area,” said Fix. “I want to be sure that this person is going to get out there and find out why nobody is even looking at our county.”
The two other board members present, Harvey Hotinger and Carroll Comstock, disagreed. They emphasized that one person is sufficient to do the job for Lexington, Buena Vista and the county. Comstock called hiring separate economic directors inefficient and unnecessary.
“There is not enough activity for an economic developer for the county and the cities,” said Comstock. “If Lexington has to hire one, we get into the real inefficiency of paying three people for a job one person can do. Kleppinger proved that one person could do it.”
Hotinger agreed with Comstock that the current economic development system is the most beneficial because of the small size of Lexington and Rockbridge County.
“If we were a huge place like Roanoke I could see it,” said Hotinger. “After all, how much growth do we have around the area? We’re not a northern industrial county.”
The primary disadvantage of having a separate economic developer for the city and county is the cost. Right now, Lexington pays for 25 percent of the close-to-$200,000 budget for the economic development office. If the county decided to hire its own developer, its costs would increase by approximately $50,000.
While the idea of separating the county and city for economic development has been talked about for a while, Kleppinger’s recent departure has made it what Fix called a golden opportunity. It is hard for an economic developer to fairly represent everybody, he said.
Fix said he is particularly concerned about the burden placed on residents by a lack of economic development.
“We need someone to get businesses that provide tax revenue,” he said. “If we don’t find some help with [the] tax base, we will just be taxing our people to death.”
Area not business-friendly, Kleppinger says
The Rockbridge Partnership
Produced by Washington and Lee journalism students.
Lead supervisor: Prof. Brian Richardson
Reporting supervisors:
Technical supervisor: Michael Todd