Business Appreciation Reception
The
Surry County Board of Supervisors sponsored this event,
in conjunction with the Surry County Chamber of Commerce, in appreciation
of the businesses in Surry County. It was an informative meeting in
which the Administrators Office, the Board of Supervisors, and guest
speakers outlined continued contributions towards strengthening our
local economy. The festivities were conducted at the spacious facility
of Gardens on the Rolfe and catered with an excellent buffet by Swanns
Grill from Surry.
Tyrone
Franklin, Surry County Administrator, kicked off the event
by introducing Reginald Harrison, Chairman of the Surry County Board
of Supervisors. Mr. Harrison's brief remarks set the stage for an
array of speakers who covered a variety of interesting topics that
were informative and important to the economy and lifestyles of Surry
County citizens.
Randy
Gilliland, Chairman of the Green Economic Alliance, was
first on the docket with an overview of his organization and the benefits
that will soon become available to residents and local contractors
to improve the energy efficiency of our homes. Mr. Gilliland explained
that his agency will be responsible for monitoring and assisting local
residents by identifying energy efficient projects that can be utilized
in their homes and installed by local contractors. If the project
can be proven to deliver at least 20% efficiency, the home owner will
qualify for a Federal grant from the Department of Energy. The average
homeowner can expect to achieve 30% energy efficiency by following
the guidelines of this program. The organization will also provide
training to local contractors on various techniques available, which
will stimulate economic growth by translating into new jobs. The Alliance
was formed in 2008 and will receive funding for the projects in June.
The official start date for projects will be January 2 of 2011. For
more information go to: http://www.greeneconomicalliance.org/
Renee
Chapline, Executive Director of Virginia's Gateway Region,
was our next speaker. Her organization's challenge is to determine
"how to attract jobs and investment" to the Crater District
which occupies 2,400 square miles of Virginia. Over the past four
years, their efforts have contributed 5,347 new jobs to this area.
She proudly announced the Rolls Royce plant, now under construction
in Prince George County, will be producing engines by the 3rd quarter
of next year and Fort Lee is projected to have buildings space of
15,000,000 square feet 'under roof' upon completion. Their efforts
are often directed to attracting "Big Box" retailers to
our region, which means more large grocery stores and services we
all need. Renee mentioned that when she started with Gateway they
were 100% funded by the public, but now they receive 80% of their
funds from private developers and only 20% from the public. For more
information go to: http://www.gatewayregion.com.
Peter
Su, Director of Virginia Department of Business Assistance and Assistant
Secretary of Commerce and Trade talked about the 3 areas
his department regulates to provide support for Surry:
1. Loans available to economically distressed areas.
2. The Workforce Development Program to help grow small businesses
and job incentives.
3. Business Information Service to help "start-ups"
know what to do in building a successful business. They identify new
areas where individuals can develop new business and give direction
on how to get Federal Procurement Contracts.
Mr.
Su's background with the State Department has provided him with the
experience necessary to help Virginia participate in international
trade and open new markets for Virginia products. He specifically
mentioned China, a long-time exporter to the U.S. but who is now poised
to become an importer of our products. For more information go to:
http://www.vdba.virginia.gov/
and http://www.commerce.virginia.gov/
Rhonda Mack, AICP, Surry County Planning & Community Development Director, spoke next. Ms Mack outlined the steps that have been taken to get Broadband coverage to Surry County, beginning with the $75,000 grant opportunity that was instrumental in conducting the feasibility survey for the project. The County has also applied for additional grants that will help implement the projects, one of which is almost $1,000,000 and will be ruled upon next month. She also mentioned that the County is anticipating a partnership with Mid-Atlantic Broadband Cooperative http://www.mbc-va.com/ to aide in the completion of the project. A main fiber-optic line will run down Rolfe Highway from Sussex to Surry Courthouse, and then turn east on Rt. 10 continuing past the Dollar General store. Most of the 3,400 households of Surry will be served by 3 communications towers strategically located throughout the County, one of which will be constructed at the Claremont Volunteer Fire Station on Spring Grove Road. All of the households in the County will be within range of these towers to receive a Wi-Fi signal at an estimated project cost of $899,043. For additional information please contact: rmack@surrycountyva.gov
John Edwards, Assistant
Surry County Administrator, talked to the group
about the complexities of the individual community water and sewer
systems within the County, and the overwhelming need to improve all
these utilities. Dendron, Surry, and Claremont all have their own
water systems that are aging and need repair. Surry has its own faltering
sewer system and Claremont has a partial sewer system only for its
waterfront residents. Dendron is under a County sewer system. The
County is investigating the possibility of pulling all these systems
together under one County-wide utility at a combined cost of $4,000,000.
For more information please contact: jbedwards@surrycountyva.gov
This event was a great learning opportunity and the Chamber was proud
to help the County of Surry in organizing and promoting the event!
We thank all the speakers and presenters involved, and look forward
to more gatherings of this kind in the future.
