WCEDB attends Dresden city meeting to answer Washburn’s complaints

By Amanda Mansfield, Press Reporter

Two members of the Weakley County Economic Development Board, Director Shelby Spurgeon and Board Chair Tommy Legins, were invited to attend the March meeting of the city of Dresden’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen. Spurgeon began their presentation by letting the members of the Dresden city board know some of what she has been working on for the city during her two years as director.

Out of the 33 RFIs (Requests for Information) that Spurgeon has submitted over the last two years, 15 were for Dresden’s pad-ready site and three were for the building now owned by Frog Properties. Based off of these numbers, RFIs for the city of Dresden account for approximately 55% of all the RFIs that Spurgeon has completed, not 95%, which has been previously reported.

In addition, Spurgeon gave information on a pilot remote workers’ program that the WCEDB has been working on, which benefits all Weakley Countians. According to Spurgeon, those interested can reach out to her office through its website at https://www.wcedb.com/contact. “I’ll give them a code, they can login to search for jobs that are all remote, but they will stay here in Weakley County,” Spurgeon explained.

Another program the WCEDB is working on, according to Spurgeon is a soft-skills training that will be offered through Weakley County Schools. “They will learn things like how to fill out an application, how to do an interview,” Spurgeon said.

She went on to explain, “One of the big things we see in our industries is… applicants can’t even have a basic conversation.” Spurgeon is planning to bring those soft skills to students in both middle school and high school. “We’re going to try to get to those students early and often,” she said.

Mayor Jeff Washburn asked Spurgeon how many times her office has contacted the city of Dresden with any information or feedback regarding the RFIs on their pad-ready site.

Spurgeon said, “Honestly, I usually don’t contact any of the mayors to let them know I’ve submitted an RFI just because it’s just the beginning phase. If we get a call back, that is when we would contact the city.” She went on to say that most of the denials on Dresden’s site were due to the property not being near an interstate or airport, nothing that can be addressed.

Washburn said that there were better marketing tactics available in order to promote the area despite it not being near an airport or an interstate. According to Washburn, the pad-ready site is only four stoplights away from the interstate, and the entire highway from the site to the interstate is four-lane, interstate grade highway.

He went on to say, “We’re going to be about 20 miles from Interstate 69 when it’s developed.”

To that, Spurgeon said they do highlight the four-lane access to the interstate on RFIs and other things to make the area appealing. “We do try to sell a better picture because we do think this area has a lot to offer,” she said.

“We talked about it with TVA and the state, and we’re really not sure why this site hasn’t gotten more looks because it is top-of-the-line, and I really think it just comes down to the location.”

Legins then spoke on behalf of Spurgeon by saying that she has been a very aggressive director during her time in the position. “There are many things that need to be fixed in the county, and we’re trying to be proactive about fixing those things.”

Despite the documented work done by the current WCEDB, Alderman Kenneth Moore said, “I feel like you all have shoved [Dresden] aside, but still want our money.”

Washburn said of the economic development board meetings, “To me, it seems more like a breakfast club meeting rather than a business meeting to share information, in particular with the mayors.” He went on to say that the interlocal agreement states the executive committee shall meet eight times per year. “I’ve been on the board six years, and we’ve never had a separate executive committee meeting in which it is the six mayors and the three chief officers of the association, which comprise the executive committee.”

Washburn said the executive committee is the one that takes up policy issues and personnel issues as well as budget issues. “I say that, not to be critical, but we have an interlocal agreement, which is in essence a contract between the cities and the Weakley County Economic Development Board. The board more or less operates ‘helter skelter’ in my opinion. That’s not to be critical of you, Chairman Legins. But, we need to follow what the interlocal agreement says.”

Washburn went on to say that representation of every city was needed when there is a major decision to be made, and there was no representation from the city of Dresden on the committee that was formed to merge the WCEDB with the Weakley County Chamber of Commerce.

Alderman Gwin Anderson then interrupted Washburn and said, “This discourse is providing absolutely no information for what this board is doing.” Anderson said the discussion had nothing to do with the function of the board of Mayor and Aldermen.

“I am not getting anything out of this. I’d like to know what they’re doing, but if you’ve got problems with the way it’s going, you’re on the board,” Anderson said to Washburn. “Bring it up and lobby those members, we can’t do it.”

In conclusion of the presentation, Washburn said going forward the city of Dresden would have to take on some of the marketing of its industrial park on its own, including marketing the city’s housing, access to fiber internet and broadband, and being a great place to live.

As far as the city’s late payment to the WCEDB, Washburn said, “That’s the only way we’ve gotten the attention of the economic development board.”

Of that, Spurgeon said, “It was news to me that the city of Dresden was upset with their services until I realized you guys were not paying. That had never been brought up in the board meetings nor brought to my attention.”

Washburn said that the city would pay the fees to the WCEDB, but they might not be made until the end of the year.

In other news, Priscilla Price, who had worked for the city of Dresden for the last five months as Community Engagement Director, formally resigned during the meeting, having put in her letter of resignation that afternoon. No reason was given for the resignation, but Price thanked the members of the board for the opportunity to work with businesses in the city.

Members from the Dresden Business Association were also in attendance. Sandra Taylor spoke to the board on behalf of the DBA to keep the mayor and aldermen apprised of some of the events they were working on and ask for collaboration. First, Taylor asked for permission from the board to hold some of DBA’s events at the farmer’s market.

In exchange, Taylor offered to have the board members of the DBA to help schedule events for the farmer’s market in order to make it as successful as possible. “In the past, the association hasn’t been involved in taking care of the farmer’s market. Going forward, we would like to do that.”

Taylor also asked for access to tables, chairs and other items such as the city’s popcorn machine, when not in use by other city organizations.

Alderman Sandra Klutts, who is also on the DBA, mentioned that the organization planned to host bingo nights at the senior center. Washburn suggested they get with the city recorder to reserve those days, months in advance. He also stated that he saw no issue in waiving the rental fee for them.

Additionally, Taylor requested that the DBA have representation on the Iris Festival Committee. She stated that when the Iris Festival began, it was started by the DBA then later handed off to the city. “We’d like to be back on that committee, if possible,” she said. Taylor went on to say that the DBA didn’t want to see the Iris Festival being put on the backburner due to COVID-19 precautions. “There are a lot of people in the community that support [the Iris Festival] and want to see it go on this year,” she said.

To Taylor’s requests, Mayor Washburn stated that she had already been advised to direct any requests to him, as the mayor of the city.

As far as loaning equipment, Washburn said he would allow it with the understanding that it would be returned in the same repair as it was borrowed and with approval from the overseeing department head. He stated that sometimes the city’s equipment has been brought back damaged in the past.

In regards to the request to have input and events at the farmer’s market, Washburn said while he didn’t mind the DBA hosting events there, he didn’t want the city to relinquish control of operations to any organization.

After hearing from the police chief regarding the usage of a decibel meter, as was put into effect by the board, Alderman Lyndal Dilday made a motion to have the Municipal Technical Advisory Service (MTAS) come in to explain and clarify the role of alderman. A role-call vote was held, and all aldermen voted yes.

John R. Poole, CPA was also in attendance. He presented findings on the latest external state audit of the city. The overall audit was positive, and no significant issues were presented.