Officials attend EDAA workshop

By Staff
Kim West
PHIL CAMPBELL – Dozens of Franklin County community leaders received an introduction to economic development during an interactive workshop hosted by Northwest-Shoals Community College and the Franklin County Development Authority Friday.
Among those in attendance were Franklin County Chamber of Commerce Director Cheryl Bradford, Red Bay mayor-elect Bobby Forsythe and Russellville mayor-elect Troy Oliver, along with local education officials, members of the Franklin County Industrial Board and several new council members from Red Bay and Russellville, whose new administration also attended the Alabama League of Municipalities orientation conference Wednesday.
"This was designed to give information and training to elected officials and other community officials," said Mitch Mays, FCDA executive director. "We had a really good mix of local leaders that attended this training, which was voluntary.
"This will help them to learn about economic development and how to form network opportunities, and it will benefit them and also the communities they serve."
The Community Leaders Training program is a 10-course series sponsored by the Economic Development Authority of Alabama. The first two topics were broadcast Friday morning to five community college campuses and presented by Dr. Grady Batchelor, director of the Winston County Development Authority, from the Jasper campus of Bevill State Community College.
Batchelor advised the incoming elected officials to consult with the outgoing leaders and learn from their experiences.
"You may have beaten someone in an election, but to try to learn from those that are going out of office," Batchelor said. "They have a tremendous amount of knowledge and we lose a lot of human capital (as elected officials leave office)."