The Leaf-Chronicle
By James Chavez
Published: December 21, 2008
Published: December 21, 2008
Clarksville and Montgomery County have just received one of the greatest community gifts that could ever be hoped for, with the announcement of a Dow Corning Corporation and Hemlock Semiconductor LLC (HSC) facility. Investments beginning at $1.2 billion, and likely much larger, don't happen every day. In fact, they typically only happen once-in-a-lifetime.
For two years, our economic development team, local government officials and their staffs have worked diligently to answer a wide array of questions and, sometimes, concerns from the company. It is difficult to articulate just how incredibly in-depth the search process was. Every department in city and county government made sure that the company always had the right information. These team members include staff and leadership in planning and zoning, building and codes, gas and water, county highway and city street departments, EMS, and countless others.
Austin Peay State University was invaluable to the search process from the very beginning. We thank Dr. Sherri Hoppe for her commitment of university staff and resources and for her role as chairman of the Industrial Development Board. And, we thank President Tim Hall. From day one, he said that we could count on him and his team. The result? Austin Peay State University will be the host institution for HSC's training and laboratory space. The opportunities for our young people in this program will be enormous.
The Clarksville-Montgomery County School System was also invaluable to the search process. Michael Harris and his entire team were integral. The company needed to know that long term, our young people would be prepared for the jobs that will be created. The jobs of the future, and especially with Dow Corning and HSC, will require strong math and science backgrounds.
Mayor Johnny Piper and Mayor Carolyn Bowers were key players throughout the process, as well the City Council and County Commission. Mayor Piper, during the first few days after his election, committed city resources including commitments on gas, water and sewer to meet the needs of the company.
Mayor Bowers had her first, if not THE first, official duty as mayor when she met with the original project team. She committed then to do everything within her power to provide the resources and support necessary to serve this project. Her leadership allowed us to continue removing barriers in order to develop the megasite.
City Council and County Commission understood and developed a vision for what a project of this magnitude could do to change the entire region. Their nearly unanimous support of this project has been and will continue to be invaluable as we move ahead.
The Board of Directors for the Economic Development Council and the Montgomery County Industrial Development Board provided the resources, guidance and leadership that allowed us to target staff and financial resources appropriately in an effort to finish the race on this particular project. They understood the landscape and took very calculated risks in continuing to invest in the megasite.
Our Aspire Clarksville Foundation investors provided the additional financial resources to get this community a win. And not just this win, but all the other wins that we have had in this last four-year period which include existing industry expansions, new industrial investors, and the orchestration of major development projects with private developers to bring speculative-building development to Clarksville in a huge way.
The announcement of Dow Corning and HSC would not be possible without the help of our economic development partners at TVA and the Tennessee department of economic and community development. TVA helped get us prepared to compete through their megasite program and the intense certification process. It is important to note that we applied for megasite status three times before gaining approval.
A word about our staff at the Economic Development Council. Each of us understands that we have been given a tremendous opportunity to serve the community in a career that changes lives and improves livelihoods for the citizens of our region. I thank Mike Evans for his leadership prior to my arrival in this role for helping our Industrial Development Board understand what the certified megasite could mean for us and for helping us stay focused gaining certification.
Our rededication to Dow Corning and Hemlock Semiconductor leadership begins today. We have an obligation to deliver on the promises we made in order to ensure that the facility is operational by late 2012. On behalf of our organization and all of our partners, I welcome you to Clarksville, Tennessee. We look forward to a very long friendship!
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