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GSDP panel to review structural changes |
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Friday, 21 November 2008 |
By PAUL SIMS
Starkville Daily News
Greater Starkville Development Partnership officials hope to take about three months to develop their approach to revamp the organization’s governance, an official said Thursday.
However, it could take more than 90 days to implement the changes, especially if the restructuring requires legislation to make substantive changes to two of the GSDP’s member organizations.
The Greater Starkville Development Partnership is Starkville and Oktibbeha County’s community, economic, retirement and tourism development organization.
It is comprised of the Starkville Area Chamber of Commerce, the Starkville Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Oktibbeha County Economic Development Authority.
A number of GSDP board members volunteered at Thursday’s GSDP Board meeting to join a Restructuring and Bylaw Committee to study structural changes.
The Targeted and Prepared Community, or TaP, report – which outlines a number of steps local officials can take to draw investment and jobs – recommends restructuring the GSDP’s organization.
“The TaP report says we need to do it and to make it based on best practices in the industry,” said GSDP President and CEO Jon Maynard after Thursday’s meeting.
Examples cited as models for the restructuring include the Columbus-Lowndes Development Link in Columbus and Tupelo’s Community Development Foundation.
“We’re looking to make sure all the major stakeholders have fair and equal representation in the governance of the Partnership,” Maynard said.
Thursday’s step toward restructuring came two days after Starkville’s Board of Aldermen approved the CVB’s budget after a weeks-long impasse.
Several of the officials holding up the budget’s approval cited a desire to see representatives of the city, county and Mississippi State University placed on the GSDP’s Executive Committee.
GSDP officials had already previously begun the process of reviewing possible structural changes.
“The resolution of the city to pass the CVB budget was simply communication between the Partnership and the city and to get the city’s buy-in to the process in which we were moving forward,” Maynard said.
The timing of process with the restructuring and the resolution of the matter with the city is “mostly coincidence,” Maynard said.
Regarding a time frame as to when he hopes to have a restructuring plan, Maynard said: “We will have some definite goals in place and a model to work forward in 90 days.
If any legislation needs to be changed or created, that will slow the process for implementation.”
Russ Rogers, a local attorney representing the GSDP, says to “tangle” with existence of OCEDA and CVB would require legislation.
Panelists likely to take part in the restructuring process include:
• Lynn Spruill, chief administrative officer for the City of Starkville
• A member of the Starkville aldermen still-to-be-determined.
• Oktibbeha County District 5 Supervisor and Board President John L. Young.
• Oktibbeha County District 2 Supervisor Orlando Trainer;
• Former Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck, now special assistant to Mississippi State University’s president.
• Melvin Ray, associate vice president for research at MSU and the GSDP’s secretary/treasurer.
• Doug Horanburg, chair of the Industrial Roundtable.
• Michelle Jones, chair of the CVB board of directors.
• Michelle Amos, chair of the Chamber Advisory Board.
• Harold Clark, chair of the GSDP’s Committee of 100.
• Rogers, as a legal counsel.
• Sammy Slaughter, representing the private sector.
• Jeff Read, the GSDP’s auditor.
• GSDP board chair Terry Kemp.
• OCEDA Board President Jack Wallace.
Officials may add more members to the panel, Maynard said. Maynard says he will take the lead on the restructuring process.
In other matters, the GSDP Board:
• Heard a presentation regarding plans to hold a grand reopening reception at the newly remodeled Oktibbeha County Heritage Museum Dec. 7 from 2 to 4 p.m. The reopened museum will feature an extensive exhibit on James “Cool Papa” Bell, a Starkville native who played a number of years in the Negro Leagues.
• Listened as Maynard reviewed steps taken to address points found in the TaP report. Maynard clarified one particular point – education – after Thursday’s meeting.
“I want to develop a better game plan for working with local education rather than just going into it half-cocked,” he said. The Mississippi Economic Council has “some terrific education programs that we can implement here but we need to make sure it all fits.”
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 22 November 2008 )
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