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Economic
Development
Most
communities rank their economic health second only to the
personal health and safety of their citizens. Economic development
is multi-dimensioned, and exists only by successfully linking
countless requisite factors - education, workforce, investment
capital (see Revolving Loan Program section), physical infrastructure
. . and all the rest.
Since
1965 the Southwestern Commission has labored to insure the
availability and quality of several critical economic health
requisites for the communities we serve, including a quality
workforce and sufficient physical infrastructure.
This
section deals only with physical infrastructure for economic
well being. Workforce is addressed in another portion of this
web site.
Physical
infrastructure includes a wide range of tangible assets --
roads, bridges, water and wastewater systems, natural gas
systems, the machinery of broadband telecommunications and
many other real properties. In our definition of physical
infrastructure we also consider airports, courthouses and
jails; and, community amenities like recreation facilities
and libraries.
The
Southwestern Commission has, for the entire 40 years of its
service to far-western North Carolina, been considered the
"go-to" organization for expertise in packaging
public infrastructure projects, particularly water and sewer.
Beginning in 2001 the Commission also assumed the role of
Rural Transportation Planning Organization (see related material
within this web site.)
Our
expertise in public infrastructure exists is in the form of
professional staff who are technically skilled in project
planning, securing funding, and project administration. The
Commission's staff maintains up-to-date knowledge of the region's
infrastructure needs and the available sources of financial
assistance to meet these needs.
With
our annual Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy update
(CEDS), we list current infrastructure needs across the region.
In partnership with the NC Rural Center's Water 2030 blueprint,
we manage a dynamic data base of local water and sewer system
attributes, including state of repair and necessary capital
improvements.
A
major portion of the energy that Commission staff provides
through our group facilitation and mediation services function
is toward the goal of intergovernmental cooperation in support
of infrastructure projects that have multi-jurisdictional
/ regional potential. Illustrations are the Tuckaseigee Water
and Sewer Authority, the Regional High Technology Center and
a breakthrough water compact between the towns of Andrews
and Murphy.
Links
are provided herein to sources of outside financing for local
water and sewer projects. These links include, among others,
the US Economic Development Administration (EDA), the Appalachian
Regional Commission (ARC), the NC Division of Community Assistance
(CDBG) and the NC Rural Economic Development Center, the NC
Parks and Recreation Trust Fund.
The
project list details
many of the higher profile economic development projects assisted
by Commission staff during the past four decades.
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