2 min read August 2022 — Montgomery County Mayor Jim Durrett spoke with Invest: about how the county is approaching the region’s growth while addressing the best interests of residents. Between a new middle school, a 400-acre industrial park with a childcare facility on site and talks of a possible fire department restructuring, further economic development is on the horizon.
What milestones has your office achieved in the past year that are important to highlight?
One of the things that has to be a highlight is the new middle school that we fast-tracked. Our school system is still growing by leaps and bounds and it’s a pretty big lift for our community. When we talk about doing county projects, we’re typically talking about $1 million here, $1 million there, maybe $5 million. Schools are a different story. When you start putting a $40 million middle school into your financial picture, that becomes a real challenge. Obviously, we have a high school right behind the middle school in excess of $100 million. Those are challenges but they are also highlights because we’ve figured out how to build them without a tax increase.
Because our county commission believes in economic development, we were able to market a 400-acre industrial site that puts us on everybody’s radar. We have land with ample power and water, the infrastructure needed for a major industry or four or five smaller industries to invest together and come in bringing hundreds of jobs to the community. We’re proud of that. We are at a point where we have built infrastructure that we can market. It’s created a lot of excitement.
One of the most innovative things to come along from an economic development standpoint, is a parcel of ground in our industrial park that will make a big difference for our workers with young children. We want a massive daycare built that can handle 800 children. We’re trying to take care of our current industry. Workforce is a huge issue right now and having adequate childcare is a large piece of that. We feel this innovative thinking will be a game changer for us. I don’t know that this has been done anywhere in the state.
What other challenges exist with the amount of industry moving into the county?
I don’t know that we have any challenges right now other than constantly meeting with our industries to identify solutions on workforce issues. We are working with childcare and addressing transportation concerns. For instance, we’re talking with the City of Clarksville’s transportation authority about doing something from a transportation standpoint for workers in our industrial park. That is a challenge because the industrial park is outside the city limits. There are some hoops to jump through but we have some folks in the private sector who are interested in the opportunity.
What makes Middle Tennessee such a great place to live and do business?
It’s our people, without a doubt. Obviously, when people talk about appeal, affordability, quality of life, things to do, natural resources – we’re very blessed to have those things. If you have all of that but your people aren’t friendly, open and hospitable, those things aren’t as appealing. People are what make those qualities 10 times better than what they really are.
What do priorities look like for your county planning in the near term?
The priority is the growth of schools as our county continues to grow. We have been seeing a lot of growth outside the limits of Clarksville, which has been predominantly been to the north and east. Now the growth is going back to our southwest area of the county. We have a volunteer fire service in the county and we see that there will soon be a need to transition to a paid or hybrid volunteer program. We have to figure out how to pay for that. There is a state statute that allows for a fire tax district. That may be the avenue to consider. Figuring out the look and structure of that will be a heavy lift in the next few years.
What feedback are you receiving from your residents about the county’s growth going forward?
We obviously hear feedback about traffic congestion and school overcrowding but we also hear positive comments. Wherever we go within the county we talk to people, and there is a lot of positivity. They like what we’re doing with the F&M Bank Arena. They like the new restaurants and businesses opening up in downtown Clarksville and they feel like there are more opportunities. You now see the interest in people wanting to bring housing retail components into our downtown. We hear the concerns that come with rapid growth, of course, but we also have people tell us they love our school system, despite the overcrowding, and to keep up the great work.
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