City mayors: Living wages, economic prosperity and good citizens emerge as themes of annual talk

When it comes to growth and progress throughout Maury County, the city mayors all agree that "our best days are ahead of us."

Mayors Chaz Molder (Columbia), Jim Hagaman (Spring Hill) and Bill White (Mt. Pleasant), all joined together for the annual Mayors Breakfast, presented by the Maury County Chamber & Economic Alliance, on Wednesday morning to discuss a range of topics concerning their respective cities, as well as their hopes for the next year.

A lot of the growth and progress, they said, is having a strong team of staff working behind the scenes to accomplish major goals, as well as having a shared vision for what's best for each city.

"This community has changed a lot, but in a lot of ways, it's stayed the same, and so it's been a unique opportunity to serve in this role as mayor," Molder said. "This is called the 'Mayors Breakfast,' but I will say that I can only do my job because of some very important people in this room."

Top priorities

The first topic addressed was each mayor's top priorities moving forward into 2022.

For Spring Hill, Hagaman touched on the progress in bringing new businesses, such as the new Worldwide Stages company purchasing space at the Northfield Workforce Development Center, as well as expansions at General Motors' partnering companies.

Most of all, Hagaman said he is most proud when he can recognize Spring Hill citizens individually for making Spring Hill a better place to live.

"We have a lot of things that are pretty cool, but the greatest highlight for me is when we go to our BOMA meetings and can recognize a citizen for something they did in the community, or in their life," Hagaman said.

"Whether it is a Boy Scout becoming an Eagle Scout or a citizen doing some form of good deed, there's nothing better for me then to bring somebody in front of everybody and hearing people clap for them."

Molder added that one of his priorities during his time of service has been to encourage young people in their education of local government, but above all the fact that Columbia "never really stopped moving" during shutdowns and other hardships experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Of course, it's been difficult during COVID, but this community never really stopped going. It rose to the occasion, whether it was helping small businesses and nonprofits during difficult times, or continuing with the growth and progress during difficult times," Molder said. "You really learn about your community's character during the worst of times, not the best of times, and in this past year, we learned that we're very solid in that regard."

White said the biggest priority for Mt. Pleasant has been its $9 million revitalization of its downtown, which is set to begin soon.

"We're hearing a lot of great, positive comments about it. It's a very unique downtown with the growth that is going on," White said.

"While we've all dealt with the pandemic, we continue to help a lot of folks, keeping our eye on the ball for what's important for all the constituents of Mt. Pleasant and not just a small group. Under very trying times, we've continued to prosper."

Growth and what is the 'perfect project?'

When it comes to the county's future and how it plans to handle growth, Maury Alliance president and event emcee Wil Evans asked, "What do you think is the perfect project you'd like to see?"

While no specific project was named, each mayor said agreed that the most important step in navigating Maury County's expected growth is establishing good paying jobs for citizens, the kind in which people can work and live in their respective towns all feeding into the growth for all.

"Within the last month, we've chosen to partner with Maury Alliance, effectively shut down our chamber of commerce, and we've done that for a number of reasons," White said. "It's because they have the willpower that's phenomenal for what they can provide to a community. One thing we want to see with the growth is continuing to see housing ... and you're going to see a phenomenal change as the growth starts coming down south."

Molder added that he is "not too picky" when it comes to selecting the perfect project" for economic development, only advocating that the project would assure good wages for local employees.

"Most all economic development projects are good for our community," Molder said. "But if I had to pick a 'home run,' it would be one that would pay a good wage and would bring just as many people to our community as it would hire people that are already here to have an opportunity to raise their income into a better paying job."

Hagaman agreed with Molder and White, that the best project is one that pays its employees well and attracts new faces to Maury County.

"The perfect project is everything that Mayor Molder said, and I would just add to it that the wages our employees are paid is important, so that they don't have to live anywhere else," Hagaman said.

"Whatever company that comes in, whatever goods and services they provide, that it's a needed and wanted service that makes people want to live in Spring Hill."

This article originally appeared on The Daily Herald: Mayors Breakfast: 'What's good for one city is good for all'