Marion County Commission to re-launch dormant development authority
Jun. 16—FAIRMONT — The Marion County Development Authority has sat idle for three years, but a healthy $600,000 in the bank.
Now, as Marion County Commission President Randy Elliott prepares to leave his post, he wants to re-launch the Authority and put it back to work helping local municipalities.
At Wednesday's County Commission meeting, economic development took a center stage as the commissioners heard a six-month report from the Marion Regional Development Corp. and appointed Commissioner Linda Longstreth as chair of the stagnant Marion County Development Authority.
The Authority was founded as a way for municipalities to borrow money at low to no interest for improvements, but the board hasn't met since 2019, many of the board members are no longer public servants and the commission hopes to restart the authority's work to coincide with the work of the MRDC.
"We hope and want to reorganize and reactivate the MCDA. We want to focus on our 11 municipalities and our public service districts, to provide loans interest free for up to $100,000," Elliott said.
Elliott has also served on the MCDA board for several years, but will vacate the seat when his commission term is up at the end of the year. The commission voted to appoint Longstreth as its new representative.
The MCDA currently has seven outstanding loans, five of which are to municipalities. While the authority has continued to operate the last few years, it hasn't done much lending and is sitting on around $600,000 in its account available to loan.
"We need to do a better job and we need to focus on reaching out to these communities with these loans that can help them," Elliott said. "These loans help them and help create jobs. We lent money to Farmington for sidewalks, so we need to focus on that."
While the MCDA reestablishes and focuses on loans to municipalities, the MRDC will target property and marketing Marion County to the world's business market.
At Wednesday's meeting, MRDC Director Allen Staggers provided an update showcasing what his corporation has done in the six months since the commission agreed to set the MRDC as the county's lead economic development apparatus.
Working on a budget of just under $100,000, the MRDC has focused on its revitalization of the Sharon Steel site and Staggers said today they will be acquiring 20 acres of land near the interstate for development.
However, Staggers told the commission that in order to keep up with the work being done by the surrounding counties and their development leads, the MRDC has to grow.
"We should probably consider and work toward having a full-time director," Staggers said. "And that person is not me, I'll be honest with you."
Staggers currently serves as the MRDC's part-time director.
"We need to sit down and consider the long-term proposition of what economic development is and can be in Marion County," Staggers said. "After that, we need to come up with a realistic budget for MRDC."
While Staggers has grand visions of the future, he's been hard at work on the little things that make Marion County respectable among its regional counterparts.
Since he was hired, the MRDC now has an online presence, social media accounts, physical office space and has made Marion County a certified business location.
As controversial as reinstating the MRDC was last August among the commissioners, Longstreth and Elliott both praised Staggers and his staff for their work.
"I know what you're doing and how hard you're working on a part-time basis. Really, it's a full time basis," Longstreth said. "I agree with you on your recommendations, especially getting more people and organizations involved."
Other business:
* The commission presented a $120,000 grant to Valley Falls State Park.
* The commission gave several proclamations recognizing Juneteenth
* and the Army's birthday.
* The commission heard a presentation from the region's World Association of Marching Show Bands, which announced the organization's worldwide 2023 festival will be held in Buckhannon.
Reach David Kirk at 304-367-2522 or by email
