New jobs, businesses top issues for Monroe County District 1 candidates

A longtime Monroe County commissioner faces a former Forsyth councilman in the District 1 commission race.

Larry C. Evans, who has served as a commissioner since 1987, is running against Robert F. Grier, who is seeking his first county seat.

Evans, 66, said the main issue facing Monroe County is jobs.

“We need jobs just like all the other communities,” he said.

He said private investors have bought more than 1,600 acres that are being developed as an industrial park, “and we are going into a public-private partnership with these investors to try to acquire jobs.”

Past efforts included trying to recruit warehouses or distribution centers, but the focus has been changing lately, Evans said.

“We would like those jobs, but we are focusing on acquiring manufacturing jobs,” he said. “They are much, much better. … We believe Mercedes will build a manufacturing plant here in Georgia … and we are going to be one of the locations to acquire manufacturing jobs because it has such a big spinoff.”

The state won’t even consider an area until all the infrastructure is in place. Water has recently been put in at the industrial park, and the county is now trying to get a drainage system to the site, Evans said.

“Once we get the sewerage, we’ve got it made,” he said. “We will have the largest contiguous property with that much acreage from Atlanta to Cook County down at Adel, Georgia. We will be very marketable then.”

Evans said he’s running again because “there are a lot of things that are left to be done. … I’m as energetic as I ever was, … and I’m able to get in and work with people.”

Since he’s been a commissioner, Monroe County has paved 620 of the county’s 670 miles of roads.

“I want the other 50 miles paved,” he said.

Grier says he would have different perspective

It’s been 22 years since Grier held an elected office as a Forsyth councilman, and he said he’s ready to serve again.

“I’m thinking it’s time for a change,” he said.

While “there are no main issues going on,” Grier said he might be able to look at things from a different perspective than his opponent.

He would most likely be taking a close look at economic growth and “probably recreation,” he said.

“First thing I’m going to need to do is find out what’s going on with the development authority and the chamber and find out what they have on the agenda presently,” he said.

He would like to learn what companies the commission has been talking to before moving forward.

“I’m looking to bring more industry into the area, but for some reason or another that has been on the agenda for a number of years with other commissioners,” Grier said. “But when you don’t see industrial growth, why is it it hasn’t come?”

If elected, he said he would like to try to fix whatever is discouraging companies from coming to Monroe.

The county put a considerable amount of money into the industrial park near Pate Road and Interstate 75 several years ago, and it bought land in Indian Springs, but no company has moved in yet.

“I feel like we have an ideal location, so what is it?” he said. “When you are on the outside looking in, you don’t have insider information as to what was involved. … Maybe we could revisit those sites and recruit potential investors in those areas.

Also, he would like to see the county try to attract some kind of recreation that would involve hosting tournaments, similar to the Little League Southeastern Region Park in Houston County. If that happened, he said, it would draw visitors to area restaurants and motels, which would help the tax base.

This story was originally published April 25, 2016 at 4:59 PM with the headline "New jobs, businesses top issues for Monroe County District 1 candidates."