Our County

D. Gary Davis

Forbes.com recently recgonized the Cleveland Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which includes Bradley and Polk Counties, as the 44^th best in the nation small metropolitan area. The online publication examined colleges, cost of doing business, cost of living, crime rate, culture/leisure, education attainment, income growth, job growth and net migration.

Bradley County’s top scores came in colleges (rank 19), income growth (rank 25), culture/leisure (rank 33) and cost of doing business (rank 50). Bradley County is extremely fortunate to have Cleveland State Community College and Lee University here. Both contribute much to our community as well as provide education opportunities for our citizens.

In calculating the cost of doing business, Forbes looked at labor, energy, tax and office space costs. I am extremely proud of the progress Bradley County has made the past 6 years, all without a tax increase. Another benefit, other than low taxes, is it helps us attract business and industry to our county.

The United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB) defines metropolitan statistical areas according to published standards that are applied to Census Bureau data. The general concept of a metropolitan area is that of a core area containing a substantial population nucleus, together with adjacent communities having a high degree of economic and social integration with that core. Each metropolitan statistical area must have at least one urbanized area of 50,000 or more inhabitants. As of June 6, 2000, there are 362 metropolitan statistical areas in the United States.

Cleveland, Bradley County and Polk County were declared a metropolitan statistical area, or MSA in 2003 following growth between the 1990 Census and 2000 Census.

On another note, I was thrilled to get the news last week of General Electric Company’s intent to locate their Lighting Division’s east coast warehouse facility in Bradley County. The General Electric facility will be the first industry to locate in the Hiwassee River Industrial Park on Lauderdale Memorial Highway.

There are still some issues to be resolved between local agencies and the state concerning infrastructure improvements. The GE facility will result in a capital investment of about $30 million with the creation of 200 new full time jobs. The facility will be approximately 900,000 square feet on 53.4 acres. Operations are expected to begin at the Bradley County facility by April 2007.

I appreciate the work of the Chamber of Commerce, the Industrial Development Board and the Economic Development Council in helping to recruit GE. We have all worked so hard for many years in getting this first industry into this park and this is a great accomplishment for our efforts.

Both the Forbes ranking and the General Electric announcement show that Bradley County is moving forward in the right direction. I am honored to serve the citizens of this county and be a small part in enhancing the quality of life for everyone.