To the editor:

I am writing in regard to the Aug. 2, 2012, reference in the My Two Cents section of The Griffin Daily News in which the entrant so sarcastically praised the Griffin Spalding Development Authority for its efforts in the recruitment of a supposed planned facility for the Clorox Company.

First, to the best of our knowledge, the Clorox Company has not made any inquiry as to the possibility of locating any sort of facility in Spalding County. The Authority is in constant contact with a large network of economic developers at the state level and responds to requests for information regarding suitable buildings or sites for development for businesses looking to re-locate or expand operations. These requests for information rarely identify the prospect by company name and typically include questions such as availability of buildings or sites, access to infrastructure, and on occasion local zoning or development requirements. None of the initial requests, or any of the multiple site visits with which we have participated in over the past 12 months have indicated that the prospective client was the Clorox Company.

Second, although we target market certain types of industry classifications and types we believe to be good matches for our community’s infrastructure and other economic factors, we have no preconceived profile for any companies or types of businesses we recruit or want to recruit into Spalding County. As good stewards of our community we do take a number of factors in consideration when determining our strategy for pursuing a prospect, some of those include the quality of the jobs being created and any quality-of-life factors about their product or processes which could be harmful to our community. The assertion that we would have discouraged a prospect due to their building being too large is simply ludicrous. The only impediment to building size in our view would be whether or not we had a sufficiently large enough tract of land to accommodate the building footprint. The prospect typically makes that determination after reviewing our options, not the other way around.

In closing, the process of economic development and recruitment of industry is extremely competitive. We have been fortunate over the past 12 to 24 months in the local job announcements that have been made and in the amount of interest prospective new industries have shown in Spalding County. We hear universally from the officials in economic recruitment at the state level that our new mixed-use park, the Lakes at Green Valley, is one of, if not the, most attractive parks in the state. Governor Deal just recently upped the ante at the state level in terms of financial incentives and support coming down from the state level for economic recruitment. It is simply a matter of time before we get our day in the sun in the race to bring additional needed jobs to this community.

Charles Copeland

Chairman

Griffin Spalding Development Authority