Shelton - IDB Executive Director

Many of you might have read in the Elk Valley Times that Fayetteville, Mayor Gwen Shelton was selected (by a 4 to 3 vote over Bill Newman, a county commissioner) to be the Executive Director of the Fayetteville-Lincoln County Industrial Development Board (IDB). For those that are not familiar with IBD, it is Co-funded by the county and city governments, the Board consists of 7 members whose activities are coordinated by its Executive Director. Their purpose is to foster the growth of jobs and investment opportunities throughout Lincoln County and the city of Fayetteville. What you may not have heard is that the county commission voted last Tuesday to de-fund the IDB and two of the board members resigned. This is ridiculous and very immature! The county is under contract to support this effort and you can't just breach a contract because your friend didn’t get the job. Furthermore, they did this in a time when our elected officials need to be thinking about what he/she can do to attract more companies to the area instead of their own personal agenda. This sends the wrong message to any potential company looking to open up shop here in Lincoln County. Let me make this very clear, the 17 members who voted to de-fund this effort voted against new jobs for Lincoln County.
There were 21 commissioners at last Tuesday meeting. Four of them including one of our (District 2) own commissioners (Grady Reavis) had the integrity to do the right thing and vote “NO” on the motion. Kudo’s to Grady! I encourage everyone to call your commissioner and tell them to reverse this decision. We need new well paying jobs in Lincoln County.

Welcome to Straight Talk!

Welcome to Straight Talk for Lincoln County, District 2. One of my comments to you is to keep you informed. So, I'll be using this blog as a means to bring you the latest happenings in our county, state, and federal government.