Hiram City Council Focuses on Economic Development Topics

The Hiram City Council was given an update from the city’s two appointees to the Paulding County Economic Development Board, Jim Croft and Hugh Smith, for the second month in a row at the council’s regular meeting held Tuesday.

Croft and Smith introduced the council to the board’s newly hired and first executive director, Jamie Gilbert. Gilbert accepted the board’s offer and was present along with Croft and Smith.

Gilbert comes to Paulding County from Douglasville, where he has worked on economic development projects for the last two years.

According to Mayor Carmen Rollins, who attended the final interview for the ED position, Gilbert impressed her as a good choice and someone who is up to the challenges of the job.

 “What impressed me is that he came already with a vision for Paulding County. He spelled it out, he had it all laid out you could tell, he wasn’t just there to do an interview, he’d already thought about what he was going to do,” Rollins said.

Gilbert said he’s already begun talking to prospective businesses about coming to Paulding County.

“The main goal for me as economic development director is to fundamentally transform the economy here in Paulding County to move us from being a bedroom community to being an employment center. And that’s not something that will happen overnight—it’s a long-term plan and [adding] jobs and building an industrial sector in this community is our number one priority,” Gilbert said.

Gilbert feels that the right ingredients are all here and in place to make it happen.

“The political leadership at the county and city levels, the private sector in terms of the Chamber of Commerce, the sites, the workforce, and a location in metro Atlanta that is prime for business development,” he said.  

Gilbert said the county’s two crown jewels, one on the east side of the county, and the other on the west side—specifically The Paulding Northwest Atlanta Airport and the WellStar Hospital Corridor in Hiram—will really begin to change the local economy.

After the update from Smith and Croft, the council voted to adopt the Economic Development Agreement.

“I feel like we’ve got all our ducks in a row now,” Rollins said.

On the same agenda, the council voted to adopt a Memorandum of Agreement between the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the city of Hiram; the council also approved a separate addendum.

The Homeland Security agenda item(s) was not in response to a local initiative, but rather a mandated program throughout the state.

According to Rollins, who commented following the meeting, the Department of Homeland Security contacted the city recently regarding the series of measures needed to insure that all local businesses comply with immigration laws.

 “Homeland Security has passed down this mandated program, and apparently, Georgia is one of the few states that have passed this down to the local governments. What we have to do now—and Hiram is an unusual city in that we have a small population, but we have over 600 businesses,” Rollins said. “So we have the responsibility of making sure we don’t hire undocumented workers, we don’t use vendors, or contractors, or professional services or anyone who hires undocumented workers, and that none of the companies that we do use hire undocumented workers.”

Rollins said the information-gathering process will begin immediately, while city administrators will receive additional training with regard to the series of steps the program will require.

“So it’s going to be a huge undertaking for us because we’ll have to send out notices to businesses and get back a signed notarized affidavit saying that they are in compliance,” she said.