Pauls Ponderings May 15, 2008

Columbia and Adair County played host to a first-time visitor on Monday and Tuesday who could possibly have a significant impact on our community’s future. The visitor was John Hindman, Secretary of the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development, the agency charged with helping recruit new industries and businesses to the state as well as assisting existing industries and businesses expand.
Secretary Hindman’s visit was arranged by Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Sue Stivers (who, among other things, also wears the hats of executive director of the Tourism Commission and the newly re-invigorated Economic Development Authority). Originally, Hindman had committed to speak at the annual Chamber banquet, but a last-minute schedule change that required him to be out of state on the banquet’s date resulted in him having to cancel. In return, he promised to make an overnight visit to the community, a promise he fulfilled this week.
Duirng his visit, Secretary Hindman met with community leaders, visited local industries and businesses, along with Lindsey Wilson College and other places. He also got a first-hand look at our industrial park, and the new state-of-the art water treatment plant on Green River. (He also took his first-ever houseboat ride, a dinner cruise on Green River in a houseboat provided by David Louis Butler at Holmes Bend.)
By the time his visit was over, I think Secretary Hindman left with a very good impression of the community and our people, and has a good idea of what we have to offer. I had the opportunity to listen to him speak at a breakfast meeting at the Chamber Tuesday morning, and spoke with him privately for several minutes afterwards.
Not only was Secretary Hindman apparently impressed with the facilities and infrastructure we have available, but he also repeatedly talked about the enthusiasm of everyone involved in the community.
Listening to the secretary talk made me realize that we sometimes tend to forget about a lot of the good things going on in our community, and the efforts being made to improve it. Yes, we do have a nice new industrial park, and no, we haven’t been able to put an industry in it since it was built. It’s still more or less a big empty field.  But, a lot of people don’t realize the other things that have been done recently to enhance it’s appeal. Things such as the new water treatment plant, which is capable of supplying water for any type of industry and has water lines already in place to provide it,  or the fact that the city has run natural gas lines to the park.
We sometimes also forget about the local industries we do have, the ones that provide a good number of jobs and are working to expand and provide more. We sometimes don’t realize the importance of Lindsey Wilson College to the community, or the tremendous draw Green River Lake is and the number of dollars it brings into the county. Sometimes, it takes an outsider to point out things that we tend to overlook, and I think Secretary Hindman might have done a little bit of this.
Whether or not the secretary’s visit will benefit us may take some time to determine. As he pointed out, the way the economy is right now, there is very little industry expansion or relocation going on at the present time, but this cycle will be reversed at some point in time. And, when it does, I think Secretary Hindman will do all he can to help us out.
Sue Stivers said that the purpose of getting Secretary Hindman to come was so he could find out about Columbia and Adair County and what we have to offer, and everyone thinks this goal was accomplished. “I don’t think he’ll forget who we are,” Stivers noted.