Charles Shiflett Column January 8, 2006

Bartow Facing Tough Competition

I had a little down time over the New Year's holiday weekend and read an interesting series of articles
outlining Floyd County's transformation over the past several years. This may seem boring to most of
you, but Bartow County is in direct competition with Floyd in regard to recruitment of quality
businesses.

Prior to Toyo's announcement in 2005 that they would build their new North American tire
manufacturing facility in White, Bartow had experienced a drought attracting new industry. Coupled
with the losses of Unilever, Glad Manufacturing, Goodyear and other major employers, things hadn't
looked good locally.

Meanwhile, Floyd County had successfully recruited Pirelli, Suzuki, and several other major industries
over the past few years. Additionally, several existing employers announced major expansions during
that time. Coupled with the relocation of a Braves minor league baseball team to Rome and the landing
of two other professional sports franchises, Floyd has been on a roll.

These successes didn't happen by chance… many are directly attributable to a comprehensive
countywide improvement plan known as 20/20 that was put together by Rome City and Floyd County
leaders in 1998.

This plan consisted of twenty goals to be accomplished over twenty years. Eight years into the plan,
Floyd has been very successful in accomplishing their objectives and they continue to tweak the plan
as they go.

Now over the years, Bartow County's leaders along with the Chamber of Commerce and other groups
have engaged in various strategic planning initiatives. Many positive things have resulted, but it just
doesn't seem that we have the same passion and level of dedication that Floyd has exhibited. It also
seems that we just aren't willing to dream as big as Floyd does.

Now to be fair, Rome and Floyd County have some huge advantages over Bartow County. Though our
populations are statistically the same now; for decades Floyd County was larger and is still
considered to be the commercial, educational, and medical hub of northwest Georgia.

Floyd is home to two four-year colleges, Shorter and Berry, along with Georgia Highlands College and
Coosa Valley Technical College. Bartow County's educational gains are more recent, such as the
locating of North Metro Technical College here along with the recent completion of the Cartersville
campus of Georgia Highlands College.

On the healthcare front Floyd Medical Center, Redmond Hospital, and Harbin Clinic are truly regional
in scope. Due to Georgia's certificate of need laws, they are able to offer some medical procedures not
available at Cartersville Medical… though Cartersville Medical has made tremendous gains in recent
years.

One advantage for Bartow is our inclusion in the metro Atlanta toll free calling zone. Floyd County is
still a long distance call to Atlanta and most of north Georgia, though the advent of cell phones is
decreasing the importance of this fact.

Many of Bartow's successes over the last three decades can be directly attributed to our being located
on I-75… which was not completed until the mid-1970's. Floyd's leaders understand the importance of
direct access to the Interstate system.

Though there are benefits for Bartow residents, Floyd's twenty-year crusade for construction of the
U.S. 411 connector was all about providing them with that direct Interstate link.

The City of Rome recently filed an objection with the Coosa Valley Regional Development Center in
opposition to a 500 home development planned for Bartow County on 411 near Cowan Drive. They
claim the project would negatively impact the highway.

Floyd County is also working with the state of Georgia to begin acquiring right of way along Highway
411 so that future development will be restricted to frontage roads… preserving 411 as a high-speed
connector. They desperately want Bartow County to join them in this effort.

The push to expand Highway 140 from U.S. 27 in Floyd County to I-75 at Adairsville is coming almost
exclusively from Floyd's leaders. Their plans are to eventually link this improved highway to Russell
Regional Airport north of Rome.

With the Cartersville-Bartow County airport almost fully built out, Floyd County leaders see another
opportunity. They plan for Russell to become a major airfreight alternative to Atlanta's Hartsfield. The
Floyd County Airport Commission is working with Congressman Phil Gingrey and State Senator
Preston Smith to procure funding for a substantial runway expansion at Russell.

Don't get me wrong… Floyd County is not our enemy. There are numerous areas of mutual interest
where we can work together. However, we need to grasp the level of competition we are engaged in.

We can react to the growth headed our way here in Bartow County, or we can proactively work to
attract quality developments. Floyd's leadership is successfully taking the later approach.

Next week, I'll spell out the twenty goals Floyd's leaders set for themselves to see how we stack up.