Latest / Between the Headlines: Columbus / Trip Hairston & Lynn Spruill Discuss Joe Max Higgins' Firing PLUS How Bad Was It?

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Trip Hairston & Lynn Spruill Discuss Joe Max Higgins' Firing PLUS How Bad Was It? · Between the Headlines: Columbus

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: From the opinion page of the Commercial Dispatch.
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: This is Between the Headlines.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: This is Peter Imes, publisher of the Dispatch.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: One of our hosts of Between the Headlines is the managing editor of our newsroom.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Typically we try to keep news and opinions separate, but reporters have a unique insight into the workings of local government and their analysis can be helpful for readers and listeners.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: The dispatch remains committed to journalistic integrity and our reporting will always reflect that.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: And now between the headlines.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: Okay, listeners, you have waited patiently for this week's episode and so have we.
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: After 22 years at the helm of the Golden Triangle Development Link, mr Joe Max Higgins and his Boca Abierta are sent packing In the studio to help us talk about that today.
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: Among other things are Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill and Lowndes County Board Chair Tripp Harston.
• 1:05
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  Speaker 3: This episode of Between the Headlines is brought to you by Bank First, the locally owned bank that makes decisions right here at home, by people who understand the needs of our community.
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• 2:37
  Speaker 3: Today you are listening to Between the Headlines with the great nephew of the beloved icon, mr Herschel Cracker Whiskey barrel not included and he's also the managing editor of the Commercial Dispatch, mr Zach Player and my name is David Chisholm Speaking of whiskey barrel before we get started.
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: I guess it so appears that Mr Joe Max emptied his entire bladder into one of them.
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: Where do we even begin with this?
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, using the Lord, using your metaphor, I guess, when you're constantly bathing in a swimming pool of your own Kool-Aid it's only a matter of time before you drown in it, and that's kind of what I think has happened here.
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: So before we get to the ugly part, maybe we should just go over the facts that are worth celebrating for Mr Higgins, okay.
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: Okay, with him and others we had 10,000 jobs, many of them highly paying.
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: Okay, that's a lot of food on the table, that is.
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: I don't want to take that away from you.
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: We've got five mega sites, 10 plus billion dollars in capital investments.
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: You look at the university, the workforce development.
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: We've had kind of a change in things from just us being an economic, industrial wasteland to what it is now, which is bright and beautiful, and today's podcast is not aiming to take away from that.
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: We want to celebrate that and move on with it.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: however, However, you've got Joe Max Higgins fired.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: We find that out Sunday, yesterday or Wednesday.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: We get a very late press release statement from the Link executive committee, who voted unanimously, by the way, to fire him.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: That gives a little bit more insight into why they talk about workplace behavior and they talk about speech behavior and they talk about speech.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: And what sticks out to me is the statement that says that this behavior, this speech, goes quote beyond profanity and that, if known, it would harm every member of the community.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: So let me back up.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about, let's really focus on that if known.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: Part.
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: Okay, so just to be clear, we're talking about not just profanity, but beyond profanity.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: Beyond profanity that harms the community.
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so this is not sexual harassment, this is not butt grabbing or any of that stuff.
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: This is abuse of some type that stuff.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: This is abuse of some type, workplace behavior and speech that goes beyond profanity and, if known, would harm every member of the community.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: That is what I can officially say about it, because that is what they officially said about it.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: Very good I want to focus on the if known, and this is listeners.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: You have not heard me talk like this before.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: I'm just going to talk about some greatest hits here.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about what has been known publicly, or at least generally known from people who have come in contact with him or had a conversation with him over the past several years.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: Joe Max Higgins took a public stance against that House Bill 1523, the now law that allows business owners to refuse service to LGBT customers based on religious objection, etc.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: Okay, so he's doing an interview with the dispatch on that, taking a progressive stance on industry basis against that law being passed.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: But this is what he says in the paper Quote first of all, he called it the queer bill and second of all, his quote on it was I'm the least likely guy to be an LGBT advocate.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: I ain't going to beat one up or anything, but I'd just as soon not be around that shit.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: I would still change the law.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: So that's what he said in the paper.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: Also, printing in the paper was him once bragging, more or less quote I say shit, damn and son of a bitch at Rotary.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: I've talked like that and this was at the time for 14 years that I've been here, so that was some years ago and this was at the time for 14 years that I've been here, so that was some years ago.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: That's what's printed.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: Here are some things that didn't print that everybody in his orbit knows he said, including the executive committee, government officials, other people that have had conversations with him, some of the things he said to me over the years His nickname and apologies again to the listeners with sensitive ears his nickname for the former governor, phil Bryant, was, quote Governor Phil my Nuts.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: That's a true story.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: He's routinely called sitting mayors in the region more than one town and very recently even calling them cocksuckers instead of their name.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: You might recall there was an Indian faculty member at EMCC that Joe Max could not stand, oh yeah.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: And he routinely called him that curry eater.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: Those are just a few examples of what's known you also, anytime you had a conversation with him, there were, you know, lots of anatomical references to women and what he liked and didn't like, and those are just a few examples of what's known things he's absolutely said in public or in mixed conversation.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: So how bad does the if-known stuff have to be if this is the we-all-do-know stuff?
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: I follow you completely and I've heard a lot of things this week.
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: I've heard a lot of rumors, this and that.
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: What I'm hearing here is words, and I say to you that words matter and I have to be careful with this because, listen, there's people out there who have said and continue to say, I don't care what he has done, unless he has raped kids on Epstein Island, he is getting the results.
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: Leave him the hell alone.
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: There's that crowd Right.
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: The people of the board may have said.
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: You know what?
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: I'm just tired of this whole one man band narrative.
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: This is a team effort and if, if, in fact, there is a time to go a new direction, this is the time to do it.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: Okay, so they're going to do that in the middle of a five-year contract?
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: That's the time to do it.
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: Which tells you that something very, very egregious took place, to say you know what Screw this.
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: Now is the time we're going to move, and we're going to move unanimously.
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: Okay, could he have kept his mouth closed?
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: Well, that's not possible.
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: Could he have kept it moderately tempered for four more years?
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: He would be walking off into the sunset.
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: We would be building a statue in his honor.
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: But it didn't work out like that, right.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: And I'm going to tell you why, in my opinion.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: And first of all, I'm not going to pretend that I don't cuss, I'm not going to pretend that I don't have my own you know potty mouth problems and say stuff I shouldn't say.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: But you and I both know that there's a difference between saying shit when you stub your toe and calling somebody a piece of it, Mm-hmm.
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: A hundred percent Out of the abundance of the heart.
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: The mouth speaks Okay.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: And his mouth spoke an abundance of meanness, derision and belittling.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: And he did it.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: We talked about some of the things, but he did it on a pretty regular basis.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: And people.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: So I think two things happen there.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: I think one, people get tired of listening to it, people get tired of being treated that way and enough people sort of form, sort of coalesce behind we're not going to.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: There's more of us than there is of him.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: And then the second thing that happens is the more he gets away with that, the more emboldened and entitled he becomes to be able to speak that way and we start to get to whatever words I'll let you guess.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: That would be beyond profanity and, if known, would harm every member of the community.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: Joe Max's success is undeniable.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: Jomax's success is undeniable.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: But going back to something that Trip Harston said in the paper that other economic developers have had, using different methods and behaving differently than Jomax and I'm going to give you a case in point from a story that I've already referenced you remember we had the quote earlier about the House Bill 1523 and what Jom Max said about the quote queer bill.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: In that same story, david Rumbarger, who leads economic development arm in Tupelo.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: He agreed wholeheartedly in principle with Joe Max's position, but this is his quote in that same story.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: Whether I personally agree with those issues is one thing, but when they affect our business climate that becomes an unforced error and a problem.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: You can agree with that position or not, but the point that I'm trying to make is David Rombarger said principally the same thing Joe Max did, but content-wise nothing like it, and so that goes to Tripp's point that you can do the same thing and have the same bona fides and be the same level of effectiveness.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: It's not the Rumbart is quoted here, it's not the edgy rawness that fills up both ballrooms at Lion Hills for speech, but it gets the job done without quote harming the community, lionhills for a speech, but it gets the job done without quote harming the community.
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: Narcissism is volatile and narcissism brings inherent liability, no question about it, and I think you're going to see some of that start.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: I think that, before it's over with, we're going to know what he said and it's going to be on the record for posterity.
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah, here's the thing about that.
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: Obviously, this whole episode is ugly, but I think it's going to get uglier.
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: Rumors are out there.
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: Both sides are lawyering up.
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: No surprise there.
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: But I think that's so unfortunate because, remember, that's so unfortunate because, remember, 76% of the link is funded by your mine property tax.
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: Okay, for Joe Max, what's he going to do?
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: He's going to holler wrongful termination.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: He might holler defamation of some of that stuff.
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: So far he hasn't hollered anything.
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: Well, yeah, because he's talking with counsel, I'm sure.
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: And then the link they're going to say, just cause I'm and as far as the defamation stuff, you know, truth is an absolute defense in that case and I'm just looking at it I would like for it just to go away and be done with and not cost us any more money.
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: You're either going to have a settlement or you're going to have a war or best case scenario.
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: Just let it be done.
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: I'm in favor of the latter and I hope that's the way it goes down.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: There may be a considerable number of parties that have legal avenues right here and if they choose to and Jomax included and if they choose to pursue them, that's not my business to tell them that they shouldn't they shouldn't.
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: Well, I, I think, uh, our interest in it is is financial, just by virtue of any money lost from the link is money lost from all of us.
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: And um, we've got to see what's next well, you know, they let him get.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: I want to talk about they.
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: Let they let this happen for and when I say they, to some extent all of us, you know, kind of let this happen with a snicker.
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: Because he was winning.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because he was winning and because sometimes it was funny depending on your sense of humor.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: I laughed at it quite a bit in some cases, but I think the brand outgrew.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: The brand and the personality outgrew its ability to sustain.
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: Or the machine that he built outgrew the machinist.
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: Okay, if you look at it from a positive standpoint, he built this big, beautiful thing with the help of others, he built it and now it's working.
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: It's doing its thing.
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: Now it's working, it's doing its thing.
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: So, either way, whether he outgrew his own britches or whether the machine outgrew him, I know not, but in the year 2025, I can tell you that I am not in the camp of people that's moaning and groaning and saying what are we going to do now?
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: Well, you're asking what's next, and there's two.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: Are we going to do now?
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: Well, you're asking what's next, and there's two.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: There's obviously the positive outlook of this thing's been built up to be what it is.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: It's desirable, people are going to want to come and lead it, and that momentum is going to, maybe, after a brief hiccup, continue.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: It's going to resume and it's going to go forward to bigger and better things, even, and I believe that ultimately, that is what will happen In the short term.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: Here's something that I'm worried about Is this now, or has Joe Max's brand behavior, this particular news item of his firing and what led to it?
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: Has it toxified the link, has it toxified the region to people who would be possibly looking?
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: I hope not, but that would be something that you know that I would be worried about.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: And then the other thing would be that companies who know that there's been upheaval here would say well, let's take a beat and see what they do before we start committing to the Golden Triangle again, because we want the dust to settle before we talk to them again.
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: It's entirely possible that we miss out on the closure of a deal.
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: I'm not going to doubt that.
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: You know you think of the first season anytime there's after a coaching change.
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: It's bad.
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: Hopefully not as bad as last year at State good grief, but it's bad.
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: But to your former point, I say unequivocally no, because I think the nine-member board voted unanimously Thirteen board voted unanimously against letting that happen or letting that continue, shall I say.
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: They have said you know this right here is something that is beholden to all of us.
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: It is something that is representative of our community and our community values, and we've had enough of the nonsense.
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: I'm not speaking for all of them, but I know a couple of these people and I can tell you that some of them probably came to a point where they were asking what profit did a man if he gains the whole world?
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: but loses his own soul.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: And that was you want to know something Very first verse I thought of after I got the call Sunday that this had happened.
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: Hear, hear.
• 17:57
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• 18:50
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• 18:54
  Speaker 3: At this time we are pleased to have in the studio the president of the Board of Supervisors of Lowndes County, mr Tripp Harston, and the mayor of Starkville, the Honorable Lynn Spruill.
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: How are you guys today Doing?
• 19:05
  Speaker 5: well, today All good, thank you.
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: Well, we're really glad that y'all joined us on the podcast I know we're going to be talking about you know, subject of economic development, and different things have been going on at the link today and and then I will start with you You're on the record supporting the other day the reinstatement of Joe Max Higgins, the CEO.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: Does the links statement from yesterday change any of that for you?
• 19:39
  Speaker 5: I remain supportive of the things that Joe Max has done.
• 19:42
  Speaker 5: Unquestionably he has and I will continue to say this he has done more for our overall community and region, particularly starting with Lowndes County, working its way, fortunately, to Clay and Octobah Hall, than I think any single person has done, and so I continue to be very supportive of what he has done.
• 20:01
  Speaker 5: His management style certainly leaves something to be desired.
• 20:06
  Speaker 5: I have a low threshold or a low sensitivity level.
• 20:09
  Speaker 5: I've never not worked in a hostile working environment, so I mean to be perfectly frank.
• 20:15
  Speaker 5: So you know, my sensitivity level is probably not the norm and so, basing it from my perspective, I am deeply saddened by what has transpired and the fact that the link felt that they needed to take that action.
• 20:30
  Speaker 5: I have trouble standing with him strongly because of that, but I also know that this is nothing new.
• 20:38
  Speaker 5: He's been doing this off and on for 20 plus years, 10 of which, you know, the link has been together as a collective group.
• 20:46
  Speaker 5: I think that had there been this behavior that seems to have generated this action for that period of time, something should have happened before this span of 10 years had expired.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean, does that indicate to y'all based on in that statement where they talk about?
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: You know this goes beyond profanity.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: These things I think the quote is, if known would harm every member of the community Knowing what we do, know all having been around Joe Max at various times what does that statement, what does that particular part of that statement, say to you, tripp, about what this was or how bad it?
• 21:35
  Speaker 6: must have been.
• 21:35
  Speaker 6: Of course, that would open up a lot more questions than answers, if I got you know looking at that statement.
• 21:41
  Speaker 6: So you know, and I think that's the problem that the general public may have, and the problem that I have and, lynn, you may have the same type problem is the fact that you can't open up a personnel file.
• 21:54
  Speaker 6: David, you were talking about your pool business a minute ago.
• 21:57
  Speaker 6: You ever had to fire anybody.
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah well, All right, let's follow that string.
• 22:02
  Speaker 6: okay, let's follow that string.
• 22:04
  Speaker 6: You also do work for the YMCA, correct?
• 22:09
  Speaker 6: Yes, yes.
• 22:10
  Speaker 6: And so Jimmy Woodruff would not have the right to come over to your office and demand to open up a personnel file.
• 22:17
  Speaker 6: And that's where I think we're having some problems with the public, because public dollars are going in there and they demanding to know what's going on.
• 22:26
  Speaker 6: So I think that the link board came out with that statement partly to put aside hopefully to put aside some rumors that would help Joe.
• 22:36
  Speaker 6: Joe didn't steal any money.
• 22:38
  Speaker 6: He didn't have any illicit affair in the office.
• 22:41
  Speaker 6: Any of those crazy rumors that Lynn, you and I both know are crazy.
• 22:46
  Speaker 6: Yes, absolutely that would never, never happen with Joe.
• 22:49
  Speaker 6: I'll say this too.
• 22:50
  Speaker 6: Joe Max Higgins is my friend and he will always be my friend, and we had, I think, a run of economic development that is unprecedented in the country period.
• 23:06
  Speaker 6: He has done an excellent job and we owe him an awful lot of credit for the 22 years that he was there.
• 23:15
  Speaker 6: I'll also say another thing, too.
• 23:17
  Speaker 6: He was a head coach, but he had football players on the team, and those football players didn't lose their sight of playing football just because the coach left.
• 23:27
  Speaker 6: They still know how to play some football.
• 23:29
  Speaker 6: So it is a big, big loss.
• 23:32
  Speaker 6: It's a big loss, but it's one that I think we can recover from.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: Okay, well, and Lynn, I want to pivot back to you here, because one thing that was a criticism of the link that came from Starkville and Octobahaw County for a while was what about us?
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: Yes, I mean obviously that came from big developments in Lowndes County, big developments in Clay County, and then North Star was a little later after that.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: How did you guys work with the link to maybe heal that criticism, a deal with that criticism, to the extent that you have?
• 24:19
  Speaker 5: You've got to remember, joe Mack started in Lowndes in Columbus and he had remarkable success.
• 24:25
  Speaker 5: So we're sitting over there in October Hall and Clay going.
• 24:27
  Speaker 5: We don't have the same assets, but there's something for us to be able to sell too, and so can we create something that is regional.
• 24:36
  Speaker 5: That will be beneficial to us, because prior to that we didn't have anything that was economic development related.
• 24:41
  Speaker 5: We were doing very poorly.
• 24:42
  Speaker 5: Let me just be kind about it.
• 24:45
  Speaker 5: And so to me and I remember I was the chief administrative officer at the city when this dialogue first started coming- up.
• 24:51
  Speaker 5: And we're you know, you're looking over across the Tom Bigby going wait, wait, we want to play too.
• 24:56
  Speaker 5: And so I found us to be very fortunate that Joe Max took it on as a group effort and that he saw the value in regionalism.
• 25:05
  Speaker 5: Starville certainly does not have the same things to offer.
• 25:09
  Speaker 5: We obviously participated in the airport I mean that was a regional effort.
• 25:14
  Speaker 5: So we have regional behavior in our background, but we don't have a railroad and we don't have a river.
• 25:21
  Speaker 5: We have a university, we have a research area, we had a research park.
• 25:26
  Speaker 5: So there are things that I thought we could bring to the table as well.
• 25:32
  Speaker 5: Market that who can help us understand what we can create.
• 25:36
  Speaker 5: That will bring also economic development and opportunities to Octopahaw County, to Starkville.
• 25:41
  Speaker 5: Then we want to be a part of that and I think we were in the process of succeeding.
• 25:45
  Speaker 5: And one of the things that's frustrating for someone who is, you know, we're just starting to get going.
• 25:51
  Speaker 5: I mean we've gotten some things.
• 25:52
  Speaker 5: We've gotten, obviously, triangle Crossing.
• 25:54
  Speaker 5: Guerin stayed in town, went up to North Star Industrial Park, columbia Industries came to town.
• 25:59
  Speaker 5: There's some things that are on the drawing table right now, and while I do think that certainly there is remaining talent at the link, there's not enough bandwidth left, I think, to juggle the Cinco Megasite, to juggle Clay County, to juggle the things that we had on the table in Starkville that I know that were at a tipping point.
• 26:18
  Speaker 5: Now that's not to say they would absolutely come to fruition, but the reality is you don't have, unless you got somebody working the deals, they're probably less inclined to be here.
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: So if bandwidth is the issue and it's kind of a bottleneck thing going into one person, do you think that opens up the possibility for like a three-person management system, maybe one representative from each county heading that thing up?
• 26:43
  Speaker 5: I think you always got to have a single person who's the point person, the link.
• 26:47
  Speaker 5: Obviously the board is composed of those people who are representing each one of those entities, but I do think you need a single point person who is the driving force.
• 26:57
  Speaker 5: While somebody might be managing or keeping their eyes on Octobahaw County or keeping their eyes on Clay County or Lowndes County, I do think you need that final person that it funnels through to say yes, yes, yes, yes, or what about this or what about that.
• 27:10
  Speaker 5: And it is a skill set that I wish I had.
• 27:13
  Speaker 5: Oh my God, I have watched Joe Max and my brain just can't catch up with his.
• 27:18
  Speaker 5: You know, I just sit back and marvel at it, and I think it's a skill set that is rare, but he's had some good people.
• 27:26
  Speaker 5: Macaulay Whitaker was extraordinary.
• 27:28
  Speaker 5: I watched her at work one time and she was excellent.
• 27:32
  Speaker 5: I have not had the chance to watch Meryl, so I don't know.
• 27:36
  Speaker 5: I have not had the chance to watch Merrill.
• 27:38
  Speaker 5: so I don't know, but obviously I think he was grooming Merrill to come up underneath him and be his replacement, because he had just signed a five-year contract and there was four years essentially left on it, so he had no intention of staying around any longer.
• 27:53
  Speaker 5: According to what he was saying to me in other times.
• 27:57
  Speaker 6: If you look at Merrill's credentials, even on LinkedIn, all of that, she has extremely high accreditation with economic development accreditation.
• 28:07
  Speaker 6: So that was on purpose and I think Joe would tell you that was on purpose and he celebrated those successes with her.
• 28:15
  Speaker 5: He did.
• 28:16
  Speaker 6: And you may be right.
• 28:16
  Speaker 6: There may be a void at the top, obviously, and I think that the link board needs to get on the stick and then start that process immediately.
• 28:26
  Speaker 5: Well, and that's part of what worried me about this is because it occurred so quickly that there is not a succession plan that has been fully developed and is in place, and that's worrisome because I do think you're looking at six months, eight months to a year you may get somebody fairly quickly, but they've got to ramp up as well and there's a lot to ramp up into.
• 28:45
  Speaker 6: I'll tell you.
• 28:46
  Speaker 6: You know, that's one thing that I think Lynn and I share, of course, in the shock of it all.
• 28:54
  Speaker 6: You know we're called and wow, our tendency right then was to fold inward and figure out okay, what do we do now?
• 29:02
  Speaker 6: Right?
• 29:02
  Speaker 6: Um, on that monday, um, I do know for a fact that merrill I don't know what site I'm, uh, it could be any of these sites that they had had an inquiry from a site selector who wanted a package put together, and they started immediately, right then, to do that.
• 29:18
  Speaker 6: So, as we think we might all of a sudden be sitting on our hands, the folks at the link aren't.
• 29:25
  Speaker 6: They're moving forward, so that's a good thing.
• 29:28
  Speaker 5: And I certainly hope not, but we've also got somebody who's about to go out on maternity leave.
• 29:31
  Speaker 5: So you're looking at, you know circumstances happen, people go on vacation, parents die, children get sick, all those kinds of things and I just don't think there is a whole lot of and it takes bodies.
• 29:43
  Speaker 5: It doesn't just take take a single person, it takes bodies to put all this stuff together.
• 29:48
  Speaker 5: And it's not a, it's not a quick and easy thing.
• 29:51
  Speaker 5: It's.
• 29:51
  Speaker 5: It is intense and what the packages they put together for site selection.
• 29:55
  Speaker 6: I have hang on.
• 29:56
  Speaker 6: Hang on, david, I got a good, I got a good, I got a good story.
• 30:01
  Speaker 6: That kind of shows that what happened there with him developing his staff.
• 30:06
  Speaker 6: Elizabeth Templin, who's in that office, does excellent work.
• 30:11
  Speaker 6: She's fairly new to the office.
• 30:13
  Speaker 6: She's the one who put together all of the package and the sources and uses of funds for the Cinco Mega site.
• 30:20
  Speaker 6: Joe called me and said we're going to Jackson.
• 30:25
  Speaker 6: I said okay, you know what time and where and all that.
• 30:27
  Speaker 6: And Joe, stanley and Elizabeth Stanley Spradlin and I got in his truck and we drove to Jackson and met with Bill Cork's office and they had everybody there.
• 30:42
  Speaker 6: We were all around the table, including the director and Elizabeth.
• 30:47
  Speaker 6: He said this is Elizabeth's project.
• 30:50
  Speaker 6: She presented the project to MDA.
• 30:51
  Speaker 6: That is a good thing that you do for your employees to ramp them up so immediately.
• 30:59
  Speaker 6: People don't know that in the general public if you hadn't seen that.
• 31:05
  Speaker 5: Mayor, you and I would know that.
• 31:07
  Speaker 5: Well, we do.
• 31:07
  Speaker 5: And I've got one for you too, because Columbia Industries.
• 31:10
  Speaker 5: Everybody remembers that we lost Nucor.
• 31:12
  Speaker 5: The building was empty and Columbia Industries was looking around around but they weren't looking at starkville and one of his staff people pointed them at starkville and, sure enough, with enough work we ended up getting columbia industries.
• 31:26
  Speaker 5: That was because one member of his staff wouldn't let it die, so that.
• 31:30
  Speaker 5: But but I guess the point of that is is you have got to have more than one person you do, but y'all have.
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: But y'all been complimentary of what y'all have seen in the development that he led on his staff.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: But y'all have seen the other stuff too.
• 31:46
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, I've been the brunt of all of that.
• 31:50
  Speaker 5: Sure, me too.
• 31:51
  Speaker 5: I mean, joe Max doesn't mince any words when it comes to how he feels about me, about how he feels about anybody else, but I think he's my friend as well.
• 31:59
  Speaker 5: We've all got flaws.
• 32:00
  Speaker 5: I worked for Dan Camp.
• 32:02
  Speaker 5: He and I yelled at one another, we went tooth and nail regularly about things, and so again, my sensitivity level is way low.
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: Well, and you I mean obviously in the other direction.
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: You've also worked under a good friend of mine, parker.
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and y'all's personalities aren't exactly necessarily aligned all the time.
• 32:23
  Speaker 5: He's not a, he's a gentle soul.
• 32:26
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: By comparison, you would be the harder one of those two?
• 32:29
  Speaker 5: Yeah, that's absolutely correct.
• 32:31
  Speaker 5: Good cop, bad cop.
• 32:32
  Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, pretty much.
• 32:34
  Speaker 5: But I mean, in the end, you know who the person is.
• 32:37
  Speaker 5: Who's going to make the decision, correct?
• 32:41
  Speaker 6: Yes, of course I think you and I share in that too, we do, of course the mayor and I do, I mean how much, I guess, should have been forgiven up until this point?
• 32:50
  Speaker 6: I mean she mentioned a while ago.
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: Somebody should have said something before now.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: Who and why wasn't it?
• 33:07
  Speaker 6: Well, I can't answer that question, um, but mainly because, again, that would be opening up a personnel file that I'm not privy to and and not I'm just not gonna go there on that one, um, just because I'm not privy to that personnel file.
• 33:14
  Speaker 6: If there are things at some, the mayor and I might have to answer to those, but until that's, you know, I don't think I'm going to open a personnel file because I don't have it, it's not mine.
• 33:28
  Speaker 5: Well, it's not ours to do.
• 33:30
  Speaker 5: I don't want it.
• 33:32
  Speaker 6: I don't want it either.
• 33:34
  Speaker 5: Joe Max was never shy.
• 33:36
  Speaker 5: He always when he told the truth, I um, he always, he when he told the truth.
• 33:42
  Speaker 5: I mean to me he told the truth and he said you're doing x and you know, yeah, he was right.
• 33:44
  Speaker 5: And I may not be as as direct and forthcoming that you, as you want me to be about something.
• 33:48
  Speaker 5: I may not be going in the direction you want me to go in.
• 33:50
  Speaker 5: He'd let me know and I'd tell him I didn't care.
• 33:53
  Speaker 5: And in similar, similar language, so it is.
• 33:57
  Speaker 5: You know, it's just it.
• 33:58
  Speaker 5: It's incredibly unfortunate y'all.
• 34:00
  Speaker 5: Because I think we had lightning in a bottle.
• 34:02
  Speaker 5: I've used that expression a number of times and I'm hopeful that we can continue that.
• 34:09
  Speaker 6: And I say this with a smile on my face.
• 34:11
  Speaker 6: You may not be able to see the smile over the radio, but we also owned a pit bull, and that pit bull comes with liability it does.
• 34:20
  Speaker 5: But it wasn't something that surprises us.
• 34:22
  Speaker 3: No.
• 34:22
  Speaker 5: I mean it's always been.
• 34:24
  Speaker 5: Teeth have always been there.
• 34:27
  Speaker 3: Well, what's next?
• 34:28
  Speaker 3: I mean, where do we go from here?
• 34:31
  Speaker 6: I'm going to rewind just a little bit and not talk about necessarily Joe Max and all that stuff.
• 34:36
  Speaker 6: I'm going to rewind of what we have in the Golden Triangle together we have.
• 34:42
  Speaker 6: The envy of the Southeast is what we have.
• 34:45
  Speaker 6: I have a good friend on the coast, a former supervisor down there I won't use his name and he and I talk fairly often.
• 34:54
  Speaker 6: We spend time together and he often says y'all have figured it out because you've gotten together and you work together regionally instead of against each other across county lines.
• 35:10
  Speaker 6: The river does not separate clay county.
• 35:13
  Speaker 6: It may legitimately separate clay county, octavia hall county and lounge county, but we have figured out a way that we can work together County.
• 35:18
  Speaker 6: It may legitimately separate Clay County, octavia Hall County and Lowndes County, but we have figured out a way that we can work together and we are the envy of the economic development of the Southeast.
• 35:25
  Speaker 6: Several months ago when I got sidelined by that friend and he said man, I wish we could do that down on the coast, it seems like we're just taking two steps forward and one step back because we're just constantly throwing bombs at each other.
• 35:39
  Speaker 3: So, like Biloxi, is fighting past the Gula Bits.
• 35:41
  Speaker 6: Yeah, hancock County and Harrison you know, just fighting all the time, I guess I don't know, I'm not there, but he just said y'all have figured it out.
• 35:51
  Speaker 6: So I asked Joe.
• 35:52
  Speaker 6: I said Joe, and I was being complimentary of Joe.
• 35:56
  Speaker 6: I said Joe, anywhere else that happens, and he was quiet over the phone and he said maybe.
• 36:06
  Speaker 6: I said what do you mean maybe?
• 36:07
  Speaker 6: He said well, there might be a place up in Carolina or somewhere that has done that.
• 36:11
  Speaker 6: I said there's no other place that we have.
• 36:14
  Speaker 6: He said not, that does it like we do it here.
• 36:17
  Speaker 6: And so we need to recognize that we're better together, working with each other and pulling for each other.
• 36:26
  Speaker 6: And so when y'all had the Columbia announcement, I was cheering for that.
• 36:30
  Speaker 5: I think you better be Absolutely.
• 36:32
  Speaker 5: I mean, come on man, You're the elephant in the room.
• 36:34
  Speaker 5: Well, give us, give us a little bit Well that's what I'm saying.
• 36:39
  Speaker 6: We want to see those successes.
• 36:41
  Speaker 3: Well, we all do.
• 36:41
  Speaker 6: Nothing would make me happier than to see the industrial park that the city owns in Starkville to be full and with high-paying jobs.
• 36:50
  Speaker 6: Sure.
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: Okay, so I want to stop there to kind of piggyback off of something each of you have said Lightning in the bottle, the bulldog, the pit bull Sorry, the next person that comes in is not going to be Joe Max Higgins, and we know that.
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: And, for better or for worse, how much of this new leader is going to be, you know, the personality of the brand and how much of it is going to be certain expertise.
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: Where is the balance for you guys on that?
• 37:20
  Speaker 6: as far as filling Cinco up, filling Northstar up, Well, it's kind of like asking the church after they lose their pastor.
• 37:28
  Speaker 6: They all want the Apostle Paul.
• 37:34
  Speaker 3: But he wants too much money.
• 37:46
  Speaker 6: So that's a hard question for me to answer.
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: Um, in my mind you're not going to replace there's only one, joe max higgins, and I told you that right in the paper.
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: You also said that there were other ways that you could have success that aren't that way, and so I guess that's really where I'm coming from with the question.
• 37:57
  Speaker 6: Lowndes County was named top 17 in the site selector magazine per capita for economic development.
• 38:06
  Speaker 3: In the United States, in the United.
• 38:07
  Speaker 6: States.
• 38:08
  Speaker 6: So that means there's other economic developers out there developing economic development development.
• 38:21
  Speaker 6: So I think we would certainly be on the short list of any if you want to say high profile or at least high skilled economic developer.
• 38:24
  Speaker 6: I think you immediately would be on the short list because of what has been built in the link.
• 38:29
  Speaker 6: I really do.
• 38:31
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I don't.
• 38:32
  Speaker 5: I certainly don't disagree with that, although, as we all know I mean, let's be candid here Mississippi is a tough place to come to when you're coming from somewhere else.
• 38:41
  Speaker 5: Right, we have to sell ourselves hard, and we have a couple of economic developers already here that have been successful, and by that I mean Joey Deason and.
• 38:51
  Speaker 5: Rumbartor.
• 38:52
  Speaker 5: But when you're looking outside the state to bring someone in which is what I think is probably going to end up happening you're going to have to sell the state and not just this area, and you've got to remember that we have a high poverty rate in Octopahaw County.
• 39:07
  Speaker 5: So there are elements to us that are incredibly attractive, but there are also elements that people are going to have to get past to get here.
• 39:15
  Speaker 5: I think once we get them here, they're willing to take a look at the area.
• 39:19
  Speaker 5: They would be sold on it because I think we are a great place to live.
• 39:22
  Speaker 5: We're not named you know Starkville is not named the best place to live in the South by USA Today for two years in a row.
• 39:29
  Speaker 5: Thank you very much.
• 39:29
  Speaker 5: For no reason at all.
• 39:31
  Speaker 5: But you know, and I have a lot of people that I talk to who come to Mississippi State for faculty or for whatever, and they don't ever plan to stay.
• 39:39
  Speaker 5: They're coming for a little bit and they end up 20 years later they look up and go.
• 39:42
  Speaker 5: We're still here and we love it, but that still is a hard sell, and the kind of skill set that I think we need is going to take some of that kind of convincing, and I'm so hopeful.
• 39:55
  Speaker 5: I don't know how quickly the link board is going to put out an application opportunity.
• 40:01
  Speaker 5: I don't know what they're going to put out there, what they're going to look for, but it doesn't have to be a personality that is, as let's just say, controversial or dynamic, as Joe.
• 40:10
  Speaker 3: So you want some warm and cuddly.
• 40:12
  Speaker 5: No, I don't.
• 40:13
  Speaker 5: I don't like warm and cuddly.
• 40:15
  Speaker 5: I personally do not like warm and cuddly.
• 40:17
  Speaker 5: Let me be clear.
• 40:18
  Speaker 6: But I'm not the one making the decision either.
• 40:20
  Speaker 6: Mayor Spruill might be our next speaker.
• 40:30
  Speaker 5: What certifications do you have?
• 40:32
  Speaker 5: Had I started really young, I would have loved to have mentored under him and under someone who's got that kind of brain.
• 40:38
  Speaker 5: I love it, but I don't have it.
• 40:41
  Speaker 5: And there are those that do.
• 40:42
  Speaker 5: So you know, bring them on, but I would like to know when the link is planning on putting that out Instead.
• 40:47
  Speaker 6: when she was young, she was landing planes on aircraft.
• 40:50
  Speaker 6: I was.
• 40:51
  Speaker 5: That's the adrenaline rush.
• 40:52
  Speaker 6: That's not the brain.
• 40:53
  Speaker 5: That's the adrenaline.
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: So all right, let me ask that question in a slightly different way for you all to think about here.
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: Do you feel like somebody has to be able to fill up both ballrooms of Lion Hills for a speech in order to fill up Cinco or North Star?
• 41:09
  Speaker 5: No, no, no.
• 41:10
  Speaker 5: I think they have to move in the circles that will make things happen.
• 41:16
  Speaker 5: Move in the circles that were that.
• 41:20
  Speaker 5: That will make things happen.
• 41:21
  Speaker 5: And you know the guys that go out.
• 41:21
  Speaker 5: Let's face it, I'm not going out playing golf and I'm not going out hunting to the hunt club and drinking blackjack with the guys you know.
• 41:27
  Speaker 5: But you got to have somebody who can walk through many different levels in order to make those things happen.
• 41:34
  Speaker 5: And and I've always you, you know thought that it shouldn't have to happen on the golf course damn it, you know it just shouldn't.
• 41:41
  Speaker 5: I can't hit a golf ball.
• 41:42
  Speaker 5: But there is that element of knowing that there are things that you need to be able to do and places you need to be able to go that work, those deals, because that's just the way it is.
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: So, Trish, can you beat Lynn?
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: At golf?
• 41:56
  Speaker 6: No, I was going to say if you see me with a golf club.
• 41:59
  Speaker 6: I figured out something else to do with it, like either catch a fish or something Call the sheriff.
• 42:05
  Speaker 6: Somebody said hey, would you join us in a golf game for this thing?
• 42:11
  Speaker 6: And I said no.
• 42:11
  Speaker 6: For your safety and mine the answer is no, well, I'll ride the golf cart with a beer cart right in mind.
• 42:18
  Speaker 5: The answer is no, yeah well, I'll ride the golf cart with a beer cart right, but I mean, you understand what I'm trying to say they've got to be able to work in circles that include highly elected, you know, highly positioned elected officials, appointed officials, local folks um it's a skill.
• 42:29
  Speaker 6: And another thing too is I don't know what black jack is, but I sure don't want to drink any.
• 42:33
  Speaker 6: It's, it's rough.
• 42:39
  Speaker 5: Isn't that what you call black label, jack Daniels?
• 42:42
  Speaker 6: Oh, black, Is that right?
• 42:43
  Speaker 6: Oh, come on now.
• 42:44
  Speaker 6: Well, hey.
• 42:45
  Speaker 5: I don't drink.
• 42:46
  Speaker 5: I drink Diet Coke.
• 42:47
  Speaker 5: What can I tell you?
• 42:48
  Speaker 5: But that's my understanding from my people.
• 42:50
  Speaker 5: I used to fly with.
• 42:52
  Speaker 6: You're the Donald Trump ilk who said I don't drink, and could you imagine if I did?
• 42:57
  Speaker 5: That's actually a good thing to say no-transcript.
• 43:11
  Speaker 5: I'm just telling you.
• 43:13
  Speaker 5: So it's a different era.
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: You said a while ago I probably said too much well, I mean, this is important.
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: Uh, you said a while ago we need a clear plan of what we're doing.
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: When do y'all expect that from the executive committee, and what and and and?
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: How should that look when they come out and say, okay, we've.
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: We've come out yesterday and said, okay, this is our interim plan, more or less?
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: What do you all expect from them as to what's next and how we're going to meter this out and how the clients, the counties and the cities are going to be included in that process?
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: You kind of opened the door for that a while ago.
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: So I'm asking you both what should that look like and what timeline are you guys, as the paying customers, expecting for?
• 44:02
  Speaker 6: yesterday.
• 44:04
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think.
• 44:07
  Speaker 6: I think we expect some communications yesterday, right, and so I'm going to give a little grace, of course.
• 44:17
  Speaker 6: I'm going to give a little grace, of course, but at some time in the real near future we do need to have a plan.
• 44:22
  Speaker 6: And I have communicated that with the chairman of the executive committee and I did say we need to know what's next.
• 44:30
  Speaker 6: We need a plan.
• 44:32
  Speaker 6: Well, the job description.
• 44:34
  Speaker 5: I mean, it's been 20 years, I would assume they've got to develop a job description.
• 44:37
  Speaker 5: That takes a little time.
• 44:38
  Speaker 5: It takes a little coordination.
• 44:41
  Speaker 5: Who do you consult in order to?
• 44:42
  Speaker 5: Make that happen besides the lawyers.
• 44:43
  Speaker 5: Thank you very much so.
• 44:48
  Speaker 6: No, seriously, that's a self-indictment, I think.
• 44:49
  Speaker 5: Well, yeah, I are one.
• 44:51
  Speaker 5: Well, I don't know practice but I have the degree but I understand.
• 44:54
  Speaker 5: You know, when you end up lawyering up, it kind of drags things out to say the least.
• 44:59
  Speaker 5: It makes them expensive too.
• 45:01
  Speaker 5: It makes it expensive, but you've got to get an opportunity out there for people to look and see what you're wanting.
• 45:06
  Speaker 5: You've got to get that out and put it in all the places.
• 45:09
  Speaker 5: I would suggest a headhunter myself, but do it now.
• 45:13
  Speaker 5: Let's get going.
• 45:15
  Speaker 6: And communicate that plan.
• 45:16
  Speaker 6: Yes, and I will make the assumption that that communications will be coming sooner rather than later, but it needs to start happening.
• 45:24
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it would surprise me if the link board isn't meeting in some special meetings here frequently and soon, if they haven't already.
• 45:31
  Speaker 5: But seriously, I mean a headhunter to me is how you get started.
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: All right, trap question warning.
• 45:37
  Speaker 3: Uh-oh.
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: A couple of names have already been mentioned that I've thought about.
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: Just want to take y'all's attention.
• 45:45
  Speaker 6: Mentioned in your own head or just mentioned out loud.
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: Mentioned out loud.
• 45:49
  Speaker 6: Oh okay.
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: Is there anybody who has previously been at the link who you feel like should be considered or should be on the hiring committee for Joe Max's replacement?
• 46:02
  Speaker 6: Previously at the.
• 46:03
  Speaker 5: Well, I mentioned Joey Deason, obviously.
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: We've mentioned Macaulay and we've mentioned yes, and Macaulay both.
• 46:09
  Speaker 5: Now it would be whether or not they'd be interested.
• 46:12
  Speaker 5: I mean, I'm a big fan of Macaulay, I'm a big fan of Joey Deason, but Joey's got a pretty good job himself right now.
• 46:17
  Speaker 5: So but to have their input, I think, is certainly valuable.
• 46:27
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean somebody like a Joey Deason or a Joey Deason, absolutely.
• 46:32
  Speaker 6: I have heard that mentioned outside.
• 46:35
  Speaker 6: Kind of like you, not just in my own head he has got his hands full right now with what he's doing and I think he's very happy where he is Again.
• 46:42
  Speaker 6: May he just kind of take a skip back and look, I don't know, but Joey Deason or somebody like a Joey Deason would be ideal.
• 46:59
  Speaker 5: Well, and to have him on a to help them develop a search opportunity, a search committee, or have him share in the interviews from a headhunter.
• 47:03
  Speaker 5: Again, I'm on the headhunter side for going forward.
• 47:07
  Speaker 3: One thing that I concur with both of you about is the days of being overly patient are over.
• 47:12
  Speaker 3: I'm just ready to rock and roll Well.
• 47:16
  Speaker 5: you lose six months, you lose whatever period of time and you've lost opportunities.
• 47:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and the other side to that is we're doing well industrially.
• 47:25
  Speaker 3: Let us not keep the gas, let's not let off the gas pedal as far as that goes.
• 47:31
  Speaker 3: But now let's look at commercial over here and look at residential whichever order they have in the company.
• 47:38
  Speaker 5: That's not what the link is there.
• 47:40
  Speaker 5: No, that's not Right.
• 47:41
  Speaker 5: But workforce development is.
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: So, where has workforce development been on the LINCS priority list and how should that change under the next director?
• 47:51
  Speaker 5: You need to be asking them that Well, I'm asking the paying customers that Well, there are times when you leave it to the people that you're paying to do the work, but the workforce development has been a part of that.
• 48:01
  Speaker 5: That's the communiversity.
• 48:02
  Speaker 5: That's pulling all those EMCC, pulling those together, msu participating with the.
• 48:07
  Speaker 5: MCC and the communiversity.
• 48:09
  Speaker 5: I think those things have been happening.
• 48:10
  Speaker 5: We as a city have been working with Starville High School, for example, on getting water tech success from high schoolers.
• 48:19
  Speaker 5: In fact, we got an intern.
• 48:20
  Speaker 5: I think we're hiring this next board meeting.
• 48:22
  Speaker 6: I mean, you have Ford, you have other things that have popped up over the years, recent years, and I think it's because of the jobs being created in this area.
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: But how do you turn?
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: The people are driving in for these jobs and then going home to people who live here.
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: Have those jobs.
• 48:42
  Speaker 6: This is my thought on that.
• 48:44
  Speaker 6: This is some of my thought on that.
• 48:47
  Speaker 6: At Rotary, when I gave an update to Rotary and it was Rotary, it doesn't matter three points right Taxes well, it was the tower Taxes Y'all got y'all's play on that cell tower.
• 49:02
  Speaker 6: Do I now?
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: Y'all got y'all's play on that cell tower do I now?
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: Y'all got y'all's way on that tower taxes and target.
• 49:08
  Speaker 6: Yeah, okay, target meaning uh?
• 49:10
  Speaker 6: Restore everybody wants a target right you're not getting it.
• 49:13
  Speaker 6: No, we're not getting one but but in general, when you say target, people think of retail.
• 49:18
  Speaker 6: Okay.
• 49:18
  Speaker 6: Well, some think of other things too, I sure, but it's okay.
• 49:22
  Speaker 6: But Target is that bullet point.
• 49:24
  Speaker 6: I always say look industrial first, then you have residential and then you have retail.
• 49:32
  Speaker 6: I think you've largely seen a lot of retail increase in Starkville because you have increased residential.
• 49:40
  Speaker 6: It's pretty simple.
• 49:44
  Speaker 3: But it doesn't happen automatic.
• 49:45
  Speaker 3: That's what I'm getting at.
• 49:45
  Speaker 3: No an, it doesn't happen automatic, that's what I'm getting.
• 49:46
  Speaker 5: No, it doesn't.
• 49:47
  Speaker 6: Maybe nothing is automatic you you work for all of this absolutely, and so I do hope and I do believe that industrial, over time, we will see that run into increased residential and that will create increased commercial.
• 50:04
  Speaker 6: So, with all that being said, the main issue that we have, I think, in general with industrial development is a workforce participation.
• 50:22
  Speaker 6: Okay, those are people who could work, who don't work.
• 50:25
  Speaker 6: Bill Fruth, who Joe Max really spent a lot of time talking about.
• 50:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 50:31
  Speaker 6: He had Bill come in and give us a rundown of what's happening and he talked about the workforce ladder and the mayor and I, over time, worry about the same things Do we have enough people working?
• 50:45
  Speaker 6: And he looked at the data and he reported that data and he said it's working.
• 50:50
  Speaker 6: People are being pulled into the workforce in this area, which is good.
• 50:55
  Speaker 6: The work, the ladder of wages, has a lot of rungs on it and those rungs aren't empty.
• 51:01
  Speaker 6: So he said it's working from when it began 10 years ago when he first looked at it.
• 51:07
  Speaker 6: So that takes time, david.
• 51:09
  Speaker 6: If you create jobs, it will work.
• 51:12
  Speaker 6: Now your concern is okay.
• 51:14
  Speaker 6: What about the guy who lives in the or the gal who might live in the RV park during the weeks that they're working and then go home to Huntsville?
• 51:26
  Speaker 6: On the other thing, that is a hard answer and I think a lot of it is going to have to deal with schools.
• 51:37
  Speaker 5: Which we're seeing improvements in?
• 51:38
  Speaker 6: Yes, we are.
• 51:39
  Speaker 6: It's going to be schools, it's going to be all those things that you choose where you're going to live and raise your family, and um health care which we're also working to improve, yeah, so so, and I and I think starfleet has largely seen a lot of residential growth.
• 51:58
  Speaker 5: We have and it's a.
• 51:59
  Speaker 5: It's a double-edged sword because, as as the the demand goes up, the supply is is not there, and so I've got people.
• 52:04
  Speaker 5: I demand goes up, the supply is not there, and so I've got people.
• 52:06
  Speaker 5: In fact, I sat yesterday.
• 52:08
  Speaker 6: And sewer capacity is not there.
• 52:12
  Speaker 5: Well, end of 2027, we've issued $25 million not issued but authorized $25 million in bonds and we are working pedal to the metal to get that in place so that we'll have not only an upgraded capacity or upgraded quality, but an upgraded capacity by end of 2027.
• 52:31
  Speaker 5: So we are doing everything we know to do to allow us to grow, and that's growing outside the city limits because that includes the concept of the residential that's being developed in between the airport and Starkville in the Oktoberhaus County area, and so we're working as fast as we can and with as much diligence as we can to get that done.
• 52:53
  Speaker 5: But nonetheless, that supply and demand is still difficult because I get all kinds of lovely next door messages and Facebook messages about how Starkville nobody can afford to live in Starkville anymore.
• 53:05
  Speaker 5: So it is a double edged sword.
• 53:06
  Speaker 5: You know, rent control is not something that I anticipate Starkville participating in.
• 53:10
  Speaker 5: So from that perspective it is going to be supply and demand and we've got a lot of.
• 53:17
  Speaker 5: What I was starting to say is I spent yesterday getting at Harvey's with my Diet Coke talking to some folks who are moving up here or considering moving up here from Madison.
• 53:27
  Speaker 5: They're wanting to live near the university in their retirement, and so that's part of what's driving that up.
• 53:33
  Speaker 5: You've got a lot of people coming in.
• 53:34
  Speaker 5: We're a retirement community.
• 53:36
  Speaker 5: We're also a youthful community.
• 53:37
  Speaker 5: We've redone our parks to be able to make everybody happy, but you've got a serious issue of the value.
• 53:46
  Speaker 5: People think their property's worth a hell of a lot more than it's actually worth.
• 53:53
  Speaker 6: Yes, when I was 20 years ago, one of the physicians out of the big physicians surgery, one of those they were really based out of Amory and they were looking at and they have expanded here 20 years ago and they were looking at other places to expand Do they go to Tupelo, do they go this?
• 54:12
  Speaker 6: And one of the physicians there said hey, we looked at the data they paid for.
• 54:17
  Speaker 6: You know a lot of the data there.
• 54:18
  Speaker 6: And they said we largely think that the road between Starfle and Columbus is going to be paved with housing and more development and at some point in some near future or some distant future that you wouldn't know when you left Starfleet.
• 54:35
  Speaker 5: Well, it's an airport, folks, you grow to an airport.
• 54:38
  Speaker 5: Dfw I watched it Grew toward the airport.
• 54:42
  Speaker 5: Of course, then they got a bitch about the fact that planes are too loud, right.
• 54:43
  Speaker 5: But the developments went toward the airport, of course, then they got a bitch about the fact that planes are too loud, right.
• 54:45
  Speaker 2: But the developments went toward the airport.
• 54:47
  Speaker 2: Unless you're a former Air Force, I love that sound, that's right, navy, my friend Navy, let's get it right.
• 54:52
  Speaker 5: No, I was just saying with our Air.
• 54:54
  Speaker 2: Force base here yeah okay.
• 54:55
  Speaker 5: Well, that's true, all right.
• 54:56
  Speaker 6: But you know, I wish my response to that was duh.
• 55:02
  Speaker 5: I hope you didn't pay a whole lot for that information.
• 55:06
  Speaker 5: Up and down 45 and back and forth along 182.
• 55:11
  Speaker 6: So instead of expanding over in other places in Mississippi and North Mississippi, they expanded here.
• 55:15
  Speaker 6: Yeah, and it made sense.
• 55:16
  Speaker 6: So we've seen that.
• 55:18
  Speaker 6: We're going to see that, but, david, it takes time.
• 55:21
  Speaker 6: It takes time.
• 55:22
  Speaker 6: My friend, Yesterday I want it yesterday.
• 55:26
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: Was there anything either one of you guys want to add?
• 55:29
  Speaker 5: no, I appreciate the opportunity to talk about the.
• 55:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you both for being here.
• 55:33
  Speaker 3: Uh, mr brew, before you leave, I just have to ask you one more softball question and that is yeah, how do you like your pool?
• 55:47
  Speaker 6: Yeah, don't lose your contract over this, David.
• 55:48
  Speaker 5: It went from salt to chlorine and back to salt under here.
• 55:51
  Speaker 5: Go ahead, David.
• 55:54
  Speaker 5: Sorry.
• 55:56
  Speaker 3: What is your opinion of Sid Salter's plan to banish students from the?
• 56:01
  Speaker 3: Junction over there.
• 56:03
  Speaker 3: They can no longer tailgate in the junction.
• 56:06
  Speaker 3: They have to go to their own separate.
• 56:08
  Speaker 5: And that's in my area of expertise.
• 56:09
  Speaker 5: Why.
• 56:12
  Speaker 3: Because you're a Starkvillian.
• 56:14
  Speaker 5: And that's on the MSU campus.
• 56:16
  Speaker 5: How they manage their campus is up to them.
• 56:18
  Speaker 5: My approach will be in the Cotton District and we are delighted to have students in the Cotton District.
• 56:24
  Speaker 3: Okay, well, how about a score prediction for Saturday?
• 56:26
  Speaker 3: Oh my Lord man.
• 56:29
  Speaker 5: I have no idea how about I want us to at least win four this season.
• 56:33
  Speaker 5: How about that?
• 56:33
  Speaker 5: I think that's doable, Well thank you.
• 56:38
  Speaker 5: Thank you, but let me tell you what guys One of the things, and I think, joe well, sorry to circle back to Joe Max, but Joe Max and I have fought over this concept.
• 56:46
  Speaker 5: It is my belief that we had what was a DAC era, the DAC effect, and I've referred to it that way over the years.
• 56:54
  Speaker 5: But the reality is that winning season was extraordinary in what it did for the desire of the alumni to come back.
• 57:02
  Speaker 5: I really believe that you saw a huge bump from that.
• 57:05
  Speaker 5: Now, did you also see a bump from the aluminum?
• 57:09
  Speaker 5: Well, not in that case, it was a steel mill and Airbus, and of course you did.
• 57:12
  Speaker 5: But that four-start goal was a huge, huge fall.
• 57:20
  Speaker 5: It was a huge season for us and we still feel it and we still.
• 57:23
  Speaker 5: I've never been a winner when it comes to Mississippi State football.
• 57:27
  Speaker 5: I grew up there.
• 57:28
  Speaker 5: I mean, we went to tailgate so that we could have fun.
• 57:31
  Speaker 5: We didn't go to expecting to win.
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: I'm an Arkansas fan, and the story is very much the same on the football the reality is, when you win that stuff's addictive.
• 57:41
  Speaker 5: You want it again.
• 57:42
  Speaker 5: It's like Coke, I guess you know, give me some more.
• 57:45
  Speaker 5: Or chocolate in my case.
• 57:47
  Speaker 5: Be careful how you phrase that Chocolate, For me chocolate, how about that?
• 57:52
  Speaker 6: But anyway you get my point.
• 57:53
  Speaker 6: As an Ole Miss grad.
• 57:54
  Speaker 6: I'm oh, shut up.
• 57:55
  Speaker 6: You have been listening.
• 58:00
  Speaker 5: You benefit from it too, by the way.
• 58:02
  Speaker 6: Absolutely, but from a few years ago, you know, we had the Manning effect.
• 58:08
  Speaker 5: Yes of course you did.
• 58:13
  Speaker 4: And a good joke for that is how many Ole Miss fans does it take to change a light bulb?
• 58:15
  Speaker 4: I don't have an answer for that one.
• 58:16
  Speaker 5: Three.
• 58:17
  Speaker 6: One to stand on the ladder and actually change the light bulb, one to hold the ladder while the other one mixes, drinks All right, okay, no lies detected, but I've revised that one to say that the third one, instead of mixing drinks, the third one, is down on the ground talking about how good the old light bulb was.
• 58:39
  Speaker 6: Okay, that's good.
• 58:39
  Speaker 5: Yeah, Well, I mean the reality is, you know, we all as a region and that's what this was about it was originalism that we rise and fall together, and so what we want to do is be able to be successful together.
• 58:49
  Speaker 5: We've proven it with the airport.
• 58:51
  Speaker 5: We've proven it, actually, oddly enough, with a landfill.
• 58:54
  Speaker 5: We have a regional landfill.
• 58:55
  Speaker 5: So you know, there's precedent for this, we've done it before and we can continue to do it.
• 59:01
  Speaker 3: You have been listening to Between the Headlines.
• 59:03
  Speaker 3: Our special guests today have been the king and queen of putt-putt golf, Mayor.
• 59:08
  Speaker 6: Len.
• 59:08
  Speaker 3: Proulx and Tripp Harston, be sure to follow the show.
• 59:12
  Speaker 3: Share us and help get the word out.
• 59:14
  Speaker 3: Help make our region a better place to live.
• 59:17
  Speaker 3: Zach three things to know this week.
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: All right, three things to know.
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: One Judges Dorothy Colom and Shane Tompkins will run Columbus Municipal Court at least through September, as Gary Goodwin takes a leave of absence for an illness.
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: We certainly wish Judge Goodwin a speedy recovery, for sure.
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: Number two Steve Zupa and his son Caden found a fully intact dinosaur fossil Monday near Luxapalila Creek.
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: Does Leroy know about this?
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: Monday near Luxapalala Creek?
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: Does Leroy know about this?
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: It's good timing for a planned fossil park on the Lux, for which the city one has just named after the late Dr.
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: Jack Coy and is seeking an estimated $700,000 in funding to fully establish Number three.
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: Rubin's Fish and Steakhouse might be back after all.
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: The property's new owner, frank Loftus, took to Facebook this week saying he plans to reopen the restaurant after some upgrades.
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: Muddy Water Sports Bar, on the other hand, it's gone for good.
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 3: Good, good news and, as always, send us your comments tips at cdispatchcom.
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 3: You can also follow me on X at the Chisholm 00.
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 3: Leave a public comment Signing off until next week from Catfish Alley Studio in historic downtown Columbus.
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 3: Your host has been Zach Player and I am David Chisholm.
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 2: Y'all keep it friendly and we'll keep it real opinions expressed on this show are those of the speakers and not necessarily those of the commercial dispatch.