Huntsville
Mayor Tommy Battle
By
Sherri Blevins
Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle spoke to a room full of city and DeKalb County officials including area mayors and superintendents on Monday, August 19, 2019, at Limon’s Mexican Resturant in Henagar, Alabama. Even though the gathering was composed mainly of DeKalb County residents, Battle spoke about issues that concerned all of Northeast Alabama.
State
Senator Steve Livingston, House Majority Leader Nathaniel Ledbetter, DeKalb
County Commissioner Shane Wootten, and Henagar Mayor Lee Davis invited Mayor
Battle to speak to area leaders about ways to spread Huntsville’s economic
growth further east to Northeast Alabama.
According to a September 28, 2018 article by News Channel 31 writer Paul
Dughi, more than a dozen major economic projects creating more than six
thousand new Tier I jobs will be coming
to Huntsville. Aerojet Rocketdyne Rocket Engine Manufacturer, BOCAR Auto Parts
Manufacturer, LG Electronics Solar Module Assembly Plant, EOS Remote Weapon
Systems Manufacturing, Facebook Data Center, Google Data Center, Carpenter
Technology, Mazda-Toyota Manufacturing, GE Aviation Ceramic Components
Manufacture, BAE Systems, and
MidCity Huntsville all have or plan to locate in the Huntsville and Madison County area to create
these new jobs.
Senator
Livingston thanked Battle for coming and stated, “Huntsville has got their
economy going. They are driving Alabama
today. They have some great things
happening. North Alabama needs to
cooperate with Huntsville to keep growing the economy in Northeast Alabama and
rural Alabama.”
Battle
offered advice on how to keep the economic ball rolling. He shared with local leaders the journey
Huntsville has traveled during the last several years to grow their economy to
where it is today. He stated the key to
success is the, “Yes, we can and let’s see how we can make this work,
attitude.” When Huntsville had potential
investors tour the area looking for location sites, urban planners had the
response that they would do what it would take to get the wanted property for
the prospective clients. They also
learned through experience the importance of offering precertified sites for
potential investors. Companies look for
building sites that already have the precursor work completed, such as soil
compaction test, environmental studies, and transportation access mapped out.
Battle
spoke about the impact the new Huntsville companies called Tier I companies
will have on residents outside the Huntsville area. The Tier I companies will choose workers from
the Huntsville area labor pool. However, these new companies will need Tier II
companies, which are suppliers for Tier I companies. Locally, RTI (Rainsville Technology Institute)
is considered a Tier II company because it supplies parts for Honda (a Tier I
company). Tier II companies must be
outside a 50-mile radius of a Tier I company. According to Representative Ledbetter, Mayor
Battle sees Huntsville’s growth as a pathway to economic growth for Northeast
Alabama. If local officials collaborate with Mayor Battle, increased economic
development in North Alabama is a real possibility.
Battle’s
comments implied that through economic development and local planning for the
future, the needed labor pool would widen to North Alabama. This expansion will result in good-paying jobs
for our children that do not require college degrees, but will require
technical training in needed job skills.
