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Five-county economic development agency created with merger Regionalism was the word of the day Monday in Monroeville as the Twin Rivers Economic Development Partnership and the Coastal Gateway Economic Development Agency announced a merger that will create the first five-county economic development group in Alabama. "Look in the parking lots of your major employers and you'll see tags from other counties," said Rep. Seth Hammett, Speaker of the House of Representatives. "Our major employers are regional employers. It makes sense to unite your efforts." Twin Rivers Economic Development Partnership was a joint effort between Clarke County and Choctaw County originally announced in August of 2006. Coastal Gateway Economic Development Agency is a joint effort among three counties in southwest Alabama: Escambia County, Monroe County and Conecuh County. It was formed in 2005. Details of the merger are still being hammered out, so no date for when the merger will be completed has been set. "We've told the lawyers, we'd like it done last week," said Chip Harrigan, chairman of the Twin Rivers Board of Directors. Other details, such as the makeup of the board that will direct this newly expanded group, are also yet to be decided. One thing that is certain is the name will remain Coastal Gateway. But the message was all positive at the luncheon meeting in Monroeville. "We're not competing with each other," Hammett said. "We're competing with the world." Congressman Jo Bonner said partnerships like this one were the key to the future. "When you grow up in a small town, we often let artificial differences come between us," he said. "I think this new partnership is really exciting. ThyssenKrupp would not have happened without people working together." Wiley Blankenship, president of CGEDA, said he was excited about the merger. "We have 92 investors and $3.5 million pledged to help us, and that's being a little conservative," he said. "Now we can be even more aggressive in our marketing efforts." Marty Parker, manager at Boise in Clarke County, called the merger, "the best opportunity we've had to make a positive impact on Southwest Alabama. Coastal Gateway is an established brand name and brings with it many opportunities." Gary Faulkner with the Alabama Development Office said such wide-ranging partnerships can help make his job easier when communicating from a state level to the local level. "Clients want a very quick response and this gives us more opportunities," he said. Twin Rivers started with a board appointed by the county commissions of Clarke and Choctaw and a fund-raising drive that netted nearly $1.5 million in pledges. The organization planned a yearly budget of $300,000. In June of 2007 it hired Wiley Blankenship, president of Coastal Gateway and later in 2007, voted to join with Coastal. The board consists of members from Clarke and Choctaw counties. From Clarke County: Buddy Bedwell of Thomasville; Chip Harrigan of Grove Hill; and Paul Parham of Jackson.
From Choctaw County are Diana Fendley of Pennington; Nancy Gibson of Butler; and Earlrae Nealey of Gilbertown.
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