Members of the Brookhaven-Lincoln County Vision PartnershipCouncil were pleased to see Wednesday’s Linbrook Business Parkgroundbreaking as the fulfillment of years of hard work.

“I was thrilled yesterday, one thing with the turnout, but alsowith the fact that we’re getting the infrastructure started withthe water well,” said Mayor Bob Massengill, a co-chairman of theVision Partnership, today.

The Vision Partnership began in 1998 and was a five-yearcampaign involving private businesses and individuals to raise over$1 million toward acquiring new industrial park land and to addressother economic development needs.

Massengill said while Owen Carty, Bill Sones and he were thethree co-chairmen of the Vision Partnership, they had many otherdedicated workers who pounded the streets for donations.

“They helped by going out and calling on the businesses andpresented this vision of moving Brookhaven and Lincoln Countyforward,” Massengill said.

It took the involvement of citizens and businesses from all overthe county to pull the project together, Massengill said.

“It was a community-wide thing, it wasn’t just three guys goingout to raise the money,” he said. “It was a lot of folks who wereinterested in where Brookhaven was headed.”

Over 175 businesses and individuals donated money to the cause,garnering over $1 million for various projects supported by theVision Partnership. The largest part went to the Linbrook BusinessPark.

“We saw that some other communities had made such an effort, andwe had a goal of raising a million dollars,” he said. “People paidon their pledges over five years, and that’s where the half milliondollars for the business park came from.”

The mayor said there are several aspects of the actualconstruction beginning on the park that are worth being excitedabout.

“First of all, the fact that we are able to have thegroundbreaking and see beginning of construction,” he said. “Butthe end result will make a real difference for Brookhaven andLincoln County, putting us back in the industrial and businessrecruitment business.

“It’s time for us to get a good-sized new industry in ourcommunity and this gives us a vital tool in accomplishingthat.”