Chamber charts course for new year
Published 6:00 am Thursday, January 10, 2008
The Brookhaven-Lincoln County Chamber of Commerce is looking tothe new year to be one of continued changes and improvements.
Chamber of Commerce Executive Vice President Cliff Brumfieldsaid the major project chamber officials are looking forward to isthe continued vision of the Linbrook Business Park.
“We’re full speed ahead on the business park,” he said.
Brumfield said construction is right on the projected schedule.He said the water well and tower should be complete by 2009.
The tank is on order, Brumfield said, and efforts are under wayto recruit businesses and industries to the business park.
“We’re working to continue our marketing effort for Linbrook,”Brumfield said.
The chamber will be drawing off its strong ties with theMississippi Development Authority and several utility providers tofind tenants, Brumfield said.
“We also have consultants who will be assisting us inidentifying prospects,” he added.
City and county officials said prospects should be picking up asthe business park construction progresses.
“We’re anticipating more activity as the infrastructure nearscompletion,” he said. “Naturally we’re anxious to have prospectactivity. I come in to work hoping for calls from prospectiveindustries that would be a good fit for our community.”
Brumfield said officials have been not only working withcontacts trying to establish connections with businesses to bringto Brookhaven, but have also been making connectionsthemselves.
“We’ve been attending trade shows geared toward our targetindustries,” he said.
As for the target industries, Brumfield said the list is broad.He laughed and said to try to list them would “take up the wholepaper.”
Among the kinds of businesses and industries Alliance officialsare looking to recruit are processing and distribution companies,research and development centers, and similar industries, Brumfieldsaid.
“Industries that could utilize our workforce and geography totheir advantages,” he said.
Brumfield said the chamber will be looking to improve itself aswell.
“I’m looking forward to re-evaluating some of our practices andperhaps enhancing some of our member services, as well as ourbusiness support and services to reflect the changing times,” hesaid. “In the modern marketplace, we need to constantly evaluatewhat we do and question the success of our projects in the past andamend our practices as well as adding new services.”
The point is simply to be certain the chamber is offering thebest service it can to its members, Brumfield said.
“Basically we’re just wanting to be sure we’re modernized andstreamlined to fulfill the needs of our clientele,” he said.