THE DAILY LEADER / JUSTIN VICORY / Blue Cross Blue Shield Mississippi representative Doug Henley emphasized the importance of health care to the economy during Thursday’s Mississippi Economic Council presentation in Brookhaven.

Mississippi Economic Council President and CEO Blake Wilson presented a report on the health of Mississippi’s economy to a crowd of area leaders and city and county officials gathered Thursday at Poppa’s Fish House restaurant.

Wilson noted some of the successes of the Blueprint Mississippi program, a multi-pillared approach to increasing the state’s economic competitiveness. Wilson also encouraged feedback from community leaders on hand.

“The blueprint is a long-range economic development plan. How the local area does is essential to how the state does economically,” Wilson said.

Educational achievement, technology advancement, resource development and economic competitiveness all play fundamental roles in economic development, and are intertwined, Wilson said.

While Wilson reviewed the achievements of the Blueprint program for the state as a whole, he focused his presentation on the

MEC President and CEO Blake Wilson urged improvements across the board.

pressing issues of the Brookhaven and Lincoln County region. Wilson noted areas of recent progress and suggested a need for attention in others.

According to Blue Cross Blue Shield Mississippi representative Doug Henley, employers are taking the health of a community into account, well before they make a final decision to locate, or re-locate, business to the area. This information bodes well for Brookhaven, Henley noted, since the city recently was awarded the Healthy Hometown Award. The award is given to a community that recognizes and promotes the health of its residents. Henley urged Mayor Joe Cox and the chamber of commerce to take pride in receiving the award and promote this fact to potential employers.

The conference featured videos of brief speeches from state representatives who couldn’t be on hand personally, including former state Rep. Charlie Williams. Williams now leads the call in updating bridges statewide.

In 1987, a major highway program that Wilson designated as “an ambitious program” enjoyed statewide success. However, no subsequent efforts have been made on the statewide level since in the effort to repair and update state bridges. Now, Williams is requesting the assistance of business, industry, economic development and state agencies to update and repair Mississippi bridges as President of the T1 Coalition.

A number of bridges in the state suffer from neglect as funding for infrastructure is limited, posing a safety issue for the county, among other concerns.

“If bridges are out, this affects the ability of commerce to travel from rural areas to metropolitan areas,” Williams said.

Like bridge work and other infrastructure repairs, Wilson suggested the need for departments and agencies across the spectrum come together as a cohesive unit to accomplish goals.

“These issues are all inter-connected. You should care about the education, health care of the community. Ultimately, it affects commerce,” Wilson said.

The seminar included an electronic voting system that allowed those present to vote on a number of priorities. Immediately after selecting their answers, the results were displayed on a screen in the front of the room. The answers provided Wilson a localized perspective on area priorities and focus.

The greatest opportunity for economic growth in the region, according to participant votes, is natural resources such as timber and energy.

Most of the seminar participants expressed a large concern for education and health care funding. Ten years from now, participants predicted the state of Mississippi will be considered as a “newly emerging growth state.”