By Staff
Jason Cannon, Franklin County Times
Franklin County took a huge step in attracting industrial development yesterday.
Sen. Roger Bedford announced yesterday afternoon that he had secured more than $600,000 for the county and its municipalities to use at three of its industrial parks.
The bulk of the money, $400,000, was granted to the Town of Vina. The funding will be used for work on an access road and to install water to the town's industrial park.
More than $192,000 was allocated to the Franklin County Industrial Development Board, which will be used to develop an access road to the county's new industrial park.
Another $32,000 was granted to the City of Phil Campbell. These funds will be used for an industrial study on an 80-acre site that city officials are hopeful will become Phil Campbell's industrial park.
"This is just the beginning of the big things that are coming to Franklin County as far as industrial growth," Bedford said.
"This money will do a lot to aid in economic expansion in the county," Rep. Johnny Mack Morrow added.
Bedford thanked Morrow, Franklin County's mayors and councils and the county commissioners for their efforts and teamwork, which he said helped push the funding through.
"It's amazing when you work together at the things you can accomplish," Probate Judge and commission chairman Barry Moore said.
Teamwork isn't the only thing the county has to be proud of Mitch Mays, Executive Director of the Franklin County Development Authority, said.
"$400,000 is a really big deal," he said. "You can do a lot of good things with that."
Commissioner Rayburn Massey added that the timing of the grant -on the heels of a large rail car operation locating in Colbert County and a Toyota supplier locating in Tupelo, Miss. – could not have been better.
"This is a great opportunity to start a snowball effect," he said. "This is a good size snowball for us to build off of."
These funds, which require no local matching funds, were made available through the 666 Industrial Bond Commission, of which Sen. Bedford is a member.