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Article Courtesy of Tate County Economic Development Foundation
Longtime Tate County Economic Development Foundation Executive Director Janie Mortimer has announced that she is leaving that post at the end of the year.
Mortimer has served as the Executive Director of the Foundation since its beginning in 1995. She came to Senatobia from a career as the Chamber of Commerce executive director and as an industry recruiter in Greenville. Prior to that, she was the public relations specialist for Jackson Public schools and also had served as an editor and reporter for the Clarion Ledger in Jackson and the Commercial Dispatch in Columbus, MS.
A Certified Community Developer, Mortimer directed the Foundation, an umbrella organization that focuses on countywide economic development and community (chamber of commerce) activities, the Senatobia Main Street Partnership, and tourism development, for 17 years.
During her tenure, the Senatobia Industrial Park has been expanded and six new companies have located there, creating some 500 jobs or about $11 million in payroll. She worked closely with MDOT to get the South Senatobia interchange and Highway 740 divided highway connecter to Hwy 51, giving the industrial park two interstate access points. She has worked with more than 700 industry prospects. She has assisted six existing industries in Coldwater and Senatobia with major expansion projects, creating more than 400 jobs, for an impact of about $8.8 million in payroll.
Her efforts secured federal energy audit funds for Tate County industries, with a total potential impact of $100 million.
Currently, Tate County has about 1,650 industry jobs, which generate a direct income to the county of about $55 million and an indirect income of about $24 million, for a total impact of approximately $79 million. These 1,650 industry jobs generated another 1,700 jobs in other sectors of the economy. These industry jobs generate retail sales of about $42 million, meaning an impact of some $3,380,000 to the local economy.
Through her economic and community development efforts, some $500 million in grant funds has been brought into the county to assist with infrastructure development, project development, facility construction, and industry equipment.
She was instrumental in forming a four-county regional economic development marketing group to promote the area of northwest Mississippi in the Memphis Metropolitan Area. Through that group she has marketed this area to site selection consultants from throughout the United States. She has continued to bring site selection consultants to Tate County and to work closely with Entergy, TVA, and MDA officials to identify sites with future economic development potential.
Some 160 retail businesses in Coldwater, Senatobia and Tate County were created during her tenure with the assistance and support of the Foundation. She made available individual business counseling to new and existing businesses through nationally-recognized consultants and MDA representatives.
She has grown the Foundation from a handful of original members to more than 250, with a private sector dues impact of some $35,000 annually.
Since 1995, the Senatobia Main Street Partnership, a National Trust certified program, has had an impact of more than $2 million in the historic downtown business district. The SMSP has received awards from the Mississippi Main Street Association for projects including the creation of Gabbert Park, the Tate County courthouse renovation project, development of a comprehensive downtown streetscape plan, renovation of the old City Hall, and the new addition to Senatobia Presbyterian Church.
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©The Democrat 2013
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