The next day, a number of Lee County local merchants, realtors, schools and agencies hosted a BRAC regional fair at the Atlanta Airport's Marriott Hotel. Commendations are in order for the Sanford Herald's coverage of the Atlanta event, where Lee and Moore Counties conducted the joint regional fair See this link for Editor Billy Liggett's coverage: Sanford Herald's Coverage of the BRAC Regional Fair .
The event was reasonably well attended despite its limited publicity among the soldiers and civilians at Forces Command (FORSCOM) and U.S. Army Reserve Command (USARC), the two commands moving thousands into our region beginning late this year. All totaled, more than 100 soldiers and Department of the Army civilians came to visit our booths at the Marriott. Most of them expressed distinct interest in relocating to Lee County. It's encouraging to witness this level of interest in our small county, knowing fewer than 10% of the soldiers and civilians from the relocating commands received advanced notice about the event. Apparently, there was no official support or promotion of this event allowed at Fort McPherson, GA, where the commands are located. So, those that attended found out through the 'grapevine' of local papers and internet resources. (Hopefully, we can find a way of securing official notice and support for future such events.)
I spoke to a number of the officers and civilians who came to our event and shared with them the rationale I used in choosing Sanford and Lee County over other possible places to live when my family moved here from Ft Lewis, WA in 1999. It was reassuring to hear many of them share the same thought process. These professional families-- many of them dual income --are looking for a strategically smart, affordable, and safe location to transplant their families to. Most want a place they can fancy as a permanent home. Sanford provides all of that, and more. All of us in attendance at the Atlanta event took pride in sharing the many advantages of Lee County over the surrounding locales; and by all accounts, our message resonated.
I was particularly encouraged with the preparation that several of our local realtors and mortgage lenders had made and with the manner in which they promoted Lee County in Atlanta. Kudos to the Carolina Trace team that did a superb job of presenting its many amenities. As the first significant feature most prospective new residents notice as they travel north into Lee County along Highway 87, the importance of Trace as a Lee County attraction cannot be over-stated!
After returning from Atlanta, I was compelled to contact Mr. John Harbison, Director of the BRAC Regional Task Force (RTF), and I shared with him my concerns with Lee County possibly pulling out of the joint marketing effort. Today, June 7, Mr Harbison sent me a lengthy email reminding me of the many ongoing benefits we receive from BRAC marketing, as well as the likely future pay-out for being a part of the tier-one counties. He had no indication Lee County was considering a withdrawl (which was further evidence our BOC had not carefully contemplated or coordinated such a change).
It appears the message got through to the BOC before this afternoon's budget deliberations. The Board elected not to vote on making BRAC Marketing a 'billpayer' for other budget items. Let's all hope and pray the BOC will have the good sense to stay the course as important BRAC opportunities develop in the coming months. I promise my blog followers to be vigilant in ensuring we continue to promote Lee County to prospective businesses and residents, and to help identify and advertise job opportunities for Lee County citizens at Ft Bragg as they emerge in the coming months.
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