Improving Pike County’s economic base takes a team effort and everyone needs to be involved, the president of the Pike County Economic Development Council told McComb Lions on Tuesday.
“We need citizens and public officials,” economic development council president James Wicker said.
“We need the county and the cities to work together,” he said. “Each group has their own plans for economic development.
“They need to focus on what’s best for the county,” he said.
He said all agencies, from local governments to school boards and the hospital system need to work together to develop a better quality of life in the area that will attract business and investment. When people come into an area, he said, they want to know about the quality of the schools, health care facilities and recreational activities.
When most people think of economic developmen they think of industry, but manufacturing jobs in the U.S. have declined since the 1970 for several reasons, Wicker said.
“America has lost its manufacturing edge because of high investment and labor costs, advances in technology, and because of government regulations and the environment,” he said.
Wicker said that in 1970, 24 percent of Pike County’s jobs were in the manufacturing sector.
“We had companies (in 1970) like Southern Wirebond Box, Kellwood, Movie Star, Croft and American Box,” he said. “In 2008, 13.75 percent of our jobs were manufacturing. ... Manufacturing jobs are scare and attracting new industry needs to be a high priority, but keeping the manufacturing jobs we have should be the top priority.”
That means getting to better know the local industries and their needs.
“We need to understand local industries and meet their needs,” Wicker said. “It make no sense to court new industry if we don’t take care of the industries we have.
“We need to look beyond tax revenues and help local people.”
Pike County also needs to encourage other outside investment besides manufacturing, he said. Wicker pointed to investments such as mineral leases from oil exploration companies, promoting retirement and tourism.
“We are a certified retirement community,” he said. “We have people moving back home to retire here. We need to encourage others to come here and retire.
“We have people from Louisiana buying land for hunting and vacation homes. We need to get them to spend more money in the area when they’re here.”
Wicker said Percy Quin State Park is underutilized as a tourist attraction. Besides promoting the park, the area also needs to promote the Bogue Chitto River and Lake Okhissa as attractions.
Other county and regional assets that should be promoted, he said, are Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center and its related services, and Southwest Mississippi Community College.
Wicker said the county’s position as a regional shopping hub and its assets such as Edgewood Mall also needs better promotion.
“It’s amazing how far people come from to shop here,” he said.
