Development authority approves funds for Northwest Georgia Regional Hospital site mitigation
The Rome Floyd Development Authority board approved expenditures up to $150,000 for personnel and site remediation for the former Northwest Georgia Regional Hospital property.
The authority is purchasing the 130-plus acres off Division Street from the state. The tentative closing date is Feb. 8. That land is being purchased with $2.25 million in funds approved by voters in the 2013 and 2017 SPLOST packages.
The funds approved during the Tuesday development authority meeting will likely go toward environmental mitigation from the old buildings. That must take place prior to demolition, which isn’t like to begin until later this year or early 2023.
In other business, development authority President Missy Kendrick said that Floyd County has dropped from state job tax credit Tier Three status to Tier Two status for 2022.
There are four tiers as defined by the state, with Tier One being the lowest and in most need of incentives for growth. Tier Four is the highest level, with low unemployment and the least need for incentives.
The state divides all 159 counties across Georgia into one of the four tiers every year. Factors including unemployment, poverty level, and per capita income are included in that ranking.
Floyd County is on the borderline between Tier Two and Three and often shifts between the two each year, she said. For example, the county was Tier Three in 2019, Tier Two in 2020, and Tier Three in 2021.
Two new members were sworn onto the RFCDA board during the meeting, Rome Floyd Chamber Chair Kenna Stock and Rome Mayor Sundai Stevenson. They replace outgoing chamber chair Cassandra Wheeler and former mayor Craig McDaniel.
Also on Tuesday, the authority recognized Kelly Hudson of Hydro Dynamics Inc. for being awarded the Global GRIT award from the Georgia Department of Economic Development. The award is a part of the annual GLOBE awards that recognizes Georgia companies that have expanded to serve new international clients during the past year.
However the GRIT is for those companies that year after year expand into new international markets. HDI has received the GLOBE Award on several previous occasions.
Hudson said the company has added a large customer in the Seychelle Islands off the coast of Africa, giving HDI a presence on six of the seven continents.
HDI manufactures a cavitation device, which is able to among other things extract oils out of hops that greatly expands the capacity of the crop in the production of beer.