From the Director’s Chair: Sonny Simmons Panola Partnership CEO
Published 12:00 am Friday, June 3, 2016
Sonny Simmons Panola Partnership CEO
The Panola Partnership, Inc., is a partnership of businesses, professionals and elected officials working together to build a healthy economy and to improve the quality of life for our citizens in our community and our county. As we work to improve our community’s economy and quality of life, the Partnership keeps these broad objectives in mind:
• to help businesses and industries prosper and grow,
• to increase job opportunities and to encourage new investment,
• to encourage an orderly expansion and to help develop all segments of our economy,
• to contribute to the overall economic stability of our county,
• to plan and invest to insure sustained future growth.
Our work, based on these principles and philosophies, has and will continue to see positive results.
Our workforce is strong and growing. Local companies are continuing to expand and re-invest. The City of Batesville is making significant investments in infrastructure and other improvements. The ongoing downtown renovation and the mounds project are prime examples and there are many other projects in the works.
Our county overall is doing extremely well, comparatively speaking. The unemployment figures just released show a jobless rate for Panola County to be the lowest in over 16 years. All the new employment opportunities that have been created over the past few years are now really beginning to pay off and there are more to come.
The new Airport Industrial Complex is just about complete and we are already getting interest in that property. We are also seeing interest in other properties located in the northern part of the county. Our local economy is strong and growing. Our careful planning, our diligence and our strategic investment strategies are making a positive impact and will continue to pay dividends for many years to come.
But we are not finished. We must continue to strive to be the best, set common goals and have the vision to achieve them and work together for the betterment of our county and for all our citizens who live here.
Forever forward.
