Milledgeville Industrial Park Construction Underway, Jobs Coming

MILLEDGEVILLE, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — The city of Milledgeville has recently taken several hits with the loss of jobs, but the residents in Baldwin County aren’t letting it get them down.

“Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!,” exclaimed Linda McKnight, at the third Eggs and Issues meeting of the year Thursday.

That’s because bringing more jobs to the area is the ultimate goal. Milledgeville-Baldwin County Development Authority Executive Matt Poyner talked about what he has planned for the city and county these next six months.

“We’re losing good jobs so we’ve got to figure a way to get private investment back into this community and create new jobs and get new growth,” Poyner said.

The recent loss of jobs at Central State Hospital was out of the community’s hands, but clumping together with other middle Georgians is getting them back to business.

Poyner touched on the idea of regionalism and said, “How Houston County, Bibb County, and Baldwin County can work together to attract new businesses, to partner in different things, to have a bigger presence.”

Poyner has already hit the ground running in his first 6 months. He started with making land available for new business.

“The city and county have started on knocking the trees down, we’ve gotten our permits done through the state, we have a bid out right now,” added Poyner.

He’s talking about the beginning stages of construction that are underway at the Industrial Park. There’s more than 550 acres, about a third of that is unusable because of terrain, but 200 acres will be ready to house some new hires soon.

Lin and Linda McKnight have attended all the meetings this year and they say it’s a chance to ask questions and make comments.

“The money comes from taxes that comes from employing people, if we can get more people hired the money will be there,” said Lin.

The McKnight’s added they are concerned about the appearance of the community, how it looks to future employers, and how to best develop it.

Poyner said, “Whatever we can do to bring good vibes and good opportunities, that’s what we’re going to do.”

Thursday’s meeting was held at the Crockett’s Family Cafeteria.