‘Regionalism’ important to Clarksville, Nashville economies

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Counties can no longer live on an island unto themselves and expect to realize their full potential in more and better-paying jobs and business investment.

Leaders say the future growth of Clarksville-Montgomery County’s economy is dependent on playing a bigger role in Middle Tennessee’s regional development. Transportation improvements, downtown revitalizations, tourism promotion and building awareness of the connectivity of the distinct Clarksville and Nashville metropolitan statistical areas are key opportunities and challenges.

It’s a collective economic development approach commonly called “regionalism,” and in the Clarksville-Nashville area, it encompasses a wide range of existing assets that can be a platform for greater prosperity through increased coordination and cooperation.

Regionalism was the key topic during last week’s 4th annual Clarksville-Montgomery County Growth Summit, which was led by the local Economic Development Council.

For starters, this is a region that has Tennessee’s second-largest and fifth-largest cities situated less than an hour’s drive apart, noted Ralph Schulz, current president and CEO of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce.

“It is very unusual to have two MSAs located this closely to each other,” Schulz said.

The joint metropolitan region has Fort Campbell, a rapidly expanding blend of manufacturing and distribution companies, white-collar business development, a world-famous music industry, strong tourism activity in various forms, and 18 colleges and universities.

“Together, as a joint metro area, we rank second nationally in job growth and gross domestic product per capita,” said Schulz.

Nashville is already becoming nationally recognized as an “It-City” for its progressive appeal and upward momentum. But Austin Peay State University President Alisa White said Clarksville, in her view, is also becoming an “It-City.”

“Clarksville is a great destination ... and we have some of the friendliest, and most-engaged people you will find anywhere,” she told the Growth Summit audience gathered on the APSU campus.

Schulz sees “great synergies” between the two MSAs. “Economies are regional. There really is no such thing as a national economy, as much as there are areas of regional economic productivity and performance. Prosperity is created by regional economies that have strong, cooperative strategies,” he said.

“For example, roads and transit represent an area that we’re going to have to collaborate on in our joint metropolitan region,” Schulz said. “What will strangle this region first, is the lack of transit. If we can’t move our workforce, we are not going to experience the prosperity.”

Longtime Clarksville business leader Jack B. Turner has been an influential and leading advocate of regionalism at the state level for many years, and roundly applauded Schulz’s comments last week.

“When it comes to the concept of regionalism, you have always gotten it,” Turner told Schulz in front of the Growth Summit audience. “And you have always included (Clarksville) and Fort Campbell in the regional approach.”

Fort Campbell

Having Fort Campbell here is clearly helping to attract global businesses to Clarksville. Officials hope the trend is just beginning. A panel of business experts — Don Southerton, CEO and president, Bridging Culture Worldwide; Sebastian Eich, managing director, Aventis Atlantic Partners; and Kiyo Kojima, partner in the Atlanta office of Barnes & Thornburg attorneys — dealt with that topic here last week.

But the most immediate economic concern for the region is the future of Fort Campbell’s military and civilian workforce. Col. Buck Dellinger, the post’s garrison commander, reiterated in a presentation to the summit audience that more will be known on the local impact from Department of Defense budget cuts next month.

“In June, they will announce what (Army) posts will lose the next 40,000 soldiers” in the DoD budget drawdown, Dellinger said. “We hope to survive the announcement. We’re now at around 29,000 soldiers at Fort Campbell,” he said.

Meanwhile the post continues to contribute a steady stream of military veterans and retirees to the local civilian workforce, and with the right regional coordination, those military-to-civilian skill sets translate well, experts said Thursday.

Dellinger said there are things that Clarksville-Montgomery County and the joint metro region can do over the next five years to mitigate the adverse economic effects of military downsizing, and retain more of this population segment in the area’s civilian workforce rather than seeing it leave the region entirely.

“The Army is losing great, bonafide employees,” Dellinger said. There are several things that military veterans and retirees will take into consideration as they exit the Armed Forces. He said they will gravitate to areas that offer:

•Tax-free retirement

•Employment and military-friendly companies

•Competitive cost-of-living

•Competitive health care costs

•Good primary and secondary schools

•Access to major military installations

•Good-quality VA services

“These are things that we, as a community, can focus on to attract and recruit labor from these people who are exiting not just Fort Campbell, but any branch of the Armed Forces, in Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky,” Dellinger said.

“Having military-friendly companies means having human resources people in your companies who can help translate those military skill sets that these individuals bring, into the civilian workforce.

“I also encourage your regional chambers of commerce to work together and set numerical goals for helping with the hiring of these military vets and retirees,” he said.

Dellinger said the Clarksville MSA has already proven itself to be a welcoming environment for military families, and he’s confident that will continue through the period of defense cuts.

“I always tell people, when you come to Fort Campbell, it’s the best soldier family experience you’re going to have, because of what the community does for you. For that reason, folks want to be in this area and they want to be assigned to Fort Campbell,” he said.

Industry

Hankook Tire — a company that promises 1,800 new jobs here within the next few years — is evidence of how South Korea’s export-driven economy is taking form in the United States. New foreign direct investment in the U.S. stems from consumer demand, relative political stability, the perception of opportunity abroad and other factors, the Growth Summit panelists said.

Southerton said that Clarksville-Montgomery County is well-positioned to create the kind of business climate that will show other large, foreign companies that this is a good place to be.

“If Hankook Tire is successful in this area, it will help attract other foreign companies to your community,” he said.

Clarksville and Nashville are part of a state that has “great brands” and an overall-welcoming reputation to sell the corporate world. Tennessee was one of the first U.S. states to venture out into recruiting foreign direct manufacturing investment under then-Gov. Lamar Alexander in the 1980s, and according to Kojima of last week’s panel, that has never been forgotten by business executives overseas.

“In attracting foreign direct investment to this state, you have geography going for you in Tennessee, you have good urban centers and great quality-of-life from Memphis to the Smoky Mountains. You have friendly people, great tourism and the music industry, Jack Daniels whiskey ... these are the things you are known for globally,” Kojima said.

In Clarksville, historic downtown revitalization is lagging behind many other cities, and must be rapidly accelerated as a part of the broader agenda of localized business development and recruitment, said independent economic development consultant Gray Swoope.

Whether it takes a civic plaza or performing arts center, or a combination of both, or any other manner of initiatives to ignite a downtown retail and residential resurrection, Swoope feels that Clarksville needs to come to a consensus soon on defining what needs to happen, and act quickly.

“You’ve got to continue to focus on the ‘cool factor.’ That’s an area of your community where I see room for improvement,” Swoope said.

Jimmy Settle, 245-0247

Business editor

jimmysettle@theleafchronicle.com

Twitter: @settle_leaf