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Gov. Nathan Deal said Monday jobs have been the focus of his administration and county commissioners have been his partners in that process.
“With your cooperation, we have achieved the designation as the No. 1 state in the nation in which to do business,” Deal said. “And we’re working hard to keep it.
“With your help in the last three-plus years, we have seen more than 235,000 private-sector jobs created in Georgia.”
Then Deal, speaking to the crowd of 1,000-plus members of the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia at the Savannah International Trade and Convention Center, offered more good news: State revenues for March were 12.3 percent higher than a year earlier.
“Folks, we’re coming out of this thing,” Deal said, adding that the state is almost at 5.5 percent growth in fiscal year to date.
“But we recognize that we have things we need to do to help your communities prosper and keep our state growing,” Deal said.
High on that list is job training.
“We are doing a number of things to make sure our communities have the kind of employee base companies need,” Deal said.
“In fact, tomorrow I will announce the inaugural meeting of the governor’s High Demand Career Initiative, which will bring together business leaders and the leaders of our secondary schools so the business community can help the education community know what kinds of jobs they need, both now and in the future.
“It’s in keeping with our philosophy that education should have employability as one of its primary purposes.”
Deal noted that Georgia currently has job openings with no qualified employees to fill them.
As a result, the general assembly has identified seven critical areas of study in the state’s technical college system, he said. They are CDL driving, welding, diesel mechanics, information technology, health technology, practical nursing and early childhood education.
“If someone will pursue a degree or certificate in one of those arenas, 100 percent of their tuition will be paid for through the HOPE Grant,” Deal said.
“That will begin to fill the void we have now as well as portending well for the future, as we try to put our state money where the jobs are and where they are going to be in the future.”
Georgia Ports on his mind
Shifting focus, the governor turned to the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project, emphasizing its importance to the entire state.
The legislature recently allocated $35 million to the project, completing the state’s required share of $266 million.
“While the project has received very substantial support in the general assembly,” Deal said, “I’ve heard that a couple of folks have bragged that they didn’t vote for that money and they didn’t support the deepening of the port of Savannah.
“So, if any of those people are in your counties, I hope you will take due notice and set them straight.
“This project will have a positive financial effect on every one of the 159 counties in our state,” he said. “We have to have it, and it’s going to take everyone pulling together as a team.”
In an interview after his speech, Deal talked about the unexpected roadblock the project encountered last month when the president’s budget failed to include construction funds and the administration denied the state’s request to move ahead with its own money.
“The administration’s position is that the Water Resources Development Act, which adjusts the amount of funding necessary to complete the project, must be signed into law before we can move forward,” he said. “That bill has been passed by both houses and is currently in conference committee to resolve differences.
“I am told they are making significant progress, and we’re hopeful that will occur soon.”
Once the measure becomes law, there are still a few details to address, he said.
“We need authorization to go ahead and start spending state money,” he said. “Thus far, (the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the federal partner in the project) has not given us consent to do that.
“We are going to spend as much money as we can to do the things that we can do without their approval, but my concern is that we get credit for what we do toward our share of the cost of the overall project,” Deal said.