Robertson County Economic Development Board Decisions

Small town politics.......

This week I was sent a link to a podcast. The Robertson County Chamber of Commerce was interviewing Margot Fosnes of the Robertson County Economic Development Board. She is the chief economic development officer for that board. In the interview she discusses what the board does, and where it gets its money. The board receives funding through the hotel and Airbnb taxes in Robertson County. As the taxes grew, so did the board, and she was hired on full time. Twenty-two minutes in is where it gets interesting. The board has purchased options on four properties in White House. These four properties are behind the new Advanex property and Lowe’s Millwork on Hester Drive. I sent an email for clarification from Ms. Fosnes.

Here is the response I received after inquiring which properties she was referencing, and what was being done with said properties.

The options are on parcels 117 058.04, 117 058.05, 117 058.06, and 117 059.00.

We purchased 3-year, transferable options from the owners which give us the right to purchase the property at $50,000 per acre, or transfer the option to a prospective buyer.  The RCEDB received grants from the State of TN and from TVA Economic Development to due the due diligence on the property…Phase 1 Environmental Study, Wetland Delineation, Geotechnical study and Endangered Species study… to be sure that the site is suitable for development.

We have very specific targets for this property…not distribution or warehousing, but advanced manufacturing, regional headquarters, back office support services or research and development offices which will provide high paying, high skill jobs for the county.

Happy to answer any other questions you have.

Here are the owners of the properties listed. This is public record and can be found easily here.

These four properties are owned by (listed in order of photos)

1. Clif Hutson- Current Alderman for the city of White House, Planning Board member city of White House

2. Meltons- Parents of Paula Eller Melton, Former member of Planning Board for the city of White House(14 years), running for District 2 County Commissioner Robertson County, real estate agent.

3. Craig Johnson- Owner Craig Johnson Construction, boss of former mayor Mike Arnold.

4. Don & Sherry Eden- Don is recently deceased, served as District 2 County Commissioner.

The Robertson County Economic Development Board is appointed by the mayor of the county. I emailed my district commissioner and this was the response.

The county mayor has a nominating committee that fills committees.  I believe they take recommendations from the EDB on who serves on that committee.

Here are the board members.

All politicians have to disclose their property and incomes when they run for office. You can find that information here.

*I have been sitting on this article for several days. Why you ask? (maybe you didn’t) The information in here is all public information. You can find all of this information yourself. You simply need to know where to look. The why is because everyone should know who they are voting for. The job of the media is not to make decisions for you. The job of the media is to give you all of the relevant information so that you can make your own decisions. You should know what stakes your politicians have in your community before you vote for them. You should know where they make their money and how or if they benefit from city and county decisions. The local media dropped the ball on this. I picked it up simply because I was curious. I wanted to know who the players were in the local political game. My goal is to share what I know with you in a factual way so that you can be informed and make your own decisions on how you want your city and county run. The job of the media and part of the reasoning behind the first amendment is to keep the government transparent and honest. The media should be the fourth estate of government shining the light on what they are doing and who they are. Does this mean we need to know who they are sleeping with and what they watch on TV? No. This does mean we need to know where they make their money, who their friends and relatives are, what they believe, and whether or not they are profiting from their positions. Those are the items that are relevant to their positions. Those are the issues relevant to how they vote and if they will vote with their constituents or their backers. Often I struggle to leave my personal opinions out of an article. I struggle keeping to the facts and not adding what I think. You don’t care what I think, and that’s ok. When it comes to politics, even at the local level, the facts matter. These are facts. I will continue bring them to you as we get into election season. I will bring you voting records and interviews with candidates. I will do my best to leave my opinion out of it and let you know when I am voicing an opinion. Thank you for your continued support.

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