By CHRISTOPHER BUTLER

With a higher than average unemployment rate, and a lower than average median income level, Trousdale County is in economic distress and needs all the economic development it can get.

But a taxpayer-subsidized entity created to bring new jobs is not helping.

Residents argue that economic conditions were better in 1986 — right before the state legislature created the Four Lake Authority. Based in Hartsville, the county seat, Four Lake officials are tasked with using taxpayer dollars to attract new businesses. They also work to bring prospects to four surrounding counties (Macon, Smith, Sumner and Wilson).

“Life in 1986 was better. We had more factories. We had a car dealership. They’re gone now. Right now we’re turning into a ghost town,” said county resident Tony Keisling. “I couldn’t imagine why any business would want to come up here. This county has nothing to offer in terms of incentives.”

Since its inception, Four Lake has taken in millions of dollars from taxpayers to attract new businesses — with largely unsatisfactory results, various people told Tennessee Watchdog, including two Trousdale County commissioners.

Four Lake has not used taxpayer money in a good way, said County Commissioner Mark White.

“Four Lakes has been flying under the radar all these years. When times are good you aren’t paying attention. Why rock the boat? Now, we’ve been in a longer economic downturn than what we’re used to. We aren’t rebounding as fast. A lot more people out here are footing the bill, and they are starting to ask ‘What do they do? How much of my money is going into that?’”

Another person who is asking detailed questions is first term state Rep. Mark Pody (R-Lebanon), whose district includes Trousdale County.

Pody’s curiosity about Four Lake and what it has produced with taxpayer money has become so serious that he recently filed legislation that would withhold funding from the entity.

Pody does not want Four Lake to go away, however. He instead wants the organization to start showing substantial results. Pody has research indicating that the entity has only created a net gain of 16 jobs since 2002, at a cost of nearly $1 million per job.

Four Lake has one year to improve before Pody officially seeks support for his legislation.

“I’ve looked at the budget, and I cannot see what we are spending money on or why this organization is doing what it’s doing. It either needs to be defunded or made productive. This is a good organization if we can do it right. I asked (the Four Lake leadership) repeatedly what are they doing to bring businesses into this area? I couldn’t get one concrete answer. This is despite the fact that they have people working there who make good money. The executive director makes $60,000. Overall, that amounts to about $150,000 in wages (among a three-person staff),” Pody said.

Four Lake Executive Director Jerry Clift said he and his staff are working as hard as they can to attract new businesses, even though the national economy continues to struggle.

Pody’s actions are possibly politically motivated because Clift campaigned for Pody’s opponent in last year’s election, Clift said.

ORIGINS OF FOUR LAKE

The state legislature created Four Lake in Hartsville after construction on a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) nuclear power plant, which would have been the world’s largest and would have brought many jobs to the area, came to an unexpected end because of government cutbacks.

State officials told Four Lake to improve economic opportunities in the region. Four Lake has a 21-member board of directors but it gave most of the power to a five member executive committee early on, according to Pody’s research.

The TVA sold exactly 554 acres of land surrounding the mothballed nuclear site to Four Lake in 2002 at a cost of $1.7 million. Four Lake officials renamed the area the PowerCom Industrial Center, intending to market it (as well as a 54,000 square foot building) as a place for new businesses.

According to Four Lake’s 2009/2010 Annual Report, the organization leases 11 buildings (totaling 101,470 square feet) to nine businesses through a Business Incubator Program. All together, those businesses employ 30 people.

Officials with the Corrections Corporation (CCA) of America announced intentions to build a corrections facility on 108 acres of the property in 2008, which would have created 350 jobs. Those same officials later put the project on hold until an unspecified time because of their organization’s own budget restraints.

“Once we get CCA in, then it will be a nice face for this community. We are doing the best job we possibly can (to attract other prospects). We are seeing a lot of accomplishments at this time. Economically, out in the industrial field, who hasn’t lost jobs, much less gained jobs? It’s hard to bring jobs in these distressed times,” Clift said.

Clift was Trousdale’s county executive — a position equivalent to county mayor — until last year. He became Four Lake’s executive director under what some residents said were controversial circumstances, according to Commissioner White.

The Four Lake executive committee voted early last year to appoint Clift, who was already on the executive committee, as their executive director.

The state attorney general soon opined that no member of the executive committee could vote for himself as executive director, prompting Clift to resign as Trousdale County’s executive. The man who replaced Clift, Tim Roberson, who was previously that county’s executive pro tem, assumed Clift’s duties, including those on the Four Lake executive committee — where he helped Clift become the new Four Lake executive director by a vote of 3-2.

Clift said his past experiences qualify him to lead Four Lake.

“I tell people ‘You can bite me, but you can’t eat me.’ I was county mayor for eight years. Economic development is what I did for the county before I did this.”

Clift believes Pody may have filed the Four Lake legislation over political differences.

“Pody doesn’t like me — and that’s fine. I’m a Democrat. He’s a Republican, and Republicans don’t like Democrats. I’m not saying that’s the reason. In a way, this is how I feel, but it may not be.” Clift said.

But even Democrats are unhappy with Clift.

White is a Democrat who disagrees with Pody on many issues, but not the Four Lake matter.

“Personally, I don’t think Clift is qualified to head up the type of organization that Four Lakes is supposed to be. What it’s supposed to be and what it currently is are two different things. The Four Lake property is supposed to serve as an incubator to help get these industries established and then they have the option to stay where they are at or move to somewhere in this county or a surrounding county. That’s never really happened. They say they can produce proof that it has, but I’m just telling you that from the everyday working person’s point of view that it is not happening,” White said.

INCENTIVES

Clift touts the fact that one company has contracted to lease its 54,000 square foot speculative industrial building and will bring in 12-15 jobs, although records show that Four Lake is responsible for that building’s heating and air, bathrooms and a concrete floor (all at a total estimated cost of $361,000 to taxpayers).

“We will bring in only a few jobs at first. Hopefully, we will bring in more,” Clift said.

Pody believes Four Lake needs to establish more precise goals for itself.

“I’ve asked for plans and what their goals are. They have not been able to provide them to me.”

Counting all the jobs that have been created and/or terminated, Four Lake has only created a net gain of 16 jobs since 2002. With $13,556,092 spent, this breaks down to $847,255.81 per job, according to Pody’s research.

Keisling, meanwhile, has a few suggestions of his own for how Trousdale County can attract new business, independent of Four Lake.

“If I was in charge I would try to get a group of people or hire a county manager to look for these jobs and try to bring them in with tax incentives. Our property taxes are high — but the powers that be aren’t going to give businesses a tax break to bring them in.”

Christopher Butler is the director of government accountability for the Tennessee Center for Policy Research and the editor of Tennessee Watchdog. Contact him at chris@tennesseepolicy.org