Paulding Rotary Club Welcomes Commission Chairman Carmichael

After officially starting a meeting, John Grant called upon Rotary member Ford Thigpen to introduce our guest speaker. Paulding County Commission Chairman David Carmichael received a warm welcome from the Rotary members. Chairman Carmichael thanked everyone for a warm welcome and the opportunity to speak to the Paulding Rotary club.
Commission Chairman Carmichael began his presentation by recounting his memories and impression of the Paulding Rotary Club as he and his family moved our County in 1979. After his service in the Marine Corps as an instructor and pilot, Mr. Carmichael flew for Eastern Airlines and relocated to the Paulding community. As a commercial airline pilot, Mr. Carmichael had the opportunity to relocate, but he and his family chose to stay here because of the friendships and home they had made here. Mr. Carmichael included many of the people he met here in Paulding County including Dean Hardy and Earl Duncan, both founding and current members of the Paulding Rotary Club, as friends that helped he and his family to develop a strong connection to the County and its community. Chairman Carmichael took specific note of the influence of leadership and service that the Rotary has contributed to the county. As a concerned citizen with strong ties to the community, Mr. Carmichael expressed his determination to see our County thrive for current and future generations.
Chairman Carmichael shared with the Rotary his vision to promote the growth and development of our County. His plan, twofold in that the first step was to promote unity through communication and second to concentrate on planning for and managing the growth of Paulding County. Chairman Carmichael having served as a Marine tactical instructor illustrated communication and coordination as being a quintessential element for success in tactical military operations. The same is true for success with our County and its potential. Chairman Carmichael intends to focus on communication not only with fellow board members but to extend that communication through to the public by utilizing the newspaper, other publications, website and social media outlets. Additionally, Chairman Carmichael cited plans to utilize monthly newsletters, quarterly town hall meetings, and a five board work session to further communicate their roles in economic growth and unify the county and its citizens. By working together with a clear and unified goal of what the future Paulding County should look like, we can achieve that end.
Paulding County is experiencing a considerable amount of growth and is expected to increase by 66% in the next 20 years. 1200 single-family building permits were issued in 2016 and 56% of those were in North Paulding. Our infrastructure must grow with the expansion of our County. So, therefore, we must plan how we want our County to grow and what we want it to look like for future generations. As it stands right now our county is divided East to West, developed more on the eastern two-thirds facing, Cobb County and rural to the Western third. We must plan for economic growth to provide revenue unless we want higher fees and property taxes. To court such growth we must manage our need for infrastructures such as roads and bridges, sewer, utilities, fiber and water needs. Planning is essential to protect our resources and develop them for the future. We must be united in our goals and dedicated to the task. Chairman Carmichael's vision is to see a strong County government with services provided by the collaboration of authorities working together to "Sell" Paulding County through proactive economic development. Now's the time to plan how we would like our County to look in the future.