Mickey Starling
reporter3@greenepublishing.com
Madison County Coordinator Sherilyn Pickels was the guest speaker at the Kiwanis Club meeting on Thursday, Dec. 3, discussing the partnership of Duke Energy with the Kiwanis to provide benches and other needs for outdoor classrooms at Lee Elementary School.
Pickels also discussed the Suncoast connector toll road which has a high probability of passing through portions of Madison County. Currently, there are three different proposed routes, all of which connect to Interstate 10.
Other economic development news that Pickles shared with the group included the upcoming structurally insulated panels facility that is slated to be housed near the Madison County Jail. The panels are produced for home construction, and the plant hopes to employ up to 75 people when it becomes fully operational. Additionally, Trulieve, a medical marijuana provider, will be constructing a medical marijuana growing facility that will employ over 300 people.
Another business that Pickels spotlighted for the near future in Madison County is a mattress factory that is being constructed in Greenville, adjacent to Greenville Hills Academy. This factory will employ approximately 35 people. Local businesses were also helped with CARES Act funding from the federal government. Over $300,000 will be awarded to those businesses that have been approved for the grant funding.
Pickels concluded her discussion with more economic good news concerning the Gulf Power project, called the North Florida Resiliency Connection. This project will enhance the reliability of electric service in good and bad weather. The project runs through 33 miles of Madison County and the projected tax revenue for the county over the next 30 years is $15 million dollars. On the final meeting of the year, on Thursday, Dec. 10, Byron Poore gave a hands-on presentation about the benefits of being involved with the Toastmasters organization, which helps its members develop better leadership and speaking skills.
Poore gave the Kiwanians a taste of a typical meeting by having them participate in a table topics session, where speakers are given a topic and must talk for about 2 minutes without any preparation. The group did a wonderful job handling this difficult task and Poore explained how Toastmasters helps prepare its members for speaking under all types of circumstances.