Area evaluated as potential data center site
10-Mar-2010The Times Leader
Staff Writer
March 10, 2010
Directors of the Lake Bark¬ley Partnership for Economic Development have signed on in support of a regional study launched to determine the area’s potential to host data centers.
At the Partnership board’s Feb. 24 meeting, directors heard from Gerald Cook, executive director for the Madisonville/Hopkins County Economic Development Corp. (MHCEDC) regarding an upcoming feasibility study organized by that group.
The grant-funded study includes Caldwell, Hopkins and Muhlenberg counties and is being conducted by the Site Selection Group of Dallas, Texas.
Its purpose, Cook said, is to determine the region’s overall viability as a likely destination for data centers, facilities used to house large-scale computer systems and other electronics.
The Partnership board granted its support to the MHCEDC in its pursuit of the study.
If such a plant located here, the impact would be significant, Princeton Mayor Gale Cherry told local city council members Monday.
“This is a big deal,” she said. “The kind of data center they’re looking at would probably be a $100 million project.”
The Partnership is also working to develop its 2010 initiatives, by way of a committee led by Betty Cook.
She, Cherry, Eddyville Mayor Judi Stone and Sam Koltinsky, the Partnership’s promotions and marketing executive, compiled an outline of the initiatives, organized around three areas: employers, employees and community.
As part of their work, the committee drafted a new mission statement for the organization. It reads:
“The 2010 mission of the Lake Barkley Partnership is to provide leadership, coordination of activities and support to agencies and organizations that work to improve employment opportunities, train the workforce and enhance the quality of life in Lyon and Caldwell counties.”
An April 5 event sponsored by the Partnership is being considered a “first step” toward accomplishing the initiatives, Koltinsky said this week.
On that date, Nelson County Economic Development Agency President Kim Huston, of Bardstown, will be in the area for a special meeting.
“Nelson County has been a model and front-runner in small-town economic development, and Huston is the author of a recently published book on the topic, ‘Small Town Sexy,’” Koltinsky said.
The Partnership is inviting representatives from Lake Barkley Tourism, both counties’ Chambers of Commerce, Princeton Main Street, both county school boards, fiscal court and city council members to attend.
The Partnership is scheduled to meet again at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, March 24, Koltinsky said.