Meeting with (front, l-r) Joanie Perry, Director of Economic Development for the Georgia Department of Community Affairs; and Region 7 DCA director Tina Hutcheson, were (rear) Payroll Development Authority Director David Jenkins, Washington Mayor Willie Burns, Senator Jim Whitehead, County Commission Chairman Sam Moore, Hexcel manager Ed Geddings, and Washington City Administrator Mike Eskew. State economic development officials and Wilkes County's state senator met with city, county, and business leaders Tuesday to look at options and possibilities involving the soon-to-close Hexcel plant and other industrial properties available in the area.

Joanie Perry, Director of Economic Development for the Georgia Department of Community Affairs; and Region 7 DCA director Tina Hutcheson, met at the Hexcel plant with Senator Jim Whitehead, Hexcel manager Ed Geddings, Wilkes County Commission Chairman Sam Moore, Washington Mayor Willie Burns, City Administrator Mike Eskew, and Payroll Development Authority Director David Jenkins.

A major focus of the meeting was to save the outgoing Hexcel work force for Wilkes County. "It's not the building that's so valuable here," Geddings said. "We've got a trained, skilled workforce, but we've only got a few months before they're gone - we're losing about two people a week to other jobs."

Of the 97 employees left at Hexcel, 30 will be laid off in early June, another 30 in July, and the last employees will be let go in August, he said.

The group discussed the prospects of companies that were looking at the 150,000-square-foot industrial facility, and discussed the actions that Geddings and the PDA could take to prepare for a prospective buyer.

Perry and Hutcheson gave the leaders ideas on how to speed up the process by which the state and federal agencies provide their help, and pointed the local officials to available help from state and academic experts on different aspects of the process.

Wilkes County's strongest asset, a plentiful water supply, also figured in the discussions.

After their meeting at Hexcel, the state officials toured other Wilkes County industrial sites with local leaders.

Calling the Hexcel plant and workforce "a diamond in the rough," Whitehead said that he would continue to focus on economic development in Wilkes County, but that the aggressive effort required to bring industry in wouldn't be cheap. "We've got to educate people to the fact that we can either lose jobs or pay the price for economic development."

As Wilkes County's state senator, Whitehead pledged to work the legislative process to find businesses and resources to bring to the county. "You got to go get it," he said. "You can't wait for it to come to you."