After nearly two years in development and hundreds of thousands of dollars spent, a new company that desires to bring jobs and economic development to Wilkes County is still facing frustrations that could prevent the plan from coming to fruition.

Geoff Burkart, president of The Guardian Center, says that he’s spent 21 months and more than $200,000 trying to bring a high-tech training center to Wilkes County that would use the old high school site and a large tract in the county to train first responders, SWAT teams, military special forces, and other groups. Local leaders agree that a new training center such as The Guardian Center (TGC) could have millions of dollars of economic impact on Wilkes County – if Burkart can get more help and cooperation to make it happen.

The Georgia Small Business Administration pointed Burkart toward Wilkes County in 2008, and he found that the soon-to-be-available old high school complex on Gordon Street would be an excellent facility to use as a training center. “At the suggestion of county and city officials,” he said, “planning for the acquisition began in December, 2008.”

He contacted Ricky Callaway, chairman of the Wilkes County Board of Education. “Following our initial conversation, I couldn’t get any further information or even returned phone calls. Effective business planning requires accurate data and information. I would have expected at the very least to be advised of the process and given an action plan or timeframe.”

Although no one told Burkart, delays in completing the new school complex had made it impossible to dispose of the old school until August 2009. In September, the Wilkes County Board of Education finally voted to allow school Superintendent Dr. Rosemary Caddell to negotiate a sale or lease of the school.

Now, he said, “TGC is finally making reasonable progress working solely with Dr. Caddell. She has been methodical and forthright every step of the way. However, the negative impact of the previous delays have cost TGC potential investors. This in turn has cost Washington-Wilkes critical time in a tough economic climate.”

The other ongoing frustration is getting either of Georgia’s senators, Saxby Chambliss or Johnny Isakson, to introduce him to senior decision-makers at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). “To accomplish this, TGC personnel and its advisors set up meetings with specific agendas and traveled to Washington, D.C. in March, 2008, and February, 2009 ... to meet with Georgia Senators Isakson and Chambliss and Congressman Paul Broun,” he said. All he wanted, he said, was “assistance in opening doors at DHS to present The Guardian Center initiative, and confirm or deny its viability. Simply put, would The Guardian Center be an effective private-sector alternative for augmenting national security and economic development?”

However, Burkhart said, “after considerable time and expense and confirmed appointments with both Senators, the only thing that was accomplished was presenting to senate staffers in a file room at Senator Chambliss’s office, and the hallway of the Senate building outside Senator Isakson’s office. In reality, I suspect that Senators Chambliss and Isakson never saw the presentation materials left with their staff, nor were they advised of our visit or the initiative for Georgia.”

Just this week, however, some progress has been made on that front, he said. “The only ray of hope has been the recent commitment from Congressman Broun to take up the challenge and do everything his office can to secure a meeting with senior people at DHS. That’s encouraging, but it’s too late for some of our investors.”

Throughout the long effort to bring jobs and economic development to Wilkes County, Burkart says, he has had complete cooperation from city and county leaders and the Payroll Development Authority. “In fairness, I must give credit to the Washington-Wilkes government officials. Mayor Willie Burns, County Commission Chairman Sam Moore, along with members of their staffs, have been strong proponents of economic development and have worked tirelessly and prudently to support the TGC initiative wherever they can. It is obvious to me that these individuals are genuinely committed to the economic growth of the city and county to which The Guardian Center could greatly contribute.”

In particular, he said, “Mayor Burns has also committed to pushing an initiative to put us in front of senior decision-makers at DHS.”

At this point, Burkart said, the effort to bring a state-of-the-art training center to Wilkes County is still alive, but it depends on getting the blessing of Homeland Security. “To date we have been unable to test the business assumptions at DHS and this step is critical to investors before making any significant financial commitments. We truly hope we can work everything out and make this happen.”