B.J. Fletcher to step down from Albany-Dougherty EDC post

ALBANY — As she was campaigning for the Ward III seat on the Albany City Commission, B.J. Fletcher said she spoke with several able-bodied men who were “playing checkers at noon.”

“Those guys told me, ‘Ms. Fletcher, we’d rather be at work, but there just aren’t any jobs,’” Fletcher said Wednesday. “And, you know what? Those guys are still playing checkers at noon.”

Citing her frustration with what she said has been the growing number of job announcements “everywhere else but here,” Fletcher sent a letter to Albany-Dougherty Economic Development Commission and city officials Wednesday announcing her intent to step down from the board. She said she will continue to pursue her campaign promise to work to bring more jobs to the community independently.

“Please allow this to serve as a notice of my formal intent to step down from my position on the Albany-Dougherty Economic Development Commission,” Fletcher wrote. “I have discussed this matter with the City Attorney’s office to assure that I am not violating city policy in making this announcement, and I feel certain that I am not.

“I have tried to use my time on the board as a way to fulfill my campaign promise to help bring more jobs to our community, but I don’t feel the current direction of the EDC board is helping to accomplish that goal. I feel that I can be a better advocate for job growth in the community by using my own resources to work directly with potential employers.”

EDC President Justin Strickland, who Wednesday morning sponsored a program recognizing industries in the community, admitted he was caught off-guard by the news.

“I appreciate you calling me and alerting me of this letter (of resignation), but I have to reserve comment on this matter until I’ve had the opportunity to talk with Commissioner Fletcher,” Strickland said.

EDC Board Chairman Jay Smith said Fletcher’s decision does nothing to lessen the strength of the partnerships the EDC has with the city of Albany and its other partners, Dougherty County and the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce.

“Economic development takes cooperation, collaboration and vision,” Smith said. “It also takes a level of dedication to achieve success.

“It’s unfortunate to hear of this unexpected decision by Commissioner Fletcher, but the relationships and partnerships we have with the city, the county and the chamber remain strong.

Fletcher said she’s addressed her campaign promises to look into outsourcing of legal work in the city’s law offices and to push for the appointment of better-qualified and more dependable members on appointed citizen boards and commissions, but she’s not satisfied with efforts to bring jobs into the community.

“I am very disheartened by the growing number of job announcements being made in communities surrounding ours and the number of businesses that are locating in this region, but not in our community,” she wrote. “We have the natural resources, the land availability and leaders who are working hard to tell our story to potential job-producers, yet the overwhelming number of job announcements, in a state that has been declared the best in the nation to do business with, are being made elsewhere.

“And while I am proud of our existing industries and love the fact that they’re a vital part of our community, we need to bring in more industries, more jobs.”

Fletcher said independent Realtors in the community — she mentioned Todd Davis by name — who have worked to bring jobs into the community have complained that they’d gotten “no help from the EDC or the city.”

“I have nothing negative to say at this time about the EDC, its leadership or its board members,” Fletcher said in the letter to city and EDC officials. “But my growing dissatisfaction with the continued lack of job growth in the community has placed on my heart the conviction that I can better serve the people of this community — and keep a promise I made to the people who voted me into office — by stepping down from the EDC board and working privately with others to help foster what should be the No. 1 issue in this community: job growth.”

Fletcher addressed a report that she had missed seven of the last eight EDC board meetings by noting that the commission’s meetings are now being held at various businesses throughout the community.

“I love visiting our businesses’ plants and facilities, and I take every opportunity to do that,” she said. “But holding the EDC meetings at these plants during the lunch rush — the busiest time for a restaurant — has made it almost impossible for me to attend and run my businesses. (The meetings at various locations) have made it almost impossible for me to attend (meetings), but the bottom line is that we should be using those meetings to discuss ways to bring jobs into our community.”