Mega-site Authority, Cooperative or Super County

This proposal seems to be movement an in a positive direction by allowing cooperation between multiple county governments. 

I wonder if this new Authority may have the power to supersede their individual county governments once it is formed?

Bodies like these, tend to be self perpetuating live forms? 

Lawmakers Look to Change “Mega-site Authority”

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Tennessee lawmakers asked for a proposal today to let several counties work together to create an industrial “mega-site,” like the one that landed a Volkswagen plant in East Tennessee. Mega-sites have industrial-grade utilities, ready-made for manufacturing.

Currently the law is written as though every potential mega-site would be in, and under the control of, a single county.

But State Representative Jimmy Eldridge of Jackson says that doesn’t make sense, given that recruiting a new big employer can benefit surrounding communities.

“We have to be regional now. We can’t be looking at just one area, what can I do for one area. You’ve got to look at what can … benefit that whole regional area.”

The state has two mega-sites – one that attracted Volkswagen in Chattanooga and another that landed the Hemlock Semiconductor plant in Clarksville.

A change in the law would be particularly helpful to rural areas like Haywood County, where officials have been trying to get a similar site up and running.

The Joint Committee on Business Taxes would file the bill as a proposal sometime this month.

WEB EXTRA
Nathan Ridley, who has lobbied for the big four cities in the state, said he would try to have a draft copy of the proposed law ready to file next week. The new idea is to have multiple counties on the board over a big site.

“We’re telescoped, or focusing a bit right now, on this Haywood County site, but our hope would be that in the future this would open up some possibilities that we might not have right now.”

By Joe White