County Commission | The Magazine October 2017 | Page 19

FROM THE COVER
An Economic Development Win
in Rural Alabama
F
2016-17 ACCA President Bill Stricklend (center) congratulates the award-winning team from Lawrence County.
From left: Engineer Winston Sitton, Administrator Heather Dyar, Commissioner Joey Hargrove, Stricklend,
Commissioners Bobby Burch and Norman Pool, and Solid Waste Director Willie Allen.
or 2017, the Lawrence County
Commission took home ACCA’s
Excellence in County Government
Award in the Rural Category for an
outside-the-box strategy that yielded
40 new full-time jobs for a struggling,
unincorporated community.
In a nutshell, the county
commission secured a $25,000
grant and formed a coalition with
the local school system and a
nearby municipality to convert a
dormant high school cafeteria into a
commissary that now cooks up some
3,000 meals a day.
“It was truly a team effort from
many within the county, proof good
things happen when we all pull the
rope in the same direction,” said
Commissioner Bobby Burch.
The annual Excellence in County
Government Awards recognize
innovative and effective programs
initiated or completed during the
previous year and implemented by
the commission itself and not its
agencies or boards. Lawrence County
won in the category for counties with
populations less than 50,000.
In June of this year, Valley Inc.
celebrated the grand opening of its
COUNTY COMMISSION | 19