Nine months into the job as Tennessee Economic and Community Development Commissioner, Bob Rolfe made his second appearance in less than two weeks at the Southwest Tennessee Development District in Jackson to update area officials on the Memphis Regional Megasite.

“Today we spend 45 minutes responding to local questions about the Megasite and we brought the entire executive leadership team to this meeting to continue to prove it is the highest priority for the Governor (Bill Haslam) and it is one of the highest prioties for economic and community development (department),” Rolfe said. “We will be successful.”

Success comes at a cost, considering $143.6 million is the total amount of dollars invested to date, which is 10 years.

Rolfe said $87.25 million of the $143.6 million is in the ground – $46.8 million for the land, $25.4 million for roadway improvements, and $15 million for water and wastewater.

“We’re $72 million light,” Rolfe said. “Do we have legislative concerns about the budget? Yes. Will the governor submit to the government for an additional $72 million for the site? We have the support of (Haslam), West Tennessee and the Leadership team.”

Rolfe, who told those in attendance at the Nov. 7 meeting, “When they’re (industry) ready to go, they want a ‘shovel-ready’ site immediately…and that’s not where we are right now.”

Monday, Rolfe said a project the Megasite is waiting on, has numerous moving parts.

“We’ve pitched (Megasite) over 100 times, globally,” Rolfe said. “Going forward, our job is to get this project ready to go. (Today) we had a very transparent meeting and conversation … so that we can bring the ideal company to this community to really deliver a transformational moment, so that more Tennesseans can have very good family wage jobs.”

(PHOTO: Bobby Rolfe, right, Tennessee Economic and Community Development Commissioner, talks with Johnny Shaw, state representative from Bolivar)
David Thomas, Twitter – @DavidThomasWNWS
https://www.facebook.com/NewsTalk1015/