Gwinnett Chairman Charlotte Nash on Her 2019 State of the County Address

Recently Atlanta Small Business Network was on-location at the 2019 Gwinnett State of the County address in partnership with the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce and Partnership Gwinnett. ASBN host Bridget Fitzpatrick had the pleasure of speaking with Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners Chairman Charlotte Nash about her address and some positive developments for the county. Tune-in to hear from Chairman Nash.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION

Bridget Fitzpatrick: Hello everyone Bridget Fitzpatrick here with the Atlanta Small Business Network. I’m here with Charlotte Nash, the Board of Commissioners Chairman. Thank you so much joining us Chairman Nash.

Charlotte Nash: Absolutely it’s a pleasure, thank you for being interested in our speech today.

Bridget Fitzpatrick: Absolutely. Now for those people that couldn’t be here today can you talk about some of the achievements that Gwinnett County saw in 2018.

Charlotte Nash: Lots of important projects started, one of the things we’re always proud to announce is the fact that Gwinnett County was awarded a triple a bond rating again from all three major bond rating agencies. That would mark the 21st year that, that is the case. With my background in finance that’s a particularly notable accomplishment as far as I’m concerned. But the big topic this year was transit expansion in Gwinnett. We’ve done a lot of background work associated with that, are looking forward to the outcome of the referendum on March 19th.

Bridget Fitzpatrick: Absolutely, we are too and you called it the Trailblazing Moment, right?

Charlotte Nash: It’s a trailblazing moment that’s going to set the path for Gwinnett County in the future, absolutely.

Bridget Fitzpatrick: Very good. Now at the end of 2018, the unemployment rate was 3.3 in Gwinnett County, can you talk to us a little bit about what contributed to that?

Charlotte Nash: Well certainly the good overall economy makes a huge difference in our unemployment rate, but we have a great partnership Gwinnett group, which we put the local government, public education, and our business community together to focus on economic development. I can’t say enough good things about the partnership Gwinnett team.

Bridget Fitzpatrick: Absolutely. Now the vision for 2019, can you talk to us about that?

Charlotte Nash: Certainly the focus for 2019 is on our transit referendum that is coming up soon assuming a positive vote on that. We’re going to spend a lot more time in 2019 working on beginning the implementation of that plan, but we’ve got so many great stories. The big development that’s taking shape, beginning to take shape here at the Infinite Energy Center, what we look forward to doing with the property we bought down off of Jimmy Carter Blvd from the OFS Corporation, just so many good things happening in every single part of the county.

Bridget Fitzpatrick: Absolutely. Now can you share with us a little bit about what makes Gwinnett County a great place for small businesses?

Charlotte Nash: First of all, there’s the school system that draws people to Gwinnett County who are going to be great employees for small businesses. It also provides we have the school system and the other education elements like Georgia Gwinnett College, they have a lot of things to offer to the small business area. Our chamber is very supportive of small business, we’ve got a lot of things that we’re doing at county government level related to small business. We all recognize that small business is the backbone of the business community and as I tell everyone every big business was once a small business. So we’re excited to be supporting small business across Gwinnett.

Bridget Fitzpatrick: Absolutely, every big business is once a small business. Thank you so much Chairman Nash, we really appreciate your time and thank you for your leadership.

Charlotte Nash: Absolutely, my pleasure and thank you for your interest.

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