New director to take helm of Mercer County Economic Development Authority
Jordan Maynor, the development authority's assistant director, was named its new executive director, Vice Chairman Bill Hopkins said.
Maynor will be succeeding Executive Director John O'Neal, who recently announced his plans to retire.
'We had a meeting this morning that had been scheduled,' Hopkins said later. 'John did tender his retirement. Jordan Maynor has been working with the development authority for several years. We had named him interim director, but this morning we voted to go ahead and make him executive director of the development authority.'
Maynor said he was excited about his new position.
'With the backing of our board of directors, I am eager to take on this role and advance our mission of economic development,' he said. 'We have exciting projects on the horizon that will drive significant growth and opportunity. I look forward to working with everyone to bring jobs and investment to Mercer County.'
Prior to Thursday's board meeting, the Mercer County Commission appointed two new members to the authority's board of directors and re-appointed other board members.
Gene Buckner, a former Mercer County Commissioner and Mayor Ron Martin of Bluefield have joined the board. Re-appointed board members included Hopkins along with Frank Brady, Mercer County Commission President Bill Archer, Josh Cline, Princeton Mayor David Graham, Tim Pike, Randy Price, Deborah Rachel and Mori Williams.
All the board of directors' terms end on Aug. 15 this year.
Commissioner Greg Puckett said the commission looked at the development authority's bylaws and saw that the board of directors needed an update.
'There hadn't been a collective reappointment for a few years so we wanted to make sure everybody was on par to go forward equally,' he said. The commission's job is the appoint the board of directors, Puckett said. 'We just want to make sure we had the board in 100% compliance. We've fulfilled our obligations and I'm excited about the movement.'
The county's economic development authority is currently working on multiple projects, Hopkins said. One known as The Ridges at Interstate 77's Exit 9 near Princeton includes a youth sports complex with ball fields, lodging and other amenities. In July 2023, the Legislature passed Senate Bill 1020 which authorized the Mercer County Commission to levy a special district excise tax for the project.
'Phase I looks like it's moving forward nicely,' Hopkins said. 'We hope to have a groundbreaking in the very near future and be looking at the next phases. It's a huge deal for the county. It's going to take a few years to come to fruition.'
Another advancing project is a natural gas pipeline extension going up John Nash Boulevard in Bluefield, Hopkins said. It will take natural gas to the Bluefield Industrial Park and other boulevard sites including the future Omnis home manufacturing plant.
'The project should be completed by the end of June,' Hopkins said about the pipeline. 'That's a pretty significant development for us. That will provide natural gas to all those developed plots plus Omnis. We're pretty pleased with that as well.'
Contact Greg Jordan at
gjordan@bdtonline.com
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