Cullman Area Chamber of Commerce Director of Business Development Brian Poole and Cullman County Economic Development Director Cherrie Haney listen to Hanceville business and organizational leaders at a meeting on Friday. / W.C. Mann
HANCEVILLE – On Friday afternoon, a dozen Hanceville government, business and organizational leaders met with Cullman County Economic Development Director Cherrie Haney and Cullman Area Chamber of Commerce Director of Business Development Brian Poole to talk over ideas for growing the city’s businesses and economy.
Haney, who lives in Hanceville, told the group, “I like to shop here, and I want to see Hanceville grow. And that’s what this is all about: to help you grow your business. And it’s going to help you communicate with each other, so you can maybe help each other grow.”
Poole added, “As (Chamber President Leah Bolin) laid out the things that she would like to see happen, she said, ‘You know, we need to help every town in the county grow. We need to help every business in the county grow.’
“And so, as I started thinking about that, I thought, ‘Well, yeah, okay; we can do that.’ And then I started counting the businesses, and I said, ‘Okay, in about five years I’ll hit the last business.’ And so I thought to myself, ‘How do I do that, where we can bring people together and work together?’ That way, instead of having me go and visit one business at a time, now we’re all visiting each other.”
Poole hosted a similar event in Good Hope Thursday evening that drew 30 local business representatives, and he stated that the chamber and economic development planned to hold quarterly meetings in Hanceville in the evenings after regular work hours, so more business owners could attend.
He assured the group, “This is not our last one; this is our first one. So we’ll do this four times a year, every quarter. And every quarter we’ll get better and better at this, because we’ll start learning each other, seeing where we can help each other, and we’ll talk a little bit about different things.”
Hanceville Mayor Kenneth Nail spoke to The Tribune about what brought the two agencies to town.
“There (were) some citizens who put forth some concerns, that they would like to see the chamber get more involved out in the county,” said Nail. “And Leah (Bolin), I think she stepped up, and I think that’s what this is about. They’re trying to help the other towns and cities, all towns and cities in Cullman County. I was glad to hear that they went to Good Hope, and they’re going to be going some other places. So, you know it sure can’t hurt, and that way everybody kind of gets together here, and we know who we are. And maybe we can help each other.”
For more information on chamber events and programs, visit http://www.cullmanchamber.org. For more on Cullman County Economic Development, visit http://www.co.cullman.al.us/economic-development.html.
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