When two becomes one

Chairman Robert Halfacre of the Oconee Alliance said today that County Council will be asked to vote next month on the merger of the county Economic Development Commission with the public-private group Oconee Alliance. The blending of public and private sectors to advance economic development is said to have worked well elsewhere, and Oconee leaders are pinning their hopes that it’ll work well for their county. County Administrator Scott Moulder is optimistic. So is Hank Field, the Seneca businessman who currently chairs the EDC. “I believe it will maybe make it so there is not so much political pressure one way or the other. We won’t have to count entirely on the support of a council and get some other private interests involved, which I think will be good for all of us,” Field said this morning.