Trip to Washington gives local leaders ‘in person’ advantage

From the director’s chair, By Panola Partnership CEO Sonny Simmons

In April, a group from Panola County took our annual trip to Washington D.C.

The group consisted of Kelly Morris and James Birge from the Panola County Board of Supervisors, Mayor Jerry Autrey along with Aldermen Ted Stewart, Eddie Nabors and Stan Harrison from the City of Batesville, our engineer Blake Mendrop and me.

Our purpose was to meet with our congressional delegation and to share with them some of the needs that need the support of federal funding. We had the opportunity to meet with Senator Cochran and Senator Wicker in person and we met with staff members of Congressman Bennie Thompson’s office.

We presented each of them with prepared material that clearly outlined our needs with cost estimates attached. Since there are no more earmarks allowed to help fund these needs, we now have to present our needs and then have our congressman and their staff members help us identify the funding sources that apply and are available.

Once identified, we then can apply for the funding and ask our members of Congress to monitor the process as the funding is being considered. This is our best chance to receive this much needed revenue to support local projects.

Something new we discovered during our visit with Senator Wicker’s office this year that helps to simplify the process, is a document with an extensive checklist that allows us to check our specific needs, then return the form and the Senator’s office will email us with the funding sources that apply.     

Our trip is a quick one. We flew to Washington on one day, met with our Congressional delegation the next day and then flew back to Memphis that night.

But, these trips are so important. A phone call or a visit to one of the regional offices in the state to express our needs is not enough. To be successful and effective we must go to Washington, meet with our elected officials and get to know their key staff members who are responsible for following up with us after the visit.

There is limited federal funding available and to receive a share is highly competitive, so the communities that make the extra effort to go to Washington and establish these extremely important relationships will be the ones that will have the best chance to be successful. We want to be one of those communities. 

Forever forward.