NextSite360 to conduct study in Toccoa

Toccoa city commission agrees to move forward with marketing study, during the regular scheduled meeting Sept. 25.

A motion was made by Commissioner Gail Fry and seconded by Commissioner Terry Carter, the motion passed unanimously 4-0 for the consulting group NextSite360 to conduct a marketing study.

Chamber of Commerce President Julie Paysen came before the commission to present information regarding the consulting firm.

“NextSite360 is a consulting company that is partnering with Georgia Power across the state, to the communities that are interested in participating,” Paysen said. “Georgia Power is deferring much of the cost of this consulting firm to come into a community to do market research, find out what your traffic counts are, what your needs are, what holes are in your market and present you information to present to potential businesses.”

The cost to conduct the study is $9,500; however, the Chamber of Commerce is asking both the city and county to split the cost for 3 years, added Paysen.

“The fee in our situation will be, because we have three separate corridors, will be about $9,500 per year for three years. But we’re asking the city and the county to split that investment per year,” she said.

Paysen expressed that it would be amiss if the city and county did not participate in such a valuable opportunity.

“We are excited about the opportunity,” Paysen said. “Rope Roberts, with Georgia Power, called us a couple months ago to ask if we would be interested in this, I told him ‘I’d love to know more.’ We then met with a larger group and we all said, ‘how can we not do this, this is a great opportunity for us.’ It gives us the tools to present and promote our community most effectively.”

The chamber looks forward to the progression of the study, as does the city.