Published: July 26, 2008 09:14 pm      

Presumptive commissioner-elect Brooker sees changes coming

Harold Brooker watched as the once prosperous bedspread industry in Whitfield County slowly yielded to the burgeoning carpet industry.

“I saw the bedspread industry die and I was involved in it,” Brooker said. “Imports came in cheaper than what we could buy the raw materials to make a chenille bedspread. It really hurt me to shut down a business that my mom and dad started, but you can’t continue going at the level we were going. We had to go into something else.”

Now as floorcovering businesses in the Carpet Capital of the World are showing cracks due to the economic downturn, Brooker sees diversifying as paramount — just as he did professionally by expanding into the agriculture industry.

Brooker, 67, defeated Karen Horne in the Republican primary on July 15 for the District 2 seat on the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners. There are no Democrats running for the seat, so Brooker, a former commissioner, is expected to get the nod in November. Current commissioner Leo Whaley did not seek re-election.

Brooker owns a carpet coating company (Bettilee Industries) and a family farm where he raises chickens and cattle.

Volkswagen’s announcement earlier this month of plans to build an automobile manufacturing plant in Chattanooga offers an opportunity for related businesses in Whitfield County. The plant is expected to employ 2,000 to 2,500, but satellite services could employ between 10,000 to 15,000, Brooker said. Working with the Georgia Department of Economic Development and the Dalton-Whitfield Joint Development Authority can help local officials woo satellite industries, he said.

“I don’t think they’ll put all their eggs in one basket,” Brooker said of Volkswagen. “Cohutta will be, what, 15 miles from the plant, 20 miles at the most. That would entice some people moving in here and some development going on.”

But a key to development is Dalton Utilities’ planned three satellite sewage plants, he added.

“You’ve got a lot of potential for development in the northwest corner (of the county) for Volkswagen,” Brooker said. “There’s raw land up there, but if we can get sewage up there to them then we’ve got the chance to go after some people.”

Tied to economic development is quality of life.

The recreation department’s budget needs to be re-examined and increased, although Brooker isn’t sure where the extra money will come from. The county’s recreation department budget this year is $883,633, up from $756,268 in 2007. Brooker’s priorities are a park in the Westside community (which is in the county’s plans) and facility upgrades at Eastbrook and Valley Point.

The county is searching for a new recreation department director. Roger Crossen, who served as director for 17 years, resigned earlier this month. He was asked to resign by county administrator Bob McLeod.

“I think it was handled wrong,” Brooker said, adding he wasn’t privy to the entire situation. “I think he (McLeod) needed to give him a timeline and give him the money and resources to do what they wanted to be done. If he couldn’t do it then, it would have needed to be handled at that point.”

Brooker served on the commission for 12 total years over three decades in the early 1970s, the late 1980s and early 1990s. He said he was the first elected commission chairman. Between now and his swearing-in ceremony next January, Brooker plans to attend several commission meetings to get a feel of the county’s situation.

“I don’t want to take anything away from Mr. Whaley,” Brooker said. “He’s the representative here. He’s been elected by the people until Jan. 1. I can go in and listen to what’s going on, what will affect us in January when we take office, but I wouldn’t want to get involved that deep.”

Brooker has known incoming commission chairman Mike Babb, who is also unopposed in the November election, for “a good while” and has had several conversations with him about the state of the county.

“I think with both of our experience we can bring a lot to the table,” Brooker said. “I think he’s had eight years (as commission chairman) and I’ve had 12 years, so we’ve got some time on the board.”

As far as the other three members of the board — Mike Cowan, Greg Jones and Randy Waskul — Brooker said he doesn’t know them as well.

“I can get along with anybody, I guess,” Brooker said. “Sometimes you’ve got to sit back, wait and see what type of issues there are and vote your convictions. It may be 3-1, then it might be 4-0, but I’ve always been the one to step up and say what I think is right. It may not be the right thing, but I’m not going to be a figurehead.”