While giving his “State of the County” speech at the Tifton Rotary club’s noon luncheon meeting Wednesday, Tift County Commission Chairman Grady Thompson announced that the Tift County Development Authority is working to bring Tifton Aluminum — or its equivalent — back to Tift County.

“We’re working on it,” Thompson told the Rotarians. He said the reason the company the TCDA is in negotiations with is considering Tifton is because of EPA restrictions elsewhere. “There is too much (government) regulation,” Thompson said.

The TCDA has been quietly working on re-starting the Tifton Aluminum facility through an existing aluminum extrusion company for several months.

In a letter to Alcoa in November, Thompson told Alcoa that the TCDA, Chamber of Commerce, city leaders and local bankers wanted to re-start Tifton Aluminum “with a goal to re-build the business to its former prominence.”

Initially the TCDA suggested that Alcoa “gift” the facility to them “for tax benefit to Alcoa.” Alcoa rejected that suggestion early in the discussions. The TCDA then requested that Alcoa “cease decommissioning activity and auction plans and enter into serious negotiation with the community for an asset transfer or sale.”

In a letter in mid-November, Alcoa told the TCDA that they were willing to work with the TCDA to “reach an agreement that will be mutually beneficial to both the Tift County Development Authority as well as Alcoa, Inc.”

The TCDA will purchase the property, land and equipment from Alcoa and the TCDA will then lease the property to the new owners.

An issue of concern to both the TCDA and Alcoa — and perhaps a “sticking point” to any agreement — are environmental issues, concerns and liabilities that would come with the purchase of the property from Alcoa.

At the January meeting of the TCDA, members discussed the purchase price for the facility and said that they wanted indemnity “from environmental claims” but said they thought the negotiations were “moving along.”

Should the plans move along as the TCDA envisions them, the “new” Tifton Aluminum plant would open and begin hiring this year. They plan to hire “30 to 40 employees to start.”

At the Rotary luncheon, Thompson also gave the following information about the state of Tift County:

• The county operates on a $38 million budget.

• The county has a 3.6 to 4.0 growth rate.

• The county now has a three-month reserve fund, which is “the best we have had in a really good while.”

• The county earns interest on money it is not using.