Brad Day, the new president and CEO of the Tifton-Tift County Chamber of Commerce, plans to add some spice to the chamber. As Day explained it, he will be integrating his ideas with those of the community at large and with the development authority and chamber members.

“I will add my few spices in the mix,” he said.

“The future is dictated by the past and there will be other things (added) that have not been part of our past,” Day said Monday. Part of Day’s vision of Tift County’s future includes the expansion of secondary education options and taking good care of existing business and industry. “It’s important to be loyal to existing business,” Day said. He said he realized new industry and business grab the headlines, but he felt existing local business should be taken care of first.

Asked about the future of the Industrial Park which has lost a number of industries recently, Day said, “We have some work to do.” He said Tift County would have to work at being competitive and providing incentives for industry to locate here.

“The consensus is that we need to sell our community more effectively,” Day said. He said it was clear we needed more “product” for economic development. By “product” he meant buildings and land.

Day said he felt economic development in Tift County had been funded at the minimum level but felt highly encouraged that everyone is aware of the need for more development.

Asked what he saw as the strengths and weaknesses of Tifton County from an economic development perspective, Day responded, “Clearly our location is a strength.” He added, “You don’t have to be a professional in economic development to know that.”

Another strength named by Day was leadership. “Cooperation and strong leadership is vital,” he said. Day also said he was very impressed with the “can-do attitude” of Tifton’s leaders. “They are not afraid to set high goals,” Day said.

As far as weaknesses, Day said, “The community is still struggling with how we will fund projects.” He said most were funded by the county, city and development authorities. “By comparison (with other communities), we are quite low (with funding),” he said. “We have to decide at what level we want to fund and decide if we want to be competitive with other communities.”

Day said they would need to develop a complete set of incentives and look at projects that would “give a good return on investments.” He said, “We don’t want to give away the farm. We will have to see if it makes sense and has some level of reasonableness to it.”

Day has spent his first week on the job getting the lay of the land and getting to know the people with the chamber and the development authorities.

“I am happy to bring my modest experience here to help,” Day said. “I am excited to be here.”

He said he found Greg Sowell, the president of the chamber board, “easy to follow as a leader.” He said that Jack Perry, who volunteered to serve as interim president of the chamber, would continue to be an advisor because “we want a seamless transition.”

Day said he would be speaking at the chamber’s membership meeting this Thursday and would be open for questions and answers.

Day and his family will be moving to Tifton this summer and his three children will enroll in school here next fall.