Former Franklin County Manager Ginn Hired as New IBA Director

Franklin County’s Industrial Building Authority has a new director.

At a special called meeting Wednesday morning the board voted to hire Frank Ginn to take over for Lyn Brumby Allen who is retiring.

Ginn served as the first county manager for Franklin County and said Wednesday he plans to continue using the same strategies he used then to bring economic growth to the county.

“The first thing you try to do is get your house in order and try to lay the groundwork for things you can do,” Ginn said. “We’ve got a tremendous amount of assets in Franklin County. You’ve got to work with what you’ve got to move things forward.”

But not everyone is happy about Ginn’s selection as the new Industrial Building Authority Director.

Ginn serves as State Senator for the 47th District, which covers Madison, Barrow and parts of Banks and Jackson counties.

Franklin County Commissioner Clint Harper said he’s not convinced Ginn will have the county’s best interests at heart.

“As a State Senator, he doesn’t represent Franklin County,” Harper said. “I see it as a tremendous conflict of interest. If a business is looking at Franklin County and Madison County, which side of the coin is he going to come down on? Is he going to try to funnel that business to Franklin County or to Madison County where his job is?”

But Ginn said Wednesday he doesn’t see a problem.  Ginn said he plans to work hard for the economic good of Franklin County and the entire area.

“Everything that we do in this world, there could be a conflict in,” Ginn said. “Most of the projects that Lyn and I were talking about today, you don’t even know what the project is when they are looking at your county.  Just because a company lands in Franklin County doesn’t mean that’s bad for other counties and just because a company lands in another county, that doesn’t mean it’s bad for Franklin County.”

As a State Senator, Ginn serves on a numbe economic committees including, secretary of the Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee, chair of the Economic Development Committee, and vice chair of the Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee.

Ginn starts his new job as Franklin County IBA director on July 31st.