With his wife and two of his children in attendance, attorney Roy Copeland became the new Chairman of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority Tuesday.

Outgoing Chairman Jerry Jennett happily passed the gavel to Copeland, who in turn presented Jennett with a plaque for his service to the board as chairman.

Authority members also voted for Mary Gooding to be the vice chairman and Norman Bennett to be the secretary/ treasurer.

Tuesday was also the first official meeting for Executive Director Andrea Schruijer, who began her new position in early July.

A number of attendees were left standing, as the seating area filled up quickly, and the meeting was conducted proficiently, despite the handful of protestors waving signs, encouraging those opposed to the construction of the Wiregrass biomass plant to honk their horns as they drove past the building.

Dr. Michael Noll of WACE, Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy, referred to the frequent honking in the citizens to be heard portion of the meeting as a community assessment of the project, and asked the Authority to resolve the Wiregrass biomass project, deny them the ability to build, and allow the community to move on to more productive projects.

Scott Purvis, Georgia Power project manager, presented a community economic assessment initiative to the board, with the Janus Group hired to conduct the study. The Authority gave the project, which will be fully funded by Georgia Power, the green light.

Purvis said the Janus Group will be in the community in early August and will view the community as an industry prospect would. Focus groups and individual interviews will assist in their assessment, which will provide the Authority with a strategic analysis, a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis, a target industry analysis and a marketing and communications recommendation.

Georgia Power selected cities across the state for the study, and Valdosta joins Albany and Tifton as the only locations in the region.

Schruijer said the study would provide a good competitive analysis for Valdosta and a platform for the Authority’s future strategic analysis update.

In other business, the Authority:

• Heard a report from Vicki Hughes, stating that an existing industry is moving forward with an $11 million expansion project, and that members of the Authority recently attended a Bio International trade show in Washington D.C.

• Heard a report from Allan Ricketts, discussing the site preparation and infrastructure work being conducted at Miller and Westside Business Parks;

• Received a thank you from John Robinson of the Black Businessmen’s Association during the Citizens to be Heard portion of the meeting for agreeing to work with small and emerging businesses, with the goal of removing the “social divide” in the city;

At the end of Citizens to be Heard, frequent speaker John Quarterman presented Schruijer with a bag of homegrown okra as a “welcome to the community” gesture.

The Industrial Authority meets at 5:30 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month at its offices on N. Patterson St.