Cocke County is infamous for moonshine, marijuana and “chop shops,” negative images that have plagued the county’s reputation for more than 70 years. And, new county mayor Iliff McMahan Jr. knows it.
Along U.S. Highway 321 heading toward the county seat of Newport, empty storefronts and dilapidated buildings convey an impression of economic depression against a backdrop of undisturbed natural beauty of low-lying mountains and rippling streams.
During the past 30 years, Cocke County’s economic development has been stagnant, and even downward-plunging, with unemployment reaching as high as 20.1% at one point. The county’s plight led many to seek jobs in neighboring counties. Others resorted to illegal means of making ends meet to support their families, perpetuating the county’s negative image.
From 1998 to 2002, the county lost 750 industrial jobs because of company buyouts or outsourcing—situations beyond the county’s control. But there also were local officials who “weren’t playing well together” and who as a result were stifling the government’s new business recruiting efforts, McMahan says. Political infighting had taken precedence over proper management of the county’s objectives and budget.
“The state didn’t want to help a government that wasn’t getting along. It was so bad that people were avoiding us like the plague,” McMahan says.
Armed with a long-term vision and detailed action plan, he beat out the incum- bent mayor and two other candidates and took office as Cocke County mayor in 2002. McMahon was confident he knew what challenges lay ahead. He was wrong.
The former county tourism director was unprepared to handle piles of unpaid bills and the ebb and flow of a municipality’s budget. “That scared the crap out of me. I didn’t know squat,” McMahan says. He quickly hired a finance director and an economic development director—two new positions for the fledgling county governmen
t.
McMahan needed more revenue to satisfy the county’s immediate needs, and he needed it fast. He passed a 46-cent property tax increase for fiscal year 2003-2004. It was an unpopular move, but the citizens accepted this as necessary if they wanted to bring about a change.
Once his administration cleaned up the books, McMahan turned his focus toward new business recruitment and tourism. In particular, Schenectady International, a New York-based chemical company, is spending more than $5 million to refurbish an existing chemical facility on a 110-acre site that will open this spring, bringing 40 new jobs to the area. In an effort to showcase Cocke County’s natural assets, McMahan hopes to work with Sevier County and Gatlinburg to develop a backdoor-to-the-Smokies approach in attracting tourists to the nation’s most visited national park.
The charismatic new mayor realizes his vision is filled with lofty goals and his team has to work from the ground up, literally. In 2004, McMahan raised more than $7 million in federal and state grants to build out the county’s infrastructure, including the extension of water and sewer lines into the higher elevations of the region. Cocke County should continue to see that funding, says Jessica Johnson with the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, “if they put forth effort to make their community a better place for economic development and community development.”
With the county’s recent 5.6% unemployment rate, the fruits of the administration’s labor are still on the horizon, but McMahan says that now that his team has put its disagreements behind it, things are happening.
“I’m no Pollyanna here. We do have our tiffs and fights, but we do it behind closed doors. When we emerge, we better be holding hands and singing ‘Kumbayah,’” he says.
As for the image of Cocke County, McMahan, a local native with his own family moonshine legacy, encourages citizens to celebrate their heritage without letting it dictate their future.
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