MEMPHIS BUSINESS JOURNAL | STEPHEN MACLEOD
Leaders from counties in parts of West Tennessee, northeast Arkansas, and North Mississippi are coming together in hopes of creating a tristate compact, known as RegionSmart.
The partnership, which is being proposed by the Mid-South Mayor’s Council, would be made up of Shelby, Tipton, and Fayette Counties in Tennessee; Arkansas' Craighead, Mississippi, and Crittenden Counties; and DeSoto County in Mississippi. The arrangement would have a limited purview over projects that would impact the entire region.
“The only projects this entity would take on would be projects that either can't be accomplished without a regional approach, or will be greatly enhanced or more likely to be successful if taken on by a regional approach,” Anna McQuiston, executive director of RegionSmart, said during a launch event on Friday, Feb. 18.
RegionSmart currently exists as a 501(3)(c) nonprofit that advocates for greater regional cooperation. Formalizing the compact will create RegionSmart Development, which would be eligible to receive federal funding for area projects and have its own tax status and governance structure, McQuiston said.
Such a cooperation faces a long road of political approval. For an interstate compact to be formed as a district and agency, the states affected have to approve it in their legislatures.
Currently, bills have been submitted in both the Senate and the House of the states of Tennessee and Mississippi. The Senate bill in Mississippi has passed. Arkansas’s legislature only convenes every other year, so there is no bill currently before that state body.
If two states approve the compact, it goes before the U.S. Congress, which must also consent. If it approves, additional states can join the compact when it passes in their own legislatures. This would allow RegionSmart to get up and running while waiting for Arkansas, according to McQuiston.Dopest Dough expands retail and wholesale business with New York-style bagels and breads
During the launch of RegionSmart, some of the leaders decried being commonly forgotten by their state legislatures. The formation of RegionSmart will allow the area as a whole to seek alternative government funding pathways through regional grants.
Potential projects would require majority approval from the member states in order to go forward, in an effort to make sure that all developments undertaken are seen as having a regional impact.
McQuiston said infrastructure is a potential focus of the compact if it is formed. At a panel announcing the intention to form the compact, all panelists agreed a third bridge would be a great example of a project with significant regional impact.
McQuiston told MBJ that other regional projects she could envision included a regional broadband plan, a regional port authority, a regional sewer district, or a regional transit authority.
“What we have seen in other entities we’re modeling ourselves off of is [instances of], ‘We see this as an issue,’” McQuiston said. “There's truly a public-private partnership, where we're bringing together elected officials, industry leaders, and the public, taking all of that feedback and opinions and thought process, and then identifying a slate of projects that we think would have the greatest impact on the region in a positive way.”