Business View Magazine | December 2020

316 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2020 AT A GLANCE ALBERTVILLE, ALABAMA WHAT: A diverse, forward-thinking community; population 25,000 WHERE: Marshall County, Alabama WEBSITE: www.cityofalbertville.com ALBERTVILLE, AL ABAMA A ffectionately known as ‘the heart of Sand Mountain’, Albertville, Alabama takes pride of place on a plateau of the Appalachian Mountains. The city is the largest municipality in Marshall County and is home to a wealth of rivers and hidden natural treasures. Despite challenges from inclement weather in the past, Albertville has reinvented and reimagined itself and welcomes improvement with each passing year. Since 2010, the city’s population has grown steadily from under 20,000 to just over 25,000. One of the reasons for that growth is the municipality’s recent investments in the future – for residents and business owners – with massive improvements to its infrastructure, attraction plans for industry, and the addition of quality of life assets to ensure that future is as bright as possible. Jerry Cofield, Chairman of the Albertville Commercial Development Authority and Director of the Albertville Regional Airport Director, believes those investments will help the city grow. He explains, “We’re kind of the metropolitan area of Marshall County. As a result, we have great opportunities for retail and restaurants and we capitalize on that by, first of all attracting industry and manufacturing to create jobs. But in addition to that, from a quality of life standpoint, we have better schools, better recreation – the kind of things that people enjoy other than working. And we’ve done very well in that aspect.” The municipality has worked hard to attract industries that offer higher wages to residents; T H E H E A R T O F S A N D M O U N T A I N