Business View Magazine | July 2020

176 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE JULY 2020 and the county fiscal court is looking at doing a joint project with the city to expand natural gas throughout Adair County. Natural gas isn’t offered in all locations at this time and I think having that service would be especially beneficial to our farming industry. We have several poultry farmers in the county and it would mean a big boost to them because they have to keep the chicken houses at a warm temperature for the young chicks. We surveyed two farms, with two barns each of the same size, and there was $20,000 difference in cost between the one heated with natural gas and the other with propane.” Another notable project: The Louie B. Nunn/ Cumberland Parkway is a four-lane, 70 mph highway that runs through Columbia and has two exits. It is considered by locals to be like an interstate, with less traffic. Adair County officials, along with state officials and the Kentucky State senator and U.S. congressman, are now in the process of trying to get that stretch renamed to a spur off of Interstate 65. “We sit directly between I-65 and I-75,” says Cowan, “and we think that will greatly boost our economic development.” Columbia–Adair County is certified as a Kentucky Work Ready Community – a big plus point in the ongoing mission of business attraction and retention. A Kentucky Work Ready Community certification is a measure of a county’s workforce quality; an assurance to business and industry that the community is committed to providing the highly-skilled workforce required in today’s competitive global economy. There are two levels of certification – a Kentucky Work Ready Community and a Kentucky Work Ready Community in Progress. Earning certification status provides tangible evidence to economic developers that workers are skilled and the county is committed to keeping them skilled. Kentucky Work Ready Communities: • Attract new businesses and investment