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Politics & Government

Increase in Recent Business Licenses and Building Permits A Good Sign, Watkinsville Mayor Says

One business license applicant says she is seeking new ways of generating income through entrepreneurship.

Andrea Williams has had to diversify.

The Watkinsville resident went to Thursday afternoon to apply for a business license. Though she has never owned a business before, she said the tough economic times have caused her and many others to expand their expertise in order to make ends meet.

"It is a result of the economy in that as an entrepreneur of contract labor, I have to do so many more things to keep the bills paid than I've had to before," said Williams, who writes for Oconee Patch, The Athens Banner-Herald, REALTOR and is applying for a business license to market her clients' products. "I really think that's where America is going back to. The entrepreneur is having to reinvent themselves because there aren't corporate jobs anymore."

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With her new business, A Public Relations Company, Williams will combine her journalism, public relations and marketing experience to gain publicity for her clients by doing everything from designing business cards and planning open houses to writing website content and setting up book signings.

“If it's happening to me, it's happening to lots of people,” she said. “People are looking for new ways to make money and support their families. People are going to have to start their own small businesses because there's nothing out there to employ them.”

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For the first time in 14 months, during the same city council meeting on Wednesday, something Mayor Joe Walter said could indicate a loosening of the tough economy's grip on Watkinsville.

“We've seen a slight upturn, which is good,” Walter said.

Since January, the council has approved eight new business licenses, compared to only two new business licenses in the first quarter of 2008. Though the first three months of 2009 and 2010 both yielded similarly-high numbers of approved new licenses, the council hasn't approved this many new licenses in one meeting in more than a year.

Henry Munneke, professor in the department of real estate at the University of Georgia, said an increase in business licenses often goes hand-in-hand with a rise  in employment.

“They're all positive signs,” he said. As for whether this means the worst is over for Watkinsville, Munneke wasn't positive.

“Potentially,” he said. “But I think it's too early to tell.”

Walter said one sign of the economic uptick is the city's hiring a part-time building inspector to replace the out-of-town firm that formerly provided inspectors. Watkinsville had a part-time inspector shortly before the economic crisis, but he was no longer needed due to the decrease in development.

Rodney Couch, who was hired in January, said he's gone to three sites in the last two weeks. However, Couch is hesitant to attach his recent hiring to an improvement in the economy.

“They brought me on board to save money because they were paying the engineering firm a lot more than what I'm charging,” said Clark, who retired from the Athens-Clarke County Building Permits and Inspections Office in July 2009 after nearly a decade on the job.

“I think overall the economy is coming up, but the housing market is pretty flat,” he said. “There's a lot of unsold houses out there. If nobody built houses for a year or two there would still be plenty of houses to be occupied.”

Couch, an Athens resident, said his proximity to Watkinsville is more convenient for the city, as opposed to the Dacula-based Macon E. Gooch Business Consulting firm.

“I've been seeing him more and more, so that's a good sign,” Walter said. “You gotta start somewhere.”

The number of building permits the city council has approved has also been on the upswing. Following months of building permit approvals, the council approved four permits in their October 2008 meeting – the same number as were approved in the subsequent 12 months combined.

Walter explained that in any economy, there will always be good times and not-so-good times.

“We haven't given up the things that we do,” Walter said. “If you just roll over because you think you're dead, you're gonna be.”

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