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Lee meets with local leaders

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Gov. Bill Lee had multiple stops in West Tennessee on Tuesday, and he spent the most time in Jackson.

He had lunch with Jackson Mayor Scott Conger, Madison County Mayor A.J. Massey and Greater Jackson Chamber President Kyle Spurgeon before having a roundtable discussion with a number of industry leaders from the county.

While both of those meetings were closed to the public, Lee did discuss what he heard and discussed afterward.

"A lot of the discussion centered on ensuring that we have plenty of workforce to go around for all of our already-existing industry partners, but also with what's coming in with Blue Oval City," Lee said. "That's been a concern since we announced Blue Oval City, but that's also why we've invested as many state dollars as we have into our TCAT programs statewide, vocational training for our students in public schools and our community colleges."

Lee praised Jackson-Madison County Schools and Superintendent Marlon King for the work they've done in integrating vocational and technical training with STEAM education along with other opportunities in their district curriculum.

"Workforce and training is the key to all of this," Lee said. "And we're on the right road to making that a reality."

Lee said he was encouraged by both meetings.

"I appreciate the leadership both mayors here in Jackson and Madison County are bringing here, and Jackson is a busy place," Lee said.

With a little more than two years remaining in his second term as the state's top executive, Lee was asked about any goals he may have that he wants to accomplish before he's done serving the state.

While he didn't specifically mention any goal, he did mention the things that are important to him to keep as priorities and make sure that are put in the best position possible on his way out.

"Of course infrastructure is big for us, and energy is too," Lee said. "We've worked this year on our state's nuclear energy development and expansion.

"We've named an advisory council, and we've had some nuclear energy companies invest in Tennessee in recent months."

While energy and economic development are big and expanding across the state, Lee did mention an impact that he's hoping to mitigate.

"Last year, I tried to get my farmland conservation bill passed but failed, so we'll try again this year," Lee said. "We're the third-worst state in the country in how much farmland we're losing when you look at the fact that we're losing nine acres of farmland an hour to development.

"And of course, economic development is big for the state, farming is too and conservation. We can do both, but we have to be smart about it."

Lee added that he hopes to continue to improve people's access to water as well as making the state's waterways cleaner before he's done leading Tennessee.

"One more thing is education choice," Lee said. "I believe that every family should have the ability and opportunity to choose how and where their child or children are educated, and I plan on continuing our efforts for that."

Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news