By Josh Troy
Clarksdale Advocate
Acortius Liner of JLINE Enterprise is putting together a 20-year comprehensive strategic plan for Coahoma County. The Coahoma County Board of Supervisors recently hired Liner, who is also on the Bolivar County Board of Supervisors. Liner graduated from Mississippi University for Women in 2012 with a degree in political science and finance. He also worked as a researcher at the Stennis Institute of Government, with a local government firm that conducts abstract research across the southeastern region of the United States, looking at economic impact, feasibility studies, grant development, and evaluation.
“While there, I had the opportunity to work with a ton of communities across the Appalachian region,” Liner said. “That was really my first foray into that.” Liner did an economic impact study where he was the lead researcher on the Bolivar County Expo Center. Since 2014, Liner said he has been helping small counties, municipalities, and state governments across the region to increase the quality of life. Liner also was a grant consultant for the City of Greenville, did studies about sexual risk avoidance and reduction across Central Arkansas, and has written federal grants since 2017.
“All of our Delta communities are facing the same plight,” he said. “There’s a substantial decline in our tax revenues. We’re having an inability to attract new industry, which, in turn, creates job opportunities that pay a living wage. Also, the integration of technology and truly capitalizing on the 21st Century of technology, we have not capitalized on how to fully integrate technology where we can fully scale our county operations, etc., where we can truly introduce innovation and ingenuity on our innovations and process.”
Liner talked about the importance of having a long-term plan. “The long-term plan gives the board an apparatus which they can utilize to make strategic, evidence-based, data-driven decision making to change their competitive position in the global economy,” he said. Liner will first be working on a public participation plan that involves the community. He will be working with focus groups, having roundtable discussions, and actively engaging the community to see what needs there are in Coahoma County. “In the collection data process, it’s a qualitative methodology,” he said. “I’m just engaging in qualitative research. I want the information.”
Liner said he plans to present his information to the Board of Supervisors by the end of May. The next step for Liner is to work on a Coahoma County Expo Center operational action plan. Liner said agritourism is a big deal in the area and facilities such as the Expo can be used for community events and festivals. “We’re doing a feasibility study of the current operations of the Expo and what needs to happen to make sure the county fully capitalizes on the amenities it could potentially offer,” he said.
Liner said he will work on a long-term plan accumulating hard data on housing, economic development, transportation, technology, land use, and more. “The plan provides the Board of Supervisors with a tool needed that provides a clear pathway to increasing the quality of life in this county,” Liner said. Liner said the overall plan will be 12 chapters and 300 pages. The chapters will be:
1. Introduction to the background
2. Issues and opportunities
3. Agricultural, natural, and cultural resources
4. Community facilities and utilities
5. Housing
6. Economic development
7. Land use and mapping
8. Workforce transportation
9. Technology integration
10. Intergovernmental and regional cooperation
11. Recommendations for implementation
12. Reimagining Coahoma County
PHOTO CUTLINE: Jacorius Liner is with a focus group at the Coahoma County Road Department
