The Dougherty County Commission Chairman and Albany’s Mayor stood together Tuesday to direct the Economic Development Commission to expand its business retention efforts and conduct in-depth surveys of local businesses in a move to help identify hurdles to growth.

Chairman Jeff “Bodine” Sinyard and Mayor Willie Adams sang the same bars from a tune that has become the anthem for economic development throughout the recession — “love the one you’re with.”

“As I traverse the territory, I’m constantly asked, when are we going to get some large businesses to come to Albany like another Procter & Gamble or Miller Coors,” Adams said. “Now we all wish that could happen, but the reality is that 70 to 80 percent of our new jobs are created by small businesses that we have here already ... we have to make sure that we massage and support the businesses that we already have here and make sure that they are happy and that they stay here.”

Read More: Albany Herald