Coweta County

may soon have another economic development agency in the county.

Development

Authority Chairman Mike Barber approached the Coweta County Commission

Tuesday about possibly funding a paid position for the agency.

Currently,

the agency is run by volunteers, but Barber said a recent survey in neighboring

counties show that they all have paid staff.

Barber said

the Authority has issued bonds in the past and said he also favored adding

a half of a percentage point to any bonds to help fund the Authority.

The county

currently funds $20,000 to the authority for supplies and clerical help

and funded an additional $100,000 for marketing the county.

Barber is seeking

an undetermined amount of extra funding for full-time staff and brought

the matter before the board since the county is currently in the middle

of budget discussions.

If the county

decides to follow Barber's suggestion, the beefed-up Development Authority

could be in direct competition with 21st Century Coweta, which is funded

The county

and 21st Century Coweta have been at odds in the past year over how the

county should be marketed.

In 1999, Coweta

County hired local architect Buddy Harrison to market its newly-acquired

Shenandoah Industrial Park, instead of letting 21st Century Coweta handle

the project.