Clay County New Chamber Of Commerce Director: Doug Young

The new director for the Clay County Chamber of Commerce is a familiar volunteer.

Three-Star Director Doug Young has volunteered for the chamber for over 10 years. He said it was important for him to step in to continue the county’s strategic plan.

“Right now times are hard and I’ve thought ‘I’m going to be here anyway, I can just double up here and do both jobs and save the county that money and then we might a little more money to spend on promoting Clay County,'” Young said.

Young said the joint Economic and Community Development board and the chamber are working together to further establish strategic planning. He said without this, there is no plan for an organization to go.

“The Three Star Program, part of that program bleeds right over into the ECD board, and that’s a strategic plan,” Young said. “We have a strategic plan that we have been working on, we have about 61 percent of it completed now.”

The main focus Young said he wants to focus on as the new chamber director is the virus. He said county residents need to continue to adapt.

“The economy has to continue to work, but at the same time we’ve got to protect our citizens,” Young said. “We’re going to be looking at changing some ways of doing things, and we’re already doing that. I think that may be world wide right now, but even on the lowest level of local government, we are having to really take a hard look at different ways of doing things.”

For over 50 years Young has held an administrative position. Titles include director of schools, high school principal, and prison warden.

Young will replace Kevin Donaldson’s position Tuesday.