Columbia County Report: Rep. Kat Cammack visits with Chamber of Commerce

LAKE CITY, Fla. (WCJB) - Rep. Kat Cammack, R FL-3, paid her first visit to Lake City Wednesday to discuss the future of economic development in the Gateway Area.

After redistricting, Lake City became a part of the third house district following Cammack’s re-election last year.

Cammack said she is very excited to welcome Lake City and Columbia County into Florida’s 3rd Congressional District.

“Columbia County,” said Cammack, “Lake City they are one of the gems of Florida’s 3rd Congressional District. What a wealth of natural resources, great people, industry.”

Cammack made a big promises about the future of the Gateway City.

“Lake City is going to be a very, very busy hub and certainly one of the best places in North Central Florida to live, work and play,” said Cammack.

Cammack met with the Lake City Columbia County Chamber of Commerce to discuss the future of economic development in the area.

“Nobody knows the area better than your locals,” said Cammack, “so it’s really important to me--especially in these first few months representing new territory--that I get out in the community, I meet with the business leaders, I meet with the local elected officials, and understand the needs that they have.”

A representative of the chamber spoke about the importance of meeting with Cammack so that they can get on the same page about the needs of Lake City and the Gateway area.

“She’s here to talk to us not only about issues that affect Columbia County and the Florida Gateway region,” said the chamber’s executive director, Joey O’Hearn, “but also to figure out ways that we can work better together for the overall development of economic development in our community.”

Cammack says there is plenty of opportunity for growth in Lake City, but the area needs to provide businesses with a foundation on which to grow.

“We talked a lot about broadband,” said Cammack, “having high speed, affordable, reliable internet...Waste water. That critical infrastructure that we need in order to have these businesses come here, set up shop and be ready to go on day one.”

She expanded on the need for better internet in the area, saying it’s one of the city and county’s biggest economic needs.

“It doesn’t matter where you are in the country,” said Cammack, “if you don’t have access to high speed, reliable, affordable internet, you’re gonna fall behind. We have to have broadband in every single corner of the United States and our area, we’ve really fallen behind. So what we’re doing is coming up with a couple of different options that make sense for the area and for the consumer.”

Cammack held a similar meeting in Marion County earlier this week.

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