Incubator episode may have long-term consequences
A business incubator building in Waynesville has become the epicenter for a political firestorm among Haywood County officials looking to grow small businesses in the region.
Convinced the incubator was being squandered by the Smoky Mountain Development Corporation — a not-for-profit economic development group — and its long-time director Tommy Fouts, a coalition of critics instigated a movement to wrest the incubator from the corporation’s control. The critics — including some Smoky Mountain Development Corporation board members — believed Haywood County’s Economic Development Commission was better equipped to own and run the incubator.
