Tenn-Tom To Hold 43rd Annual Conference In August
The Tennessee-Tombigbee (Tenn-Tom) Waterway Development Authority, a four-state compact made up of Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky, will hold its 43rd annual conference August 13–15 at the Grand Hotel Marriott in Point Clear, Ala., on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay.
As in years past, the Tenn-Tom Waterway Conference will feature a golf tournament at the Lakewood Golf Club’s Dogwood course. The golf tournament will be held on August 13, with a banquet and silent auction August 14. Proceeds from the auction will benefit the Agnes Zaiontz Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Transportation Museum, located adjacent to the waterway’s headquarters in Columbus, Miss.
Conference details and registration information are available online at www.tenntom.org/development-conference-hotel. Registration is available online and by mail or by email. Hotel registration details are emailed following conference registration. The deadline for the conference hotel block is July 21.
Mitch Mays, administrator of the Tenn-Tom Waterway Development Authority and president of the Tenn-Tom Waterway Council, the trade association representing users and stakeholders of the waterway, said he hopes the lineup of in-person speakers at the conference will feature representatives from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Coast Guard, despite travel and budgetary restrictions currently in place. Even if not, he knows attendees will benefit from hearing reports by video conference.
“Top-of-mind come August is still going to be Wilson Lock,” Mays said, referencing the main chamber of the lock on the Tennessee River in Florence, Ala., that’s been closed to navigation since last September. “They’re supposed to open in July, but that has caused such a disruption to commerce on the Tennessee River and the Tenn-Tom. I think a lot of people are expecting to hear what the Corps of Engineers is going to do with regard to maintenance and keeping these aged locks up and running.”
Besides national security-related cargo movements, Mays said agriculture products, scrap metal, aggregates and more have been affected by the closure at Wilson.
Other speakers will include renowned economist Loren Scott, who will offer an update focused on the Southeast region; Chris Blankenship, commissioner of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources; and Tami Reist, president and CEO of the North Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourism Association. Additional sessions and speakers will be announced soon.
Mays said, while the name of the conference says “Tenn-Tom,” there will be something of interest for anybody.
“We cover issues that are much bigger than just the Tenn-Tom,” he said, “so it truly is an inland waterway conference. Everybody who attends will walk away with something of interest.”
For more information, visit www.tenntom.org.
