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A Three-Star Rating
Rhea County continues to shine, thanks to Three-Star Program

The Rhea County Courthouse in Dayton is a focal point for community life.

Longtime participants in the Three-Star Program are quick to tout its virtues, noting that the new requirements are already producing results.

“We have been a Three-Star community for 24 years,” says Anita Crittenden, administrative assistant at the Rhea Economic & Tourism Council, which administers the program for the county and its municipalities. “We have been able to apply for grants which have helped us recruit industries and other things that we would not have been able to do without those incentives.”

The program’s new requirements – designed to make it of more value to the state’s rural communities in terms of incentive grants and other assistance – require more work, Crittenden says, but she and the council’s executive director, Raymond Walker, have been able to keep pace.

“It’s a year-round process, working on the various parts of the certification,” Crittenden says.

Rhea County has eight committees under its Three-Star program: beautification, education, health care, retirees, existing industry, tourism, housing and workforce development. Tourism and existing industry are both new, and are being formed to meet new requirements for the program.

“We have a report card to complete, and there are a lot of things you can pick and choose to do beyond the requirements,” she says. “You can’t do everything at once, but we make sure that we’re adding things all the time.”

Such perseverance enabled Rhea County to achieve the program's Level 3 designation. This means that when Rhea County seeks state grants, the county and its cities will be required to match a reduced amount, which translates into huge savings.

More importantly, Crittenden adds, the program has made all the county’s involved parties come together in the planning process.

“We have a community workshop every year and invite the public to come out and determine with us what we want in this five-year plan,” she says. “That gets everybody involved, and we’re actually implementing the things that we come up with through different committees and groups. It’s really helping to bring the community together, and helping us make Rhea County a wonderful place to work and live.”

Story by Joe Morris
Photo by staff

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