DECATUR, Ala. - For Mayor Tab Bowling, Thursday was a first. A big crowd gathered to hear the new mayor's plans for the city, including chamber members, business owners and residents.
"I never dreamed that I would have this opportunity and so it was a very big day to be able to just stand before our chamber and residents and share about the initiatives and direction that our city is headed in," said Mayor Bowling.
Only in office four months, Mayor Bowling took the State of the City address as an opportunity to talk about economic and residential growth.
The Mayor is looking to fill 16 square miles of historically underutilized business zones, also known as HUBzones, in hopes of sparking the interest of specific businesses.
"We are home to so many contractors and so we see that as an opportunity to work with Marshall and be able to find a way for contractors to locate their businesses here in Decatur," said Bowling.
Mayor Bowling says one of the requirements is having a certain percentage of the employees living in the HUBzone, as well as bringing more residential growth into the city.