As president of Mincey Marble, a woman-owned family business, I am proud of our 40-year history of doing the right thing in our company and within our community. We have always tried to make smart business decisions balanced with good conscience.

That’s why it has been hurtful to find our company so viciously attacked and misrepresented by a few opponents in our recent rezoning effort for a piece of property adjoining our headquarters on Brown’s Bridge Road.

I certainly respect any person’s right to an opinion, especially my neighbors in Gainesville-Hall County where I have worked most of my life. But when those opinions are based on incorrect assumptions and exaggeration, I feel I must stand up and set the record straight. Because in my head and in my heart, I know our company is doing the right thing — for our business and for our community.

Fact: We are NOT expanding. Mincey Marble wants to rezone acreage across the highway from our main offices to modernize our operations with a beautiful new manufacturing facility. This will allow us to close down an outdated facility about a mile from our headquarters and replace it with an environmentally sound, clean high-tech operation. That’s doing the right thing.

Fact: We are NOT adding to traffic. With our consolidation, the small number of truck trips between our present two facilities will decrease, not increase. In addition, we plan to pay for new turn lanes between our main building and the new building that will enhance traffic flow. That’s doing the right thing.

Fact: We are NOT a dirty, polluting industry. We use a chemical called styrene in our production process that is actually present in many common household items. The main issue is its odor. But we honestly have had very few complaints over the years until our recent rezoning effort. Once our neighbors started to complain, we invested in equipment that filters and diffuses the fumes in the air for the benefit of our employees and neighbors. This equipment will be installed in the next couple of weeks. That’s doing the right thing.

I want to thank our Gainesville-Hall County community for having been so good to us through the years. Likewise, we have given back through our strong investment in the local economy with our job creation, wages, local taxes and charitable contributions. That’s doing the right thing, too.

On behalf of our company and our 280 employees at Mincey Marble, we ask our neighbors and leaders to continue to support our company and trust our good intentions as a responsible corporate citizen. We’ll always strive to do what’s right — and you have my word on that.

Donna Mincey
Mincey Marble President & CEO, Gainesville