Surry County Commissioner Paul Johnson’s recent remarks that Elkin was targeted for two new job-generating businesses here has left town officials curious as to what he was talking about.

Johnson, who is running for the N.C. Senate 30th district seat, recently said during an interview with the Mount Airy News that preliminary discussions are underway that might pave the way for up to 700 new jobs in Elkin and Yadkin County.

He said that one company could provide 300 jobs and another could provide 390 during the interview published Sunday, April 11, in the Mount Airy News.

However, Elkin’s Mayor Lestine Hutchens was unaware of Johnson’s comments until just moments before the Elkin Town Board meeting Monday night.

After reading Johnson’s comments about potential new businesses she said she was “unaware” of any commitment by any company to bring jobs to Elkin at this time.

“I sincerely hope Johnson knows something we don’t about jobs coming to Elkin, but at this time, the town is unaware of any company that has made a commitment,” Hutchens said. “We would certainly welcome any employer whether they were bringing 30 or 300 jobs to town. Unless the company is looking outside the town limits of Elkin where the county would be working out a deal, we are unaware of anything definitive. If at any time a company seriously looks at our area, we would have to be involved because of the infrastructure and possible water needs.

“Our next EDP (Economic Development Partnership), meeting is scheduled for April 29, but at our last meeting in March, nothing definitive surrounding any company was discussed.”

Todd Tucker, Surry County Economic Development Partnership director said on Tuesday that there are a couple of companies looking at the area, but that they are in the very early stages.

“We’ve had one company show some interest in the area, but they haven’t even made a visit yet,” Tucker said. “And we’ve had another company who is considering Elkin along with other communities, but, it is way too premature to say that any company is coming to Elkin at this point.”

Leslie Schlender, Elkin’s Economic Development Director agrees with Tucker’s statement.

“We are always investigating possibilities of companies choosing Elkin,” Schlender said. “Any time a company shows interest, we run through the hoops and go through the process in discovering what possible incentives may be available, but this is part of the information gathering process.

“As with the companies Mr. Tucker is speaking of, it is no different that any other inquiry we’ve had about Elkin that we get on a regular basis. The town’s focus is to put our best foot forward as businesses look to start up or relocate and are searching for the best place to be. But, at this time, we have no particular company that has looked at Elkin past the information gathering point.”

Several attempts to contact Johnson for additional remarks was unsuccessful, but he reiterated his claim Tuesday night at a candidate forum in Yadkinville.

“We’ve got several new companies looking at us,” he said.