Questions about water use, education and economic development were on the agenda Thursday afternoon as members of the Greater Rome Chamber of Commerce met with Democratic gubernatorial candidate DuBose Porter.

In an informal gathering at the chamber, about a dozen businessmen, environmental advocates, educators and politicians heard some of Porter’s platform for his campaign. There was also a question and answer session with the Dublin native who has served in the state legislature for more than 25 years.

Porter said three of the biggest challenges facing Georgia — and three issues that will have a direct impact on economic development — are education, transportation and water resources.

“The biggest priority for me is to get Georgia back employed and to help us grow,” Porter said. “To do that, we’ve got to make education and job training a real priority, we’ve got to improve our state’s transportation, and we’ve got to get a water plan that works.”

In terms of education, Randy Pierce, president of Georgia Highlands College, emphasized the need for the state to have more need-based scholarships and to increase participation in joint enrollment programs.

“With recent changes in HOPE scholarship requirements, a lot of students no longer qualify,” Porter said. “We need to increase those opportunities. There is also some discussion that funding for HOPE is running out, but we have around $1 billion in reserves and the lottery program continues to be strong.”

Joe Cook of the Coosa River Basin Initiative asked what Porter would do to ensure that money from hazardous waste trust funds are used properly by the state. Porter said he would support a constitutional amendment that would make sure funds would go where the legislature intended them to, especially when it comes to environmental programs.

Porter said he does not support interbasin transfer in terms of water allocation, and he thinks that improved conservation, fixing metro Atlanta’s failing water systems and keeping more water in Lake Lanier will help improve Georgia’s water issues.

Regarding transportation, Porter said he wants to fix gridlock problems in Atlanta by improving passenger rail options, and he would support dedicating more of the motor fuel tax to statewide transportation projects.

He also said places like Rome and Floyd County need to be included in the state’s transportation plans, since those areas are a major part of the state’s growth.

“One thing we’ve got to do is to open up Floyd County to the rest of the world with road improvements,” Porter explained. “We need to give you the infrastructure you need to grow, because you’ve got to be part of our state’s transportation plan.”

On an economic front, Porter said he believes that local control regarding sales tax collection, rather than exclusive state control, would result in a great increase in uncollected sales tax revenue.

Porter, who spoke later Thursday night at the Jefferson-Jackson dinner, said he hopes the state will continue to look at various ideas to help it move forward in the 21st century.

“We’re at a crossroads in Georgia,” Porter said. “The question is, are we going to be committed to moving forward as a state? That’s what I hope to do as governor.”