The Development Authority of Cherokee County has adopted a new name under which it will do business.

During a called meeting Wednesday, the authority approved adopting the name Cherokee Office of Economic Development.

The name Development Authority of Cherokee County will remain as the official title of authority and be used for official documents, but the new name will become the operating name that appears on phone listings, the Web site www.cherokeega .org and business cards.

"It better represents what we do to those who don't know us," Vice-Chairman Steve Holcomb said, adding that the name Development Authority of Cherokee County "didn't always communicate what we did."

"It is pretty easy to say. It is nice and concise," he said.

Misti Martin, president of the authority, said the name change is the first step of the white-collar recruitment effort undertaken by the county.

In 2008, the authority hired consultant Del Boyette to help put together a white-collar recruitment strategy. A white-collar business is defined as a business that employs primarily salaried workers in professional, managerial, administrative or sales-oriented positions. Changing the name of the development authority was one of the recommended changes.

"This was the first step. We will build the rest of the implementation steps around this," she said. Other recommendations include collaborating with Reinhardt College to develop courses in entrepreneurship and an eventual undergraduate program; exploring the creation of a business incubator; working with commercial real estate/office park developers to develop more speculative office space; conducting familiarization tours of the county for real estate developers; distributing a postcard or e-mail series that targets commercial real estate development companies and adding a section dedicated to the recruitment of commercial developers to the authority's Web site.

Boyette said a name change could help the county with its image of being a bedroom community rather than a white-collar community.

He said the name should be "something more progressive and more in line with what you are trying to be in the 21st century."

The authority also recommended approval of waiving impact fees for a potential project in the Airport Commerce Center and changed Mrs. Martin's job title from executive director to president.