Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

CCIC Hears From County Judge

It's looking more and more as if Duke Energy will be building a plant in Clark County.

Clark County Judge Floyd "Buddy" Manning told members of the Clark County Industrial Council, at its regular monthly meeting, he had been in almost daily contact with the company, but no decision is forthcoming at this time.

He said there are five options now and the offer has risen from $9 million to $13 million.

Manning said input from the community is also being sought before a decision can be made, but, "I feel good about it. I think they'd rather be in Clark County than Hot Spring County."

According to Manning, company representatives have never been negative toward Clark County. However, he plans on talking to the Clark County Quorum Court and Arkadelphia School Board before doing anything.

This is because the company may try to get Act 9 bonds for tax purposes. Should this happen, the company would not have to pay property tax, which would affect the school district.

The bonds, according to Gurdon Mayor Rick Smith, are a major concern of existing industry in Clark County.

Manning said he's spoken to the heads of local industries and did a survey on the taxes they pay. "I know where we stand on concessions if they get any," he said of Duke Energy.

"This is something we need to think about for the future," he continued, "for industries locating here or expanding. If it brings in new jobs we may need to give some concessions."

The deal with Duke, he said, could set the precedent or guidelines for how the county deals with future prospects and existing industries.

Walli Mondal of Henderson State University has been doing an economic impact study on the effects of Duke Energy locating in the county. The company, Manning said, contacted HSU to do this.

If Duke locates in the county and builds a 1,240 megawatt plant it will spend $500 million to do it. If it builds a smaller plant, 620 megawatts, the construction costs will be $300 million.

Construction would put 300 people to work for about 18 months, he said.

Once finished, the plant would use 16 million gallons of water a day during peak times. This, Manning said, is only 2 percent of the river's capacity and the river wouldn't be affected by the plant.

However, there would be no recycling of the water used as it would be turned into steam to power the turbines to make electricity for Duke's customers.

CCIC President Brown Hardman said gathering information is the best thing to be done at this time.

Through contacts with the Arkansas Department of Economic Development, Hardman said a company has been looking to locate in the South with Arkansas under consideration.

Though Clark County was included in the initial approach, it quickly exited from the running as the company in question needs access to a port and there isn't one in the county.

Tim Stokes, director of the Southwest Arkansas Learning Center, gave an update on getting the center up and running.

At this time ownership of the building the center will work out of is being decided. The CCIC wants to retain ownership, but be able to transfer it should the building be sold later on.

The structure is L shaped and located on 6th Street in Arkadelphia.

An architect hasn't been hired yet, but a site plan is being drawn up.

Pre-employment classes are pretty much in place, Stokes said, with the help of the Employment Security Division.

He said assessments will be done on the "students" in an effort to have them all read, write and do math at the 12th grade level. Those who complete the class will receive certification showing they did. This certificate, he added, can be shown to prospective employers who will recognize them for job openings.

Currently classes are limited to 30 per week.

An instructor from Arkansas State University at Beebe will be coming down to teach the first class on programmable logic controllers.

Stokes said ASU-Beebe is the top school in the state for this class. The costs to the students will be kept low, he added.

Hardman said he will try to find an executive director for the CCIC beginning May 24.

He said whoever is hired will be coming into a great opportunity as existing industry is growing. The person hired will be expected to help meet the needs of existing industry while working to attract new business and industry to the area as well.

To date, he said, $12,500 has been collected in membership dues, but the membership drive continues.