Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Chamber Tells Of Busy Year During Annual Meeting

It's been a busy year for the Prescott-Nevada County Chamber of Commerce.

Members were told, at the annual meeting, held Wednesday, Oct.11, of the various activities the Chamber was involved in during the past 12 months.

In a power point presentation, the members were informed the Chamber had sponsored several community coffees, held a number of ribbon cuttings, was put on the Chicken and Egg Festival, the Halloween Costume Contest, had a float in the Nevada County Fair parade, worked on the Christmas Parade and Christmas on the Square, had a Christmas tree for Nevada County at the state capital, backed the Honor Card program and Arkansas Scholar's program, was involved with the Health-A-Rama, put on the Easter Egg Hunt, along with the annual fashion show and Chamber banquet.

Other events the Chamber was involved with included the farmer's market, various receptions, the mural and marquee sign, as well as the golf tournament and rural water project with the Prescott-Nevada County Economic Development Office.

Prescott Mayor Howard Taylor talked about some of the highlights in the area during the past year.

He expressed pride in the mural, saying it took a lot of hard work and dedication to get done.

The senior citizen's center, he said, is about half finished, and could be completed in December. The much-needed rain caused delays in construction.

According to Taylor, when the project is done, it will have cost between $420,000 and $450,000 to build.

Property for the new Nevada County Library has been purchased he said. All current tenants of the buildings at the site should be out in November, with the city planning to begin tearing the buildings down soon thereafter.

The library, he said, will be a great asset to the community and it's location will be next to the mural.

There have been some delays with the Rip Griffin Truck and Travel Center project, he said. The company is reshaping its buildings and moving sites around for better interstate visibility.

Still, he said, the center should be completed, up and running within eight months. "This is a big project."

The rural water project, he said, is beginning to come together, but still needs customers to sign up.

In talking about plans for the future, Taylor said Prescott's streets are in deplorable condition, but are costly to repair. "I hope to start work on them next year."

On the topic of the city's water system, he said engineers have been contacted to upgrade it for more capacity.

Currently, the maximum capacity for the system is two million gallons of water a day, but, Taylor said, this needs to be increased to 10 million gallons per day as the city is growing.

Infrastructure, he said, is needed in order to attract industry to the area, with water being at the top of the list.

Jon Chadwell, executive director of the EDO, said the county's 9-1-1 emergency telephone project is coming along as the roads are being measured and numbered throughout the county.

Having 9-1-1, he said, will be a great asset to the county, but there's a lot of work involved. However, Chadwell continued, it will be another 18 months before it's up and running.

"It will make a big difference," he said, "especially to the elderly."

The EDO, he said, has been busy and does a lot of work with the Chamber.

In the past year, the EDO has had 16 prospects, both commercial and industrial express interest in the area. Of these, six are still in the active file and are communicated with regularly. Four are in the inactive file because they've been talked to have had their plans delayed.

The remaining six are in the dead file because they selected somewhere else or scrapped their plans for expansion and/or relocation.

Additionally, the EDO has been working on several grant projects and the rural water project.

Chadwell said the EDO has been trying to get people to sign up for city water on the project, as part of it could be scrapped or reduced by the state.

After the deadline, he said, the scope of the project will be entirely up to the state.According to Chadwell, Prescott's Industrial Park has been praised as being one of the most attractive in the state, and, he added, a lot of improvements have been made there.

The city did receive a grant for part of the Streetscape project, he said. Plans are to put up old fashioned street lights and trees on one side of a downtown street.

The EDO, he said, has been working with business owners in the downtown area on the ideas presented by students from the University of Arkansas this summer on how to make the area look more attractive to customers and residents.

A grant was received to build an access road for the Rip Griffin Center, he said. Once construction is done and the business is open, some 1,400 trucks per day are expected to stop there.

Applications are being taken for the Nevada County Leadership Program, he said.

GTE approved a grant to help the EDO work up a website to be placed with the state's website.

The Chamber's membership, according to outgoing President Barbara Lowdermilk, is 123, the most it's ever had.

She told of upcoming events, including a business expo the Chamber will be involved with and received a $5,000 grant for. It will be held after the first of the year.

The Halloween costume contest will be held Tuesday, Oct. 31, she said, with the Fall Fashion Show scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 11.

From there the Chamber will turn its attention toward the Christmas season with the annual Christmas parade set for 5:50 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 7, with the annual Christmas on the Square to follow.

On Dec. 9, she said, will be Breakfast with Santa. This is the second year for this holiday event.

New officers were named at the meeting as well. Carrie Nivens is the new Chamber president, with Karen McLelland the vice president. Mary Godwin remains as secretary/treasurer, while Booie Williams is the board member at large. Lowdermilk will be the immediate past president.