Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

CCIC Origins Are Told

How the Clark County Industrial Council came to be was the topic of the day for the Gurdon Rotary Club at its weekly meeting.

Brown Hardman, CCIC president, said 10 or 12 years ago, the unemployment rate in the county was in the area of 15 percent.

This mean Gurdon suffered as well because people were moving away from the area.

"We knew we had to do something," he said, "we had the work ethic and the right people, so we formed the Clark County Action Committee and went to work."

The action committee later became the CCIC, and Gurdon residents were involved from the outset.

The results, Hardman told the Rotarians, are easy to see. Now, Clark County's jobless rate ranks among the lowest in the state regularly and stays from 3.0 to 3.5 percent.

This is something the CCIC takes pride in, he said.

In addition, Hardman said, there's a lot going on in the county, with State Rep. Percy Malone doing the bulk of the work in Little Rock.

Malone, he said, fought hard for Clark County with the legislature, and to get industry to locate here. In addition, Malone worked to get the sales tax passed for a sewer system at the industrial park. He also helped the CCIC borrow money for a spec building, which sold, and aided in a second such facility, which has also been filled.

Malone, taking the podium from Hardman, said there are a lot of good memories for those living in the county since things turned around.

When the jobs left, he said, people followed. This meant families had to leave and take their children out of school. This translated into less turnback money for the cities and counties as well as less funding for schools.

Civic organizations and churches also lost members with the emigration.

Everyone lost friends who had to move away as well.

But, those who stayed pulled together and fought to turn things around. This, Malone said, is why the CCIC was formed.

When it was founded, he suggested having an 18-member board, with six representatives from the Gurdon area. In this manner, the council would be diverse in its representation of the county.

In trying to get people to return to the area, he said, the sales tax was attempted. It was during the Bush ear with the infamous slogan "No new taxes."

But, those on the CCIC told the voters what they planned to do and the issue passed, receiving more than 70 percent of the vote.

Getting a sewer system out to the industrial park, he said, helped turn things around. It helped the county expand its tax base without increasing personal or property taxes, while bringing in jobs and people.

Now, companies lose employees to other local companies because of the pay scale and benefits offered. The overall quality of living, he said, has improved.

BF Goodrich bought Rohr Industries, and work is going on at the Rohr plant, Malone said. Should the company finally move into the facility, the jobs will pay 110 percent of the average industrial wage in the state.

The company agreed to this so it could get grant money to try and get up and running.

"I believe this industry will take us over the top," Malone said. "It will help attract people to Clark County. They will know they can move here and find work because they will have choices."

During the decade of the 1980's, he said, weeds grew in the roads at the industrial park. Now, the problem is there isn't enough room for more growth and the area is looking for somewhere else to put another park.

A satellite industrial park is under construction at Interstate 30, with queries already coming in about when it will be ready for occupancy.

Now, Malone said, the south part of the county needs to be the focus of the CCIC. The organization has discussed the possibility of a satellite industrial park near Gurdon if the proper location can be found and obtained.

Such a park, he said, would give industrial prospects another option for locating their plant, while keeping it in Clark County and adding more jobs, people and taxes to the economic base.

If Goodrich/Rohr makes its announcement to locate a plant in Arkadelphia soon, he said, it may give contractors the incentive to build spec housing. Housing is a major problem in Clark County, as there isn't enough affordable homes currently available.

Along with this, Malone said, the CCIC is working to develop an education center at the industrial park. This facility would not be in competition with area colleges, junior colleges and vocational-technical schools.

The classes, he said, would be held in the evenings, with area instructors on hand to help employees learn what they need to be involved with the high tech industries in the industrial park.

Local industries, he said, are excited about the idea because they want to expand and need trained workers.

The unemployment rate shows potential industries the county has a good work force and people here want to work.

"My goal is to keep people here," Malone said, "so they won't have to leave for jobs and young people will have a choice. With growth, they can stay here and live. Things in Clark County are good."