Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

CCIC Told Of Plans For New GMS

Members of the Clark County Industrial Council were told of plans for a new Gurdon Middle School.

Meeting at the Cabe Student Center on the campus of Gurdon High School, Thursday, April 24, Bobby Smithson, superintendent, told the council about the district's plans.

He told the CCIC how the people of Gurdon passed a 12 mill tax to build GHS, saying no tax dollars will be used to construct the new GMS after a 3 mill tax proposal failed last fall.

Because the property in the district was assessed at a much greater amount than expected, Smithson said, the school board decided to build the school via second lien bonds. The assessment increase, he said, came from expansion by International Paper Co.

Smithson also applied to the Horace Cabe Foundation for a $350,000 grant, as the district could only borrow $650,000 from the bond issue.

The Cabe Foundation, he said, has been good to the district, granting it $500,000 in the past three years.

This time, though, the Foundation approved $200,000 for the district's grant, providing the Clark County Youth Development Center with a grant for $150,000 to purchase the old GMS.

With the bonds and grants, he said, the district will have $1 million to build the new middle school. The new GMS will be 25,000 square feet and 300 feet long, paralleling the gym.

An architect for the project has already been hired and is working with the faculty and staff on the design plans.

He said members of the board visited Lake Hamilton, Center Point and Nashville to see how their schools were built, before choosing the architect.

"We're tickled about it," he said. "None of their facilities were as nice as ours. This should be welcome to the taxpayers, as they will be paying no new taxes."

Once the new GMS is completed, he said, work will begin on a new football field. Smithson said the district plans to use money from the revolving loan program to construct the gridiron on the GHS campus. He said it could be done for about $500,000.

Peter Lawson, executive director of the CCIC, said May will be Arkansas Industries Month. During the month, he said, communities will be showing their appreciation to local industries and their employees.

This, he said, will be done with the businesses participating in the AIM program giving discounts to those wearing buttons which state: "I'm what makes Arkansas." These buttons are being passed out to industrial employees.

Many participating businesses will have fliers in their windows showing their participation. "It's a win-win situation," he said.

Brad Lacy, community development consultant with the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission, spoke about industrial growth in the state.

He said there were 300 established industries investing more than $1 billion in expansion in 1996. The bulk of growth, he told the CCIC members, comes from existing industries.

In Clark County alone, he said, established industries spent $12 million last year and created 500 more jobs. "This shows they have faith in Arkansas and the workforce.

"The AIDC," he continued, "is working hard to meet the needs of its customers. Every major city on Interstate 30 from Texarkana to Little Rock is ACE certified."

These communities, he said, are not depending on others, but are working for success on their own.

Arkadelphia and Gurdon were two of the first cities in Arkansas to become Arkansas Communities of Excellence, and for a long time, Clark County was the only county with two ACE communities.

Lacy said the AIM program has taken time and money to put together, but is well worth it. Communities, he boasted, will make the program successful.

"Manufacturing is important to Arkansas, and AIM is about applauding the people who chose to locate here, create jobs and work every day" he said.

In a side issue, Lacy informed the CCIC the AIDC will be changing its name as of July 1. The new name, he said, will be the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, and will bear a new logo as well.

The only other item of business of note was CCIC President Brown Hardman announcing all the deeds have been signed for a road to the new I-30 industrial park in Arkadelphia.

He said sites are being looked at in the Gurdon area as well, but land is needed for such a park.