The Monticello Economic Development Commission held its monthly meeting on Thursday, December 7, at the Monticello Country Club. Between the commissioners and guests, there was a good number of people present.
MEDC Chairman Bennie Ryburn, III, opened the meeting by discussing the sales tax collection in November. Ryburn stated that Monticello collected $274,000, which was up $26,000 from the same time last year. Drew County collected $585,000 which was up $35,000 from last year. Ryburn also reported that lottery sales were $436,000 for Drew County. The labor force was reported to be 7,687, with 7,403 employed, leaving 284 without employment and the county’s unemployment rate at 3.7 percent.
“Things in Monticello and Drew County are going well, and we’re in pretty good shape,” Ryburn said.
Sales Capture shows a collection rate of 153 percent. This shows that Drew County is getting 100 percent collection from citizens, and an additional 53 percent from outside sources.
“This number not only looks good, but it justifies us spending money on retail recruitment,” Ryburn added.
Following this update, the minutes and finances from November were approved.
MEDC Director Nita McDaniel gave her report and opened it by discussing project No. 602. She said that nothing had changed at this time and that there was nothing new to report. Project 616 also had no new information at the time of the meeting. This is the project that has been referred to as “non-traditional” in the past. McDaniel said that she has contacted the Arkansas Economic Development Commission (AEDC) to see if they have had any feedback, and she is currently waiting to hear back from them. Project No. 110 visited on Wednesday, December 6. They brought a large delegation, 11 in total, and according to Ryburn, they were “very secretive”.
“There are some issues that are beyond our control, but we aren’t out of the running on this project,” McDaniel said.
The main issue the project is facing is a lack of readily available electricity. The project would need a substation built closer to the site to be able to power both their construction process and their production once construction is complete. The other aspects of the Intermodal Site are favorable and could be what lands Drew County the project. It would be over a two-year process to build a new sub-station, and options are currently being looked into. The business entity is currently looking at one other site in Arkansas, and they are also looking into a site out of state.
McDaniel also informed the meeting attendees that the Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT) has approved the University of Arkansas at Monticello (UAM) to display the university name in full, and a picture of the boll weevil on the Jordan Drive overpass. ARDOT said that this would make UAM the first university, and Monticello the first city in the state of Arkansas to be granted this kind of approval. McDaniel also noted that the Scogin Drive project is going well.
In the area of existing industries, McDaniel said that there is a local industry that wants to offer on-the-job training, but there are some issues that need to be worked out. She had some members of AEDC volunteer to help resolve these issues.
McDaniel said that there are still several national retail brands interested in Monticello. They are still looking for available spaces that fit their needs. McDaniel also noted that the construction of Arby’s is going well.
The next order of business was to make a couple of amendments to the MEDC by-laws. The first amendment was to remove the requirement that directors be required to live in Drew County. The by-laws state who has to be included as directors, and currently there is one person who doesn’t live in the county. Ryburn said that making this amendment would keep this from being a problem in the future. The second amendment was to remove the one-year term limitation of officers. There are currently several who are well beyond the one-year limit, and this would make sure that future officers were prepared for the positions rather than forced into them due to limits. The members voted unanimously to approve both amendments.
The commission members moved to keep the officers the same in 2024, and the motion was approved unanimously.
Ryburn reported that the airport received around $700,000 in grants. This will be used to make repairs to the asphalt. They will also need to repaint all of the lines. The old strobe lights on the runway will be replaced with LED strobes. They will also replace old signage and replace the wind cones.
Mayor Jason Akers said that the city is currently focused on finalizing the budget for 2024 and completing the ongoing infrastructure projects in the city.
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned until the next meeting in 2024.
