TEXARKANA — In an effort to keep Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. operating in Texarkana, local communities pooled resources and landed government money for upgrades.
The benefit package created two years ago includes a $50,000 discount on raw water and exemption from a 2 percent franchise fee increase, equating to $90,000 in savings.
The company also got a 50 percent cut in sewer charges.
Texarkana City Manager Harold Boldt also found a property tax exemption by transferring the property to city ownership. The city’s match to the federal grant is $333,000.
The city began labor on infrastructure upgrades Aug. 15, but because the work is tied to federal money, Public Works Director Paul Hackleman said, the project is “on again, off again.”
“They never told us that they were going to hold payment until we [bid] a construction contract,” Hackleman said of the $1 million economic development grant.
“The city was fronting all that money. But that is now all approved, too, and that’s going to advertise ... in the next few weeks.”
Once the contractor is selected, that company’s responsibilities will include tearing down and replacing a guard shack, reconstructing the north entrance of the plant and some work on a storage tank.
That work could start in six to eight weeks.
Miller County is helping with the infrastructure work, but Hackleman said county officials did not want workers going through the safety orientation to work inside the plant, so they will only be helping on Cooper Tire Road and a parking area.
“Obviously, getting help from the county is going to be paramount to us being able to finish,” Hackleman said.
Soon he will send a letter to county officials, firming up the cooperative plans.
The city has already completed two of three drainage projects at the site.
“Inside the plant, there are grate inlets in the floor and they tie into the storm drain. You would never do that today,” Hackleman said.
“Rainwater that falls out here goes into a pipe that runs under the plant, and when the system gets inundated with water, you actually have water coming up inside the plant.”
Hackleman said one of the drainage projects directs overflow water somewhere other than into the plant.
“It’s not going to solve all of their problems, but it will help them,” Hackleman said.
Another project on Washington Street will alleviate erosion beneath a parking lot with construction of a concrete channel to catch water that was seeping under the lot.
The drainage project left to complete is what Hackleman calls a gift from Cooper Tire - replacing culverts beneath Tennessee Road. It’s a project that was needed. If it had not been included in the Cooper package, the city would have had to fund it.
Arkansas, Pages 14 on 10/24/2011