Danfoss Scroll Technologies will receive up to $93,750 in public funds to create up to 75 new jobs in the Clark County Commerce Park. Between 50-75 jobs are expected spring up at the air conditioner compressor plant in the next year to two years.
Members of the Economic Development Corp. of Clark County met briefly via teleconference Thursday afternoon after Shawnie Carrier scheduled the meeting to discuss the proposal. Carrier, the executive director of the Arkadelphia Regional Economic Development Alliance, said the new jobs do not include those employees who have been recalled after recent layoffs. Scroll laid off several employees as a result of the economic recession. Officials blamed the flailing housing market during the past two years for the layoffs. Steve Strickland, human resource director at Scroll, did not return phone calls for comments Friday at presstime.
The EDCCC grant is expected to create a $1.7 million payroll, as the new hires will have an average hourly wage of $11. The incentives grant will pay the plant $1,250 for each created job.
The EDCCC, Carrier said, is only obligated to pay for the jobs that will be created. For example: If only 50 new jobs stem from the expansion, the EDCCC would only pay $62,500. The grant caps off at $93,750.
EDCCC chair Euodias Goza said he is hopeful that the job creation will “trickle down” throughout the county for a “threefold” benefit for Scroll and the county’s retail and tourism industry. “And if (the new employees) come on board with children, the park should really benefit from that,” he added.
The decision carried with the required 2/3-majority vote from EDCCC members Goza, Neeka Richardson, Frances Nelson and Damon Daniels. Other members sent an absentee vote to Carrier via e-mail: Joyce Palla, Bill Wright, Phil Baldwin, Wendall Ketchum, Jerry Walker and Dr. Lewis Shepherd. Other members — Conner Eldridge, Becky Jester, Sherry Kelley, Ricky Norton and Billy Tarpley — did not partake in the conference call.
The funds will come from the EDCCC’s incentives budget, which makes up 70 percent of the panel’s overall budget. The Clark County Quorum Court approves the EDCCC’s budget. The EDCCC commits 30 percent to the Arkadelphia Regional Economic Development Alliance for administrative services, while other 70 percent can be used for incentives, acquisitions and development.
Members who called in also voted “yes” to a $60,000 contract with Boyette Strategic Advisors for a countywide workforce and labor-shed study.
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Danfoss Scroll Technologies will receive up to $93,750 in public funds to create up to 75 new jobs in the Clark County Commerce Park. Between 50-75 jobs are expected spring up at the air conditioner compressor plant in the next year to two years.
Members of the Economic Development Corp. of Clark County met briefly via teleconference Thursday afternoon after Shawnie Carrier scheduled the meeting to discuss the proposal. Carrier, the executive director of the Arkadelphia Regional Economic Development Alliance, said the new jobs do not include those employees who have been recalled after recent layoffs. Scroll laid off several employees as a result of the economic recession. Officials blamed the flailing housing market during the past two years for the layoffs. Steve Strickland, human resource director at Scroll, did not return phone calls for comments Friday at presstime.
The EDCCC grant is expected to create a $1.7 million payroll, as the new hires will have an average hourly wage of $11. The incentives grant will pay the plant $1,250 for each created job.
The EDCCC, Carrier said, is only obligated to pay for the jobs that will be created. For example: If only 50 new jobs stem from the expansion, the EDCCC would only pay $62,500. The grant caps off at $93,750.
EDCCC chair Euodias Goza said he is hopeful that the job creation will “trickle down” throughout the county for a “threefold” benefit for Scroll and the county’s retail and tourism industry. “And if (the new employees) come on board with children, the park should really benefit from that,” he added.
The decision carried with the required 2/3-majority vote from EDCCC members Goza, Neeka Richardson, Frances Nelson and Damon Daniels. Other members sent an absentee vote to Carrier via e-mail: Joyce Palla, Bill Wright, Phil Baldwin, Wendall Ketchum, Jerry Walker and Dr. Lewis Shepherd. Other members — Conner Eldridge, Becky Jester, Sherry Kelley, Ricky Norton and Billy Tarpley — did not partake in the conference call.
The funds will come from the EDCCC’s incentives budget, which makes up 70 percent of the panel’s overall budget. The Clark County Quorum Court approves the EDCCC’s budget. The EDCCC commits 30 percent to the Arkadelphia Regional Economic Development Alliance for administrative services, while other 70 percent can be used for incentives, acquisitions and development.
Members who called in also voted “yes” to a $60,000 contract with Boyette Strategic Advisors for a countywide workforce and labor-shed study.
