Chamber updates Civitan on economic development

By Kaitlyn Rigdon

Staff Writer

EL DORADO — Mike Dumas, president and chief executive officer of El Dorado-Union County Chamber of Commerce, updated the El Dorado Civitan Club on economic development prospects for Union County on Thursday.

“There’s more going on right now in El Dorado than I have ever seen,” Dumas said.

Dumas’ experience in economic development is a valuable asset for working with the Chamber of Commerce. The former El Dorado mayor and Union County judge has overseen the Chamber of Commerce for 13 months.

“You’ve got the Chamber of Commerce and economic development,” Dumas said. “The Chamber of Commerce puts on the Christmas parade and deals with the administrative system functions.”

The economic development side handles property owners that are looking to relocate or expand in Union County.

Currently, there are six job prospects that have been referred to Union County. The prospects want to buy land to build and expand their companies, creating new job opportunities for local residents.

Each prospect would bring 200-400 jobs to the county. “We know not all of them will come to El Dorado, but if we could just get one of them, that’s all we need,” Dumas said.

The main reason Union County is on the radar of these companies is because of the water supply from the Ouachita River. The raw product for these companies are pine trees, which require a lot of water. “El Dorado is at the top of their list because we were the only ones who could meet their water demand,” Dumas said.

Dumas also discussed the concern with the gates at Felsenthal and Thatcher lock and dam, which are deteriorating rapidly.

“They have $1 million to spend on all three gates at Felsenthal when they can,” Dumas said. “Once they do that, they will move on to fix Thatcher’s gates.”

Fish and Wildlife service have decided to raise and lower the Felsenthal pool twice a year in order to save the pine trees. They have determined that keeping water on the trees destroys them. “It took them about a week to raise the Felsenthal pool from 65 feet to 68 feet,” Dumas said.

The Fish and Wildlife service started lowering the pool on Jan. 15. “By the end of this month it will be back at 65 feet,” Dumas said.

Though the water supply is high, there are still concerns for the six job prospects available to Union County. There was a seventh prospect but they have recently marked El Dorado off of their list. One concern they had was the Chinese company moving in to Arkadelphia and cutting down pine trees. “We have tried our best to convince them that we could grow pine trees faster than the Chinese could cut them down, but they didn’t buy it,” Dumas said.

Two of the six prospects have been submitted in the last 10 days.

“Arkansas Highway Department bought nine acres on Industrial Road,” Dumas said. Other local companies have bought extra land in the county to build training facilities.

Finding places for retail businesses has been challenging for Dumas. “When I talk to people, the two things I hear most is, ‘You need to get us a Chick-fil-A or an Olive Garden,’” Dumas said.

He has looked into giving El Dorado these restaurants, but to build a Chick-fil-A or Olive Garden there are certain criteria that a town must meet.

“Chick-fil-A wont even talk to you unless you have a 25,000 person traffic,” Dumas said. “We have no place in Union County that has that traffic count. We are pushing 19,000.”

Olive Garden has a higher criteria of 100,000 people. “We don’t have 100,000 people in a 30-mile radius,” Dumas said. “When they give you those kinds of criteria, we can’t meet them,” Dumas said.

There is currently a Chicken Express being built. Also, across from Walgreens they are putting in a Dairy Queen. “We tried to talk them out of it,” Dumas said. “We’ve had Dairy Queen here at least twice.”

Dumas also answered questions on the rumors of Hobby Lobby being brought to El Dorado. “The plan is to put the Hobby Lobby where the Dollar Tree is at the mall, and move the Dollar Tree to the middle of the mall,” Dumas said. “But we have been hearing this for six months.”

In other business, the Civitan Club will hold a TV auction on Monday, March 6, and are currently looking for sponsors.

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