Buddy Spencer, team leader, said, "Ideally, if we had the money, we would recommend hiring an economic development manager, we would recommend establishing a 200-acre industrial park, we would recommend a spec building, and we would recommend strong support of education.
"The question is 'How will we pay for it?' There are some alternatives."
Spencer and other members of the Sallisaw Search Conference will present their ideas for an improved future for Sallisaw to the Sallisaw Board of City Commissioners at their meeting Monday.
The Sallisaw Search Conference began working in October to determine what the city needs and what would benefit its citizens the most.
The three ideas decided upon are economic development; a multi-purpose complex; and transportation and land use.
Spencer and his son, Dwight, head up the economic development team.
Spencer said the team, through its research, determined the four components necessary for economic development in Sallisaw.
Spencer said an economic development manager for the city would be nice, "if we had the money."
The price for such service can be high. Spencer estimated the salary for such personnel would be $75,000 a year, "and that's just the beginning." An economic development office for the city would cost between $200,000 and $250,000, Spencer said, to cover the cost of facilities and economic outreach in the form of brochures and other enticements to business and industry.
The alternative, he explained, is already in the treasure chest, in the form of the economic development manager the Bi-State Coalition has hired.
Sallisaw is part of the coalition, which is based in Fort Smith, Ark. Spencer said the coalition has hired a manager, Davie Spindle, who is working for coalition members in both Arkansas and Oklahoma, specifically Sequoyah and LeFlore Counties.
There's good reason to include the Oklahoma side of the state line, Spencer said. "Fort Smith businesses have told me that 55 to 60 percent of their retail trade comes from Oklahoma."
Because Sallisaw is a member of the coalition, the manager can assist the city to attract business and industry, Spencer said.
Economic managers have proven themselves in other towns, Spencer said. "Durant hired an economic manager, and they got two big new businesses - Big Lots and Cardinal Glass."
Spencer said the industrial park must have access to an interstate, such as Interstate 40, and rail access. Sallisaw has two railroads, Kansas City Southern and Missouri Pacific.
The park must also be served by industrial utilities and have a sufficient water supply.
"Sallisaw has already begun working on a second water supply," Spencer noted.
And the search conference is already looking at property, Spencer said, adding that meeting the transportation requirements is the challenge. "We found property with access to the interstate, and property with access to the railroads," Spencer said, but none with both.
A spec building, Spencer explained, is a large facility, without a floor, which a community can build to lure industry.
Spencer said several Oklahoma communities have built such buildings, and successfully attracted industry. He added that the floor of the building is added after an industry has agreed to locate in a community. "If they have heavy equipment, you build the floor 10 to 12 inches thick. If they have light equipment, the floor needs to be only three or four inches thick," he explained.
Spencer said the Oklahoma Department of Commerce has plans and recommendations available to a city for spec buildings.
"They tell us that 80 percent of plant locations have been in existing buildings," Spencer said.
Spec buildings can cost between $250,000 and $300,000 he said.
Spencer said the economic development team is looking for better than minimum-wage jobs.
"Carl Albert State College and the career tech are very important" to economic development he said, noting that Indian Capital Technology Center in Sallisaw works closely with Sallisaw's BorgWarner to train employees. "We'd like to have quality paying jobs," Spencer said, for several reasons. High-paying jobs means a better quality of life for the city's residents. High-paying jobs means younger residents do not have to leave the community to find a career. Also, Spencer said, industries which need highly-trained employees are less likely to move their business or industry to a third-world country where such training is not available.
Spencer said the expansion at Carl Albert State College Sequoyah Campus in Sallisaw will be paid off, by a half-cent sales tax approved by Sallisaw voters, in January 2005.
Spencer pointed out that the enrollment at the college has expanded almost as quickly as the new facility was built. "We'll need to be expanding education in the next five years again," Spencer said. "We have a saying in the education business. The higher the learning, the higher the earning. You can't talk about economic development without talking about education."
Spencer said economic development includes many components, and the development team will be working with the city and state to develop Sallisaw.
Other options the team is looking at include joining the state's Quality Jobs Program, in which the state will supplement paychecks up to $2 per hour over the minimum wage. Tax breaks for business is another option, "so we can have favorable taxes compared to Texas," Spencer said. An action team assisted Durant in attracting the two new industries.
