Sallisaw City Commissioners will be holding a special meeting Monday, before their regular city meeting at the Sallisaw Civic Center, to conduct a public hearing for a Community Development Block Grant application to the Oklahoma Department of Commerce. The agenda notes the grant, if awarded, will be used to assist a company which wants to expand operations to Sallisaw.
Vann said the name of the company will not be revealed until Monday’s meeting, and the grant will allow the city to purchase a building not in use at the industrial park. The city would then lease the building to the company.
It is expected the company would provide about 100 jobs.
Vann said, “We need to do something to attract industry, to keep and create jobs.”
Sallisaw actively recruits industry and business, Vann said, through the Sallisaw Improvement Corp. and the Chamber of Commerce.
“We’ve been working on attracting more jobs to the community,” Vann said. “That’s the goal of any good leader, the welfare of the people. They need good water, fire and police protection and job protection.”
Everyone has to pitch in, Vann said.
“We have to do a better job on the state and local level. This is a regional issue too,” he said. “We need to help business and industry grow their operations. The more we attract to Sallisaw the more we are in control of our own destiny.
“We are doing a lot to attract jobs,” Vann said, but he challenged, “I’d like to see us do more.”
