CRIDC reboot “in the works”

Following mention of a pending agreement between the city of Calico Rock and the Calico Rock Industrial Development Corporation (CRIDC) by Mayor Hamby during the July City Council meeting, this reporter received a call from acting CRIDC President, Dale Ivy during which it was clarified that a formal agreement had not yet been signed.

The reference during the meeting was in regard to a lease agreement which, once put in place, would enable the city to engage ADC North Central Unit inmate work crews to clean up and maintain the CRIDC Hale Garner Industrial Park property that had not yet been developed located adjacent to the Complete Access facility.

A call to Mayor Hamby did in fact confirm that the CRIDC had not yet signed off on the agreement and that it was currently awaiting a yay or nay vote by the membership.  It was made clear that the objective of the city was to get the property in a condition such that it would be appealing to potential manufacturing or other businesses that may be interested in locating a facility here in Calico Rock.

The Mayor went on to say that the city really didn’t have a preference as to who or what group performed the clean-up, but that the hope was that it would get handled and then continue to be maintained over time.

The CRIDC had periodically bush-hogged the property a number of years ago, however Ivy confessed that he could not remember the last time in had been done.  When pressed on whether the CRIDC intended to resume maintenance of the property rather than turn the job over to the city via the lease agreement, Ivy indicated that was the intention, at least until a vote of the membership could be conducted.

The bigger story resulting from the conversation with Ivy however was the fact that there is an initiative underway to reboot the CRIDC by contacting members, arranging a membership meeting to kick-off a reboot. . . . basically revive the organization which has been dormant for at least the last five years if not more.

As more information becomes available on this effort, the White River Current will ensure the community is kept informed, so stay tuned!