During the Ouachita Partnership for Economic Development (OPED) meeting, Director of OPED James Lee Silliman said there are four active and ongoing projects he is working on and they are all moving in a positive direction. However, he is still unable to share information about the projects with the public.
One project being worked on was titled "Project Grizzly" in the board members packet and County Judge Robert McAdoo asked for more information about this project.
Silliman said it was a project he was working on with Highland Park, but it was not a defense industry project.
No further information was given about "Project Grizzly"
Mark Smith updated the OPED board about the 2025 operating budget and said the committee had approved the budget for the upcoming year.
"We have breathing room in the budget, but not a lot," he said.
One aspect of the budget for 2025 which the board spoke of was a 3% cost of living increase for OPED employees.
McAdoo asked about the balance of the Incentive Budget and was told it was $29,129.70.
The board spoke about the amount given to OPED from both the city of Camden and Ouachita County and said they haven't had to go back and ask the city for more money.
A brief discussion was had about where the City of Camden allocates the money it gives to OPED with one member saying they believed the money came from Camden's Economic Development Fund.
Camden Mayor Charlotte Young said in the last year the money from the city was provided out of both the General Fund and the Economic Development Fund.
The nominations committee completed their selections for the 2025 board. New OPED board members will include Karmen House moving from the SAU Tech seat and into Position 9; David Mason will take the SAU Tech position; Becky Ives will be the Work Force Training Advisory Board ex officio; Jim Dick Coleman will be OPED Vice President; all other executive committee positions will remain the same.
Silliman brought the 75 Strong program to the attention of the board. He said the program is meant to be a two year training program to give certification in helping boost entrepreneurship and small business in the rural areas of the state.
The cost of the 75 Strong program was given as being an initial investment of $1,500 which is meant to be reimbursed throughout the course of the two years the program takes to complete.
The deadline to apply is Dec. 1 and the board decided the program was not right for OPED at this time, due to it similarity to another program OPED already participates in as well as the close deadline, but they left it open for possible discussion in the future.
Housing is still being discussed between Silliman, Young and Brandon Grey of the P3 Group. However, they said there had been no conversations about moving forward with any housing development since Nov. 8.
Mark Smith told the board he had been contacted by a prospect he could not give details about who was interested in doing business in the area because of OPED.
"I can tell you that OPED is a worthy mission and that it does have the support of the city, particularly the mayor's office," he said. "A lot of people don't hear the good stuff, right? And I think it's important to bring out... It's something people don't bring up enough, but it worked. What OPED does worked and we'll see what happens."