By Joseph Fondren
NEW Town Courier Contributor
BLYTHEVILLE— The Mississippi County Quorum Court’s Planning and Development Committee met Thursday afternoon in the Annex Building where several topics were discussed in the lengthy hour and near 40 minute long meeting.
With eight justices and County Judge John Alan Nelson in attendance the first topic discussed was mentioned by Justice Dr. Reggie Cullom and discussion’s from his constituents on solar panels.
Justice Michael White, chairman of the committee, explained there are 500,000 cultivatable row crop acres available in Mississippi County, and the amount of acres that solar panel companies is already at 30,000 acres and have “no end in sight”.
White explained that he has talked to county attorney Chris Brown on looking at different options of the future of solar panels and the turn to green energy in Mississippi County.
White added counties across the United States have banned solar panels and others have placed permits and fees on solar panels.
Cullom stated in his district of south Mississippi County solar panels will soon be surrounding the cities and also his own property.
Cullom added his concern was for the economic impact it’ll bring to the farmers that farm the land and then the ripple effect of the farmers going out of business.
Also, Cullom believes that solar panels will hurt the property value of homes.
Cullom added he’d like to see a moratorium on solar panels until the justices can come to a solution that’s “best” for citizens of Mississippi County.
Justice Tobye McClanahan discussed possibly putting a fee or permits on solar panels.
White ended the discussion by explaining to wait on Brown’s research.
Economic Developer Clif Chitwood gave an update on Work Here Live Here by stating 70 plus homes have been built and 80-percent of the individuals are from outside of the county.
The first proposal from Chitwood was a topic previously discussed last month for $1,000,000 to Big River Steel that was pulled back last month due to the contract not being signed at the time of the Quorum Court January meeting.
The committee had no discussion and passed the agreement to the full court.
The next proposal was Atlas for $1,100,000 for 110 jobs. However, after discussion there was $1,000,000 in the County’s 2024 budget appropriated for Atlas. Therefore, Chitwood re-propose the original ask from $1,100,000 to $100,000.
Justice Neil Burge made the motion and was seconded by Justice Rick Ash.
The third discussion held from Chitwood was for site certification process and clean up the barracks on the south-end of the Eaker Air Force base, which will cost $500,000.
The discussion was very lengthy and Burge eventually voted against the project. However, the project passed two votes— Ash and Justice Cecil McDonald- to one.
Chitwood informed the committee that the Blytheville- Gosnell Regional Airport Authority (BGRAA) has agreed to sign a contract with Mississippi County that the land, which is owned by the BGRAA, is ever used for another purpose then for what the county is doing the site certification process for the BGRAA will pay the county the $500,000 back.
Barrett Harrison, president of the BGRAA, explained to the committee that the land is roughly 21 acres and the BGRAA plans to leave the current crosswalks in place as well as the parking lot incase a business was to ever be built there they’d already have a parking lot.
When asked by White for discussion, Burge explained that the passage of the economic development tax wasn’t meant for preparing sites for a possible future business, if this passed he stated it could open a “can of worms” for mayor’s throughout the county to ask for an old building in their town to be torn down.
Burge added this proposal was intended to “clean up the Air Force base” and that the part needing cleaned up is on the north-end.
“This is just an attempt to clean up the Air Force base,” explained Burge. “And if someone wants to clean up the Air Force base they need to start on the north-end. That’s a health hazard and so forth. That’s not what this money was intended for. And you can call it anything you want to. It’s an attempt to help clean up the Air Force base around that area. I don’t think that’s what it was intended to do. I don’t think the citizens of Mississippi County voted for that.”
Chairman of the BGRAA Michael Jacques informed the committee that the BGRAA had a lot of the same discussion on the issue, but the reason for cleaning this site up and having Chitwood recruit aerodynamic companies to Mississippi County is due to the large volume of interest due to the runway at the air base.
Judge Nelson also stated his office has worked closely with Arkansas’s federal congressional leaders with federal money to help clean the north-end of Eaker Air Base.
Nelson explained that United States Representative Rick Crawford (AR-1) has been a great asset for Mississippi County.
Nelson added that if the County, along with other leaders in the community, built up the base and brought businesses there it could lead to an “economic boom for the county”.
Burge commended the County Judge’s office for the leadership they’ve been in regards to the base.
Harrison added the base needs to be cleaned up to hope to catch future businesses.
“I know it’s a lot of money, but I know the money that you have spent out there so far has paid off. I do know that if you clean this site up it’s going to help Westminster Village. It’s going to help us and in turn it’s going to help the county recruit,” explained Harrison.
Several justices — Justices McClanahan and Molly Jackson — were in support of this project although they do no sit on the sit on the committee.
The last discussion held concerning sponsoring Johnny Cash’s Boyhood Home in Dyess was tabled by Ash until Justice Jackson can do more research on what a sponsorship from the county would be comprised of.