The Economic Development Alliance of Jefferson County is in the middle of an update to its marketing materials and website and in what its leadership hopes will help better advertise the county to companies considering locating or expanding in the area.
Lou Ann Nisbett, Alliance president and CEO, gave a progress report Wednesday during her quarterly update to the Pine Bluff-Jefferson County Port Authority.
A map of the infrastructure at the port has been completed and is ready for distribution to prospective companies both in print and electronically. The previous map was 10 years old. The new map shows vital information like where sewer and water lines lie and where railroad access is located.
New signage has been installed at the Alliance office at 510 Main Street. Portable, roll-up signs have also been made so that Alliance staff can easily transport them for use at trade shows.
Nisbett said a 24-month marketing plan has been developed and new tracking software is in place so they can evaluate with real data how it is working.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Nisbett said the Alliance’s new website is up at www.JeffersonCountyAlliance.com, but there are still adjustments being made. Nisbett estimated the changes to the website and other aspects of the marketing campaign will be complete in September.
She said they will also be making a mobile edition of the website that will be more easily viewable on mobile phones and tablets.
The Alliance will also be contracting with a company to create a magazine highlighting aspects of the community so that prospective companies can learn more about what the area has to offer than just the building specs of the properties they may be considering. That project will take at least six months, Nisbett said. They are also considering developing an email newsletter blast to provide updates for prospective companies.
Funding for the updates is coming from the countywide economic development sales tax that voters approved in February 2011. The Economic Development Corp. of Jefferson County, which oversees expenditures from the tax, has contracted with the Alliance to perform the technical services associated with recruiting and retaining industry.
One of the corporations’s main roles is to allocate incentives for industry to locate in Jefferson County. Nisbett said the Alliance will be doing cost-benefit analysis on each incentive package to see what types of incentives to offer and what types of industry provide the most benefit to the county — all of which is part of an effort to ensure the funds are spent wisely.
In other business, Nisbett gave the board an update on two companies who announced they will locate in Jefferson County.
Horizon Foods, which has begun operating in the former Tyson Foods plant on Second Avenue, has hired 150 workers so far and plan to have 175 workers soon, Nisbett said. When they are fully operational and have two shifts running, the number of employees will be 329.
“They had a total applications turned in of 5,000, so it does show you there is a need here for jobs,” Nisbett said.
Officials from Vivione Biosciences LLC hopes to have 10 employees in the first year, Nisbett said. The Little Rock-based manufacturer of a new high performance diagnostic system targeting health and food safety issues has located in laboratories at the Pine Bluff Arsenal.
But by 2016, they plan to have 100 to 200 employees.
“And as you know, these are very high-paying, good jobs,” Nisbett said.
Nisbett said she hopes Vivione will serve as an anchor to attract other companies in the bioscience industry to the county.
And in other business, the board ratified a vote they had taken by poll outside of an official meeting setting to offer a lease-deal incentive to an unnamed company that is considering locating at the Port of Pine Bluff. The identity of the company will not be revealed by Alliance or board officials until the deal is finalized.
The package offers a two-year lease for free on a 178,000-square-foot building at the port, followed by a graduated lease increase over the next 10 years. Board Chairman David Bush said the package is nice, but necessary because a lot of front-end work on the building will be needed before the company can move in and start business.
And in other business, the board reviewed the tonnage report on traffic through the port. Through May, the amount of commodities to go through the port (barge, rail and truck) was 33,939 tons, which is up from the same period in 2011 and 2010, when the tonnage over the same period was 28,490 and 26,673, respectively.