City to hear comments on $250K Alcoa incentives

Vote slated for Oct. 26 meeting

Texarkana, Texas, City Council will listen to comments again tonight about providing $250,000 in incentives to Alcoa Inc. from the city’s economic development fund.

The meeting is at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 220 Texas Blvd. and is open to the public.

The item is scheduled to be voted on by the council at the Oct. 26 meeting.

According to the agenda materials, Alcoa has no open items before the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and all required TCEQ permits have been maintained since the plant was idled in 2009 and are in place. Jerry Sparks, city economic developer, worked with leaders of Nash and Bowie County, Texas, and Texarkana College to bring Alcoa back to Nash. Sparks said

the city checked with TCEQ on any air reports since the last council meeting on Sept. 28. At that meeting, the council heard concerns from Vic Brown, a former mechanical engineer who worked at the Nash Alcoa plant.

Brown told the council he was employed with Alcoa from 1985 to 2009 and researched environmental permits. He said he discovered a violation in November 2008 and told the council he thinks that is one of the reasons the plant closed.

“I think the incentive is a small portion of our concerns with the plant out there,” Brown said. “Our main concern is that Alcoa hasn’t placed (a program) that I thought would keep them in compliance with state and federal regulations so there is no possible way for them to harm the environment or harm the citizens who live around there … I have family that lives around that plant.”

Brown said although the two people responsible for the violations no longer work for Alcoa, he still would like to see a better plan in place to prevent future environmental violations. Dr. James Presley, president of Friends United for a Safe Environment, also spoke to the council last month about Alcoa and his concerns with its proximity to Nash Elementary School.

In September, Alcoa announced plans to reopen a casthouse — to meet demand for metal slab for the automotive industry—sometime next year at the plant in Nash that would create about 75 to 80 new jobs in the community. The wage rates will exceed the per capita income level in this area by 50 to 80 percent, providing more than $3 million in wages in the community.

In other business tonight, the council will have two public hearings. The first concerns an ordinance allowing an amendment at Texas Bank and Trust Subdivision, 4646 Cowhorn Creek Road. The other public hearing will be about an ordinance rezoning a 1.84-acre tract of land at 3911 Moores Lane.

Council members will also hear presentation about the city’s financial reporting achievement from the Government Finance Officers Association.