Industrial leaders appreciated

Jacksonville Progress

June 01, 2009 10:58 am

— By Kelly Young
kyoung@jacksonvilleprogress.com
Representatives from many of the city’s largest employers were on-hand Friday for the 10th annual Industrial Appreciation Luncheon, which the Jacksonville Development Corporation and the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce held as a way to thank the community’s businesses for their contributions to Jacksonville.
JDC President Darrell Prcin said it is only through the jobs offered by its industries that Jacksonville is able to grow and prosper.
“We have a lot of horsepower in this room, both by a number of our major employers and by the banks that supply those employers with the dollars they need in order to grow their businesses here,” Prcin said. “We appreciate what you all do for this community because its the jobs you provide that put food on the tables of Jacksonville residents — you are a big part of what drives this community forward.”
Prcin said he regularly speaks with his counterparts in other towns and cities, and in dealing with them he has discovered Jacksonville enjoys “many” more businesses and small manufacturers than is typical for communities this size.
A number of city officials were in attendance Friday, and Prcin said JDC is fortunate to have an excellent working relationship with the city staff.
“We are very blessed to have the community support that we have, and we have a great partnership with the city. There are a lot of good things going on in the community, and we will be seeing a lot of great things coming in the future,” he said.
One of the “great things” Prcin said he would like to see in Jacksonville’s future is new educational facilities.
“I know this will require a little bit of sacrifice, but one of the things that we all realize is that education is paramount to the success of this community. The local education process is good — its the facilities that need some help,” Prcin said. “We all need to work towards getting some new schools and more modern facilities built, and with the leadership that we have in this room, I think we can push that forward to get some new schools.”
The assembled industrialists and city leaders then heard an update on the status of Lake Columbia from Kenneth Reneau of the Angelina and Neches River Authority. Reneau said it had been a big couple weeks for the lake, as the Texas Legislature passed two bills which will assist in the creation of the reservoir.
Senate Bill 1360, introduced by Sen. Robert Nichols, and House Bill 3861, authored by Rep. Chuck Hopson, each passed in both houses of the legislature by a two-thirds majority and have been sent to the governor’s desk for approval — which they are expected to get.
Reneau said the former bill eliminated the expiration date for the lake’s permit with the state, and the latter bill authorized the Texas Water Development Board to become a participant in the project.
“The passage of these two bills is huge for Lake Columbia. ANRA testified before the natural resource committees of both the House and the Senate, and I really want to extend our appreciation to both Representative Hopson and Senator Nichols for shepherding these bills through their respective houses,” Reneau said.
According to Reneau, ANRA is also making progress in drafting regulations which will determine what activities are permissible in and around the prospective lake. The authority has already passed a set of restrictions for within 2,000 feet of the shoreline, and will soon be working to develop regulations which pertain to the shoreline itself.
Reneau said it would behoove both the cities of Jacksonville and New Summerfield to make every effort possible in order to grow in the direction of the eventual lake.
“At every speaking engagement I have done in the past few months I have been trying to express that — if their visions extend further than next Thursday — both of these cities need to start annexing out toward the lake,” he said. “Annexation will always be unpopular, but it is something that you must have if you are a growing city.”
While no action has been taken since then, the Jacksonville City Council did instruct the public works department last September to begin investigating the possible annexation of land east of town, which would take the city limits up to a mile closer to the reservoir.
It has been 13 years since a large area of land was annexed into Jacksonville, and Texas law allows a municipality to annex up to 10 percent of its area per year.
“I believe this project will completely transform the Jacksonville and New Summerfield communities economically. Both should be taking what action they can to maximize the impact the lake will have on them. And I think Lake Columbia has the potential to make New Summerfield unrecognizable in the next 10 or 15 years,” Reneau said.