DRA funds may help build roads for Orgill in Sikeston

BENTON, Mo. -- Delta Regional Authority grant funding for an ethanol plant may now go to pave the way for Orgill.

Scott County commissioners met with Bootheel Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission and Sikeston city officials during their regular meeting Tuesday to discuss using DRA funds to improve roads leading to where Orgill Inc.'s new distribution center will be built in the Sikeston Industrial Park.

Commissioner Dennis Ziegenhorn started by congratulating Ed Dust, director of the Sikeston Department of Economic Development, and Jerry Pullen, a Sikeston city councilman, on the city's successful campaign for Orgill's new plant.

"You did a great job," Ziegenhorn said.

"It was a team effort," Dust said.

The county had been approved for $263,000 in 2007 DRA funding for road improvements to County Road 468 on the industrial park's north end to improve access to the site where the the ethanol plant was to have been located before that project stalled. "The main thing is we don't want to lose this money," Ziegenhorn said.

Steve Duke, executive director of the BRPC, said that in preparation for a quarterly report to the DRA on the project, "we tried to make a case the project scope has not changed -- we still want to make improvements to this road."

DRA officials advised that because the business that the road improvements will benefit has changed, the county will have to apply again for the funding.

Duke said the chances of having that same funding approved for the new project are over 90 percent. "All we have to do is change the scope of the project and re-apply," he said.

"We have no problem with changing the scope of the project," Ziegenhorn said. "We need to do this immediately."

One requirement for the DRA funding is that job creation be involved.

"The first thing is the new company will have to sign a participation agreement that they are willing to create 50 jobs within 24 months," Duke said. "The participation agreement will be the key to the whole deal."

A revised engineering report will also be required, he said.

As the scope of the project has already been changed, officials discussed tailoring the project to fit Orgill's needs rather than proceeding with work on County Road 468.

"This is an emerging need," Duke said.

Ideally, the DRA funding could be used to build left turning lanes on northbound Highway 61 at McCullah Street, right turn lanes on southbound 61, and construction of a new westbound road from 61 to the Orgill plant. McCullah Street is the street that leads off of Highway 61 to provide access to the Missouri Department of Transportation complex in Sikeston.

Duke also advised he would see if any 2007 DRA funding was returned by other entities which would mean additional funding could be applied for.

A total of $886,000 in Delta Regional Authority funding is allocated for Missouri's 29 counties that are within the DRA's area each year, according to Duke.

The DRA, created by federal legislation in 2000, allocates federal money for economic development in Kentucky, Illinois, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana in addition to Missouri.