HSMP chief hopes appropriation will be restored

Jim Fram, president and CEO of the Hot Springs Metro Partnership, said Thursday he is hopeful the Garland County Quorum Court will reinstate a $75,000 allocation it removed from the county's 2015 budget.

"I'm still working with (County) Judge Rick Davis and the quorum court. I have not given up on convincing them they need to make an investment in better jobs for their constituents. We're going to continue working with them to see if we can get that funding revived in early 2015," Fram said.

The quorum court's Finance Committee voted 3-2 along party lines Dec. 8 to deny the appropriation request. The two Democrats on the committee, District 6 Justice of the Peace Ray Owen Jr. and District 2 JP Thomas Anderson, voted to keep the appropriation in the budget.

The three Republican JPs on the committee, Mary Bournival, District 4, Matt McKee, District 9, and Larry Griffin, District 11, voted against it.

During an October discussion on the allocation request, Bournival said the appropriation "didn't make sense" since the city and county have been at odds over access to water.

"The efforts (the partnership) is applying to bring in industry and business within the county are meeting resistance. Not because of their efforts, but because the city has not changed their position or their stance on whether or not they're going to give water. I think we're throwing good money after bad, because the companies we're trying to bring in, the first obstacle they have is with the city," she said at the time.

Fram said Thursday that the HSMP "benefits all of Garland County, and to some extent some of the areas just outside the Garland County boundary. The focus we have is to have a positive impact on the economy of Garland County."

"That always has been and always will be the purpose of the Hot Springs Metro Partnership," he said.

Fram said what is now known as the Hot Springs Metro Partnership was originally organized as an entity of the county and still has a countywide, regionwide focus.

"We focus on two things. First is jobs and better jobs, and second is to bring capital investment into the area, which increases the tax base and elevates everybody's quality of life," he said.

The partnership's strategic plan is structured around four goals, supported by an economic and target industry analysis. The goals include Hot Springs downtown; business expansion and attraction throughout the region; talent, with its implication for the workforce generally and technical skills in particular; and quality of place, emphasizing the amenities of the area and their economic potential.

Fram said that if the quorum court does not reinstate the $75,000 allocation, he will probably make slight cuts in every line item across the board, instead of eliminating one or two of the programs in which the partnership is involved.

He said the annual budget for the partnership, with the county's allocation, is $475,000.

Local on 12/19/2014

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