Alva Review-Courier -

The Woods County Industrial Development Authority met on Tuesday for their quarterly meeting. Members Randy McMurphy, Stan Kline, Melissa Fisher, Bob Baker and Brodie Bush were joined by Woods County Economic Development Executive Director Jeremy Zeller.

The group began by approving the minutes from the special meeting they held in August. After that, they reviewed the finance report. The balance sheet's total in checking/savings (as of Dec. 8) showed $139,644.10. Zeller explained to the group that the general funds ($19,038.38) were diminishing, and it was probably time to move some money around because soon it would be time to pay the auditor and next year's insurance premiums.

He said he had consulted with former WCEDC executive director Sonja Williams, who advised him the best course of action would be to cash in their CD worth $29,039.90 at Alva State Bank and move it over to general funds. Authority members approved the finance report and decided to cash the CD and move the money to the general fund account.

They followed that by ensuring all forms were completed for each member to be a signatory on accounts at Community Bank.

Other Discussion

The next item on the agenda was possible action regarding the Westlakes building. There had been plumbing issues in the past, but those have since been rectified. Doing so cost just under four thousand dollars. Zeller said nothing else was happening, and Authority members took no action.

The matter of an airport project showed up on the agenda again, with McMurphy stating that the last he heard, a survey was still needed. Zeller told the others a flight school was going up in Woodward and that he and Baker had sat in on a meeting about future opportunities for maybe Alva and Waynoka involvement, but both agreed there seemed to be little promise there. Manufacturing possibilities were discussed at that meeting, but there needs to be infrastructure in place, and the manufacturing company was happy where they were; it would take a lot of effort, money, and working with the FAA to put up another facility here in Oklahoma. Baker said everyone wanted to be optimistic but, at the same time, people must be realistic.

WCEDC Report

In his report, Zeller told the group some of the things he's been working on. He said he is in the middle of the pledge drive for the Woods County Economic Development Committee for operations and web development. He said he has been working a lot lately with the historical societies in the county and then talked about his work on the film-friendly community project.

The relatively new Oklahoma Film Friendly Community certification program helps communities develop the necessary permits and protocols to address film and television production in their areas. One of the main benefits of becoming a film-friendly community is the amount of sales tax revenue.

Zeller gave the example of the series filmed in Okmulgee called “Reservation Dogs,” which is about four Native American teenagers growing up on a reservation in eastern Oklahoma. The show became so popular that people go to Okmulgee to see where it was filmed, generating sales tax revenue. Pawhuska has also seen a boom in tourism thanks to the production of “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Zeller said he is working to enter Woods County as a whole, saying the university in Alva might be of interest, as well as the sand dunes of Waynoka. Freedom's downtown might be appealing, too, given its western feel. He urged Authority members to contribute any location ideas they may have.

Lastly, Zeller said he couldn't provide too many specifics, but Avard Regional Rail Park was awarded roughly $20 million and is working on an acquisition of land to try and build an industrial park. He also quashed any notion of a hydrogen plant, stating any talk about that happening here was just a rumor.