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No Borders Here

Texarkana partners across boundary lines

by Bruce Wright

Texarkana’s unique situation – a community straddling two cities, two counties and two states – might have been a recipe for chaos in economic development.

Instead, it has engendered relationships that have strengthened the area, according to Charles Nickerson, Texarkana Chamber of Commerce director of business and economic development.

Texarkana is doing well in uncertain economic times. In November, BusinessWeek tabbed the twin cities as one of 25 U.S. job markets expected to show strong recovery in first-quarter 2010, while the Milken Institute placed Texarkana on its top 25 list of best-performing small regions nationally.

Ensuring the health of the Texarkana region has called for constant teamwork.

“Cooperation is critical here for day-to-day operations,” says Nickerson. “Each of the cities has an economic developer, as well as us here at the chamber. We meet on a regular basis.

“We also have a group called the Texarkana Regional Initiative, which is composed of economic developers in Northeast Texas, Northern Louisiana and Southwestern Arkansas,” he says. “We share leads. Obviously, we’d all love to have prospects in our particular communities, but we also realize that these projects benefit the whole region.”

Texarkana’s partnerships have paid off in solid results for the area.

“For instance, Cooper Tire and Rubber Company was facing a decision, late last year, about closing one of their plants,” says Nickerson. “The Texarkana (Arkansas) plant was on the radar screen. Both cities, both counties and both states came together with the chamber and helped create an incentive package that helped save the plant and create new jobs. It was a collaborative effort.”

From the other side of the state line, Workforce Solutions of Northeast Texas pledged about $100,000 to train Texans who work at the plant.

Teamwork also works with federal issues. “We can gain the support of two Congressional delegations and four senators,” Nickerson says, “The Texas delegation can support the Arkansas project and the Arkansas delegation can help us with a Texas project.”

Nickerson credits that support with saving the Red River Army Depot in Texas, about 18 miles west of Texarkana. The 19,000-acre depot, in operation since 1941, supports thousands of jobs in the region – and was a potential target of the federal Defense Base Closure and Realignment (BRAC) Commission.

“In 2005, during the BRAC process, both states, both congressional delegations and the communities rallied around Red River,” Nickerson says. “It was an integrated community process to save the base, and it worked. There’s a history of those kinds of efforts here. I think everyone sees that if a project is in this region, it helps all of us.”

“In any situation where you’ve got this many separate jurisdictions, and the possibility of different goals, you can have problems crop up, but I think for a long time this area has seen that we really are one seamless community,” he says. “Collaborations, partnership – it works for us. It has to.” TR

For more information on the Texarkana area economy, visit the Texarkana Chamber of Commerce.