El Dorado One Step Away From 400 New Jobs

The city of El Dorado has been in talk to be new location for a call center out of Paris, Texas. And now the city is looking to buy the former K-Mart building to house the 300 plus people who will get jobs with the center. Mayor Mike Dumas says spending 5 million dollars on the building is nothing but a win-win situation for the city. Dumas said, “We’ve determined that it’s in the best interest of the city and the taxpayers that the city purchases the former K-Mart building.” The call center would lease the space from the city. But, they will only take up about half of the building and Mayor Dumas says the other half could be used for other businesses, such as a restaurant that would benefit from having two to four hundred people next door. The city will receive 1.3 million dollars from the state of Arkansas to help fix up the building and repair parking lot problems. Dumas said the Economic Development Board has approved buying the building but now it’s up to the City Council. The city is under a M.O.U. or Memorandum of Understanding with the call center— meaning if they have a building that’s move in ready, the jobs will follow. Dumas said, “We need jobs and if the council agrees I’ll sign the MOU tomorrow and then jobs will follow here after.”