ECNN has confirmed within the last hour that the City of Thayer will no longer be pursuing the River Country Chevrolet lot in Thayer for potentially moving city hall.
We reached out to the Mayor of Thayer, Kenny Cotham and this was the response we received:
“Dear Citizens of Thayer and Community,
I was informed Thursday afternoon that Excalibur Funding LLC has terminated its contract to purchase the River Country Chevrolet property. My understanding is that some additional time was necessary for approval of the Title work. As a result, the Title Company had requested that both the Buyer and Seller agree to a 7 day extension. The Buyer and Seller did not both agree to the extension. As a result of the 30 day contract deadline not being extended, and due to Excaliburs awareness of the concern from the local Community, Excalibur took this opportunity to terminate the contract.
While this contract termination may have postponed our immediate plans for growth, the City Council has been very impressed by the passionate involvement of the Citizens of our Community.
The City Council would like to move forward with this passion, energy and enthusiasm in a positive way and continue to work with the local citizens in our community, our US and State legislatures, our local and State Department of Economic Development, in order to put together a master plan for our city to grow. These organizations have offered our community tremendous resources and experience to help us explore opportunities to attract businesses to the Industrial park and other viable locations.
It is our intent to ask the Missouri Department of Economic Development to continue to assist the City Council in preparing a formal request for Proposals (RFP) from National and Regional businesses and Developers.
In addition, we would like to schedule a City Hall meeting with the citizens of our community to keep them updated and allow them to voice any positive ideas or suggestions in regards to the RFP.
As the Mayor of Thayer, I am very proud of the enthusiasm, even if occasionally misplaced, which the local community has voiced regarding this recent opportunity.
I sincerely hope that we can continue to funnel this energy into a productive and harmonious effort of working together to take advantage of the recent and unprecedented relocation of people looking to move back to rural American towns like Thayer Missouri and Mammoth Spring, Arkansas.
We look forward to your feedback and hope to see you at the next City Council meeting.
Thank you.
Kenny Cotham – Mayor”
Listen to the Mayor’s entire statement here:
President and CEO of E-Communications Bob Eckman is a member of the Thayer/Mammoth Spring Community Betterment Association/Economic Development Committee gave us this release from the committee moments ago, in conjunction with Thayer Chamber President Scott Cecil:
“TCBA/EDC learned Thursday that the contract to purchase River Country Chevrolet has been terminated. Bob Eckman, board member of the TMCBA/EDC said “I’m disappointed to receive this news, however due to technicalities between the buyer and the seller it’s the best option for the city at this time.”
Eckman said “I don’t want the citizens to get discouraged, as the overall goal of the City and TMCBA/EDC has not changed. It’s to look for ways grow our community, create jobs and improve infrastructure in the city like streets, sewer, water, etc.”
Eckman went on to say “The passion of the City and EDC is to create shovel ready sites to attract retail business which will create jobs and sales tax revenue for the city to fuel improvements for the city”. Eckman went on to say “The city council and mayor Cotham are committed to investigate options to utilize the industrial park for economic growth and the mission remains to relocate the maintenance sheds to open up opportunities. The challenge for the city at this time is to decide the best way to accomplish that goal”
Eckman said “The TMCBA/EDC will work closely with the City of Thayer, County Commissioners, State Economic Development, SCOG, various agencies and state legislators to develop a master plan”.
Thayer Chamber President Scott Cecil said “I think it’s great we have such interest in the community to make things happen. I think we all want the same thing and that is to grow our community and create jobs” Cecil said “We just need to stick together, listen to each other and come up with a plan we can all agree on”.
The TMCBA/EDC board has been meeting for over a year to brainstorm ideas to help the twin communities of Thayer and Mammoth Spring.
Eckman said in closing “This wrinkle in the plan is big, but we can overcome it. We just need to sit back and brainstorm the next option. There was a lot of concern in the community about the River Country lease/purchase arrangement, so let’s re=evaluate. It seems like one step forward and two steps back. However, all things happen for s reason. Let’s see where we go next.””
Listen to Eckman’s entire statement here:
Thayer Chamber of Commerce President Scott Cecil comments on the situation:
While this is an ongoing situation, we will update this story when we learn more information.
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