ENID — Commerce and Tourism Secretary Dave Lopez toured Enid Wednesday morning before presenting the Nicholas family with its site-ready certification for Enid Energy Center.
The newly appointed secretary said it was exciting to see what Enid has turned into since the last time he was here.
“It’s just amazing to see the progress that happens in Enid every time I come back,” Lopez said. “I hadn’t been back in town for a couple of years.”
Lopez said he was “just stunned” not only by what’s been done but by what’s being planned.
“One, (Enid’s) become a lot prettier,” Lopez said. “I think the green space and now with what the Renaissance Project is going to bring is going to make it even more exciting.
“We’re finding that when it comes to economic development and job creation, there are a lot of things employers are looking for,” he said. “One of them is quality of life for the people that are going to be doing the work, and that’s a place that I think Enid is very wise for investing its creativity and its capital to make things happen.”
Lopez talked about what he brought up at the Nicholas Commercial Real Estate ceremony in that Enid has three of Oklahoma’s 34 site-ready certification locations. He said the fact Enid has three was surprising.
“It did (surprise me) because this is not a project that’s easy,” Lopez said. “Also, the program hadn’t been around that long. So for Enid to have done three is somewhat surprising.
“But I’ve known Enid from previous connections, and it’s not surprising when you think of, ‘OK, where’s that going to happen?’ Enid sets the pace in a lot of ways so it’s not surprising because it’s just one more way that Enid is empowered instead of feeling it’s entitled, which I think distinguishes a community.”
Lopez had said earlier his main focus is to keep business in Oklahoma.
“Part of that is just my own business background of knowing how much more it costs to get a new customer and to keep one, if you will,” Lopez said. “The other part is looking at the data that nationally, eight out of every 10 jobs are created by companies already in the community.
“So it’s natural to sit there and say, ‘Let’s make sure we keep and nurture what we now have.’ But the other part is, from a standpoint of what commerce does on a statewide basis, is that the people that are paying our bills are the current businesses, so it seems like our folks that are providing us the resources to do what we can for the economy ought to come first. And I’m just glad that the governor sees it that way, too.”
Lopez said he’s trying to figure out what Tuesday’s budget agreement in the Legislature bodes for the Commerce Department.
“What I think the Legislature and governor have been able to do is preserve as much resources for us because the cut that we have is not as severe as some agencies have had,” Lopez said. “So I think in a sense of looking at it, they see commerce as being our seed corn if you will, and we want to preserve that. What it does for those of us in commerce is that we understand the responsibility that comes with that. So we’ll try to match up.
“What the budget also does for us in session is to understand if we need to adjust our mission in some capacity. There’s some streamlining — we don’t know yet if there will be some other agencies that become part of the Department of Commerce — that’s another thing. So once the Legislature is done, then we’ll have to assess that, but from a budgetary standpoint, we’re very thankful for being seen as a resource. Now what we have to do in between now and this time next year is to prove we were worth the investment.”
Lopez said what he hopes other cities in Oklahoma take away from what Nicholas Commercial Real Estate has done is that things like this take teamwork.
“In this case, it’s a private company working with municipality and the alliance and bringing all those resources together and then looking forward to the state to assist, too,” Lopez said. “So it’s not about necessarily having a greater vision, it’s about how do we work to get there.
“I think what Enid has discovered, and what the Nicholas family did in this case, is to understand that it’s not one of us going at it, it’s a whole team. Bringing that team together always requires a leader and that’s where the Nicholas family got things started. You’ve got to give them all the credit in the world and then they ally with other parts of the team to get things done. So the walkaway for me, and I think for other communities is, “How do we do this together?” And it’s not any one of us alone trying to get it done.”
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