By Don Hall
News-Leader staff
Larry Dunaway, mayor of Nashville, has had an interesting year.
“That water project we’ve been working on—we’re getting very close to getting some work done at the river and at the water plant.”
The water project the mayor is talking about involves increasing the volume of water Nashville takes out of the Little Missouri River every day.
Currently 6 million gallons flow daily through the two pipelines from the pumping station near Murfreesboro. After the pumps are reconfigured, that total will go up to 10 million gallons per day.
“That’ll give us plenty of capacity for any demand that’ll be coming for probably the next 20 years,” he said.
The upgrade was planned to be completed by now but got delayed when the government became involved.
“We got into a situation where we had to get some permits, especially one from the Corps of Engineers, and that put us behind a little bit,” said Mayor Dunaway.
Now that the necessary permits are secured, the plan is to begin work within a couple of months and have the project completed by early fall.
The water that comes from the pipeline ends up in the city’s lake and then in the water treatment plant, where work is also being done. “We’re redoing the intake right now. It’ll be a lot more efficient, and that, combined with dredging the lake to make it deeper, will allow us to get that increased amount of water into the treatment plant,” said the mayor.
“Tyson is still planning on increasing their capacity at the processing plant, so that’s one of the big reasons for this water plant upgrade,” Dunaway explains. “They’re looking at a pretty significant increase in their capacity, about 25%.”
One big success this year was when CANTEX, a leading manufacturer of electrical conduit, fittings and boxes, began assembling their products in the former warehouse of Husqvarna. “Right now, they’re just doing assembly,” said Dunaway, “But after the first of the year, they’re bringing in machines to actually be doing manufacturing here.” That means more jobs.
When Husqvarna left two years ago, it created a gaping hole in Nashville’s economy, but not all of the employers here suffered. Two businesses that were at one time heavily dependent on Husqvarna – Jan-Eze Plating and Mission Plastics – have not only survived, but thrived. Husqvarna accounted for about 30% of their business, but both companies have shown remarkable recoveries. “They’re rockin’ and rollin’,” said the mayor with a smile.
Nashville and Howard County lost about 650 jobs when Husqvarna left. Many of those employees found jobs at Tyson, with more opportunities expected with Tyson’s expansion. Also, CANTEX has added 110 jobs to the local economy and plans to add more in the coming year.
Developing Howard County, the local economic development group, is working hard to bring new businesses to Nashville.
“That’s been a big thing this last couple of years, since Husqvarna announced they were leaving,” Dunaway said. “They were a big help to us in bringing Roma Italian Restaurant to town.” He adds that there are a number of other confidential plans in the works by Developing Howard County that should result in more economic growth.
And what about the coming year?
“I look forward to doing some paving projects around town, as well as upgrading the technology of the police and fire departments. Ï＊m looking forward to to a good year,” Mayor Dunaway said with confidence.
What about jobs?
The smile comes back. “The future is looking a lot brighter than we would have believed two years ago.”
