Miami named finalist for USDA award w/ Oklahoma Partnership Award information and community-nomination form

By Melissa Dunson

mdunson@joplinglobe.com

MIAMI, Okla. — Despite a devastating flood last year, Miami keeps coming out on top.

It was the city’s response to that disaster that caught the eye of the United States Department of Agriculture and prompted the rural development and rural enterprises division to nominate the city as one of four finalists for the Oklahoma Partnership Award.

The award honors an Oklahoma community for success and innovations in increasing economic opportunity and enhancing the quality of life for its residents.

In the nomination, the USDA highlighted a variety of projects Miami has tackled or is currently taking on.

The city partnered with the Miami Tribe to open a five-screen movie theater last summer to replace the community’s two-screen theater that kept getting flooded. The city paid to buy the land and put in the parking lot, and the tribe built the theater.

Last July, Larry Eller, Miami’s community development and grant coordinator, and Brian Barger, Miami director of economic development, helped marine manufacturer Boatfloater Industries move its equipment and product to higher ground only minutes before the floodwaters overtook the building.

“We closed on the new property Thursday and had them totally moved out on Monday,” Eller said. “Those folks would have been wiped out if we hadn’t gotten them out.”

The city is currently in the process of building 20 new homes outside of the floodplain for those displaced by the waters. Eller said the city is putting in water lines and working on the street. There are three families that have already qualified for loans for the homes. Two of the houses have already gone out for bid and the city is starting on the third. Eller hopes to have them completed in three to four months.

The city has also developed a $2 million downtown revitalization project. Eller said new streetlights and landscaping will go in this spring.

Miami has also developed a $1-million project to continue rehabilitating the historic Coleman Theatre. Eller said the funds will put in a warming kitchen upstairs, add onto the structure and turn the second floor into a convention and meeting space. The engineering is 90 percent complete and he said he believes the project will go out to bid this spring.

The city has secured $400,000 in housing rehabilitation funds to do work for low-income and elderly residents, and has been approved for a $120,000 grant to construct a Miami Gateway entrance sign and provide historic Route 66 signs downtown.

On Monday, the City Council will also vote on taking the lead in a regional Route 66 project that will document attractions from Carthage to Vinita.