Published: March 22, 2006 03:45 pm            

NORCE programs, employees are vital to Enid, Garfield County

It’s a huge facility located at the northeast end of Enid, but its economic impact has for many years gone unrecognized.

However, Director John Barton, of the Northern Oklahoma Resource Center of Enid (NORCE), knows NORCE provides a huge economic boost to Enid and Garfield County.

According to the Greater Enid Chamber of Commerce’s Garfield County Labor Force chart, ranked according to numbers provided by Oklahoma Employment Security Commission, NORCE ties with StarTek Inc. as the seventh-largest employer here with 500 employees.

Barton provided additional numbers.

NORCE’s latest annual payroll was $21,112,000. It operates on a $27.6 million budget with $1 million of it earmarked for contractual help.

“We buy a lot of stuff here locally, and our contracts are with professionals pretty much — physicians, dentists and speech therapists,” Barton said.

People who work at NORCE are Oklahoma Department of Human Services employees. They received $1,000 bonuses in November.

“I’m hoping the local merchants had a good holiday season,” Barton said about just the impact of the bonus money. “Overall, I think we add to Enid’s economy,” he said with a smile.

NORCE provided services to nearly 12,000 people in 2005. The number of clients living on the campus located off 30th and Willow is approximately 160, Barton said.

There is another NORCE avenue of economic impact.

Working in conjunction with Oklahoma Employment Services (OES), NORCE clients provide manpower and labor in the Enid community.

Probably the best known NORCE labor effort in its joint partnership established with the city of Enid a few years ago is the recycling center located at the city’s service center.

Fifty jobs are filled by clients who sort and pack recyclable materials that save space and eventually money at the city’s landfill.

The city and some private businesses have provided jobs in litter control and landscape upkeep.

A variety of light industrial jobs have been added to the job pool, including the washing of metal parts at Punch-Lok and assembling devices at P-T Coupling.

And several major businesses have utilized what OES, with NORCE cli-ents as workers, has offered in the way of preventing identity theft and ensuring confidentiality — an information and destruction center on the NORCE campus that is compliant with all federal and state regulations.

Plans are on the drawing board to expand the capability of the destruction center with new technology that can destroy microfilm and microfiche, Barton said.

“Another area of employment we would like to expand is our agriculture capability,” Barton said.

Plans are being discussed to utilize 25 acres surrounding a pond located on the north end of the campus that would be converted into orchards and floral gardens.

Greenhouses could be constructed, Barton said.

For the immediate future, Barton said other plans are being discussed with state officials for campus infrastructure improvements.

“Five to 10 years from now, we will likely have the same number of employees doing different jobs,” Barton said.

The thrust of rehabilitation is providing more work programs and incorporating more clients into the community, Barton said.