Published: May 14, 2008 11:55 am            

GM plant will be in Tinker's hands soon

Tinker Air Force Base could begin utilizing the former General Motors plant within 60 to 90 days after voters approved a bond issue Tuesday night.

“We’re going to hand it to them (Tinker Air Force Base) the same day we close on it,” said County Commissioner Ray Vaughn.

The $55 million Tinker bond proposal, which passed with 53 percent of the vote or 20,703 to 18,635, will allow Oklahoma County to purchase the defunct GM plant and lease it back to Tinker Air Force Base. Tinker officials will use the facility to create the Tinker Aerospace Complex, which would host some current 76th Maintenance Wing operations and other Department of Defense missions.

Officials at the Oklahoma Air Logistics Center anticipate using 1. 8 million square feet of the 38 million square-foot GM plant within five years.

Vaughn said contracts between the county and Tinker will be in place within two to three months. The bond will be funded by an increase in ad valorem taxes.

The county commissioner said the Air Force’s use of the GM facility will allow the base to remain competitive, protecting it from closure and potentially helping it grow.

Del City Mayor Brian Linley said he was pleased with the bond approval. Linley, like many of the city’s residents, works at the base. In fact, Tinker is Oklahoma’s largest single-site employer. The average salary at the base is $55,000 per person.

“I truly appreciate the voters in Del City for getting out and supporting this,” he said.

The mayor said the purchase of the facility for Tinker’s use was much more efficient than having Tinker build new facilities from the ground up.

Vaughn and Linley both attended a Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce watch party in Bricktown on Tuesday night. They expressed concern as precinct after precinct reported a narrow lead on the Tinker bond.

Voters also approved a proposition for renovations to the Oklahoma County Courthouse (51.8 percent voted for) and to spend $6 million on disaster relief projects (56.9 percent voted for), but denied two propositions to create storage space for county records (54.6 percent voted against) and to build a new facility for the Oklahoma County OSU Extension Service (54.6 percent voted against).

        

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