The second step in readying Opp’s new 35-acre industrial park for occupation is nearly complete, Opp Mayor H.D. Edgar said Tuesday.

“Site work is nearly complete at the site of where we will build the 10,000-square feet Custom Collars expansion,” he said. “We are currently soliciting plans for the building.

“I expect the site work to be completed in the next three weeks,” he said.

In May, the city council accepted a bid from Earth Tech construction for $120,409 to “ fix and balance” the site.

Edgar said the next step would be to let the bids for the contractor, but said the plans are to “sub it out to several different contractors, rather than have just a single one.”

“Since the industrial board owns the property and the building, I thought it would be best to sub-contract it,” he said.

Edgar said his plans are to go ahead and order the metal building, which will house the company.

“We are going to look at three or four different companies,” he said. “It won’t take long to erect the building. We’ll let a contract for the slab.”

“It shouldn’t take any more than a week to get the building up,” he said. “I would suspect that by mid-September we will have a building up and ready for the inside to be completed.”

Once completed, the expansion will allow Custom Collars, which is owned by Bruce Cauley and manufactures numerous items for hunting dogs and pets and is diversifying its line of products to reach other types of markets, to more than double its employees.

In the spring, the city of Opp received notification it had been awarded a $150,000 Community Development Block Grant to help provide water and sewer service to the new 35-acre industrial park, which was the first step in the process.

The city is also providinging an additional $45,240 in local funding for this project.

Funds for the CDBG were provided to ADECA by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.