(0)
Meat plant debate highlights talk
By RUFFIN PREVOST
Gazette Wyoming Bureau
POWELL - Powell Mayor Scott Mangold met with residents Wednesday to discuss an array of proposed projects, including a meat-processing plant, a fiber optic network, a municipal pool and a city park.
Part of an ongoing series of midday public meetings originated by Mangold, the hourlong "brown-bag lunches" are aimed at updating the public about city projects in the works.
Rocky Mountain Custom Cuts President Rod Morrison spoke about his company's plan to create a vertically integrated, producer-owned processing and marketing company for organic and natural beef.
The city has applied for a $1.5 million business-ready community grant to renovate a former Air Force building for use by Rocky Mountain Custom Cuts as a USDA-inspected meat-processing facility. Morrison's presentation touted the potential benefits of the project, including creating a dozen jobs and offering regional beef producers an option for earning more money for cattle by marketing organic and natural beef to customers nationwide.
Questions were limited until the end of the presentation, allowing 10 minutes for queries. That included a heated exchange between Morrison and rancher Sean Birky, a vocal critic of the city's grant request.
Birky questioned whether Morrison was truthful with the public about details of the project, making reference to a recent dispute between Rocky Mountain Custom Cuts and the U.S. Department of Agriculture about a $100,000 planning grant awarded to the company.
Along with other corrective actions, Rocky Mountain Custom Cuts voluntarily agreed to return $720 in grant funds to USDA to settle the matter.
"I don't appreciate being called a liar, and if you're going to bring that up, I'd appreciate it if you'd leave," Morrison said in response to Birky's reference to the dispute with USDA.
Morrison approached Birky, who was seated, but was called on by Mangold to return to the podium.
Birky said Rocky Mountain Custom Cuts representatives showed a "lack of consistent information" in answering questions about the project, citing changing numbers for jobs the plant would offer.
Alan Lohman, vice president of Rocky Mountain Custom Cuts, said the differing numbers were the result of ongoing development of the company's business plan.
Roger Beslanowitch, owner of a Powell meat-processing company, said he was concerned about competition, particularly in processing natural beef, rather than organic.
"Organic, I didn't have a problem with," he said. "But now, natural is everybody. If that's true, then you're starting to take all my customers."
Custom Cuts Communications Director Sandy Snider said the company planned to process only natural beef that had been inspected according to strict protocols and would not be likely to compete with Beslanowitch for most of his clients.
Rancher Tim Latham said he was skeptical of the project based on past promises of economic development that had not panned out.
"When people such as myself are skeptical, it's because we've watched Powell Valley Economic Development and the city put money into what they thought were good ideas, only to take it in the shorts," Latham said.
He said the best thing the city could do to support local ranchers would be to back a proposed federal bill allowing producers from states with stricter beef inspection guidelines than those imposed by USDA to ship products nationwide.
Morrison said the bill had been proposed before and failed, and that it was unlikely to pass because of entrenched corporate interests in the beef industry.
Others asked whether producers who were not investors in the venture would be able to have beef processed by the plant.
Morrison said that when the plant was operating below capacity during start-up, it would work with any producers. Member producers who had invested in the venture would receive priority during peak production, he said.
In other business covered during the meeting, Mangold outlined plans for a city park to be developed by 2009, the city's centennial.
Mangold said Centennial Park would include more than 9 acres of land on the west side of town. Conceptual drawings include a miniature golf course, disc golf, and a "splash park where kids can squirt each other with water cannons," he said.
"We're trying to develop it as an active park, a destination for people all over the county, where they'll want to come for parties and celebrations," Mangold said.
He said the city would seek grants and sponsorships to fund the park's development.
City Administrator Zane Logan said efforts were progressing with Utah technology company U.S. MetroNets in seeking private financing for a proposed municipal fiber optic network.
The company had submitted an investment proposal to a private securities firm based in Seattle, Logan said, and U.S. MetroNets representatives would travel there to brief interested investors on technical details of the system.
"Our hope is to have funding ready by April," Logan said.
He said construction on the project would take about five months.
Mangold said architects would present plans for the pool at a coming City Council meeting and that the pool committee would be reorganized.
Rising construction costs are an incentive to move quickly on the project, he said.
"Time is of the essence to getting this done," he said. "The longer we delay or wait, the smaller the pool will be because the less money we'll have."
Contact Ruffin Prevost at [email protected] or 307-527-7250.
Published on Thursday, December 14, 2006.
Last modified on 12/14/2006 at 12:27 am
Meat plant debate highlights talk
By RUFFIN PREVOST
Gazette Wyoming Bureau
POWELL - Powell Mayor Scott Mangold met with residents Wednesday to discuss an array of proposed projects, including a meat-processing plant, a fiber optic network, a municipal pool and a city park.
Part of an ongoing series of midday public meetings originated by Mangold, the hourlong "brown-bag lunches" are aimed at updating the public about city projects in the works.
Rocky Mountain Custom Cuts President Rod Morrison spoke about his company's plan to create a vertically integrated, producer-owned processing and marketing company for organic and natural beef.
The city has applied for a $1.5 million business-ready community grant to renovate a former Air Force building for use by Rocky Mountain Custom Cuts as a USDA-inspected meat-processing facility. Morrison's presentation touted the potential benefits of the project, including creating a dozen jobs and offering regional beef producers an option for earning more money for cattle by marketing organic and natural beef to customers nationwide.
Questions were limited until the end of the presentation, allowing 10 minutes for queries. That included a heated exchange between Morrison and rancher Sean Birky, a vocal critic of the city's grant request.
Birky questioned whether Morrison was truthful with the public about details of the project, making reference to a recent dispute between Rocky Mountain Custom Cuts and the U.S. Department of Agriculture about a $100,000 planning grant awarded to the company.
Along with other corrective actions, Rocky Mountain Custom Cuts voluntarily agreed to return $720 in grant funds to USDA to settle the matter.
"I don't appreciate being called a liar, and if you're going to bring that up, I'd appreciate it if you'd leave," Morrison said in response to Birky's reference to the dispute with USDA.
Morrison approached Birky, who was seated, but was called on by Mangold to return to the podium.
Birky said Rocky Mountain Custom Cuts representatives showed a "lack of consistent information" in answering questions about the project, citing changing numbers for jobs the plant would offer.
Alan Lohman, vice president of Rocky Mountain Custom Cuts, said the differing numbers were the result of ongoing development of the company's business plan.
Roger Beslanowitch, owner of a Powell meat-processing company, said he was concerned about competition, particularly in processing natural beef, rather than organic.
"Organic, I didn't have a problem with," he said. "But now, natural is everybody. If that's true, then you're starting to take all my customers."
Custom Cuts Communications Director Sandy Snider said the company planned to process only natural beef that had been inspected according to strict protocols and would not be likely to compete with Beslanowitch for most of his clients.
Rancher Tim Latham said he was skeptical of the project based on past promises of economic development that had not panned out.
"When people such as myself are skeptical, it's because we've watched Powell Valley Economic Development and the city put money into what they thought were good ideas, only to take it in the shorts," Latham said.
He said the best thing the city could do to support local ranchers would be to back a proposed federal bill allowing producers from states with stricter beef inspection guidelines than those imposed by USDA to ship products nationwide.
Morrison said the bill had been proposed before and failed, and that it was unlikely to pass because of entrenched corporate interests in the beef industry.
Others asked whether producers who were not investors in the venture would be able to have beef processed by the plant.
Morrison said that when the plant was operating below capacity during start-up, it would work with any producers. Member producers who had invested in the venture would receive priority during peak production, he said.
In other business covered during the meeting, Mangold outlined plans for a city park to be developed by 2009, the city's centennial.
Mangold said Centennial Park would include more than 9 acres of land on the west side of town. Conceptual drawings include a miniature golf course, disc golf, and a "splash park where kids can squirt each other with water cannons," he said.
"We're trying to develop it as an active park, a destination for people all over the county, where they'll want to come for parties and celebrations," Mangold said.
He said the city would seek grants and sponsorships to fund the park's development.
City Administrator Zane Logan said efforts were progressing with Utah technology company U.S. MetroNets in seeking private financing for a proposed municipal fiber optic network.
The company had submitted an investment proposal to a private securities firm based in Seattle, Logan said, and U.S. MetroNets representatives would travel there to brief interested investors on technical details of the system.
"Our hope is to have funding ready by April," Logan said.
He said construction on the project would take about five months.
Mangold said architects would present plans for the pool at a coming City Council meeting and that the pool committee would be reorganized.
Rising construction costs are an incentive to move quickly on the project, he said.
"Time is of the essence to getting this done," he said. "The longer we delay or wait, the smaller the pool will be because the less money we'll have."
Contact Ruffin Prevost at [email protected] or 307-527-7250.
Published on Thursday, December 14, 2006.
Last modified on 12/14/2006 at 12:27 am