By DEWEY TERRILL
JC Post
There were a substantial number of residents at the Tuesday night Junction City Commission meeting that sought information from city officials on a proposed slaughterhouse. They got very little. Disclosure agreements signed by officials, lack of any concrete proposals and a guarantee that the public will have opportunities for public hearings and forums on this topic in the future were responses.
Scott Kellogg pointed to research that has been done pointing to lower property values.
"Within one mile you have residential neighborhoods, within two-mile radius of the proposed site there are approximately 3,000 residences when you include the apartment complexes that are also located within that radius," he said.
Potential problems with increased crime rates and taxes, water support for the facility and costs of infrastructure installation were topics mentioned but the argument for the facility included more jobs.
Kellogg said the average turnover rate for these facilities ranged from 85% to more than 100%. Employee injuries were higher than the national average and there is local employee turnover.
Buck Gibson asked the commission when they make decisions are they making one for the community or people in the community. "Is it really worth jobs, is that what's it's really about. I think there are a lot of quality life issues to be considered here. " Gibson told the governing body when they make decisions "make them for the best interests of the people and not necessarily the money or the jobs. There's a lot of things to consider. I might ask you to also consider not to make agreements with people when you're visiting about things that's going to limit you from sharing information with the folks out here."
Kelsey Mann wondered why the commission was not being open with information. She asked Mayor Jeff Underhill if he toured a slaughterhouse, and he responded by saying that he did. Mann then posed a questions about his thoughts on that tour, to which Underhill replied. "We're putting all of that together." Mann asked if it would be shared with the community to which Underhill replied absolutely and it was all part of the city's due diligence process.
Underhill noted that he is for bringing jobs to the community but there have not been any proposals.