051227 Meat Processor Eyes Parsons, KS

Parsons, KS - Parsons may soon be home to a meat processing business similar to ones in Erie and Oswego.

On Tuesday, city commissioners are set to act on a city staff proposal to give Cory Steeves help in establishing such a business in the Flynn Industrial Park.

The commissioners are meeting Tuesday instead of Monday evening to observe the New Year's Day holiday.

Economic Development Director Carolyn Kennett has submitted an economic incentive package to the commission that includes giving Steeves two to three acres of land near the former Schoenhofer Brothers building, which is now owned by Grandview Products.

Under the proposal, the city would also help with labor and equipment for grading and site preparation.

Steeves plans to build a 30-foot-by-50-foot building on the industrial park lot with a few pens. The business, Timber Creek Meats, would likely open in the spring.

Kennett said there will be only limited slaughtering on the grounds of Timber Creek, and the business would be similar to the Erie Meat Locker in downtown Erie and another meat locker in downtown Oswego.

Steeves will hire the equivalent of 4.5 full-time workers during his first year and more later. Timber Creek would specialize in custom processing of beef, hogs, sheep, goats and deer. The company would also produce specialty meat products, offer retail meat and catering.

In other business, commissioners plan to discuss a proposal by Commissioner Tom Shaw that would require city department heads to live in city limits.

Under Shaw's proposal, anyone hired as a department head or promoted to such a position in the future would have a certain amount of time to move to the city unless city residence is already established.

City Manager Don Cawby and his staff have proposed a plan that would require all city employees live within 15 miles of the city and department heads within five miles under the same conditions Shaw proposed. Cawby said although employees living close to but outside the city wouldn't pay property tax, they would still pay for city utilities and sales tax.

The commissioners will meet in the commission room at the Parsons Municipal Building at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

In other business, commissioners will consider:

- Changing the date of the Jan. 16 meeting to Jan. 17 in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

- Approving payment to Tri-State Engineering in the amount of $1,640.02 for engineering design and surveying for the Tolen Creek Trail.

- Approving payment in the amount of $14,746.72 for engineering services on the Frisco trail.

- Awarding a bid to Home Improvements in the amount of $84,489 for a home to be built in the Harding Subdivision at 1307 S. 26th.

- Approving a change order on a contract with LaForge and Budd Construction Co. that would add $10,140.20 for additional work at the new wastewater treatment plant. The company would also have a 90-day extension to complete the work. Director of Utilities Derrick Clevenger said work covered on the change order was part of the contingency budget on the plant.

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