At the meeting of the Wright County Board of Supervisors on Monday, Chairman Dean Kluss read a letter from Prestage Foods. The letter pertained to the full-time equivalent employment agreement made between Prestage and the county in their developer agreement. In the agreement, Prestage committed to having 922 full-time equivalent jobs. If they reach this threshold, they will get a 32% tax rebate off their annual property tax of $2.5 million. However, the company noted in the letter, that as of last week, they only have 780 full-time jobs at the plant. “This shortfall is the result of labor disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” the letter goes on to say. If the full-time job numbers are less than the 922 commitment, the company receives only a percentage of the agreed upon rebate.
In the end, Prestage requested a six-month extension to meet the employment goal. “We are hopeful that this is enough to recover our employee losses and attain our minimum 922 full-time equivalent employment commitment,” the letter said. The supervisors will vote on the matter during next week’s meeting.
In the weekly phone conference with ISG Engineering about the Agribusiness Park, engineer Kelly Evans said that Beemer Companies are moving forward on the well at the site. Evans also noted that a request for a variance from the DNR for a generator pad’s location has not been received yet, but he is confident that it will get passed.
The board also approved the change order mentioned last week for the Water Supply at the Agribusiness Park. The change order increased the contract by $12,650, while previous change orders had decreased it. The overall contract for the work is now about $702,000. The original amount was $729,000.
A resolution to create an Agribusiness Water Supply Enterprise Fund was tabled. Auditor Betty Ellis is recommending this fund be created to manage the water supply bills and business that will go along with that facility at the park. However, she asked the board to table the measure until she could receive additional guidance from the state auditor’s office about running the fund.
Sandy McGrath was not available for the weekly COVID-19 update in Wright County, though the Iowa Department of Public Health’s tracker reported 441 positive cases in the county as of Monday morning.
