City OK's $800,000 plan to lure back Tyson

INDEPENDENCE, Sep 30, 2009 (The Gazette - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- TSN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- The City Council has approved nearly $800,000 in incentives that could sway a subsidiary of Tyson Foods to reopen the company's unoccupied plant on the city's northwest side.

The council on Monday approved an application for aid from the state's value-added agriculture product financial assistance program for Provemex International Holdings. The application includes a $96,000, 10-year tax increment financing package.

The council also ap proved allowing the company to use its own well rather than city water, which would save Provemex an estimated $698,000 over 10 years, according to City Clerk Debra Lynn. Tyson spokesman Gary Mickelson said Provemex, a Tyson subsidiary not currently in use, is studying ways to use the Independence plant, which was closed in 2006 along with a plant in Oelwein, putting nearly 400 employees out of work.

"For competitive reasons," Mickelson said, he would not comment on specific uses for the plant or if it involves the manufacture of pet food, as lo cal rumors have asserted. "We're keeping our fingers crossed" that the company chooses Independence, said City Council member Bob Hill, who noted that at least two other sites are under consideration.

Selection of the Independence site could mean 150 new jobs when the plant is fully operational, Hill said.

Hill said the city would provide property tax relief that would kick in only when the plant is in production. "We don't have much upfront risk," he said.

Hill said city officials are not at liberty to dis cuss the proposed use of the plant. "We have been told it is a completely new product line for the company," he said.

City officials have also been told, he said, that the process involves no cooking or boiling and that scrubbers would be installed to cleanse any exhaust vented from the plant.

The company hopes to have its plant -- whether in Independence or elsewhere -- up and running by the first of the year, according to Hill.

David Nacht, who lives within a block of the plant, said he is convinced the company in tends to make pet food.

Nacht said he bases his assertion on conversations with company officials and Tyson's recent purchase of a minority interest in New Jerseybased FreshPet, a maker of fresh, refrigerated dog food and treats.

Recent activity at the plant is part of the company's analysis of the maintenance and machinery needed to go forward, Mickelson said.

He said the company hopes to have more specific information when the analysis is complete in several weeks.

-- Contact the writer: (319)-9343172 or orlan.love@gazcomm.com

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