Council approves purchase of Washington St. property for new meat locker

By Rick Morain

Jefferson Herald

The Jefferson City Council on Tuesday, Jan. 25 approved the sale of the vacant lot at 210 W. Washington Street to Dennis and Terry Murphy for $25,000. The Murphys plan to build a meat locker for processing and sale of beef, pork, lamb and goat at the site.
Favorable comments about the plans were received at a public hearing at the council meeting preceding the sale. An area resident said he’s had calls from two Des Moines residents who want to come here to buy meat when the locker is in business. A resident from Bagley said he is part of a group of about 200 people from southern Minnesota to northern Missouri who drive to lockers in the three-state area to buy quality meat.
Terry Murphy said she was called by the manager of Jefferson Hy-Vee to offer advice and help if they need it. Dennis Murphy said if the city were to put an alley on the east side of the property, he would want to pave it. Chris Henning of Jefferson submitted a letter with information about lockers and local food production.

The Murphys plan to sell meat at retail from the building and also to ship it nationwide. The sale contract requires the Murphys to construct the locker facility within 18 months.
The council by resolution approved the maximum property tax levy for Jefferson city government for fiscal year 2022-23, which begins July 1. The proposed maximum levy in total dollars is $1,815,523, a decrease of $37,608 from the $1,853,131 figure for the current fiscal year.     
The property levy rate is proposed for $12.90 per thousand dollars of taxable valuation for next fiscal year, a decrease of 26 cents from the $13.16 figure for this fiscal year. Both the tax dollar requirement and the levy rate would be down about two percent from this year’s numbers.
The approval of tax numbers followed a public hearing on the topic, with no oral or written comments received.
The council set the date of the next council meeting, Tuesday, Feb. 8, for the 2022-23 budget workshop. The workshop will be the final item on that meeting’s agenda.
The council approved a reduction of $3,241.85 on a utility bill at Moe’s Mart (former White Oak convenience store). A broken pipe in the building resulted in a city utility bill of about $7,100, but since the water did not run through the sewer system, the council reduced the sewer charge on the bill.

The council approved a request from the Jefferson Fire Department, on behalf of all the fire departments in the county, to apply for a grant from Grow Greene County Gaming Corporation for an 8,000 gallon water tanker truck for rural fires. Fire chief Jack Williams explained that even if all fire departments in the county answer a rural fire call, they run out of water in about 30 minutes. The larger tanker truck would greatly enhance the ability to fight rural fires, Williams explained.
The council by resolution waived its right to review a plat of survey for property at 1629 – 235th Street southeast of Jefferson. The owner plans to subdivide the property to sell some land.

Chris Deal updated the council on The Forge downtown building just east of the square on State Street. Accenture Tech Corporation, which owns the building, has shut down all of its buildings worldwide and has its employees working remotely because of the COVID pandemic, Deal said.
Three consecutive cohorts of students at DMACC and ICCC have begun training through Accenture programs, Deal said, and some have applied for apprenticeships with the company. In addition, Google has a new training program with 20 spots reserved for DMACC students, facilitated by U.S. Representative Ro Khanna of the Silicon Valley area in California.
Accenture continues to take excellent care of the Forge building during the pandemic, Deal added, and he expects the company to continue to support the training and apprenticeship programs.
Councilmember Chad Sloan told the council that the metal building for the new animal shelter is scheduled for delivery in mid-March.
The council meets regularly the second and fourth Tuesdays of every month at 5:30 p.m. in the council chambers on second floor of city hall.