MASON CITY – Several strong sources are confirming now that Mason City Mayor Eric Bookmeyer is pursuing a new development in town – a meat processing plant and / or slaughterhouse – that could employ hundreds.
NIT got wind of the development some time ago, and waited for more confirmation. Now, sources connected to city hall confirm that Mayor Bookmeyer is personally spearheading the recruitment of a large kill plant / slaughterhouse / meat processing plant. Initial estimates range from 820 jobs up to 1000 jobs should he successfully lure the development.
NIT is told that a number of sites are being looked at for the potential development. The city’s south side is s strong contender, with access to rail, 4-lane highway and other infrastructure.
Despite its history as a home to meat processing, the city’s North End does not appear to be under consideration. Although the Holcim Cement Plant remains “mothballed”, rumors of its impending demolition are pre-mature. A communications spokeswoman told NIT that “We have no plans at this time for plant demolition. We regularly evaluate how we can best supply our customers. We plan to begin internal studies shortly on this matter and the Mason City plant will be evaluated as part of this exercise.”
As for the slaughterhouse development, NIT is told that many of the other “powerbrokers” in the county are opposed to the idea. This would include other elected persons and large business owners concerned about the lack of labor force and the affect on their businesses as far as wage rates go. Although Mayor Bookmeyer is a member of the North Iowa Corridor – where many of these “powerbrokers” reside – sources say he is pursuing the development separately from that agency.
NIT sought a comment from Mayor Bookmeyer today on this potential development; he didn’t immediately respond:
Good afternoon Mr. Mayor,
I understand you are personally pursing a slaughterhouse / meat processing plant for Mason City and have made some progress in your pursuit. Can you give me any details on this and the possible locations for the plant?
Thanks for your time
Matt Marquardt
NIT Publisher
…I see this story starts out with the claim that NIT “got wind” of this story…just wait till the plant is built and see (smell) what kind of wind you get…remember VI-COR and the stench it continues to send over the city?
Visit Postville,Ia. See what the famous slaughterhouse has accomplished there.. Little Detroit.!
Nothing honest about pubic servants (includes politicans mostly elected unofficals) you see dear cerro gordo – we have smarter crooks in worthless county than you -boo hoo and except for the school benefits we wish you had the new city being created surrounding the casino – of course mostly at worth county taxpayers expense thanks to TIF and county suppervisors. (free meals) if you know what that means.
No other city wants it so give it to Masonic city and let the buses roll in.
what is wrong with you people in mason city? this town is so politically corrupt. why would you vote Bookmeyer in as mayor a second time? he is going to bankrupt mason city.
mason city is not big enough for a Hilton hotel, let alone a parking ramp. Theres nothing here to draw people. why would people stay here when Des moines and minn. are just 2 hours away, with much more to offer? this town needs a good clean up.Lets get new people in council, and other political offices that care about our town. think about these people when you vote. Time to clean house. thanks PJC.
Spell check your damn blogs, a 9 year old on livejournal blogs better then you
Hundreds of jobs. fantastic. Thanks Mayor!!!
This here is for Darcy, you are right on what them 1% fools done on the casino. Mason would of got it,we should of got it, but old Jack MacNider and Gary Blodgett, them two they killed it off. So went to Northwood. My sweet mama who now lives in heaven, she got wind from her preacher. This faker, he tell her a casino here would be bad. All them church people, they lined up stuff envilopes call up there friends, they called down to Des Moines, send letter’s to the Globb, ect. All there damm noise done it in. Doc Blodgett was a hippercrite, against casino but in a building he owns over by the MCHS and Jefferson school he rented out space to that there Movie Time video store use to rent them dirty movies. I know, on count I got me some XXX video’s from that place back in the day. I do not like this mayors idea for a meat packing place, we got enough bad egg’s here now. Dont need no more. The way some these kind make’s baby’s do drugs, make trouble ect., they wont pull there weight. Our prop tax will go up to pay for more cops, jail room and welfare, ect. More kids on free lunches up to the schools. I do not hate on negro’s or mexican’s, just dont want no more here. Them that love them kind so much I say, turn on your TV look at cops, American most wanted, them kind of show’s. We already got more then we can handle. Thank you.
Excellent use of grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
LMAO ROTF !!!!!!!!!
Your joking here, right?
You’re joking too!
This is deliberate Eubonics Ghetto Speak. The author is skillfully crafting it to appear like a dumb niG-Ger. Eubonics has an Ez flow on the mind off the tongue. Your children already know Eubonics cuz this society been teaching em.
Go Mr. Bookmeyer! Just what we need! I commend you for being a strong leader to step out on your own and try to bring something like this to Mason City! More jobs and more people will move into this area to fill those jobs! Business will boom for everyone!! If all the companies in town that were so worried about this would pay a better wage themselves, they wouldn’t have to worry about it! This is a chance to be proud of what you do.! I hope it happens!! I’m sure you would have the support of the people!
Maybe our area will really fortunate to get thousands of Syrian refugees located here to work in a new halal meat plant. With the hundreds of thousands of refugees pouring into our country, there will be a huge demand for halal meat.
This would be a good thing. Especially if it’s on the southside of town. With the avenue, it would be an easy commute for people from other communities around us. Anything that would employ that many people is a plus for Mason City.
Living in worthless county I can say the wages at the casino are BELOW minimum wage and legal because they say the tips cover the rest of the salary -As for meat packing -a good friend of mine works at the one in Austin,Mn. Says over half of the workers are visa type -lots of somalis – they don’t have federal taxes taken out of their checks because they claim foreign status. Said he could not understand over half of the languages. Your right -your on a down hill run and looking for a life line – Hope you tax payers are ready for another property tax increase (TIF) for 10 years and then you and the company will part company at mostly the expense of the taxpayers like in worthless county. Most jobs created cost the taxpayers up to a million dollars each for the TIF. Sounds good on paper and ends up usually as toilet paper- Geez a new Detroit is awakening!
That smell (Money) was caused by the Hide Cellar and By Products Department. The new plants do not have them. I know very well what caused it as I worked in both departments. With the new rules there will be no smell. The real reason they won’t let it come in is wages. The city needs it for the tax base. What with all the T.I.F. they have done we will be cash poor for years.
no one here has commented about the “SMELL” that is going to be created… there was a reason forefathers put deckers on the north end of town.
I want to wish the Mayor well in his bid to bring these jobs to Mason City.
As for you bigoted fools, there is just no reasoning with you. That is sad and really, really disgusting how you refer to people who are not the same as you.
The fight is over the labor force for the better paying jobs that would follow a packing house. Competition for labor raises wages for everyone. This is called “free enterprise” for all you Democrats who hate us conservatives who want progress.
Nada the racist is the one of the biggest fools on here that does not understand what it takes to create jobs and economic well being for the middle class.
Go for it Mayor, you have my support!!
Thank you watch dog for saying what I have been thinking .and I hope my grammar is right
@ Darcy, you are, indeed, correct about how Dr. Blodgett and his fellow One Percenters nixed the casino from locating here in Mason City. I was here then, too, and I distinctly recall that what proved decisive were all of the ministers, priests, and Moral Majority types who did much of the dirty work for old Doc’s far-rightwingnut agenda. Yes, the upper crust (i.e., MacNider, D. Murphy, Blodgett, Pappajohn, et al) here certainly were able to get the attention of the decision makers, including those down at the state Capitol. But the organized religious zealots that Gary Blodgett got all whipped up into a frenzy over this played a very important role in handing this project over to Northwood. Btw, Nada Racist is exactly right about how so many ignorant, right-wing, religious nuts here in north Iowa consistently vote (and organize) against their own economic self-interests, by supporting Republitards (i.e., Dr. Blodgett) who used them to get elected, and then proceeded to vote against their needs.
Can anyone tell me what happened to the company that was moving in to the old AMPI, they started to and then just stopped???anyone??
Years ago a large auto maker wanted to locate in this town, but the big people in this town didn’t want it. It was because they would have had to raise the wages they paid to their workers. You see, the 1%er’s in this town could care less about common labor. As long as they can keep raking it in. This situation reminds me of the casino fiasco, where the puritans didn’t want it, but then turned around and asked for donations. For this towns economy, I’d welcome this business, but it will be an uphill climb because of the 1%.
And yet the same people who feel this way about the 1% crowd in MC are the same people who support the Republican party for POTUS. Makes no sense.
Great Point!! Doesn’t make any sense does it??
Don’t know about the auto maker, but I do know why we did not get no casino. This was about 20 years ago, yes the 1% around here they done it in. David Murphy the man who use to own David mfg, and Mr. MacNider, he is gone now, and Gary Blodgett, they all were dead set against a casino coming to Mason. This was when Blodgett was our guy down in Des Moines for Mason City. So, the powers to be they listened to them 3, these powers to be, this included Terry Bumstead. Dr. Blodgett, did my braces, so I go and I ask him, at one of his public listening posts he called it, how come no casino for us? Jack MacNider and Mr. Murphy, they both were there to, and some of the other 1% people, they were all up front. They all talked against having a casino come here. Old Doc, he says, because we don’t want poor people wasting their money on the slots, ect. He says welfare people, they will gamble away their welfare checks, and crime will go up, and drugs, ect. Murphy and MacNider, they also talked against it after Blodgett got done. And some other big wigs, to. OK, well Northwood got it we know. Good for Northwood, bad for Mason. There is your reason, its the 1%, they killed it off.
Well Northwood and Worth Co are fighting to divvy up the millions from the Casino while the rest of the commoners ’round the CG squabble over the crumbs Robin and Eric drop off the table. How nice it is to be ruled by these greedy hogs.
@ Wanda, you say you want to get the crack heads out of Mason City, clean up our town. You seem to think that its only blacks that causes all the trouble. I got news for you, there is alot of whites that makes problems here to. But if your serious about running black people out maybe talk to Todd Blodgett. You sound like maybe you know each other like you may of bought some his racist CD’s. Mr. Blodgett I bet could hook you up with some prejudice guys in hood’s and white sheet’s, they will know just what to do, run out them you hate on. Your a joke old lady, a weak minded bigot pig, you. OK now go back under you’re rock. Black is BEAUTEFUL.
This is for the smarty pants calls him self Yep Ur racist. Who do you think your talking to. I am not racist, did you not see the good things I said about all the wonderfull old black folks we use to have? Why do you make fun of Jimmy that shined shoes. Least he worked, that’s more than can be said for so many of the negro people that’s in MC now. If you could come to my house you would be ashamed of your self, me and my husband we have a whole bunch of Mills Brothers and Nat King Cole records, we play them on the Hi-Fi about every other week. I have always treated the blacks the good ones, I mean, just as good as regular people. You are not nice, your saying I am racist.
@ Wanda, OMG, you treat blacks as well as you treat “regular people”? No kidding? That is mighty white of you, lady! You have no iota of just how racist you are, do you?
I detect racism because you are romanticizing “negroes” as you remember them as “knowing their place” and fitting within a mold of here white people put them. The way you reference them is characteristic of the South as epitomized in the movie THE HELP. You should watch that to determine if you may be sharing similarities in how some of those white society women acted towards colored people. While I don’t like the evolution of the American negro into the thuggish role and persona many have adopted, I do know enough not to attempt to pigeon hole them into Jim Crow era roles where one or two of them whistled cheerfully as they serviced the white folk who ruled over them.
@ Bookie, I think your right when you say you would rather have Hispanics than blacks. So sad to see all the good old black ones use to live in Mason gone now. Jimmy the shoe shine man, old black Bill who made those tasty BBQ ribs, Miss Madelyn up to the Library, and so many lovely black folks. They all went to church and did not make trouble and would drink gin up to that negro bar over by the Tent & Awning with their own. Royale Rooster, I think it was. The few black folks that did make some problems, well they got the message from people like my dad who made them stop. These days, the darkys don’t fear the cops, the cops are afraid of them. Now when I look at who gets arrested in Mason, it is like watching an episode of that ‘Cops’ TV show. Too many D-Boys in Mason, yes. I like the Mexicans tho. Alot of good Mexican people, they all work hard, believe in Jesus and God and mostly, they keep to them selves. Something has to be done to clean up Mason, that is for definite.
Wow, what a reconstructionist racist you are. Old jimmy shining your shoes…”yessum ma’am, no siree”.
The blacks in MC that use to be there, they were mostly good people. Back in the day, any black make to much problems, he got ran off. Nowadays these one’s from Detroit, Cleaveland, Atlanta, Chicago, and even Waterloo, their mostly no good. Drug dealers, crack heads, lazy baby-makers raising up a fresh crop of there’s, those babies might could become the thug’s of tomorrow. Lot’s of good people like my daughter, they worry they’re kids will turn into drug addicks on count of the black one’s we got here now. Last thing Mason needs is more junky’s specially them smoke’s crack. So I am against this idea of a meat plant coming here, I say we let Blimpmaster know how we feel.
Maybe the same Wanda K from the fairgrounds convicted of theft.
@ Professor – I doubt it. The Wanda K who posts here is far more articulate, and uses better grammar.
Is this ethical for a blue zone community? Butchering & murdering animals sure doesn’t seem like a healthier way of life. They can’t sell pop at concessions but they can carve up innocent animals? All this will do is employ the illegals & make our town even worse.
Good point. Such an operation is horrible karma. Death and rot only brings crime and hardness. Killing animals in such a way creates abusive minded people who in turn abuse their families. The world should turn to less meat, not more. Say NO.
Bookmaker is a moron and are we really surprised by any dumb thing he does. I feel bad for all who re-elected him. Good job people of Mason City.
great. niacc brings us the blacks and this will bring the illegal mexicans. mason city already sucks no need to make it worse
The thing is, at least the Mexicans will work, for the most part. Alot of them are nice, they are good people, we know this. We use to have some real good blacks, went to church, worked, all of that. But they now are gone. Or dead. These ones now, they can’t be tamed. Look who gets arrested, I know there are some bad whites too. But way more blacks do bad stuff, way out of whack with how many total lives around here. When will the good folks of MC get rid of these trouble-makers? There are some people who know how to do this, they will run them out and they will be too scare to come back.
You area idiot .this will bring jobs to many and help all the businesses in mason city and around it , I’m wondering if you even work. .you need to find a town that’s only whites and stay there. You prejudice jerk
i have two jobs bitch, one to support my family the other to support all your negro friends on welfare.
What company do you want to come here? Are you thinking maybe a big law firm. Would that bring the correct class of people for you? Peewee with his communication skills could head it up. We have a strong criminal base here should be able to keep them busy.
It will be interesting to see how this turns out. As a rule of thumb most slaughter houses pay a decent wage with decent benefits. I am sure the mayor is looking at tax base only and not the type of person who would work there. There is nothing wrong with packing house workers. They work hard and earn their money. It also might be a opportunity for some of the people in town that have a hard time finding work.
A processing plant is a good idea,nobody complained when armour was open and money was good, but then everybody needs a new restruant and more part time jobs with no insurance right?.
Of course the power brokers would not want to see something like that come to town. It might just force them to increase their wages. They have always tried to keep decent paying jobs out.
And yet you support candidates for POTUS who are opposed to raising the minimum wage in this country. You just don’t get it do you? Why do you keep voting against your best interests at the national level but sound like a Democratic Socialist at the local level? Feel the Bern LVS
@U R a Racist-once again you have shown everyone just how terribly ignorant you really are. Good paying jobs are earned and have nothing to do with minimum wage jobs which are “ENTRY” Level job and are meant to be. Everywhere they have raised the minimum wage to a unreasonable level it has cost jobs that never come back. Only true liberals are to stupid to understand that.
Please post evidence of your claim
Yeah I didn’t think so
Try Seattle for a starter, then go to Walmart. Damn you are ignorant.
Of course what else could be expected from a Racist like you.
Armour is open, can’t fill jobs starting @ $15/hr
It might be the best thing for our city. Seems like a lot of rift raft would be in town but to be honest they are already here, just with no jobs and a lot of dope. I hate to say this but I would rather have the Hispanics rather than the blacks. Just me thinking out loud.
This will drive wages down for working folks like our boy and his woman, not good. Sounds to me like, just another Robin Anderson half-bake idea, not good for us gets our hands dirty. Yes, their is already more of them kind then Mason City needs, we got to put the brakes on this dumb thing and gag the puke that thinks he calls all the shots on us. Before any body calls me racist I am not prejudice, we just ate over to the taco tico’s.
You are a joke….but not a racist because you ate at Taco Tico. Your credentials are impeccable.
Well well well, look’s like old Bookie show’s his true colors now, he wants to pollute Mason with scab’s and low paid worker, he don’t care about nobody works for a living. Scum. He lives high on the hog over in a Frank Loyd Wright house, with his doc wife that supports his fat butt. Bookie, he don’t have to worry about the North end turning into Mexico City North. Like Mr Trump says we will get invaded by the rapist’s, drug dealers, ect., ect. Like I say, scum. Keep this riff raff out, if the so call leaders don’t do it the people will. Hear?
I no longer live in Mason City but still have friends and family in town and I visit a couple times a year and still think of it as home. I graduated from MCHS in 1977 and NIACC in 1979 but I left in 1981 because I could not find a job…..ANY job. The only work I did on a farm was de-tassel corn and bale hay but if I had the opportunity to work at the meat packing plant back in ’81 I would probably still be working in MC. The jobs of the plant are not the only work that this would bring to town, it takes concrete and concrete workers, steel workers, carpenter, electricians, etc. to make the plant, roads and rail to access the site. Any environmental issues can be mitigated (yes I still remember the smell from the old plant) by a combination of federal, state and local regulations. I am sure part of the reason the old plant shut down is because of regulations and they are stricter now than they were years ago. The article did not say anything about Mexicans but you are quick to be worried about an influx of them. The only hope of MC getting the plant is if the company sees that there is a labor force to man it. If Mexicans/illegals’ get jobs there it would be because it is a duty no one else is willing to work and/or MC is a sanctuary city. I actually thought that there is a meat packing union so I do not get where you are coming from on the low wages. I work in Houston so I know many Latinos (Mexico, El Salvador, Venezuela, Columbia, etc.) and they are legal citizens or here on legal visas and they are hard working good people, like Trump says. If they are illegal, kick them out. If they are legal Mexicans and willing to do work that no one else in the area or willing to move to the area will do, what do you care. Trump hires Mexicans that aren’t scum and MC can to.
Another person that don’t sign there name lol
And another person with extremely poor grammar.
Is that you Jeremy?
Sorry , I should have said another person that didn’t sign their name and I was referring to 9 th and north Adams ,
Hey yo, are you related to Razor Ramon.or Scott Hall?
No