It’s amusing that Supervisor Bartz and Mayor Bookmeyer are cut from the same cloth, trying to impress the boss of the Republican Party, governor Terry Branstad.

Below is the complete Prestage Farms project timeline.  See “Mid-afternoon of December 17″ entry in bold type.  Not sure why they would be looking at Worth County after reading this.  We know Worth Development has access to a lot of casino money.  Maybe they’re considering splitting the cost.  More later….MFW

PRESTAGE FARMS PROJECT TIMELINE

December 7, 2015

Mr. Joseph Kerns, President  & CEO of Kerns & Associates of Ames, IA (an agricultural consulting firm) speaks on the telephone with IEDA representative, Allen Williams, about an unnamed company interested in establishing a pork harvesting facility in Iowa. Due to confidentiality concerns, the company is not identified and no project parameters are provided.

December 8 – Allen Williams & Joe Kerns agree to meet at IEDA offices, with Mr. Kerns’ unnamed client company in the afternoon on December 17, to discuss their project. Williams sends to Kerns a number of detailed project parameter questions (e.g. water & sewer requirements, investment, jobs, etc.)  Kerns in turn relays those questions to the client.

December 14 – Kerns calls Williams and asks if he, and the client company, can visit a site in Fort Dodge, IA later that week – Williams contacts Fort Dodge Economic Development who agrees to meet with Kerns, and his unnamed client, the morning of December 17.

Morning of December 17. Williams, Kerns, and 3 members of Kern’s client company meet with local Fort Dodge economic development contacts and tour sites. The client is identified as Prestage Farms of Clinton, NC.  Prestage Farms brings to the Fort Dodge meeting the project parameters – the first time that its plans are revealed in any detail.

Mid-afternoon of December 17. Allen Williams and Mark Fischer of IEDA meet with Kerns, the Prestage Farms team and their Iowa attorney. Prestage describes its interest in certain sized Iowa communities, with available infrastructure, in the mid to north central area of Iowa where no other pork harvesting facilities are located. Later the Prestage Farms team meets with IEDA Director Durham.

Late-afternoon of December 17, Allen Williams sends out the Prestage Farms project parameters as IEDA Project #AW 1949 to the North Iowa Corridor Economic Development Corporation (Mason City area) and five (5) other economic development groups in north & central Iowa. Allen Williams speaks on the phone with Chad Schreck, Executive Director of the North Iowa Corridor about the project.

Morning of December 18, Prestage Farms contacts Allen Williams and Chad Schreck to immediately make arrangements to visit a site in Mason City

Afternoon of December 18, Prestage Farms Team visits sites in Webster City, Iowa.

From this point on – Prestage Farms is in direct contact with Iowa communities under their consideration for the project – they do not go through IEDA

December 21 – Williams sends Prestage Farms an estimate on possible incentives for the project.

January 11, 2016 – Williams meets with Prestage Farms team at IEDA offices to discuss project

January 2016 – Prestage Farms makes repeated site visits to Mason City and Webster City.

February 10, 2016 – Prestage Farms team meets with Williams, Director Durham and others at IEDA offices to discuss the project.

March 21 – Prestage Farms announces, subject to approval of all applicable state and local incentives, its plans to locate a new pork harvesting facility in Mason City, Iowa.

March 29, 2016 – IEDA Board of Directors approves High Quality Jobs (HQJ) Program tax credit and tax refund incentives for the Prestage Farms project in Mason City.