Educational tours of proposed slaughterhouse

Riggs Florence knows the chances are slim right now that he would win a popularity contest in Adams County but he’s hoping area residents will at least view his plan with an open mind.

Florence is the owner of I-O Properties of Coldwater, Ohio, and is asking the city of Decatur for permission to operate a meat processing and packaging operation at the former Dean’s Foods site in Industrial Park,

A large number of citizens have attended recent Decatur City Council meetings and were successful in temporarily stopping the plans Florence has by getting the council to vote 5-0 to not allow his business to operate within the city limits after a Board of Zoning meeting passed the idea.

Florence purchased the Dean’s Foods building and has not given up on his plan to operate a slaughterhouse at that location that would process 210 cattle a day, five days a week. A recently announced agenda for the Board of Works meeting of the city for tonight has a public education plan and property update by I-O Properties of Coldwater, Ohio, listed as the final item to be discussed.

Due to an anticipated large turnout of people, the meeting has been moved from Decatur City Hall to Riverside Center. The Board of Works meeting begins at 6 p.m. and social distancing with spaced-out seating to be observed.

Stopping by the Daily Democrat Friday afternoon with marketing advisor Lindsey Youngpeter, Florence announced his organization would be hosting on-site educational tours at the building on three different days over the next week for people to come and make up their mind as to whether or not his proposal would benefit the city.

“All I ask for is for the people of Decatur to come with an open mind and listen to what we have to say,” Florence said, adding “there has been a lot of misinformation spread about our operation that has tainted the minds of some citizens. If people come to one of the sessions and listen to our side and then make up their own mind for themselves about whether our business would benefit the city, that’s all we ask for.”

The first educational tour will be Wednesday, May 18 at 8:30 a.m. and again at 6 p.m. that evening. On this coming Saturday (May 21), tours will be slated for 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. while on May 24 they will be held at 8:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Florence asked that anyone interested in attending one of the educational tours to call or text him at 419852-7836 or Tim Pearson at 419-305-1907.

Florence said the reason for the tours was to “let people ask questions. We’re not asking for a yes or no vote, We want to educate the community so they can learn more about our industry.” He added that members of city government “want to learn more. We’re not trying to sneak anything in here.”

He noted that some of the objections to having the slaughterhouse in Decatur center around what some people perceive to be an noxious odor. “Some people have visited the plant at Logansport (he’s not involved with that site) but they deal with hogs and not cattle. That’s a whole different process and yes, there will be a smell with hogs because the animal is boiled creating a burned smell.”

Florence said that in the processing of cattle, all parts of the animal, including blood, can be used for different things and that the “smell” referred to by protesters is not noticeable. “We have a completely different process than hogs. Even blood can be sold for 15 cents a pound so should I sell it for a small amount of money or just run it down the drain? That’s a no-brainer.”

The big thing Florence wants to emphasize to citizens is that his operation will be among the most heavily regulated by state and federal officials of any business in town. At any time of the process of beef products, Florence said there will be four to five inspectors on site in the building to assure proper procedures are use. Officials from United States Dairy Association, Indiana State Dairy Association, city wastewater officials, and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management will be present at all educational tours to answer questions from persons as well.

More educational tour dates can be added if the demand from people warrants them, Florence added.

The business would start initially with 103 employees ranging from management to operations to sanitation. Florence said since his operation would be a new business, anyone starting from day one would be “at the top of the list in seniority” when other people were later hired. He stressed a strong education program for all hired employees will be followed and will be completed in house prior to starting employment. A pay rate of an average of $23 per hour plus benefits will be offered to employees although some employees with certain specialized skills (such as in refrigeration) could make up to $35 per hour.

He added that approximately one-fourth of the hired staff would be dedicated to sanitizing and cleaning the building on a daily basis. He noted the building he purchased was ideal for his operation because it was originally designed with refrigeration in mind since Dean’s produced dairy products.

All employees hired will go through an e-verify process and background criminal checks will be run. “We don’t want persons with a deviant background working for us,” he stressed.

I-O Properties has applied for both state and federal funding for its operation. Help from the state would come in the form of tax abatements and credits while federal grants are now available to help business operations such as the one Florence is proposing get started up and running.

All cattle delivered to a prospective operation in Decatur would be stored indoors the plant since it is maintained at 72 degrees. They would be delivered by trucks at various times of the day and he estimated no more than six trucks a day would be coming to the plant, All trucks coming to the plant will have a specific appointment time so the animals can be properly processed in an organized manner.

Both Florence and Youngpeter noted they “want the community to know we are being very transparent with what we want to do. We have gone out and talked personally to the real neighbors of where our plant would be and not the ones five miles away. Their primary response was that they wanted more information. That’s why we’re having the educational tours.”

They noted the case of one lady who told them she was one of the most ardent opponents of them coming to town but after listening to what they had to say had changed her mind and was now supporting their operation.