HUMBOLDT — Humboldt Council members agreed Monday night to give in-kind labor to Our Hometown Market and will consider a financial gift as well.
Cosmetic work and reconfiguring of the building is underway.
Humboldt will install a sewer to drain waste water and effluent generated by a butcher shop attached to the store. Cost is estimated to be $2,000.
That may be the tip of the financial iceberg.
City Administrator Cole Herder also recommended the city provide $10,000 to $20,000 in cash — the higher number matching $20,000 in support approved Monday by HUGRO, Humboldt’s development group — to help with installation of new refrigeration units.
Scott and Amy Welch, proprietors of the new store, have approached Allen County commissioners for help with purchase of new refrigeration units, to the tune of $100,000, but the request has not been formalized.
That request is based on what the county did to help the Marmaton Market ($100,000) in Moran and Iola’s G&W Foods ($180,000).
Herder called those awards a precedent.
The new refrigeration units — none of the old were salvageable — will cost $219,000, Herder said.
A rural initiative grant is being sought to pay 25 percent of the cost, but it won’t be reviewed until sometime in March. If it is approved, the Welches will face a cost of $165,000, less the incentive made available by HUGRO.
If county commissioners come through, and Humboldt contributes $20,000, the bill will be much more manageable, even in light of other start-up costs and the necessity of working capital.
Humboldt Attorney Fred Works suggested the city could provide free water for an unspecified time.
Herder asked council members to mull his proposal before the next city meeting on March 9. “It also will give people in town time to have a say,” he said, noting that many are eager to have a local source of fresh fruits, vegetables and meat.
He alluded to a rising contention in the nation that a grocery store is part of a community’s infrastructure, much like streets and utilities. That in itself would justify the city becoming involved, an occurrence that has happened in St. Paul (the city reopened its grocery) and other Kansas towns.
Walmart is on the cusp of opening a meat processing plant in Georgia, which will supply about 500 of its stores in a three-state area, Herder said. That means “we’re a step ahead of Walmart with on-site processing of beef for our new store,” he said.
IN OTHER NEWS, council members approved several measures to accommodate upcoming events:
