To the editor,
My thoughts on Greene County and Jefferson are as follows:
Greene County is doing a good job of running our county with one exception- hog confinement building permits. We have enough stink as it is. I sympathize with farmers needing income with grain prices but enough is enough.
Jefferson — Not as good of grades as the county.
First off, buying old buildings, taking financial risk to repair and find a buyer. It would be better to offer a prospective buyer tax abatement and subsidize the loan 1 percent than to own and go through all the work and risk. The Pizza Ranch project should be a great example. The city’s not in the building business.
Another thing the city should do is hire an in-house fulltime engineer. Quit paying Bolton & Menk mega dollars for the little they do. And have the employee do it all, including street repairs, sewer repairs, and whatever else needs done. Does the county hire theirs done? No. And this person could be for hire to Scranton, Churdan, Rippey, Grand Junction for help. It would save Greene County lots of money.
I’m proud to be a resident, a businessman and farmer of Greene County and have supported it for many years without any help from local government.
Grow Greene County is a great slogan. Let’s start growing it with some retail businesses on the square and fill the 10-13 empty buildings and keep people shopping in Jefferson, not Carroll, Boone, and Des Moines.
Dick Finch, Jefferson
