Perry Mayor, Dirk Cavanaugh, and other Perry leaders, recently met with Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds to hear thoughts about handling the Tyson Pork Plant closing its Perry location.

Cavanaugh tells Raccoon Valley Radio that the three main topics that were discussed revolved around extending unemployment benefits, how the school budget could possibly be affected with potential loss of students, and working on a housing fund to buy then resell homes from people if needed. Cavanaugh confirms that at this time, these are just ideas with nothing concrete yet.

“We didn’t come to any agreements, but we discussed possibilities and so as we move closer to the date of this happening if there’s no reasonable offers on the table then we’ll start kicking through some of those things a little more seriously.”

Cavanaugh feels hopeful as he stresses that Governor Reynolds was receptive to all the ideas and she reassures him that there are state agencies, such as Iowa Economic Development, who are trying to help replace Tyson with another business to take over the space and keep the community thriving.