Perry City Administrator Sven Peterson is optimistic about the culture staying in the area even after the closure of Tyson Foods.

The Tyson closure will layoff about 1,300 employees, with about 60% of them being Perry residents, according to Peterson. He points out that the diversity in the city is one of the aspects that is special to the community. Peterson elaborates that he doesn’t believe that Perry will see a lot of change with the diversity.

“I think we have a tight enough community that we’ll be able to keep through this, find a new employer to come in, so that folks can stay in Perry with a good job. Definitely optimistic that we’ll be able to keep that culture in our community that makes us so vibrant.”

Peterson says the primary reason he loves working for the City of Perry is because of the depth of the cultural diversity as it’s been a huge impact in his life.