Governor Jeff Colyer visited Garnett recently and talked economic development. Local business and officials from Anderson County met with Colyer in the boardroom at the Agri Energy Plant. Coyler said that parts of the county had been approved as an opportunity zone under new federal laws. These zones are designed to stimulate investment in rural areas and impoverished urban areas. The area approved for the incentives in Anderson County includes the cities of Garnett, Greeley and roughly the northeast 25 percent of the country. A total of 74 such “tracts” were approved statewide.
City Manager Chris Weiner told Coyler he thinks the area has great potential and there are training programs available but trained workers are heading to other areas for work. He says the closing of the former Taylor Forge Heavy Steel Fabricating Plant was huge and the facility needs to be filled.
