The Ottumwa Economic Development Corporation has once again decided to say thank-you to a long-time business with a billboard. Jonathan Krebs is the executive director of the Ottumwa organization which purchased the billboard to thank Cargill for its meat plant.
Krebs says they want to be sure that the existing companies are doing well and that they’re appreciated, and he says they wanted to do it in a demonstrative way. The development organization did the same thing in September with a billboard congratulating and thanking John Deere for 95 years in Ottumwa.
Krebs says the billboard won’t ensure a business never leaves. He says they’re not so naive as to believe all they have to do is to tell a company they like them and the company will be around forever. But Krebs says they don’t want to be accused of ignoring the company. Cargill’s Excel plant has been operating in Ottumwa since 1985, and employs 22-hundred people.