Casper, Wyo. October 1st, 2021 — The Wyoming Business Council met at it’s regular quarterly meeting in Casper yesterday. The Board of Directors voted unanimously in support of a Business Ready Community Grant & Loan for the City of Torrington and M Lazy Heart Ranch for the construction of a feed mill in the Eastside Industrial Park.
According to the WBC, the City of Torrington is requesting a $3 million BRC grant and a $3 million BRC loan to construct a feed mill, warehouse, and retail store for M Lazy Heart on 12 acres of land in the Eastside Industrial Park.
Several members of the community attended the meeting in Casper. Some of those individuals spoke in support of the project, while others expressed their opposition.
“This is a good project for the City of Torrington,” said Torrington Mayor Randy Adams. “They’re going to bring jobs to our community. This is a local business who has a vision, who has a desire to invest in our community and obviously we desire that.”
M Lazy Heart owners Paul and Christine Miller also attended. Paul explained some of the products that the mill would offer.
“This feed mill will be able to manufacture complete feeds for poultry, swine, sheep, goats and processed grains. With approval we’ll be able to make Type B medicated feeds. We will target the feedlot business because that’s the business we know. If you look on the USDA website, once approved, we will be the only licensed medicated feed mill in the state of Wyoming.”
Also attending the meeting was Z&W Mill Manager, Shane Viktorin, who voiced his opposition.
“Lending by the State of Wyoming must serve a legitimate public purpose. Does lending public money that will be used to compete against an existing business serve the public at large? How does the public benefit from any BRC grant or loan when the funding builds a specific private business like this one? The public is not served in a project like this one – not like a community center might serve the public or a recreation center.”
After hearing the presentation and arguments from both sides of the aisle, the Board of Directors voted unanimously in support of the project.
The State Loan and Investment Board (SLIB) will make final decisions on BRC project requests at its 8 a.m. meeting on Oct. 7.
