{"id":20843,"date":"2025-01-31T16:57:53","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T21:57:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/?post_type=wfsu-news&#038;p=20843"},"modified":"2025-02-01T01:41:45","modified_gmt":"2025-02-01T06:41:45","slug":"we-need-help-taylor-county-residents-voice-their-concerns-to-state-lawmakers","status":"publish","type":"wfsu-news","link":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/we-need-help-taylor-county-residents-voice-their-concerns-to-state-lawmakers\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;We need help:&#8217; Taylor County residents voice their concerns to state lawmakers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Taylor County is turning to state lawmakers to help the community recover from several major hits.<\/p>\n<p>State Senator Corey Simon, R-Tallahassee, was in Perry on Thursday, along with state House Representative Jason Shoaf, R-Port St. Joe, to hear residents\u2019 concerns.<\/p>\n<p>Simon said that he\u2019s prepared to bring more jobs back to the area that has endured three hurricanes and two factories closing in the past two years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are going to sit down with all the parties involved to try to get the business community back open, allowing people to put food on their table,&#8221; said Simon.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/npr.brightspotcdn.com\/11\/e3\/b91126ef49b096a584031c40c636\/screenshot-2025-01-31-160803.png\" width=\"1064\" height=\"510\" alt=\"Thursday\u2019s legislative delegation meeting was jampacked. Both Simon and Shoaf say they will also work this session toward finding answers that may help solve Taylor\u2019s septic and housing problems. (Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025) Credit: Florida Channel\"><\/p>\n<p>Thursday\u2019s legislative delegation meeting was jampacked. Perry&#8217;s Foley mill closed in 2023 after Hurricane Idalia hit. Six months later, the West Fraser sawmill closed, leaving approximately 126 people out of a job.<\/p>\n<p>Perry City Manager John Hart told the Tallahassee Democrat the city needs over 120 million dollars in repairs for its wastewater treatment system, fire trucks, and more.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/npr.brightspotcdn.com\/83\/fa\/4e17bbc146029a611436cf3b217f\/fsu00015.JPG\" width=\"3936\" height=\"2216\" alt=\"News broke that Perry\u2019s paper mill plant will be closing its doors after nearly 70 years. That means a loss of more than 500 jobs in a community already struggling to make ends meet.\"><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We don&#8217;t want to be looked at as a number,&#8221; District 5 School Board member Deidra Dunnell told lawmakers on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>Both Simon and Shoaf promised to get to work on finding answers that may help solve Taylor\u2019s septic and housing problems.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This community has been gut punched and not just once,&#8221; added Simom. &#8220;The fact that this room was filled tonight says that they haven&#8217;t given up. Our job is one, listen, and have an action plan moving forward.&#8221; <\/p>\n<div class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2025 WFSU<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":20844,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","wds_primary_category":0},"categories":[],"tags":[1136,1135],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>&#039;We need help:&#039; Taylor County residents voice their concerns to state lawmakers - WFSU Local Routes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/we-need-help-taylor-county-residents-voice-their-concerns-to-state-lawmakers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&#039;We need help:&#039; 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