Hinzman hopes to clear debris

I’m not sure what’s going to happen on that one. I’m assuming it might be a longer process. In the interim, I’m looking at being able to get in there and to clear the debris from that site as soon as we can.”

Community Development Director John Hinzman

The Hastings Creamery shutdown left 45 farms that it purchased product from to find other places to sell their milk.

With an investigation ongoing into the fire that did significant damage at the Hastings Cooperative Creamery on Sept. 13, the future of the operation is up in the air.

The creamery operation closed in August after 110 years of serving local farms and the community. After an employee meeting Aug. 17, the production plant closed the following day.

In June, the Hastings Creamery was disconnected from the sewer system by the Metropolitan Council after the business reportedly leaked thousands of gallons of milk into the sewer system. The Hastings Creamery was cited with six violations over the previous seven months.

Minnesota Ag Commissioner Thom Petersen told Brownfield Ag News that there’s still hope something can rise from the ashes of the creamery fire.

“We’re still hopeful. I talked to the mayor (Mayor Mary Fasbender) two weeks ago. You know, unfortunately, there’s going to be an investigation and that’s going to take some time, but you know, the hard thing was we had a couple of interested buyers going into that, so it was really unfortunate to see that fire.”

The state reportedly is still working with Hastings officials to see if the creamery reopening is possible.

At the meeting of the Hastings Economic Development and Redevelopment Authority in October, Community Development Director John Hinzman said he hopes the site can be cleaned up at least for now.

“I’m not sure what’s going to happen on that one,” Hinzman said. “I’m assuming it might be a longer process. In the interim, I’m looking at being able to get in there and to clear the debris from that site as soon as we can. I’ve spoken to the first chief (Chief John Townsend), and we’ve been in communication with him as to when we can get that part cleaned up.”

The Hastings Creamery shutdown left 45 farms that it purchased product from to find other places to sell their milk.

State Rep. Shane Hudella of Hastings brought Hastings Creamery, City of Hastings and Metropolitan Council officials together in hopes of coming to a solution and get the creamery in compliance with Met Council wastewater rules. For months prior to the close, the Hastings Creamery was transporting wastewater via tanker trucks to St. Paul to be processed.