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By JOYANNA LOVE | Managing Editor

The board of the Alabama Agriculture and Exhibition Cooperative District unanimously approved dissolving the entity on June 20.

The vote is the first in a series of steps that need to be taken to dissolve the board and other entities that had been created for the proposed Alabama Farm Center to be self-sustaining.

Board Chairman Matthew Mims said final approval of the dissolution of the cooperative district and dissolving the Agricultural Authority for the project will be considered by the Chilton County Commission at a later date.

Property that had been put into the cooperative district for the project has already been given back to the city of Clanton and the Chilton County Commission.

Alabama Farmers Federation President Jimmy Parnell has stated that the organization still plans to build the facility. Locations in other counties are being explored.

“I wanted it to work in Chilton County,” Parnell said. “We put in a good effort to make it work, but when there isn’t cooperation among all local government officials, it’s impossible to be successful with an economic development project of this size. I am thankful for the Chilton County commissioners who did work so hard with us to try to make this happen.”