Morris town council wants to move forward on expanding its industrial park area.

Mayor Scott Crick says the community has very little land for industrial sale and that situation needs to change in order to encourage growth.

"We've had at least two companies that I'm aware of that have approached the town about available industrial land, and because the town had nothing ready that could be turned over quickly, both of those business interests have moved on from our community."

The town would like to expand its industrial park inside the dike area but would need to purchase it from local landowners who are still farming that property.

"I know town councils in the past have attempted to purchase some of the land within the dike but has not been successful. So, we're just launching the process again for this new council to talk to the owners of the property and see if we can get some property that we'll have available for future industrial development in the community."

Crick says it would be nice to have some property ready to go to accommodate any future industrial inquiries.

"Locating large industrial tenants ... is very, very important to the future sustainability of our community, not just because of their contributions to the tax base, but it would also encourage housing starts, which in turn would also contribute to the tax base."