SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Project Prison Reset’s task force members have endorsed construction at existing Department of Corrections sites or proposed sites in the Mitchell, S.D. or Worthing, S.D. areas. However, each of the mayors of those latter two towns is not in favor of the location near their community.

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“Personally, I do not support it,” Worthing Mayor Crystal Jacobson said Wednesday. “It will be financially impacting on our town in a way that I don’t know if we can recover from it.”

“I don’t support it just because the people don’t appear to support it around our town,” Mitchell Mayor Jordan Hanson said Wednesday. “So, I hate to be the guy that does the opposite of what the people elected me to do … I don’t know better than the people I’m elected to represent, so that’s what I’m doing.”

Hanson says his thinking has evolved.

“When I first heard about it, I was really excited about it, the promise of jobs and economic expansion and just the betterment it could bring to our community was my initial reaction, and that’s why I was like, this sounds great,” Hanson said.

Now, he has a clear message for anyone considering the sites.

“If they want or the task force or the state wants it to come to Mitchell, they better really step up their game and start getting people information in our community if they really want to get people on board,” Hanson said.

Jacobson is focused on the financial considerations.

“We do not have enough structure for additional housing if inmates’ families or workers want to move down there,” Jacobson said. “We just built a new sewer system that’ll accommodate 130 houses, and after that we would have to go the next step up in the sewer. We don’t have the money for it. We’re on a very small budget.”

The task force’s next meeting is scheduled for July 8. Eventually, a special session of the state legislature is planned where lawmakers can learn about the task force’s recommendations.