The Marshall County Council voted by majority Thursday night to approve a resolution that would rescind a previous decision to provide funding for Blue Zones.
The resolution simply stated that the council voted to provide financial support in the amount of $525,000 for the Blue Zones initiative by a vote of 5-2 on August 8, 2022, but the council would now rescind that support and “oppose any future support for Blue Zone funding”.
Council President Jesse Bohannon mentioned that he received feedback that some other municipalities were considering withdrawing funding. Councilman Will Patterson and Councilwoman Nicole Cox also offered comments.
Patterson stated, “I just want to say I think the majority of people do not like Blue Zones for a variety of reasons, either they don’t like the concept or they don’t like government being in it. I definitely support this.”
Cox commented, “I’ve done a lot of research and I’ve talked to a lot of people and the answer is no, we don’t need government in this and we don’t need to support a for-profit and spend millions of dollars to bring a for-profit business in.”
Councilman Tim Harman said while there are some positive aspects of Blue Zones with aspirations toward a healthier lifestyle, he does not support funding it.
“It’s very costly and it’s very speculative and there’s no guaranteed outcome. I will say this for local government – we know what we’re getting when we spend $525,000 on roads, bridges, parks, etc. We don’t know what we’re getting exactly. So, it just seems to me that if we’re going to spend money we should spend it wisely. Therefore, I opposed Blue Zones then and I oppose it now.”
With no other discussion by the members, the council voted 6-1 to approve the resolution with Councilman Jim Masterson with the lone dissenting vote.
