Mett family donates land for new Hartley daycare facility

The plight of the Hartley Community Daycare Center became a philanthropic opportunity of a lifetime for one local family.

Franklin Mett, owner of the Mett Family Trust, recently donated 1.16 acres of his farmland for a new daycare building in Hartley. With two great-grandchildren in the current facility, he felt it was an issue worth contributing to.

"The dilapidation of the current building and premises called for a new course of action," Mett said. "I felt that if we could do something to help them with the daycare, then I wanted to do that."

Mett donated the land earlier this fall. After all procedural steps were cleared, the city council last week rezoned the plot from A-1 Agricultural District to R-2 Multiple Family Residential District.

Daycare Director Kaity Pedley said several other locations were explored, but they ultimately proved fruitless before Mett stepped forward.

"Ray and Donna Ahlers were initially going to give us a portion of their land, but we ran into a few issues," she said. "Since Franklin's land was next to the school – our ideal location – we chose to go that route. We appreciate Ray and Donna's generosity so much, because they worked so hard to get things moving."

The parcel was part of a larger 22-acre plot farmed by the Mett family, who've owned the land for around 30 years, Franklin said.

"It's the best piece of ground we have in the trust," he noted. "I think the proximity to the school should be a plus for the daycare."

Mett said the family has reinvested in the land, which extends to Hartley's north corporate limits between North 2nd Avenue W and N 3rd Avenue West.

"It's well tiled, and probably has the best tile system you could put into the ground there," he said. "It's always been my feeling that if I have ground, I want it to produce the best it can. I've always been focused on improving the ground we have."

Mett's son, James, rents the ground from the trust and farms it each year. Franklin said James' blessing was the final step in donating a portion of it to the daycare.

"He wants his great-niece and great-nephew to have the best daycare facility we can offer them," he said. "Him signing off on it was the most important thing."

Pedley said the Mett family's contribution would be remembered in the community for years to come.

"We will be forever thankful for Franklin Mett and his family. While it was a topic of heavy discussion, Franklin knew how important this center was to the community and chose to continue to support us," she said. "Without him or Ray's willingness to donate to us, we are unsure where we would be in this process of building. It truly takes people like this in our community to keep it thriving and growing."

Plans for a new daycare in Hartley have been in the works for more than a year, as costly repairs to the current facility have become increasingly common. The new $1.7 million facility will create more space to address a demand for care – capacity will increase from 67 now to 110 – and allow for more programming opportunities for children while expanding after-school offerings.

Pedley hoped for dirt work to start in February or March, but an official groundbreaking date is out of anyone's control.

"We are hoping for a warm winter to be able to start sooner, but we are at the hands of Mother Nature right now," she said.