However, with a collapsed roof and blown out walls, leaders said rebuilding the ConAgra Foods plant won't be easy. But knowing 900 families are counting on jobs, the town said it made the decision to rebuild an easy one.
"It's extremely important and based on the conversation that I had with the corporate people last Wednesday night, they wanted permits and they want them as quickly as they can get them," Garner Mayor Ronnie Williams said.
The mayor said the town would expedite permits to get the area's second largest employer reopened quickly, but more importantly safely.
Some ConAgra employees have also volunteered to help clean-up the site, while others said it was too soon to go back.
"For me personally, not right now, but later on yeah," ConAgra worker Colleen Thorpe said. "A lot of these people I work with, I've seen them just as much as I see my family, so it's kind of hard."
Mayor Williams said he felt reopening would be part of the healing process and he would like to host a town barbecue for everyone who responded.
"We grieve together and we heal together, and it is important to the healing process," Williams said.
On Wednesday, the chemical safety board is supposed to wrap up its investigation and share its findings with town leaders in order to move forward.
