PARSONS ? The Labette County Commission says it will support the Pentagon’s decision to close an ammunitions plant here but will push for a deal that would allow the longtime operator of the facility to stay there.

The commission issued a proclamation Wednesday night supporting the inclusion of the Kansas Army Ammunition Plant, which employs 276 people, on the Defense Department’s Base Realignment and Closure list, commonly known as BRAC. A commission will review the recommendations and forward a final list to President Bush by Sept. 8.

County commissioners will push for a deal that would allow Day & Zimmermann Inc. to stay at the plant with the ability to bid for U.S. military munitions contracts. Such a deal would mean a local redevelopment authority would buy the 14,000-acre property and could use some of it for new development.

County Commissioner Jerry Carson said the resolution was a result of meetings with several parties, including officials from Day & Zimmermann, which needs about 8,000 acres of the property. The other 5,000 acres could be used for other development, Carson said.

“We all reached the same conclusion: This would save existing jobs and create others,” Carson said before proposing the proclamation, which referred to Day & Zimmermann as “an important employer and partner in the economic future of all of Labette County.”

Day & Zimmermann has been running the facility since March 1970.

Ken Elliott, Day & Zimmermann’s acting director at the plant, said such community support will be necessary for the company to remain part of the area’s economy. Elliott said company officials would be meeting next week with two members of the BRAC commission.