Bobbi Goebel would have been at Monday’s town meeting on diversity if it hadn’t been for a bad sinus infection.

Thursday, October 28, 1999

Bobbi Goebel would have been at Monday’s town meeting on diversity if it hadn’t been for a bad sinus infection. She’d be here now, but she’s still sick. She will be here, she said, for the Nov. 1 Austin City Council meeting.

The president of MetroTemp Employment Agency, Goebel won’t be here only to rebut the accusations made by Hugo Luna at Monday’s League of Women Voter’s meeting. She will also be here to ask the council to help her with the soup kitchen she wants to start in Austin.

Goebel, who describes herself as a good Catholic mother of seven and a millionaire, is "sick at heart" about the things that were said about her and MetroTemp by Luna.

In a phone interview Wednesday, Goebel countered Luna’s accusations.

Luna claimed to have been brought here by MetroTemp.

Goebel said, "Luna never worked for MetroTemp, that she got the job at QPP through a friend and was located here by some people she used to share an apartment with. We have no records of Luna ever being employed by us."

Luna said there were 27 people living in Goebel’s farmhouse at one time.

Goebel doesn’t live in the farmhouse; she lives in Des Moines, and wasn’t monitoring the situation in August when the house was allegedly crammed with people. She said she had a couple at the farmhouse – the wife used to run her office in Des Moines and now works for Goebel in Nebraska – who had admitted that things got a little "out of hand."

Goebel said she couldn’t give the names of the couple because of laws concerning employee confidentiality. She never saw that many people at the farmhouse, but heard rumors that there were up to 100.

"The numbers we heard were ridiculous," Goebel said. "Because they couldn’t find apartments, people thought they could sneak into my home. When we were given word that this was happening – which was two months after some Austin agencies had heard about it but never called me – my husband and I came up immediately, called the police and went to the farmhouse. There were only three people there and no signs of great numbers of people except for the amount of garbage that had accumulated."

Luna said MetroTemp promised free food, transport and accommodation to people for two weeks if they would come to Austin to work for Quality Pork Processors but after arriving here, there was no food and the couple running the farmhouse advised her – and others – to go to the Salvation Army for food.

"If there were 10 people living there and going to the Salvation Army for food, that’s because they know how to milk the system," Goebel said. "None of those names (of the people who gave Goebel’s farmhouse as their address to the Salvation Army) were on our list of employees," Goebel said.

"If it were my charity, we would have allowed six people from the same address to take food, and we wouldn’t be giving away six weeks worth at a time."

She added that individuals who came to Austin through MetroTemp came with a paycheck in their pocket and a suitcase – including bed linens and clothes if they had them.

Luna said Goebel is exploiting people, and making money by bringing them here for QPP.

Goebel said she doesn’t make any money from bringing people here, and, in fact, she is the founder of a charity called The Life and Liberty Foundation that provides blankets and food over the holidays to people in need.

"MetroTemp has batch postings," Goebel said. "That means someone can walk in and see that an employee in California or Minnesota is looking for 500 or 100 or how ever many people … MetroTemp is just giving information to people – people who know they can improve themselves if they get that kind of work.

"MetroTemp is my ministry work; I like to help people who have been wrongly dismissed of laid off. With me owning an employment agency, I can make sure people aren’t discriminated against because of age or other things … and that they do jobs they are qualified for."

QPP management refused to comment.

The Mission House

In reply to Mike Woods’ statements about The Mission House – another building owned by Goebel north of Austin which is used to house workers who learn of Austin’s employment needs through MetroTemp – Goebel said her vision is a place where people can go until they can find a place to live that would provide one nutritious meal a day and free sleeping for up to 10 people.

"If people sign up, the Life and Liberty Foundation will give them a note and make them aware that they can go to the Mission House for two weeks," Goebel said. "Mike Woods was staying at a Mission House here in Des Moines and he came to Austin on his own, not through MetroTemp – he has a bad record with us."

Goebel is hoping she can get help with the Mission House, but contemplating giving up on Austin, a place she initially said she and her husband would like to retire to.

"If they (people in Austin) are going to use me as a punching bag, I’ll pack up and leave and hire a high-caliber manager and run the Mission House as a hotel. I didn’t expect to be a part of Austin’s homeless problem."