Fred Hill Materials Inc., has filed for protection under Chapter 11 of U.S. bankruptcy laws.
Alex Hill, president and CEO of the Poulsbo family-based company, announced the move Friday, saying it follows the May closure of Westsound Bank.
The company will continue to deliver concrete products from its operations in Port Townsend, Sequim, Poulsbo, and Bremerton, Hill said in a statement.
“Chapter 11 is reorganization, not bankruptcy,” Hill said. “We are not closing, nor going anywhere.
“There will be no interruption in our manufacturing and delivery of ready-mix concrete.”
No layoffs are planned, said Doug Weese, Fred Hill spokesman.
Fred Hill Materials currently employs more than 70 people on the North Olympic and Kitsap peninsulas. Employment levels are typically lowest during winter months, Hill said.
Reorganizing under Chapter 11 will best protect employees and creditors following the failure of the company’s Westsound bank, Hill said.
The company will submit a reorganization plan in the near future that will be supported by creditors and ultimately the court, he added.
“Like so many businesses, we’ve been caught up in the country’s credit crisis and the worst recession in 80 years,” Hill said.
“It’s no picnic. But we’re not doing this because we can’t pay our bills going forward.
“Restructuring our debt under a reorganization is the sensible step for long-term success.”
Fred Hill Materials Inc. is a separate company from the proposed Thorndyke Resource project currently undergoing an environmental review as part of the permitting process in Jefferson County.
Formerly known as the pit-to-pier project, Thorndyke Resource involves a plan to build a 4-mile-long conveyor belt from the company’s Shine gravel pit to a 1,000-foot dock to move gravel to barges for transport out of Hood Canal.
