PORT ANGELES — Peninsula Plywood president Josh Renshaw said he hopes to open the shuttered mill the company acquired this year with about 125 employees in January, after hearing that Gov. Chris Gregoire has allocated $250,000 for the firm in her supplementary budget request.
The funding still has to be approved by the state Legislature, which begins a new session on Jan. 11.
Renshaw said the money wouldn’t secure all of the needed funding, but “it’s an important piece of the puzzle.”
“We’re working as hard as we can to get this thing going,” he said. “And I hope we will be able to start production in a month or so.”
He added that there is no guarantee of when the mill on the Port Angeles waterfront, formerly known as KPly, will open.
Renshaw said 20 people, mostly administrators, have been hired.
By the end of the month, the company must employ 60 to comply with its lease with the Port of Port Angeles, which owns the 19-acre site the mill sits on.
Renshaw said he is on track to meet that goal but added that he isn’t ready to advertise for all of the positions yet.
The mill, when it opens, will start with 125 employees, he said.
In total, Renshaw said PenPly will eventually employ 175 people.
“This is about job creation,” said Rep. Kevin Van De Wege, D-Sequim, of the grant, in a prepared statement released Tuesday.
Van De Wege represents the 24th Legislative District, which includes the North Olympic Peninsula and a portion of Grays Harbor County.
“Jobs are what will get us out of this recession and PenPly, with the state’s help, is going to create family-wage jobs right here in Port Angeles,” he said.
Klukwan Inc. of Alaska, closed the mill in April 2008 after laying off its work force of 132 people the November before.
PenPly acquired the mill from Sterling Savings Bank in August.
Renshaw has said that the company’s goal is to produce 5 million board-feet of plywood a month.
Clallam County has also provided PenPly with some financial help.
Last week the Clallam County commissioners approved an $85,000 grant from its Opportunity Fund for the port to upgrade the publicly owned facilities at the mill.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
