PORT ANGELES — The Port of Port Angeles expects to know on Monday if a former KPly mill employee will have the financing needed to purchase the closed mill.
George Schoenfeldt, port commissioner, said that a former KPly salesperson, Josh Remshaw, and his business partners, are seeking to purchase the operation from the owner, Klukwan Inc. of Alaska.
Remshaw could not be located.
Schoenfeldt declined to name Remshaw’s business partners.
The 67-year-old plywood mill on Marine Drive in Port Angeles has been closed since Nov. 2.
Klukwan made the layoffs of the 132 employees permanent on April 28.
The company owes the port $100,000 in rent and fees, Bob McChesney, port executive director, has said.
The company has until Aug. 26 to make the payment, Schoenfeldt said.
If the company misses the deadline, the port would have the authority to foreclose on the mill, he said.
“We don’t want to take control, but we will foreclose” if necessary, Schoenfeldt said.
Since Remshaw may soon enter into purchase negotiations with the company, Schoenfeldt said the port would hold off on foreclosure, if the mill could be purchased within a few weeks after the deadline.
“We would have to have a guarantee that we would get our money back,” he said.
Schoenfeldt said Klukwan will remain obligated to pay back rent if it sells the mill.
Lynn Longan, state International Trade and Economic Development Division Olympic Region manager — who had worked with Klukwan in the past, seeking financing — said she hasn’t been notified of a possible purchase of the mill.
Klukwan Inc. board members and Woodworker union representatives were unavailable for comment on Friday and Saturday.
