[B]RATTLEBORO — Just because Gov. Phil Scott moved his weekly press conference from the state capital to a local paper mill two hours south didn’t necessarily mean he’d make headlines.
Then again, the fact the business was there to host him was big news.
Scott welcomed the operators of the newly named Long Falls Paperboard on Thursday, some three months after the plant’s former proprietor announced it was set to shelve the half-century-old business — maker of the stuff of notebook covers and food and cosmetic packaging — and its 100 jobs.
“This is the way we can do things when we work together,” Scott told town and state leaders at one of the few remaining paperboard producers in the nation.
The Connecticut-based Case Brothers opened the mill off Route 5 in 1961, ushering in decades of operation even after acquisition by Boise Cascade in 1967, Specialty Paperboard in 1989, FiberMark in 1997 and Neenah Paper in 2015.
Then the latter Georgia-based company surprised everyone last fall by announcing it would shutter one of the town’s top 10 employers at the end of the year, explaining it “more recently has been adversely impacted by manufacturing inefficiencies due to changes in … the nature of the office supply category.”
The private, nonprofit Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation, knowing a closure would result in the largest single loss of jobs in Windham County since the 2014 shutdown of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power plant in nearby Vernon, stepped in to seek a buyer before Dec. 31.
Enter the Washington-state-based Long Falls Paperboard, which recently tried and failed to acquire a mill in New York state represented by the same labor union that serves workers at the Brattleboro plant. BDCC and Long Falls created a public-private partnership to enable the complex sale in 60 days.
BDCC has purchased the building and almost 40 acres of grounds for $1 million with plans to work with the state Department of Environmental Conservation to assess the presence of contaminants and potential for cleanup. Once that’s completed, BDCC will sell the property to Long Falls, which bought Neenah’s business equipment for $5 million.
Said BDCC executive director Adam Grinold: “Many states say they can move at the speed of business, but few can deliver on it.”
And Long Falls’ partner Ben Rankin: “When we wanted to go 100 miles per hour, they went 110. We deeply appreciate this support, without which we would never have been able to purchase the paper mill in the very short time available.”
The sale received support from numerous local, regional, and state partners including the Vermont Economic Progress Council, which has approved more than $1 million in potential employment growth incentive payments over the next five years.
BDCC and Long Falls also credited Green Mountain Power’s Economic Development Incentive Program, Efficiency Vermont, the state Agency of Commerce and Community Development’s Training Program, the Windham County Economic Development Program, the Vermont Economic Development Authority and People’s United Bank.
“Everything was done in record time,” Scott said. “It’s just an example of how we can come together to accomplish great things.”