Economic developments gearing up to (re)open

Meat processing plant

nears completion

The Livestock Producers Cooperative Association (LPCA) is nearing the completion of its meat processing facility at the Odessa Industrial Park.

At Monday night’s meeting of the Odessa Public Development Authority, it was reported that the electrical power had been turned on and that only two change requests remained to be approved, one for electrical relocates and the other for the addition of two windows in the abbatoir. The OPDA members approved both. The $2,000 cost still leaves additional money in the group’s contingency fund for that project.

Sue Lani Madsen’s one-year contract as project manager for the construction phase expired at the end of June, but the board also approved a one-month extension to allow her to oversee the final work being performed during July.

Once the final walk-through is performed on July 29, it will take at least another two weeks to obtain USDA certification. After that step is completed, the plant can begin full operation.

OPDA negotiating lease for biodiesel plant

The members of the OPDA continue to wrestle with the terms of a lease agreement that will satisfy themselves and the proposed tenant of the Odessa biodiesel facility. Monday night’s OPDA meeting went into executive session once details of the lease came up for discussion.

The proposed tenant is Columbia Plateau Oil & Energy, LLC, selected by the OPDA following presentations from at least two companies interested in reopening the plant. The company’s principals are Joel Edmonds and Wally Kempe, the same two whose company 1138, LLC shuttered the plant last January after declaring Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

The bankruptcy court was petitioned to allow OPDA to resume ownership of the plant and its equipment and to search for a tenant to reopen the plant. After listening to the presentations, the OPDA board selected Columbia Plateau Oil & Energy and began the long process of lease negotiation.

Edmonds and Kempe were present at the meeting Monday, along with their attorney. Several former workers at the plant were also present. It was said at the meeting that the attorney for the tenants had met with OPDA attorney Mark DeWulf that morning, and that the two had spent four hours going over the lease line by line. There still appeared to be points of contention, however, as the parties agreed that an executive session should be called.

OPDA attorney Mark DeWulf said the lease negotiations had taken about a month, with each side trying to ensure that the best possible protections were in place for each party. Once the lease is signed by both parties, he said, it must be approved by the state of Washington and by the tenant’s lender. Then the plant can resume operation. According to DeWulf, that should all happen “soon,” since he feels that most of the hard negotiating is behind them and that the parties are close to signing an agreement.

For the former workers at the plant who are about to see their unemployment payments run out, it won’t be any too soon.