pLOWVILLE — The company that owns the equipment at the Climax Packaging plant has set a date to auction off the items./ppOn April 1, Climax announced it was immediately ceasing operations to the surprise of workers and the surrounding community./pp“The initial shock is still with us,” said Lewis County Board of Legislators Chairman Michael A. Tabolt./ppMr. Tabolt said the auction date, June 15, being set is just more bad news./pp“It is definitely unfortunate it came down to this,” he said./ppClimax sold its equipment to a Michigan company, Utica Leaseco, in July 2014 for $1.8 million in a buy/lease back agreement./pp“From what I understand the company needed cash so they sold the equipment and continued to lease it,” said Lewis County Industrial Development Agency Executive Director Eric J. Virkler./ppThe IDA took over the lease for the company and the next payment, about $49,500, is due on May 8./pp“We needed to send Utica Leaseco a positive notice yesterday that we would be making the next payment. We did not send that notice,” Mr. Virkler said./ppUtica Leaseco set the date for the auction because the IDA did not indicate it would make further payments, said David K. Levy, president of the company./ppThe auction will be hosted online by Connecticut auction company, Thomas Industries./ppThe auction details and a list of items for sale are available on the a href="http://thomasauction.com/auction-details.asp?id=405"company’s website/a. /ppMr. Virkler said the IDA is not prepared to pay the next payment until a new business is found to take over operations at the plant./ppJames H. Ridgeway, regional representative for the United Steelworkers Union, said the union and IDA have worked hard to find a business to take over operations./pp“We talked to 22 different businesses and some were slightly interested,” Mr. Ridgeway said. “I think the problem is that the place is so heavily leveraged it’s not appealing to a buyer.”/ppMr. Virkler said the challenges to finding a buyer have been the sudden close of operations and the company’s debt./pp“The sudden closure of the plant leads to a loss of customers who are very hard to earn back after they’re lost,” he said. “The financial situation is different now.”/ppMr. Ridgeway said the equipment and operation is less appealing because the plant shut down./pp“When the machines stop they are less valuable in a buyer’s eyes,” he said. “If there had been advanced notice the business would have been easier to sell. It is easier to sell a ship taking on water than one that is sunk.”/ppMr. Levy said the equipment would be auctioned off in bulk to leave the option for an operator to come into the plant./pp“We’ve always left the option open for an operator to come in and take over. We’ve worked closely with the IDA to help the plant get up and running again,” he said. “We don’t like to see redundancies and definitely don’t like to see displacement.”/ppMr. Virkler said the IDA will continue to look for someone to take over operations at the plant./ppHe said if they find a business to take over the IDA could make the payment by next week./ppMr. Levy said the auction will still happen even if the IDA makes the payment./pp“A lot of things could happen at the auction too,” Mr. Virkler said. “Someone could buy the equipment and decide to use it in the building. There is no way to say for sure what will happen at the auction.”/p
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