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Specialty Filaments To Reopen

New Owners Purchase Plant

photo provided

Tuesday February 6, 2007

By Mike Cameron

    After a rollercoaster of emotional highs and lows, the labor force in Addison County received a healthy dose of good news on Wednesday the last day of January 2007.  

    Specialty Filaments, the bankrupt and closed Middlebury plastic extrusion company was purchased on Tuesday January 30, 2007 by Illinois based Monahan SFI, LLC a subsidiary of Thomas Monahan Inc. (TMI) headquarted in Arcola, Illinois.  

    The transaction took place in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Burlington.  The published purchase price was listed at 3.125-million dollars.

    Monahan company officials have indicated that they were planning to reopen the Middlebury plant as early as February 5, 2007.  

    The new company also indicated that it plans to reemploy 80-percent of the former SFI, 175 member workforce within a year as they begin to recall workers who lost their jobs when the plant suddenly closed last month.

    The Addison County Economic Development Corporation and the Addison County Chamber of Commerce were quick to respond to the needs of displaced SFI workers after the initial plant closing by organizing a Jobs Fair locally.

    The Douglas Administration is  also credited with quick reaction to the employment crisis.

    Monahan SFI will be able to take advantage of incentive commitments of $758,806 through The Vermont Economic Progress Council’s Vermont Employment Growth Incentive Program (VEGI) according to Jamie Stweart, Executive Director of the Addison County Development Corporation.  “We are almost there,” Stewart explained to The Valley Voice on Thursday afternoon February 1, 2007 reacting to ongoing developments between the new owners, the unionized workers at the former SFI, as well as state and local officials.  “It’s a win for Addison County and a new challenge for everyone involved.  All of us will continue to work to create opportunities to have all of these jobs restored,” he said.

    The reopening of a key employer here in Addison County takes some of the sting out of a terrible blow to the regions economy after the former SFI,followed shortly by Standard Register Company decided to close their doors leaving a combined total of 287 well paid and highly skilled workers to ponder their futures.  

    Standard will close it’s doors in Middlebury for good at the end of March.  Workers there have been offered an opportunity to bid on other  job openings in the company nationwide.

    Monahan SFI LLC’s decision to invest in Addison County adds some positive news for the area’s recently battered labor force.

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