In a just released economic impact statement released to The Daily Herald, The American Eagle Paper Mill said it had put nearly $50 million into the economy in 2004.
According to the release, the “positive cash generated to Pennsylvania Businesses” was listed at $20,341,000.
The mill started operations under Team Ten LLC ownership in November of 2003. The mill had been shut down in 2001, costing the area 265 jobs.
According to Clark Adelman, Team Ten partner, the plant now employs about 210 people, including about 110 who reside in the Tyrone Area School District. Adelman said 66 of the employees are Tyrone Borough residents.
Those residents are served by Tyrone’s Borough Council and its mayor. A municipal body which has seen some recent changes after years of stability and faces more changes for a variety of reasons.
Former councilman J.R. Watson resigned in December and Don Boytim was appointed to replace him. Boytim now seeks an elected two-year term. Boytim and three other sitting council members seeking four-year terms face opposition from a group of candidates billing itself as “Team Tyrone.”
Earlier this week, it was a case of two “teams” coming together when “Team Tyrone” candidates met with Team Ten officials and toured the paper mill.
One of those on hand for Monday’s paper mill tour was “Team Tyrone” member Bill Fink. In addition to the slate of council candidates, Fink is seeking to become mayor after winning a council seat in the 2003 voting.
If he were to be elected as the town’s top dog this November, he’d leave a vacancy on council by moving from that seat to the mayor’s chair. The vacancy would have to be filled by appointment since Fink would still have two years left on his four-year council term. Current mayor Patricia Stoner has announced she will not seek a third term. The other announced mayoral candidate is Jim Kilmartin.
Additionally, earlier this year, councilperson Sharon Dannaway took a leave of absence to become the borough’s interim manager. If she were to be appointed to the position permanently, she would have to resign her council seat leaving another vacancy subject to appointment. The borough has said it is likely to take action on a permanent manager within six months of Dannaway’s January appointment.
“Team Tyrone” has touted the need to work together and create sound partnerships with the borough’s neighboring communities and with industrial and business partners
Monday’s tour by the group was one such effort along those lines. The paper mill’s Adelman said the company welcomes visits by any political candidate.
The economic impact information was also offered to the “Team Tyrone” members. The tour was followed by a question and answer period with Adelman and other paper mill officials. The Daily Herald and other members of the media were also invited to tour the facility with the group. The Herald was the only member of the media in attendance.
The mill’s economic impact statement detailed more than $7,548,000 being paid in salaries and benefits in 2004. It noted the mill has 28 salaried employees, 170 hourly employees and 10 part-time workers.
The company president, John Ferner, was out of town during the first part of the week, so Adelman and others conducted the tour which included a look at how the plant recycles paper products and turns them into new products for its customers.
Questions about safety were addressed and Adelman said the safety record was “comparable” to when the mill was under Westvaco ownership. He noted that many current employees have only a little more than a year of experience so there is “a learning curve” not seen previously. The company is initiating a new “safety incentive” program which could benefit employees economically if certain standards are met.
Officials said the company is doing better than expected, although production was down around the Christmas season. The plant operates 24 hours-a-day, seven days a week in 12-hour shifts.
The company praised Tyrone’s private trucking industry as they noted its importance to the mill’s operations. Officials said most of the companies it does business with are within a 500-mile radius of Tyrone.
The use of coal, to the tune of seven truckloads a day, was mentioned as being significant in the operations as well as the company being a large customer of energy provider Penelec.
Adelman said the company also spent $429,000 in sewage costs in 2004 which works out to a little more than $35,000 monthly.
The American Eagle Paper Mill’s main line of products includes envelopes, business reply cards and index cards made from recycled paper.
