TREE LIGHTING -- Antigo Mayor Sam Hardin, dressed for the wintry weather late Wednesday afternoon, lighted the community Christmas tree on the Community Center campus. |
City closes deal on bowling pin complex Nov. 20, 2008 The city of Antigo made another step forward to assist industrial expansion Wednesday evening.
By a 5-2 vote, the council approved the purchase of the sprawling Brunswick facilities on Edison Street with an understanding that CSP America will grow into the facility with its government contracting business.
After the meeting the city’s director of administrative services, Dale Soumis, said it was another example of the municipality making an investment in the community to provide business and employment opportunities here.
The only item on the agenda was to authorize the issuance and sale of $925,000 in general obligation promissory notes for the purchase of the former Brunswick bowling pin complex at 1529 Edison St. And the action came with some speed with aldermen Ben Eder and Joe Kapusta offering the dissenting votes.
The purchase comes with the understanding that CSP America, owned by Mark and Dawn Schutt, will first lease and eventually buy the property from the city for business expansion.
Wednesday’s session was mainly paperwork.
Mark Schutt attended the meeting and assured the council that plans for the military contract were moving ahead and the project would be very good for his CSP America organization and the City of Antigo.
The purchase of the building was approved by aldermen at a special meeting on Oct. 16.
In his monthly report, Soumis said that the CSP lease-purchase is part of an overall strategy to grow the local economy, even at a time of economic uncertainties at the state and national levels.
Soumis has been upbeat about the program as it advanced since the bowling pin firm quit their phase of its business earlier this year.
He stressed that because of city actions, the local economy is strong and we are continuing to add new jobs, new investment and new opportunities.
CSP America manufactures specialized cargo trailers for the U.S. Army and is working as a subcontractor on a major new government contract.
It currently operates out of a building west of the Brunswick plant, also purchased with city assistance.
Soumis said that through the lease-purchase plan, CSP will be able to reopen the facility as a trailer manufacturing plant with a minimum of 27 new employees and possibly as high as 50. The company has documented work orders for the next five years, he said, and could become one of the city’s base industries.
There is some risk, but even in the worst-case scenario, the impact to taxpayers would be very minor.
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