PORT ANGELES — The City Council will decide Tuesday, after a public hearing, whether to seek a $500,000 grant on behalf of Peninsula Plywood.
The struggling mill is seeking a state Department of Commerce grant to cover operating costs, including buying supplies and materials.
The city would apply for the grant on behalf of the mill.
The funds would help the mill add jobs equivalent to 20 full-time positions as it aims to increase production and expand into the Japanese market, according to the city.
The Port Angeles City Council will meet at 6 p.m. in council chambers at City Hall, 321 E. Fifth St. Public hearings will be held at about 7 p.m.
The grant request comes at a time when the mill is missing its lease payments to the Port of Port Angeles and recently cut pay by 10 percent for its hourly workers.
Pay cut in November
Mill managers said they took the same pay cut in November.
The company began missing payments late last year, said port Executive Director Jeff Robb.
Port Finance Director Bill James said the company owes $70,633 in rent. That includes a 1 percent-per-month interest rate.
Robb said the port has not received a repayment plan from the mill, which it requested three weeks ago.
PenPly President Josh Renshaw did not return a request for comment.
The port granted the company a rent deferral plan when it took ownership of the shuttered mill in August 2009. The mill reopened in March 2010.
Currently, the mill is required to pay 90 percent of its $13,500-per-month lease.
That’s up from 50 percent in October.
PenPly will be required to pay its full lease in August.
Beginning in December, it will have to start making the deferred payments, which will bump its lease to $15,257 per month.
The mill pays a $1,733 leasehold tax on top of the rent.
Several tax warrants also were filed against the mill earlier this year for unpaid unemployment and industrial insurance taxes.
The mill employs about 130 people.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.