Maine paper mill demolition comes to a halt

Demolition crews working at the former Verso Paper mill in Bucksport, Maine, have reportedly walked off the job in mid-March after the firm that hired them failed to pay them for the work. A report in the Bangor Daily News says, says according to that city’s interim town manager, Susan Lessard, DeNovo Constructors, failed to pay subcontractors for work. The Chicago-based firm was hired by AIM Development to demolish and remove portions of the mill building from the 250-property.

Lessard told the newspaper DeNovo is having financial difficulty and noted, “I am sure [AIM is] even more unhappy with this stoppage than we are.”

The article references a case in Illinois Federal Court where DeNovo was sued for failing to make pension payments and to pay union dues on behalf of its workers. The case was settled in September 2015 but was reopened in December when DeNovo reportedly failed to make a scheduled payment  as part of the settlement. On March 9, a federal judge terminated the civil case and ordered DeNovo’s bank to turn over $36,800 to the independently controlled pension fund and ordered the company to obtain and maintain a $50,000 surety bond “to guarantee payment of future wages and benefit contributions,” the article states.

AIM Development, a subsidiary of Montreal-based American Iron and Metal, acquired the former paper mill after Verso decided to shut the facility at the end of 2014.

The town of Bucksport reportedly set a 12- to 14-month to completion timeline in the demolition permit that it issued to AIM last fall. As a condition of the demolition permit the town required the property owner to post two bonds to guarantee completion of the project. One ensures a bond of $3.9 million, directly accessible to the town, in the event that AIM does not complete the demolition project. The other gives AIM seven years to find new uses for concrete foundations at the property and or guarantees up to an additional $600,000 to have the foundations removed if new uses cannot be found, according to the article.

AIM is reportedly seeking another contractor to finish the work.