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MERRITT HERALD Aspen Planers buys Ardew Mill site FREE
THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 2013 • MERRITT NEWSPAPERS
Aspen Planers Ltd. has purchased the Ardew Site but have not confirmed any further plans for the site. Craig Lindsay/Herald
By Craig Lindsay THE HERALD
newsroom@merrittherald.com
A spokesperson for Aspen Planers Ltd. has confirmed that the company has purchased the former Ardew Wood Products Mill site. “We have purchased
Ardew,” said David Gray. “We’re sitting down and reviewing all of our options at this time. There are challenges but we’ve started reviewing the process but we don’t have anything to say at this point.” The Ardew Mill
shut down on January 11 of this year. The shutdown led to 50 lost jobs. Aspen Planers would not confirm the purchase cost, but Gray said they are thankful to Ardew owner Erik Norgaard. “We want to give
acknowledgement to Erik Norgaard and his father for working hard and working in a very difficult environment,” said Gray. “It’s certainly not easy and it’s certainly not clear what the future is, but we’re reviewing all our options at
the present time. This was a big step for Erik. It was a difficult one for him. We respect him. We think a lot of him. We’ve taken on a responsibility of trying to figure out what the future is.” Aspen Planers Ltd. was founded in 1959 by
the Ghog family. The company purchased the former Weyerhauser Mill which became Site B. In 2004, the company completed a $20 million upgrade to the existing breakdown facility at the Merritt mill. Merritt mayor Susan Roline said the purchase of the Ardew site by Aspen Planers is great news for the community. “I think it’s good in the fact that Ardrew isn’t sitting for a long time with Aspen purchasing it,” she said. “They’ll put it into use I imagine as soon as possible. That part of it is really good.” Roline is hopeful the purchase will lead to more forestry jobs down the road. “It depends on how they’re going to use that site,” she said. “Hopefully, they’ll need
more manpower and fill some of those positions vacated by Ardew Wood Products shutting down.” Roline said it’s also a nice bonus to see a Merritt-owned business buying the Ardew site. “Aspen Planers is a large, family-owned company,” she said. “They have the two sites in Merritt and a cedar mill on the coast. They also bought the Fraser Timber Mills site in Lillooet, so they’re pretty big.” It’s a positive sign that businesses are able to sell in the Merritt area quickly, said Roline. “I’ve counted 15 businesses that have changed hands in 2012 and 2013,” she said. “It’s a good sign that people are able to sell their businesses. Most are going fairly quickly.”
Conflict of interest issues boil up at council meeting By Craig Lindsay THE HERALD
newsroom@merrittherald.com
At Merritt’s regular city council meeting on March 26, Coun. Harry Kroeker asked Mayor Susan Roline whether councillors could act as liaisons on committees. Roline responded by saying that council was going to wait until they received more direction from the
province. Kroeker said to Roline, “Why is there one standard for you and one standard for us?” Kroeker also said, “it doesn’t seem like you trust us,” to which Roline responded, “I don’t.” “That’s a sad, sad situation,” said Kroeker. “You talk about team players and you are supposed
to be the leader of the team and you don’t have confidence in the team. That’s a sad situation for the City of Merritt.” In an interview on Tuesday with the Merritt Herald, Roline explained her position. “What his (Kroeker’s) concern is, is why don’t we have council liaisons sitting on many of the nonprofit organizations,”
she said. “I believe that council members’ first duty in their role as a councillor is to focus on city business.” Roline said she has done lots of research on the history of councillors and their roles on various committees and groups. “It seems that over the years, too much focus has been on outside groups and the city being involved
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be there at every meeting.” Roline was quick to point out that groups and committees outside of council are different than committees created within council. “We have our own council committees that are formed by council and they do work for council,” she said.
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question: ‘why do they want a council liaison?’” she said. “What part does the city play in their organization? If it’s just wanting to have information delivered to the city about what they’re doing, that can be done by newsletters, emails. There are lots of avenues through which that information can be shared. It’s not like a councillor has to
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in their business too much and I don’t think that’s good. I think council should focus on what they were elected to do. They weren’t elected to sit on non-profit organizations and have their time taken up there.” Twelve different organizations have requested liaisons from council, said Roline. “I have to ask the
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