Lincoln mill owner optimistic

LINCOLN – They don’t expect to hire more workers, but Lincoln Paper and Tissue Co.’s owners should be in the black by February and hope to initiate a 20-month plan to expand the plant’s tissue-making capacity within a few months of achieving solvency.

“Our intent would be to add additional tissue-making capacity, and we’re starting to look into that,” owner Keith Van Scotter said during a dinner held in Lincoln Paper’s honor Thursday night. “We came here saying that we believed that this place had a future, and that’s what we’re seeing.”

Van Scotter and his partner, Lincoln Paper Chief Financial Officer John Wissman, brought Lincoln Paper’s rebirth from the ashes of the abandoned Eastern Pulp and Paper Co. when the partners completed their $23.7 million purchase of the plant in May. Bankrupt since September 2000, Eastern Pulp devastated the town’s economy by laying off 750 people when it abruptly shut down Jan. 16.

Lincoln Paper and Tissue hired 350 workers when it reopened in June, and even with the planned expansion, it probably won’t grow much, if at all, beyond that, Van Scotter said.

With so much of the town’s financial future linked to the mill, the upbeat speeches by Van Scotter and Wissman were a relief to the more than 125 people who attended the dinner, which raised money for a town veterans memorial.

“There’s a psychology that goes with any mill town. When one goes well, the other goes well,” Town Manager Glenn Aho said during the dinner. “Things happened so fast [when Eastern paper closed]. Everybody was reading every headline.”

But Lincoln Paper’s robust performance has buoyed confidence in the local economy, Aho said. He named several enterprises – including Aubuchon Hardware, Steaks ‘N Stuff and Penobscot Valley Regional Hospital, that have expanded in the last year.

Several other businesses have definite plans to open, and buzz fills the air about more, Aho said. If nothing else, all of the talk makes for good water-cooler chat, he said.

“Where would Lincoln be,” Aho said mischievously, “without its 20-year-old rumor about Dunkin’ Donuts coming to town?”

Van Scotter sounded a few cautionary notes, saying that the expansion would be essential to Lincoln Paper’s ability to stay competitive, and he hinted that the town or state might need to help to make that happen.

Still, Lincoln has made his company’s $23.7 million gamble pay off, Van Scotter said, in ways personal and professional.

“We acted in our own enlightened self-interest … but not often in life do you get to put 350 people back to work at good family wages,” he said.