BAILEYVILLE – Fifty people learned earlier this week that their jobs have been axed at Domtar Industries’ pulp and paper mill, and people in this mill town are shaking their heads wondering what this community of nearly 1,400 will do next.

The layoffs will take place over the next 12 months.

On Monday, Domtar announced it planned to restructure its activities to improve its cost competitiveness.

“The Woodland mill has conducted an in-depth analysis and review of its business operations and resulting manpower needs,” the company said in a prepared release. “This workforce reduction will mainly result from the sharing of best practices between Domtar’s manufacturing facilities as well as a concerted effort by all to reduce spending.”

Those employees who are being let go will be eligible for financial assistance and be given access to outplacement services. Work force reductions also will be achieved through attrition.

“This is to bring our mill more in line with what the benchmark is for the number of employees to run an operation of our size compared to other industries of our size across the country,” human resources manager Charlie Snelling said Tuesday.

The loss of jobs will affect both hourly and salaried employees and comes on the heels of layoffs announced last year at neighboring Louisiana-Pacific.

The Oregon-based L-P announced in October it would temporarily close its doors, idling more than 100 workers. The company said it would continue to monitor market conditions, but did not say when it planned to resume production at its oriented strandboard mill.

The Domtar mill produces northern hardwood pulp and business and printing paper products. At one time, the mill employed more than 900 people. With this latest cut in staff, that number will drop to fewer than 500. The Montreal-based Domtar purchased the mill from Georgia-Pacific Corp. of Atlanta in August 2001.

Town Manager Scott Harriman said he considered the layoffs just another dose of bad news for the community. “We feel for the families of the employees involved,” he said. “I feel strongly that Domtar has looked at their operation and hasn’t come to this decision easily, and I don’t think they take a decision of this magnitude lightly.”

Harriman said the layoffs at the two companies would have an impact on all of Washington County.

“The Washington County economy isn’t in the position that we’d like it to be in. It can’t necessarily absorb more than 150 workers,” he said.

Town Council Chairman Doug Jones Tuesday called the downsizing disappointing. “To have so many people laid off,” he said, “it really is a shocker to me.”

Councilor Tim Call suggested the council and Domtar meet to discuss the company’s short- and long-term strategies. “It’s devastating,” Call said. “We’ve got to get some answers.”

Snelling said mill general manager Debby Feck had notified town officials Monday of the restructuring plan.

“That contact already has been made,” Snelling said. “If they contacted us to make any determination as to where we are going and what our path forward is, we are always open to meet with the City Council folks.”

Although the firm said the cut in jobs would take place over the next year, four people, including the mill’s public relations spokesman, Gaile Nicholson, learned Monday they were jobless.

“She is a great lady,” Councilor Linda Rayner said. “She did a lot for Domtar. She was a professional and did a lot of things for a lot of people. She will really be missed.”

Jones also had high praise for Nicholson. “I thought Gaile had done a real good job for them, and I was really surprised to hear it,” he said.

The volatile paper market has led to other shutdowns in the past, and employees have watched their jobs seesaw back and forth.

In January 2002, the mill closed for about two weeks, just three days after workers returned to work. That shutdown affected about 100 employees, but this is the first time the mill under Domtar’s leadership has slashed jobs.

U.S. Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins announced Tuesday that a local taskforce in the Baileyville area they helped form will provide assistance to Domtar workers in such areas as job retraining, education, job search, and relocation and reemployment services.