Rand-Whitney: It's a new day in relationship with town of Montville

Rand-Whitney: It's a new day in relationship with town of Montville
By Jeffrey A. Johnson
Publication: The Day

Montville company looking forward to better relations with town; Blumenthal visits facility

Montville - The general manager of Rand-Whitney Containerboard said Tuesday that the paper manufacturer has moved past a long-standing period of acrimony that it shared with the town.

Officials from Rand-Whitney spent the better part of Tuesday afternoon showing U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., the ins and outs of the facility on Route 163.

Richard Hartman, the plant general manager, said afterward that the company wants to better educate the community on its practices and business. With Mayor Ronald K. McDaniel Jr. present, the tour with Blumenthal also was designed as the latest step toward a better relationship with the town.

"We've settled a lot of those disputes, and we're on a better track," Hartman said of the legal proceedings between Rand-Whitney and the town. "We're not the bad guys that maybe we were made out to be in the past."

Blumenthal is traveling the state and visiting technical schools, community colleges and manufacturing plants to get a better sense of trade-intensive training and jobs.

He is a co-sponsor of a bill that aims to modernize and improve community colleges and introduced another bill that would offer training for low-income, unemployed adults. Hartman led Blumenthal through the plant and also gave the senator a presentation on Rand-Whitney's products and history.

After the town and the company argued in court for years over how much Rand-Whitney should pay in sewage fees, the town was ordered to pay a court-ordered settlement of $11.7 million plus interest.

In June, the two sides came to a two-part agreement that aimed to put an end to all the legal battles. Part of the agreement calls for the town to charge Rand-Whitney the same sewer usage fees as it charges other commercial businesses.

The town is scheduled in the next fiscal year to make its first payment of approximately $1.35 million to the company.

The paper manufacturer employs about 110 people, and 20 percent of its employees are town residents, Jim Wood, the company's chief administrative officer, said.

In a meeting with some of Rand-Whitney's employees, Blumenthal commended the company for hiring veterans - it reports that veterans comprise 18 percent of its work force. Blumenthal also said his tour would help him when he returns to the Senate.

"Economic growth has to be a priority in Washington," he said. "The pictures that I can take back are important to convince my colleagues to invest in skill training."

A paper mill has operated on Rand-Whitney's current property since 1868. Led by the Kraft family, Rand-Whitney Packaging Co. bought the site in 1986. Robert Kraft, the chief executive officer, is also owner of the New England Patriots.

Rand-Whitney annually produces about 250,000 tons of recycled kraft linerboard. The plant's energy comes from a neighboring cogeneration plant, which produces 16 megawatts of electricity and also heats the mill.