SUBLETTE COUNTY – A former California

man who moved his manufacturing

facility to Pinedale said his business has “an

explosion of work” and asked Sublette County

commissioners to support his loan request to

buy and expand his facility.

Kate Dahl and Wyoming Business Council’s

Elaina Zempel came to the Nov. 20 meeting

at Big Piney Town Hall with Geoff Keogh,

owner of Enviremedial Services, Inc.

Keogh said he relocated to Pinedale and

leases a building near the airport to build specialty

water equipment that is used by the military

in the United States and Puerto Rico.

“We decided to move our manufacturing

to Sublette County,” he said. “The business

environment is very good compared to San

Diego, with the intent to start a manufacturing

division.”

The Army is using his water-filtering system

to take rainwater and make it potable, “all

off the grid,” he explained. “With three hurricanes

last year, we’ve had an explosion of

work.”

The business needs more manufacturing

space and more employees to work and Keogh

said he would like to buy his current building

so he can expand it to meet demand.

To get $1 million worth of equipment to

Puerto Rico requires his 100-percent payment

before it gets put on a boat. Military payments

are often very slow, so Keogh used a line of

credit but does not want to use a bank for financing

the purchase “that would triple our

costs.”

Keogh, Dahl and Zempel described the

Wyoming Business Council’s “businessready”

grant for which he seeks for $1.1 million.

That grant would allow him to buy the

building immediately, expand and hire more

people. He has seven employees and hopes to

hire another 15 or 20.

Under the grant requirements, Sublette

County would be the fiduciary agent and

charge Enviromedial a monthly lease for a revenue

recapture plan, Dahl explained. Seventyfive

percent of the monthly income would go

to the county and 25 percent to WBC.

Dahl said the next step is to complete the

grant application and bring it before commissioners

at their Dec. 4 meeting. The last time

the county sponsored a business-ready grant

was for Callahan Cabinets, a number of years

ago, which was not successful..

Zempel explained that this particular business-

ready grant falls right into the quarterly

cycle and a county letter of support would go

a long way to help the State Land and Investment

Board view it favorably. Her staff and

board have done site visits and recommend the

grant, which has a “life” of about five years.

The county could do its reports online,

she added. “You will retain ownership of the

building” and get the benefits of new jobs in

exchange for 0-percent interest.

Keogh told commissioners when he moved

the business to Sublette County he “never

dreamed it would be this big.”

Along with maintenance of Army base facilities,

the company was just awarded a similar

contract from the Marine Corps. Keogh

said he is using as many Sublette County and

Wyoming suppliers as possible and expects

to run most of their operations from Sublette

County within the next couple of years.

Chair Andy Nelson scheduled the public

hearing for the $1.1-million grant application

request for the commission’s meeting on

Tuesday, Dec. 4. n