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