May 24, 2007 in Business

Business in briefL Engineering firms combine forces

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Two North Idaho engineering firms merged to create a 55-person company, which will be known as Inland Northwest Consultants.

The merger involved Lake City Engineering and Inland Northwest Consultants, which both started in the mid-1990s. The main office is at 1296 E. Polston Ave. in Post Falls, with a second office in Priest River. Additional offices are planned for Coeur d’Alene and Boise.

CEO Brant Morris said the merger will help the new firm stay competitive during a period of market slowdown. New subdivisions account for most of the company’s workload, but the number of new lots created has dropped by 20 percent to 25 percent, he said.

Combining staffs will allow the new firm to broaden its scope and geographic reach, he said. The firm will also be able to respond more quickly to customers, Morris said.

Inland Northwest Consultants will work with clients in Idaho, Montana and Washington.

Coeur d’Alene

Reforester can’t get U.S. contracts

A Coeur d’Alene reforestation firm has been barred from receiving federal contracts for three years.

Progressive Environmental LLC owes back wages to 73 employees as a result of failure to pay prevailing wage, fringe benefits and holiday pay as required by federal law, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The company also illegally deducted transportation costs from employees’ pay, an administrative law judge determined.

The employees worked in tree planting and thinning, herbicide application and slash burning. Federal law requires federal contractors to pay their workers no less than the wage rates and fringe benefits prevailing in the locality.

Progressive Environmental owners Bruce Campbell and Randy Humbert could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Houston

Lay’s widow fights for assets

The widow of Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay is asking a judge to let her keep nearly $13 million in assets – particularly the family condominium – that the federal government is trying seize.

In a court filing last week, attorneys for Linda Lay asked U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein Jr. to throw out the government’s civil action, which was filed after Kenneth Lay’s criminal convictions related to Enron’s downfall were vacated following his death last year.

Federal authorities claim $12.7 million in assets they are trying to seize were “proceeds of the fraud proven in the criminal case against Lay.”

If the entire complaint can’t be thrown out, Linda Lay’s attorneys asked that at least claims to the couple’s home be dismissed.

Linda Lay contends she, not her husband, is the owner of the assets the government is trying to seize. In his will, Kenneth Lay left all of his assets to his wife.

Prosecutors are looking to take three things: $2.5 million of the value of the couple’s condominium in one of Houston’s most exclusive high-rises; $10.2 million from a partnership named for both the Lays; and nearly $23,000 in a bank account.

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