Omak Mill Gets New Life

A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge in Yakima has cleared the way for the sale of Omak Wood Products.

Judge John Rossmeissl approved a company reorganization plan this week that includes the $19.5 million sale to Quality Veneer & Lumber.

The mill in Omak was Okanogan County’s largest private employer until it closed in May.

Quality Veneer & Lumber plans to restart the Omak mill’s plywood and veneer plant, but not its lumber production, said company president Stuart Young of Seattle. The firm will employ about 250 of the 400 former mill employees.

“We’re looking forward to restoring employment in Okanogan County,” Young said.

The sale should be completed at the end of July, said Shaun Cross, of Paine Hamblen, the Spokane law firm representing the mill.

The final sale price will be adjusted downward by about $3 million to reflect financial losses the company incurred in the months before it closed. Omak Wood Products expects to pay about $16.5 million on debts of $27 million, Cross said.

Areas to be paid in full include $1.7 million in payroll and employee severance costs, vendor claims, logging contracts and professional fees accrued after the mill filed for Chapter 11, Cross said.

The reorganization plan was accepted by 97 percent of the creditors who cast ballots, he added.

Omak Wood Products received national publicity in 1988, when workers purchased the mill from Sir James Goldsmith, a British knight.

But high debt and market downturns kept the mill from making a profit. Cutbacks in timber sold from nearby national forests also hurt the operation.

Omak Wood Products filed for Chapter 11 reorganization last year, and sought a buyer willing to retain at least some of the employees.