Governor Schweitzer
Gov. Brian Schweitzer shares a laugh with Lincoln County Commissioner John Konzen and Stinger Welding president Carl Douglas.
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Governor lauds efforts to bring Stinger to Libby
by Brent Shrum, Kootenai Valley Record
August 6, 2009
Praising Libby as a town that has been "hit hard but not busted" and "a community that bounces back," Gov. Brian Schweitzer came to town last week to present Stinger Welding with a ceremonial $5.7 million check representing the state’s investment in the company’s project to set up shop at the Kootenai Business Park Industrial District.
"Stinger made a good choice here," Schweitzer said Monday at Libby City Hall. "Because when you look around the community here, you will find that you get more work done for the buck than any place in America."
Schweitzer credited Evan Barrett, head of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, and Tony Preite, director of the Montana Department of Commerce, with working with Stinger Welding and local officials and to make sure the project got off the ground.
"You’ve got a job for another month," Schweitzer told Barrett and Preite.
For his own part, Preite praised Kootenai River Development Council director Paul Rumelhart for ramrodding the project.
"These kinds of projects don’t get put together just anywhere," Preite said. "It takes some very special people running it. And Paul Rumelhart can twist arms as good as anyone."
Stinger president Carl Douglas said he owns property in the Yaak and loves the area, but it was Rumelhart’s persistence that brought the company to Libby instead of somewhere else in the Northwest.
"Without him in this community, I probably wouldn’t have stopped to look and see if I could put a shop here," Douglas said.
Stinger plans to erect a 100,000-square foot building on the industrial district site and to employ a minimum of 200 workers building steel bridges and components. Funding includes a $3.3 million loan from the Montana Board of Investments along with a $3.2 million insurance settlement the industrial district received following the collapse of the old plywood plant roof under a heavy snow load, an $800,000 Community Development Block Grant, and a $400,000 grant from the Big Sky Trust Fund.
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Editor’s Note: See the August 4, 2009 edition of the Kootenai Valley Record for the printed version of this story. The Kootenai Valley Record publishes once a week, on Tuesdays, in Libby, Montana. They are a locally owned community newspaper, located at 403 Mineral Avenue in Libby. For in-county and out-of-county subscription information, call 406-293-2424, or e-mail kvrecord@gmail.com.
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