PORT ANGELES — McKinley Paper Company is producing paper at a mill that had been dormant for three years, a representative for the state agency referring job applicants to the plant said Wednesday.
“They are running paper,” Patrice Varela-Daylo of WorkSource Clallam County. WorkSource also has an office in Jefferson County.
“If you look and see the steam, that’s kind of a good indicator,” Varela-Daylo said.
“They are not at 100 percent. I don’t know when that’s going to happen.”
Operations began earlier this month, Varela-Daylo said.
Varela-Daylo received word on the plant’s status Tuesday afternoon from a company official, she said.
She said McKinley, which uses 100 percent recycled material for its products, has filled about 120 job openings, and as of Tuesday was seeking only applications for a vibrations analyst.
Steam pours from the McKinley Paper mill in Port Angeles on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020, as seen from Ediz Hook. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
McKinley will be taking applications at the Clallam County Job Fair from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 25 at the Vern Burton Community Center, 308 E. Fourth St., Port Angeles.
“How many applications they will accept, I don’t know,” Varela-Daylo said.
“They will likely open [positions] up again in the near future.”
She said she did not know if the co-generation plant, which produces steam for the mill and energy for sale, is in operation.
The co-generation facility was “nearing startup” as of Jan. 17, according to an advertisement in Peninsula Daily News.
“The mill remains on target for meeting its objectives of producing power,” it said.
The city Department of Community and Economic Development issued a building permit Feb. 18 for a 400-square-foot roll conveyor, a $900,000 piece of equipment that replaces existing apparatus.
McKinley Mill Manager Henry Smedley, a former engineering manager and interim mill manager at Port Townsend Paper Corp., did not returns a call for comment late Wednesday afternoon.
Smedley, who has refused repeated requests for an interview, said in a Jan. 22 voice message that questions about McKinley Paper should be submitted in writing but has not provided an email address.
The Ediz Hook mill was purchased by the American subsidiary of Mexican paper manufacturing giant Bio Papel in April 2017. Japanese-owned Nippon Paper Industries had shut down the plant, laying off nearly all its employees March 31 of that year.
McKinley, based in New Mexico, will produce packing grade brown paper and containerboard, which is manufactured by Port Townsend Paper.
It’s a heavier-quality product than was produced by Nippon.
Nippon, which produced light-grade telephone-directory paper and newsprint, employed 150 workers.
Employers can reserve space for the job fair by March 13 by registering at https://tinyurl.com/PDN-ClallamJobFair.
For more information, call 360-797-9345.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
