EAST MILLINOCKET, Maine — The Board of Selectmen will meet with the town’s attorney at 4 p.m. Monday to discuss the town’s rights and responsibilities in handling Great Northern Paper Co.’s tax debt.
Great Northern is delinquent on $658,657 in real estate and personal property taxes for the 2013-14 fiscal year, which ended June 30, and owes about half that amount for the 2014-15 fiscal year, officials have said. The company owns the Katahdin region’s last paper mill, which has been shut down since Feb. 6.
Selectmen added the closed-door meeting to the Monday agenda after attorneys confirmed Wednesday that a Glenburn construction company has scheduled an auction Oct. 15 of the shuttered mill to recoup a $242,719 lien it placed on the property. The company said Great Northern failed to pay it for mechanical, electrical and plumbing work.
Selectmen, attorney Dean Beaupain said, want to protect the town’s position and preserve the mill, the town’s largest single employer, and its ability to make paper. The board also wants the town to get paid its outstanding taxes and wants the building to be heated and maintained through the winter, Beaupain has said.
Gov. Paul LePage told mill workers last month that several investors are interested in buying or investing in the mill, but not with Cate Street Capital as a partner. Cate Street bought the East Millinocket and Millinocket mills for $1 in 2011 and created several Great Northern Paper corporations to represent various aspects of their investment.
The agenda does not indicate whether a vote is expected to follow the executive session.
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