County approves deal with label firm

Resource Label Group is poised for expansion, thanks to an agreement with the Flathead County commissioners.

Last Thursday, the commissioners approved abandoning Garland Lane, allowing Resource Label to take control of the road.

The company will reimburse the county the $98,000 taxpayers spent improving the road at the request of Resource Label owner Don Farris a few years ago.

This reimbursement was critical to the commissioners' agreeing to the abandonment.

"We felt strongly as commissioners that we could not abandon a road we had spent taxpayers' money to rebuild," Commissioner Gary Hall said.

It also was no surprise to Farris.

"We never expected they would just give us this road," Farris said. "We always knew that we would have to make some financial arrangement."

With control of the road, Farris can build a new plant.

In just two years, Resource Label Group has outgrown its 16,000-square-foot building. The new, $7 million building will be four to five times that size and increase the work force from 30 to 150 employees.

When Farris and his family opened a branch of the company 8 miles north of Whitefish, Garland Lane was merely a two-track dirt road off U.S. 93. The dust from the road was horrible, Farris said.

Dust would be disastrous for Resource Label Group, which produces custom pressure-sensitive labels for products in a variety of industries, including food, automotive and cosmetics. Customers won't buy products with dingy labels. To operate the company, Garland's dust had to be eliminated.

In 2003, the county paved Garland Lane. Since then, Farris and his family have bought nearly all the land the road serves for their homes and business.

Because it serves primarily Resource Label Group, Farris asked the commissioners to abandon the road.

The company receives a great deal of traffic daily from customers, shippers, visitors and employees, so the road must be in top shape. This isn't always easy, especially during the winter. The county doesn't have the time or money to plow Garland every day, Farris said.

The county still will maintain the first 50 to 100 feet of the road, Hall said. A neighbor owns land that touches this part of Garland Lane.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.