Grant could help C. Falls firm expand

Flathead County commissioners agreed to sponsor a grant application that could result in a new manufacturing business at Western Building Center in Columbia Falls.

Doug Shanks, president of Western Building Center, said if the firm gets the $400,000 Community Development Block Grant, it would manufacture cross-laminated timber at the WBC truss plant in Columbia Falls.

Shanks described the new business — SmartLam — as an “advanced wood-processing business.”

Cross-laminated timber is manufactured in Scandinavia, Europe and Russia, he said, but if this venture succeeds, “we’ll be the first in the U.S. to manufacture cross-laminated timber.”

His company plans to export the product throughout the United States and Canada.

Shanks said Flathead County has several pluses for this venture, including a trained labor pool, its proximity to Canada and the abundance of raw material.

Another positive factor, he said, is that the process uses small-diameter timber and it can be lower-grade material.

Qualifying criteria to receive a grant include that new jobs be created and an existing business grow as a result, according to Tina Oliphant, vice president of finance at Montana West Economic Development.

SmartLam is expected to employ between five and seven people in the beginning and 30 within three years, Oliphant said.

A requirement of the grant is that 51 percent of the new hires be from low-to-moderate income families, she said.

If the grant is received, the money would be loaned to SmartLam, with the loan payments going into Montana West’s revolving loan fund, Oliphant said.

There is no specific deadline for this grant application to be submitted to the state, Flathead County Grants Writer Debbie Pierson said, but a public hearing before the commissioners was required.

Now that the hearing has been held, officials at Montana West Economic Development can prepare the application, Pierson said.

Because the grant money is federal money, passed through the state, a government entity must sponsor the application and receive the money, Pierson said.

However, in this case, Montana West would handle all of the grant administration work, so the county essentially would invest no time in the process, she said.

The city of Columbia Falls also will be asked to sponsor a $400,000 grant for the project, Oliphant said, resulting in a planned $800,000 loan to SmartLam.

Reporter Shelley Ridenour may be reached at 758-4439 or sridenour@dailyinterlake.com.