Kitsap Business and Economy

By Brynn Grimley
Bgrimley@Kitsapsun.com
Poulsbo
Executives with Westbury Inc., a Seattle-based startup, are growing tired of waiting for Kitsap County to make a decision on a low-interest loan that would allow them to move into an industrial park outside Poulsbo.
The company, which has patented a sophisticated outdoor airport tarmac security and safety barrier system, was awarded a $2 million grant from the federal Department Housing and Urban Development in September.
The grant was made available to Kitsap County through a federal loan guarantee program.
County commissioners have the final say on the allocation and have yet to approve the funding, citing concerns about being on the hook to repay the loan if Westbury defaults. Company executives
have worked since last fall to show commissioners that they are committed to Kitsap and to prove their product is financially sound, said Michael Fewel, Westbury’s chief operating officer.
It’s now February and they are still treading water, wondering if greener pastures lay across the Sound, he said.
“I’m committed to Kitsap for a lot of reasons. It makes good business sense for us,” Fewel said. “But if Kitsap County isn’t going to play ball and fund it, the reasons are valid to be there, but the money is in King County to do it.”
Westbury looked into other financing options — like bringing an investor on board or taking out a business loan — before applying for the federal money. But the federal loan, with its low interest rate, made the most business sense, Fewel said.
The company wants to build its manufacturing plant at North Kitsap’s Twelve Trees Industrial Park. It expects to employ about 100 people within two years of opening, of which more than half will be low- to moderate-income. The company believes it could add $30 million to the local economy in two years, according to Fewel.
The company’s commitment to hiring from the low- to moderate-income bracket made it eligible for the federal loan. Westbury President Andrew Butler learned about the loan from the Kitsap Economic Development Alliance, which he credits with convincing him to build his company in Kitsap over Seattle.
The company has an 18-person sales team in place and Butler is staying optimistic despite the delays, Fewel said.
“He believes the Kitsap money will come through,” he said. “The issue is, how much [URL]longer can we wait for it?”
Communication between commissioners and Westbury was unintentionally put on hold because the board was busy with other business and Butler was hard to reach while out of town recruiting sales representatives, Commissioner Charlotte Garrido said.
She hopes that the board will resume discussions in the coming weeks, but first wants to review an audit of the company’s prospects and financial stability that was completed at the end of January. The audit has yet to reach the commissioners’ desks.
It was requested by commissioners after a financial review that couldn’t guarantee Westbury’s patent, which the company says is worth $8 million, was reliable collateral to back the low-interest loan if the company defaults. The county would have to pay back the loan with future Community Development Block Grant, or CDBG, monies if that happened.
Concerned about the impact to the county’s allocated CDBG funds, Commissioner Josh Brown said he wasn’t willing to sign off on the loan until he had complete confidence that future funds weren’t in peril.
“I’ve heard pretty loudly and clearly from folks that they want the county and the commissioners to manage the budget like they would a family’s budget,” he said. “That means we don’t take risks. I have a high standard for what I’m looking for and in talking with the other commissioners they do too.”
Commissioners know they are responsible for holding up Westbury, but they also have a responsibility to taxpayers to make sure that the business plan makes sense, Commissioner Steve Bauer said. In retrospect, the first analysis of the company should have been more complete, he said.
“I think we’re all hoping it makes sense,” he said. “I’d like to see if move ahead and see a conclusion.”

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This entry was posted on Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 9:37 am and is filed under Uncatagorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.