I’m writing this letter to bring you up-to-date on our progress to form a producer and community-owned cooperative to secure USDA-inspected meat processing capacity to serve Whatcom and Skagit Counties, as well as expanding this capacity to increase local and regional markets for our counties’ meat producers. I’m also writing this letter to urge you to help share in the costs of conducting the necessary due diligence to make this happen.
To date we have:
- Held two public meetings (July and September) and seven meetings of a Steering Committee.
- The Steering Committee has been working with the Northwest Agriculture Business Center to prepare a counter offer to the listing price of Keizer Meats, prepare a business plan and financial projections for a new business to make the acquisition, and to prepare organizational documents (bylaws) which would govern this new business.
- Taken a physical inventory (with photos) of all equipment.
- Requested and received a title report on the property to be acquired.
- Presented a discussion brief and met with the USDA Rural Development Department to begin the application process for receiving a federally-guaranteed loan from a local lending institution to help finance the acquisition and business start-up.
- Prepared for and received a proposal from a local firm for legal review of bylaws, the preparation of all organizing documents for the new business, preparing a purchase agreement, and preparing any ongoing employment or contract-for-services agreements for the business transition.
- Sent out requests for proposals from two local CPA firms for review of organizing documents, financial projections, and tax planning.
We are striving to have a completed business plan, final drafts of all organizing documents, legal and CPA review, and loan applications ready by the last week of this month. Two members of the Steering Committee along with staff support from the Northwest Agriculture Business Center will be meeting with the Keizers and their agent to present a counter offer and begin negotiations by the middle of this month. Ideally, within the next 30-45 days the Steering Committee will be ready to present a complete package and recommendation to folks interested in joining this cooperative effort.
In the meantime, I am strongly urging everyone who is truly interested in this effort to secure and improve the long-term health of local and regional meat production to provide a tax-deductable $50 donation so that we can pay the costs of legal and CPA review. You can make this donation in two ways. You can pay via the NABC web site and PayPal at http://www.agbizcenter.org/node/63. Or you can mail a check to:
NABC
P.O. Box 2094
Mt. Vernon, WA 98273
Best regards,
Jeff Voltz, Project Manager
