Linn County Commissioners Roger Nyquist, Sherrie Sprenger and Will Tucker on Tuesday, May 24, unanimously approved an extended property tax agreement between the Linn County Enterprise Zone and ITS ConGlobal, which will manage the new intermodal facility under construction at Millersburg.
Albany-Millersburg Economic Development Corporation president John Pascone told commissioners that the project is nearing completion, with a projected start date of mid-August.
To qualify for enterprise zone benefits, the company would need to add 10% more employees to its current workforce. It has one employee now, but will have nine. The regular tax exemption is for three years, and if the company pays 150% of the average annual salary, it can qualify for an additional two years of tax exemptions.
Pascone said equipment to begin operations is already in place.
The project is intended to reduce the number of tractor-trailers on Interstate 5, especially in the Portland metro area, where shipping ports are located, as well as decrease air pollution issues.
Linn County purchased the 192-acre former International Paper Mill in 2019 and sold approximately 60 acres to the AMEDC. The governing body of the intermodal operation is the Linn Economic Development Group, an arm of AMEDC.
Loaded shipping containers will be dropped at the site and then hauled by rail to ports in Portland, Tacoma and Seattle. Empty cargo containers will be aggregated at the site and then redistributed around the country.
In other business, the commissioners:
— Were informed by Juvenile Department Director Torri Lynn that four young people from Benton, 16 from Linn and one from Lincoln counties were held in April. There were 45 referrals and 171 young people on probation. About 44 were considered high-risk. There are 56 young people under the Community Programs Unit and the county’s intervention specialist is working with 87 youth, 80 of whom are not involved with law enforcement issues.
— Learned from Lynn that the Juvenile Department’s New Beginnings Garden sale has gone well and, when included with tree seedling sales since January, has sold more than $13,000 in garden products. A recent plant sale generated about $3,000.
— Authorized a June 17-18 Main Street closure in Brownsville for the annual Pioneer Picnic celebration and approved the $139,958 purchase of a new Freightliner cab and chassis for a Road Department dump truck.
— Approved ABC Roofing’s bid of $406,220 to roof the Old Armory Building. The work is to be done between July 1 and October 21.
– Alex Paul, Linn County Communications Officer