Mar 16: Readers comments on Matanuska Maid

Last week I received a few comments regarding the on going concerns about the disposal of Matanuska Maid assets.

On March 10, a group of Alaska auctioneers protested the hiring of a California firm to handle the disposal of Mat Maid's assets. Local auctioneers cited the lack of a request for quotation and specific guidelines, parameters and specification to qualifying for the services were absent.

On of the biggest concerns was the move by the Palin Administration to dissolve the Creamery Board and Matanuska Maid before the companies final debts have been tallied.

This allows the administration to claim that Mat Maid finished in the black, even though the dairy still has outstanding lawsuits  brought on by the actions of the new Creamery Board appointed by Governor Palin and associated shut down costs that are still accumulating.

By dissolving Mat Maid, any outstanding debts will be taken from the ARLF fund which will take away from the rest of Alaska's agriculture community.

Here are the comments from readers:

I find it interesting that just a few months ago the new Creamery Board put out an RFP following State Procurement Law to dispose of the Mat Maid Northern Lights facility as well as the Palmer facility. 

Now suddenly, Ralph Carney and Kristan Cole say they don't have to put out an RFP because Mat Maid is a private corporation.  They are playing both sides of the fence when it is convenient.  Why on the Division of Ag website is # 4 under "Mat Maid Disposal" been DEACTIVATED? 

It was the complete list of inventory.  Why was that removed a week ago?   They don't want anyone to know what is missing??? They can't have it both ways...either they are a State Agency or a Private Corp.......they need to pick....they go back and forth almost weekly.

Auctioneers should be interested to know that the homogenizer, pasteurizer, gallon filler, stainless steel tanks, 3,000 linear feet of stainless piping, 15,000 milk cases, forklifts, all laboratory equipment numerous trucks and trailers,all the cheese equipment are all gone. 

They will not be available for the auction.  All this is in the hands of the new Valley Dairy in Wasilla.  No one was given the opportunity to bid on any of this.  In three days flat it was all hacked out of Mat Maid and delivered to three private individuals, Kyle Beus and Karen Lee Olson (defunct dairy farmers) and Rob Wells.

4 years ago Tom Irwin wrote a memo stating that Mat Maid was to operate as a State agency following all State laws.  So now this board is not abiding by that memo. 

I hope the auctioneers demand to see a complete list of what remains.  They will be shocked at what is NOT on the list.....hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment sitting at the new Valley Dairy.  Theft.

Additional reader comments:

The dismantling of the Palmer Plastics Facility and its associated waterbottling capabilities is destroying many jobs and the emerging Alaskan Bottled Water Industry. 

The question might be asked why are they tearing an industry like bottled water and plastics down when it is the only one of its
kind in Alaska.  This business could employ 20 to 30 people today, plus keep several other water businesses going, in addition to keeping the Northern Lights Dairy and the new Valley Dairy, Inc. in bottles.

Another question, why would they piece meal the Palmer Plastics Facility out when it is more valuable as an operating business?  Most of the Palmer Equipment was purchased used and its real value is in an operating entity. There is less value as individual pieces.  Again, why would this hand picked board do this when there are willing buyers who have submitted substantial cash offers and others who have submitted letters of interest to buy this Palmer Plastics Facility and related water bottling equipment as a whole?

Common sense says sell the Palmer Facility as a single entity.  Keep itgoing.  Don't dismantle something that offers so much to agriculture packaging and the emerging Alaskan water bottling industry.  Currently, there are several businesses that rely on the Palmer Facility to supply their operations with bottles, including the Northern Lights Dairy in Delta Junction.  This is the processor up north who has been kind enough to purchase milk from the local valley farmers during this transition period.

Closing the Palmer Facility could destroy their business!

It is simply ludicrous to destroy an operation that took ten years to build. It was built with ingenuity and determination on a shoestring budget. Bottled Water and Plastics were credited for making a profit for Matanuska Maid.  Now, this hand picked bias Board of Agriculture is going to dismantle it, and for what reason?  It could be spite, jealousy, ignorance, and/or to camouflage the handouts and give a ways contrived during executive sessions behind closed doors.

The course that Kristan Cole and her Board of Agriculture are taking with the disposal of Matanuska Maid and their lack of an open and transparent forum borders on treason to the State of Alaska and its citizens.

Referencing the attached Frontiersman and ADN articles, Kristan Cole seems to be talking out of both sides of her mouth.  She uses the State as both a sword and a shield.  If this is a private corporation, why is the State of Alaska's Asset Manager, Ray Nix, managing the assets, appraisal, and contracts for disposal of Matanuska Maid? 

This person reports directly to Francie Havermeister, The State Director of Agriculture.  She is the Daughter in law of Bob Havermeister, one of the farmers who have prospered from direct State and Federal subsidies for decades. 

In addition to these State and Federal subsidies, there was an imbedded subsidy paid directly to the farmers HIDDEN in Matanuska Maid's operating budget for over twenty years.  Mr. Havermeister was involved with the original Co-Op, which, through ismanagement, went bankrupt and subsequently, caused the State to take over the operation of Matanuska Maid in the first place.  For over two decades following the bankruptcy, the local dairy farmers were then paid fixed artificially high prices for their milk, mandated by the State.

Matanuska Maid was forced to pay as much as three times the price for local milk than was being paid for milk shipped from the lower forty-eight. These absurd price/subsidies paid to the local dairy farmers took away all incentives for the farmers to become efficient in their operations. 

This has been documented in many studies and ad hoc reports over the years.

More now than ever, we need transparency in the disposal of Matanuska Maids' Assets and the dissolving of the Creamery Corporation.  Unfortunately, Kristan Cole and her Board of Agriculture offer neither transparency nor openness for this process.