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responsibility for cleaning up the site and Laclede benefits from that by being released from liability. The EPA doesn't have
to pursue it in court and the community benefits because of jobs created and the site is being cleaned up and utilized."
Ray Stillwell, an Alton attorney and also an investor, said the idea to revive the plant began with Mel Cook and his son,
Mike, about a year and a half ago.
"They kept building on it by bringing in other people who have committed a lot of time and effort to help bring this
together," Stillwell said. "For a lot of people it's been work on a daily basis without pay to try and accomplish it. It's not
just a rejuvenation of a steel mill but is part of an industrial corridor that goes all the way down to East St. Louis. We see
ourselves as actually being able to help our neighbors with the development of this property. As we grow and become stronger
and employ more people it will help other properties in the Metro East."
He said the initial response from onlookers was that this was an impossible thing to do. Detractors said the environmental
agreement was something that could never be acceptable to all parties; the deal with Laclede would not be workable or that
there could never be an effective agreement with the steelworkers.
"But none of that was true," Stillwell said. "The parties came together, they worked hard, they sat down and if there were
problems, they fixed them."
He said everybody involved in this project truly has a desire to benefit the community in which they live and work and that
includes getting several hundred people who were unemployed back to work in good jobs.
"It helps the economy, it helps real estate values, other businesses, churches and government," he said. "This will have a
deep impact that goes far beyond the opening of the steel mill."
Kelly said the company is taking a site that no one else showed any interest in, and improving it, as well as providing
jobs and helping the growth of the community.
In addition to investors, financial arrangements will include bank financing and the group is exploring more seriously
additional funding from governmental sources.
"There has already been some that we received primarily for employment credit that can be ongoing through the state of
Illinois based on employee training and enhancing productivity and safety," Stillwell said. "As we proceed toward closing, we
want to be treated by government the same way other similar projects are. We are confident that we will get city and county
cooperation."
After closing, production will not start right away, but will await cleanup and preparation since the plant has been closed
for about a year and a half.
"I think for all of us that are involved, it's been a labor of love," Stillwell said. "We want to try and bring back
something we remember as being a major industrial force."
Terry Wooden, president of U. S. Steelworker's Local 3643, said a five-year contract was negotiated, which is a little
different than the average three-year contract.
"We felt it was justifiable to give them a chance to get started," Wooden said. "We want the company to be successful and
it's a fair contract for a startup company."
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If you look at the industry, 37 steel companies have declared bankruptcy since 1998 and half of those are in liquidation,
Wooden said.
"This is the only steel company that I know of where a local group of investors have come in (not a big corporation) and
said they want to do this for the community and want to put people back to work," Wooden said.
He said when he began working at Laclede in 1969, there were more than 2,000 people. That slowly dwindled as pieces of the
mill were sold and processes were stopped. About 550 people lost jobs when Laclede shut down for good in July 2001.
The average wage under the new contract will be $13.20 an hour. The bottom rate will be around $10 for labor and the
highest is about $16.80. The company will be paying fully the cost of good health care insurance, Wooden said. Retirement will
be a 401(k) with some employer contribution.
"We condensed job classifications from about 26 to 10," Wooden said.
Currently there have been more than 1,000 applicants and about 90 percent of the former Laclede employees have reapplied.
Mel Cook, president of Alton Steel, said along with cleanup, preparation for opening will involve a fair amount of time
spent in orientation of the new company culture.
"We will be heavily involved in safety and making sure we have a good program in place," Cook said. "There will also be a
great deal of cross-training during that time. Production people will be doing maintenance activities and will continue to do
that even later in a kind of 'help yourself' situation."
He said initially the cleanup will start with about 75 and later 20 or so in administrative and salary positions.
"We'll be at 100 by the time production starts. I think we'll be at 200 by the end of the first year and 300 by the end of
the second year," Cook said. "As more funds are available to enhance the operations we'll be able to accelerate that so we can
meet the needs of more customers."
Cook worked at Laclede since 1955 and his son, Mike, worked at the plant for 13 years.
"The real reason I'm involved in the new company is because I look at it as a mission," Cook said. "My mission is not going
to China or getting in a pulpit, but it is to help people. I was convinced that this was a mission worthwhile."
The new company will melt some scrap for sale and some will be cast into semi-finished configurations, but most of it will
go into high-quality steel bars.
"We did a very extensive feasibility study on all the product lines," Cook said. "Essentially we're picking the best line
and we will also be running the newest facilities which are the bar mill and the metal shop."
The bar mill has a capacity of about 300,000 tons per year and the melt shop, just using one furnace, has a capacity of about
650,000 tons per year.
"We do have some other mills that we could run if they were profitable," he said. "We'll be looking at those on a frequent
basis and making assessments."
graphic designer and staff writer: Vicki Bennington
email: vbennington@ibjonline.com
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