Town managers pleased with mill sale to local family

JAY — The town managers of Livermore Falls and Jay are happy that a local couple has bought Wausau Paper's Otis Mill.

Mary Howes and Tim DeMillo, who are married, are the managing members of Otis Ventures LLC, which bought the mill Tuesday for an undisclosed price.

The mill shut down its paper-making operations permanently in June due to the high cost of operating it, according to company officials. One paper machine was idled in December 2008, and the last one idled June 1.

The couple plans to liquidate any equipment and machinery they don't use. The paper machines cannot be sold in North or South America.

"I'm so pleased that local people with a true interest in the welfare of the town of Jay have stepped forward to develop the site," Jay Town Manager Ruth Marden said. "They have some wonderful plans for the future and this is a very promising start to the revitalization of an historic part of Jay. We are hoping that one of the results of this sale will be more quality jobs. We congratulate Tim and Mary for their willingness to take on this venture."

The mill is on the Jay, Livermore Falls town lines.

"It's nice to see that this is going to be owned by a local company," Livermore Falls Town Manager Jim Chaousis said. There are plenty of examples of people buying old mills and salvaging the parts and selling off the mill, he said.

In this case the buyer is local and the salvage company, he said.

During the salvage of equipment from the mill, great thought will be put into the positioning of this property for redevelopment in the future, Chaousis said.

"It is nice to see economic development is in the forefront of these people's minds," he said.

dperry@sunjournal.com