AUBURN – A change at the top for mulch-maker Morse Brothers shouldn’t mean much for the city or for employees.

“As far as we’re concerned, the company is still there, the jobs are still there and the taxes are still there,” City Manager Pat Finnigan said.

Morse Brothers Inc. is in the process of selling its assets to JWA Holdings LLC, a Maine corporation. Auburn councilors are scheduled to approve a transfer of $5.35 million in industrial bond debt between the two as part of the deal.

Finnigan said the company will continue operating in Auburn much as it has for the last five years.

“We haven’t even heard anything about them changing the name of the company, so we understand that things will remain very much the same,” Finnigan said.

Auburn helped the company qualify for the bonds through the Financial Authority of Maine in 2001.

“We are very much on the periphery of the entire transaction,” Finnigan said. “If we had not helped them qualify for the bonds, we would not have been notified about the sale until it happened.”

The company is located on 170 acres along Lewiston Junction Road, partially in Auburn and partially in Poland. It includes a bark-mulch facility, bagging facility and truck depot. The business moved from a smaller site in Windham in 2001.

The plant had about 112 employees when it started. It uses leftover bark from Maine sawmills and paper mills and grinds it up for composting. The finished bark mulch is delivered to landscaping and nursery customers around the state.

About 10 percent is packed in plastic bags and sold commercially under the “Morse Brothers” and “Maine Magic” labels.

Eric Hawkins, chief executive officer of Morse Brothers, could not be reached for comment Friday. Portland attorney Wayne Tumlin, the secretary for JWA Holdings Corp., could not be reached for comment.

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