WINNEMUCCA — After some discussion, the Winnemucca City Council determined Carry-On Trailer had met its obligations on two issues and would be released from further contractual consideration.  The discussion occurred at the Tuesday (Jan. 24) meeting.

The first issue was an agreement made between the city and company for construction of the facility.

Carry-On Trailer agreed in 2006, when they initially purchased the property from the city, to construct a structure at least 120,000 square feet and occupy it.  Because the company did meet that obligation, the council agreed to sign a quick claim deed removing the city’s interest from the deed.

City Manager Kent Maher explained if Carry-On Trailer failed to meet that obligation, the city could have reclaimed the property.

On the second issue, the city council voted unanimously to release the lien on the property that was obtained through a job creations policy in which Carry-On Trailer agreed to pay for the property with jobs instead of cash.

Maher explained the company agreed to employ at least 80 full-time people and work towards employement for 100 people.  Each job was assigned a value of $1,050.

Had the company employed 100 people full time, the debt would have been satisfied in full.

However, while they consistently employed more than 80 people, they never quite reached the 100 jobs mark.

As the council discussed, there were several issues outside of their control that made hiring of more employees challenging, which included lack of housing and a small employment pool.

As Councilmen Doug Cain and Paige Brooks both observed, it can be hard for small businesses to compete with mine wages. Once an employee is trained and has some experience, they can go work at one of the area mines and make more money.

As an example, Cain said the company has experienced some problems in retaining welders.  Once the welder was trained and had some experience, they’d quit to take mining jobs.

Mayor Di An Putnam added the larger economy has also been a problem.  While the mining corridor has been largely insulted from the economic slump, businesses who depend on the larger market to sell their products have struggled.

There was also an issue with how some employees earned their wages.

Councilman Rich Stone pointed out some of the jobs at Carry-On Trailer represent piece work; that is, the employee was paid by the piece completed.  People who are motivated can make good wages this way, but others not so much.

He said the area labor pool has been slow to catch to this method of earning a wage.

The question for the council was really whether they would have Carry-On pay the difference for the jobs that were not created versus their debt for the land.

In the end, they voted to release Carry-On from the obligation without additional payment.

Cain pointed out down the line the company was in a position to bring other businesses to town, such as a tire facility or company that manufactured axels, and that should be considered.  It would be beneficial, after all,  for the area and the company if those auxiliary businesses were to relocate.

As Mayor Putnam pointed out, the whole point of the policy was job creation and the focus of the council on economic development, both of which were attained.

Further, if businesses seeking to relocate were to discuss the matter with Carry-On Trailer, it was in the city’s interest to be seen as a group who worked well with the business community.