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THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2015 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 13A
Commercial Interiors CEO Ken Pint at the 77,000 square foot manufacturing facility. Pint is optimistic that with financial controls
in place the business, which supplies remodeling contractors for restaurant chains, is posed to get back on track.
Continued from Page 1A
Billy Beer
that important when you drank,”
he said, a toothy grin giving
away the magnitude of cruddy
beer they consumed during those
years. “Billy drank PBR origi
nally, but after Billy Beer came
out he drank it exclusively.”
Sitting in the office of Vintage
VW, Inc. in Jasper - a garage that
specializes in repair and renova
tion of old Volkswagens - the
heavy smell of oil and grease
made it easy to time travel back
to Billy Carter’s station, which
became a hot spot in the town
transformed by his brother
Jimmy Carter’s election as the
39th U.S. President. Ajovial and
fun-loving Perry reminisced
about a raucous life as a college
student working side-by-side
with one of “America’s All-Time
Great Beer Drinkers,” being sure
to clear up what he says was an
unfairly caricatured image of the
First Brother as a suds-swilling
doottis.
Perry was in Jasper last week
to check up on his antique Volk
swagen Beetle, now a piece of
Billy Carter history. The VW has
been Perry’s personal car since
the 70s when he drove it regu
larly as an employee at the south
Georgia station.
“Billy had the guys from Falls
City Brewery paint the Billy
Beer logo on it and his signa
ture,” Perry said. “I drove it
around until two years after I left.
It caught on fire in front of a fire
station.”
The Beetle sat in storage for
three decades, but Perry is now
having it restored before he
brings it full circle, back to
Billy’s gas station that was con
verted to the Billy Carter Mu
seum in 2008.
“The people who run the mu
seum didn’t know it existed, but
when they found out about it
they said if I ever had it restored
to give them a call,” he said.
Perry recalled the excitement
of working at a business on the
national radar, which brought a
persistent media presence in
Continued from Page 1A
Shottenkirk
was purchased by Greg Shot
tenkirk in December. Shot
tenkirk owns 17 dealerships
throughout the United States, in
cluding several dealerships
around Atlanta. His most recent
acquisition, in January, is Shot
tenkirk Chevrolet in Creedmoor,
North Carolina.
Mundth said the company
employs 27 people at the Jasper
dealership.
At the age of 34, Greg Shot
tenkirk, following the untimely
death of his father, took over his
family’s Chevrolet/Oldsmobile
dealership in Iowa. Despite
being told he was too young to
have two dealerships, he began
expanding his auto dealer opera
tions with additional franchises
including Honda, Ford, and Toy
ota, to name a few. In Georgia,
Shottenkirk owns dealerships in
Conyers, Roswell and
Cartersville.
The GM in Jasper, Mundth,
said he got his start with Greg
Shottenkirk.
“I walked in and asked for a
job and started at the bottom,”
Mundth said.
Mundth started in sales, mov
ing into finance and, ultimately,
general manager. He has a his
tory with cars, he said, working
in a tire shop. His father is a
Chevy mechanic.
With Shottenkirk, he said he
Plains, Ga. and good money to
what would have otherwise been
an overlookable gas station in a
small, rural town.
“People would come from all
over and line up just to say they
bought Billy Beer at Billy’s sta
tion,” Perry said. “They’d pay
with credit so they could get the
slip that said ‘Billy’s Station.’”
Tips were accepted at the frill
service establishment, a benefit
Perry - then in college - encour
aged by going shirtless on hot
days. He’d also make extra cash
selling empty Billy Beer cans on
Sunday.
“I could sell between 50 and
100 cans at 50 cents each,” he
said. “It would help me get
through school. And it was al
ways busy. Fd end a lot of days
closing out the place with thou
sands of dollars in cash, and that
didn’t include the credit transac
tions.”
Celebrities would drop in
from time to time, Perry added,
with teams of stars including
Barbara Mandrell popping by for
a celebrity softball match on
“Billy Beer Day,” October 31,
1977, the day Billy Beer went on
the market.
He also recalled death threats
and the need to “wear a pistol on
my hip while I played pinball”
that followed Billy’s highly con
troversial business relationship
with Libyan President Muammar
Gaddafi, which Perry said in
volved the sale of farm equip
ment.
After a few years Perry left
the station to settle down into a
career and family life, going on
to work as a marketing director
for a mall in Indiana - but he said
he’ll never forget the kind, smart
and loving man that was Billy
Carter.
“Yeah, Billy loved beer and
he drank a lot,” Perry said, “but
he was one of the most intelli
gent men I knew and a wonderful
family man and businessman.
Billy’s the reason Jimmy was
able to run for office because he
was taking care of the peanut
business. He never said no to
anyone who wanted an auto
graph. He was a good guy and a
good friend.”
likes that each store is run indi
vidually and is not based on a
corporate structure.
Working for Shottenkirk Toy
ota in Quincy, Illinois, Mundth
moved across the country for the
Jasper position.
“I love the area. I’m from a
small town - Independence, Iowa
- with about 8,000 people and
it’s very similar here,” he said. “I
grew up on a farm and worked
on a farm.”
Mundth said the dealership is
already growing, with more than
70 units sold this month.
“We’re seeing a growth al
ready in service and sales,” he
said. “The FI50 is our biggest
seller and we’re expanding to
offer pickup and deliveries for
service.
Mundth played all types of
sports in high school and contin
ued playing football in college at
Quincy University where he was
a 285-pound defensive tackle.
“I’d like to thank the Jasper
community for welcoming us
here,” he said.
The Shottenkirk Automotive
Group, with over 750 employ
ees, continues to grow and plans
for future growth are well under
way with dealerships sprouting
up across the country. The
Shottenkirk Automotive Group
is celebrating 50 years this year.
Shottenkirk believes that your
business is only as strong as the
community around it, so it is im
portant to support local resi
dents, children, organizations
and events.
Continued from Page 1A
Business
dustrial Development Authority,
and with the bankruptcy there
was a real concern that taxpayers
might have to pick up the debt.
County Attorney Phil Lan
drum, who also represents the In
dustrial Development Authority,
said he met with the county CFO
to prepare for the worst.
But through what Economic
Developer Gerry Nechvatal
called “heroic efforts” there is a
new name for the business, Com
mercial Interiors Manufacturing
Group, and a new owner, Don
Boggus, Jr. (a member of the In
dustrial Development Authority)
and the new CEO Ken Pint is op
timistic about the company that
occupies the largest manufactur
ing site in the county with the
77,000-square-foot building on
Holly Street.
What happened to the com
pany that looked so promising?
Embezzlement in amounts over
$400,000, according to several
people familiar with the situa
tion, though no charges were
ever filed.
Ken Pint serves on the Joint
Economic Development Council
for Pickens County and Jasper
(separate from the Industrial De
velopment Authority). When
they heard Restaurant Interiors
was in financial trouble, Pint, a
retiree with a manufacturing
background, tried to help as an
unpaid consultant.
In an interview last week, Pint
said the first day he asked for an
accounts receivable list (how
much money is owed the com
pany) that most businesses can
produce instantly. It took a week
and the list was of dubious accu
racy. Pint said they had standard
computer software for account
ing but it wasn’t being used.
Paper files and very little record
keeping was more the order.
But, as Pint and others had
been made aware, embezzlement
by their former employee was
the real culprit in putting the for
mer “rock star” company in such
trouble financially.
Pint said a forensic audit
showed at least $400,000 was si
phoned off by the former em
ployee who died of natural
causes before being investigated
by law enforcement.
Pint said the deception was
both simple - taking that was eas
ily spotted when they started
looking - but also involved some
fairly elaborate schemes.
Landrum said the death of the
person suspected in the embez
zlement hampered efforts to re
cover money because the estate
had financial trouble of its own
and no where near the assets to
equal what was stolen.
Both Pint and Landrum said
no one knows what happened to
the money that some estimates
put at over $500,000 in missing
Restaurant Interior revenue.
While working to help the
company. Pint said it became
apparent that except for the fi
nances, Restaurant Interiors was
a solid company with a great
workforce, good products and
plenty of potential.
He said without the embezzle
ment, they would have never
faced bankruptcy.
In May of 2014 the company
filed for bankruptcy.
“There was no chance [to
avoid bankruptcy],” Pint said.
“There were too many losses and
too many problems.”
Bankruptcy documents avail
able online signed by Renate S.
Wegenstein, President of Restau
rant Interiors, showed when she
filed bankruptcy on May 30,
2014, the company had between
50 and 99 creditors. A box on the
document was checked that
showed they owed between $1
million and $10 million to those
creditors.
After May, the company con
tinued operating with Pint work
ing full-time with their finances
and complying with the bank
ruptcy code, meaning everything
was a cash basis with a lot of re
porting back to the bankruptcy
court.
Pint also began trying to pre
pare the company for sale under
the bankruptcy provisions but he
said there was no way to assem
ble anything close to the finan
cial statements interested buyers
want to see for a transaction of a
company doing about $3.5 mil
lion in yearly revenue at the time.
Tom Lindsey, chairman of the
Industrial Development Author
ity, said when board members
learned of the embezzlement
they were extremely concerned
about the jobs as well as the pay
ments. The authority is com
posed of seven members who
serve six-year terms. Members
are: Jerry Edwards, John Robert
Pool, Charles Fendley, Bob
Payne, Tom Lindsey, Don Bog
gus, Jr., Howard Ray.
In bankruptcy court the busi
ness is open for anyone to pur
chase. The first serious company
to take a look was from out of
state and specialized in buying
bankrupt operations, consolidat
ing them into other existing com
panies, Lindsey said.
“I truthfully feared we would
lose all the jobs,” Lindsey said.
To make matters more com
plicated, vendors were legally
entitled to remove all the high
tech equipment in the building
that had been leased and not paid
off.
Prior to finding a buyer the
authority had to make another
concession to save the jobs -
purchasing the high-tech equip
ment in the plant. They are now
leasing it along with the building
to Commercial Interiors.
This purchase added another
$665,000 to debt at that building,
bringing the total amount of the
loan secured by taxpayer dollars
in the event of default to $1.8
million.
With the additional loan
amount for the equipment, Lind
sey said the idea of having the
authority buy equipment wasn’t
one they undertook lightly.
“We talked at length about
this,” he said. “We either had to
do it [buy the equipment] or let it
bankrupt and lose the 25 jobs.
We decided to risk it. We decided
the risk was worth the jobs.”
Lindsey noted that vendors
weren’t anxious to come and
seize the equipment, which they
had sold as new. He said in some
cases the authority paid 10-20
cents on the dollar for the equip
ment.
Landrum agreed there was no
way to save the company and the
25 jobs if the industrial authority
hadn’t secured the equipment.
Obviously without the equip
ment there would have been no
way to operate, he said.
Lindsey said a second poten
tial purchaser was a local person
who “jumped through all the
hoops and we jumped through
the hoops” but the deal just fell
apart at the end, he said.
Both Landrum and Lindsey
said when that deal fell through
the future looked bleak for the
once promising company. At that
point Industrial Development
Authority member Don Boggus,
Jr. stepped in saying if they
would offer him the same deal
that had just fallen through, he
would take it.
Lindsey said they felt good
that “Boggus would keep it
going, keep it here and keep the
jobs.”
Boggus dealt with the bank
ruptcy court and according to
those on the Industrial Develop
ment Authority, as is typical in
this case, didn’t pay anything but
assumed all the liabilities and
provided operating capitol up
front to maintain the operation.
Landrum said Boggus dealt
with the bankruptcy provisions.
The industrial authority is ex
tending the lease for the building
and equipment under his name
with the same basic provisions
that they have always used.
Landrum said the authority
followed several required stipu
lations in doing business with
one of its members.
He, Pint and Commissioner
Rob Jones all expressed the view
that Boggus had been a final re
sort when no one else was com
ing forward with interest in
assuming a struggling company.
Part of the package for Bog
gus was that Pint agree to stay on
as CEO. Boggus closed on the
deal December 23rd and Pint be
came CEO of Commercial Inte
riors Manufacturing Group.
If Commercial Interiors is
successful, Landrum said the au
thority will see the building paid
off and make some amount from
the loans. Landrum said it is dif
ficult to estimate how much the
county will come out ahead as
the loans are linked to prime
mortgage rates so the rate could
fluctuate, but the prime mission
is jobs for the community, not
tinning a big profit.
Economic Development Di
rector Gerry Nechvatal also ex
pressed support for the
authority’s decision. Having the
largest manufacturing building in
the county vacant and closed
again would have also been a
blow to the county.
“When you look at the time
and difficulty of recruiting new
industry and compare that to the
time and effort of job retention,
there is no question it was ab
solutely the right thing to do,” he
said.
Commissioner Jones said in
an interview last week that the
Industrial Development Author
ity operates independently and
does not need his blessing on
their votes - even when they
commit potential taxpayers’ dol
lars. Jones was familiar with the
general terms of the deal but re
ferred questions to either Lan
drum or Pint. Jones did express
support for Boggus stepping in,
commending him both for being
a public servant and a good busi
nessman. [Boggus did not return
calls for this article.]
But Jones also said personally
he’d like to see the large former
H.D. Lee Building paid off and
no longer tied to the county in
any way.
Lindsey said a pay off had
been their goal for some time.
“Whoever pays it off will own
the building,” Lindsey said. “But
it always seems to change hands
before that happens.”
Tax records show that the
building was built in 1968. Lee
Apparel acquired it in 1986
based on the tax records,though
the tax records do not show who
owned it before. The develop
ment authority bought it on De
cember 31, 1990.
Lindsey said it appears that
the county was involved with the
original construction at first to at
tract the H.D. Lee Company
here. When the jeans company
moved their operations overseas,
a second “sewing” industry came
in and they also left a few years
later to move operations over
seas.
After that Aiken Ziegler, an
automotive parts company, and
then Caywood Metal Spinning
had periods leasing-to-buy the
building but all moving out and
letting the building return to the
county.
The county, who put a new
roof on the building some years
ago, has maintained the massive
building well and a tour given by
Pint last week showed an effi
cient and high-tech work site.
Pint said he is optimistic
heading in to 2015. He said even
through the bankruptcy, the com
pany has consistently produced
high quality products and most
of their employees and vendors
have stuck with them.
Pint said they did $3.5 million
in sales last year and he hopes to
do $4 million this year. Pint said
they working to diversify their
products.
Remodelling Burger Kings is
the bread and butter at this point.
The company produces all prod
ucts that are used in the interior
of a restaurant, from hand dryers
to booths. Last year they pro
vided products for 350 Burger
King remodels. This year Pint is
shooting for 400. They provide
some components for other
chains as well.
In addition to the Burger King
work, Pint said Commercial In
teriors is looking to move into
hotel/motel remodel products.
Pint said from the beginning
he knew the company produced
a quality line of work, with their
trouble being strictly limited to
their financial management.
Steve Boudreau, who has
been in charge of production
since the earliest days, has re
mained in place there and “he
runs a tight operation,” Pint said.
The company is also unique
in a hands-on approach to deal
ing with contractors. They offer
complete remodel packages of
all tables, booth, counters, and all
the hardware needed for installa
tion.
The company sends out con
tainers to job sites that have
everything needed for a complete
job, something their competitors
don’t do.
They have upgraded much of
their computer tracking of inven
tory and operations and, of
course, got their financial man
agement on track.
“I now look at Quickbooks
every day,” Pint said.
Pint said they are not cur
rently hiring but he believes the
company will bounce back.
As part of the restructuring,
the operation has consolidated
their workspace into a large por
tion of the building, and now has
another 20,000 square feet under
the roof they are hoping to sub
lease to another company.
When asked if the company
didn’t bounce back what would
be the implication for the taxpay
ers, Landrum said they would be
liable for the building and equip
ment loans. But if a bankruptcy
happened, the development au
thority could find another com
pany to take up the lease and the
authority has a cushion where
they can make payments directly
before it would become the tax
payers’ responsibility
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