AMERICUS —

On Tuesday the Americus-Sumter County Payroll Development Authority (PDA) voted to restructure the current financial arrangement with Windham Casting. As a result the PDA will receive $125,000 at closing and will finance $100,000 over a five-year period, secured by a second lien on the land and buildings. The motion, made by Mike Donnelly and seconded by Bill Harris, passed unanimously and came after the Board returned from closed session. Windham had owed the PDA $340,000.

“Potential litigation” was the reason given by the PDA to go into closed session. A reporter from the Americus Times-Recorder present Tuesday, respectfully objected to the Board’s motion to go into closed session, which was not considered by the Board.

David Hudson, chief counsel for the Georgia Press Association, said the state law allows no exception that allows a closed meeting with counsel to discuss a development project.

“The only closed attorney meetings allowed are those that deal with ongoing or threatened litigation or claims. [50-14-2(1)],” he said.

Windham Casting, located in Plains since it opened in 1998, is being purchased by Kevin Sykes, a business and real estate developer with a background in engineering and manufacturing from Atlanta, who specializes in transforming and re-engineering businesses and industries. Windham Casting has been under financial duress in recent years due to the prolonged global economic recession. Founder and former owner, Debbie Young, present at Tuesday’s PDA meeting, described the extent of the recession’s impact.

“When it hit, we were so focused on the retail market place and when you start diversifying your marketing, it doesn’t happen over a year or two years, it takes a number of years for that to start to happen,” she said.

She said that over the past two years the company has began to focus on the design trade of its wrought iron furniture and has focused on making products for three large manufacturers in the industry.

“There’s lots of opportunity going forward. The largest manufacturer in our industry has expressed interest in developing a relationship with our foundry,” Young said.

She says that as a domestic supplier and a business that has held on through the recession, Windham Casting will be able to “surge,” thanks to the efforts of the PDA.

Young was optimistic about the current level of business coming into Windham Casting and said this year seven major special order projects were completed for real estate mogul Donald Trump, who recently purchased Windham’s high end outdoor furniture for a vineyard his company bought in Virginia.

In addition, she said that as a result of diversifying the marketing of Windham Casting, the company has found success by focusing on the contract market while continuing to supply to retailers. One contract Young mentioned was with Disney which is currently reviewing chair designs from the company.

“We are starting to diversify in those other areas and we are starting to see that business coming in now,” she added.

Sykes said under the new ownership, sights will be set on branding, speed and flexibility. He said pairing operational efficiency with Young’s sales and marketing will give Windham Casting a chance to grow, create more product and generate more sales.

Young said Tuesday that her decision to sell Windham Casting was based on a decrease in sales in the past few years, which contributed to cut-backs in core areas at the Windham plant.

“We took on a lot of debt — we are a relatively young company compared to most companies in the industry. The foundry has just been in business since 2000. A lot of companies in this industry have been in business 50-60 years,” she said.

Young says the capital-intensive aspects of getting Windham Casting established — building molds, getting equipment, having a paint line in place — were done in a different economic climate. Young blames the trickle down effect of halted consumer spending to cause retailers to struggle or close, which devastated industries, including manufacturers of  “discretionary items” such as home furnishings.

“We had a level of debt that was not sustainable for the type of new world we find ourselves in now. Basically the people we owed money to had to take less than was owed to them and we had to ask PDA to work with us on that, and that’s what they agreed to do to keep the business going and to keep the jobs here in Sumter County.”

At the height of employment Windham Casting had 120 employees. and still employs 60 people.

Young is optimistic that with Sykes’ expertise in engineering and manufacturing and the status as a “Made in America” manufacturer that Windham Casting will grow beyond its past success and the difficult times are in the past.

Following the Board’s vote to restructure the PDA’s loan Chairman Paul Hall said, “We are trying to work with Windham Casting and their going forward in developing a business that will carry them far into the future ... we have come up with our recommendation of how we are going to aid Windham Casting and how we are going to do just that.”