TRR photo by David Hulse Robinson's Saw Mill Works will go on the auction block on May 20. (Click for larger image)

By DAVID HULSE

BARRYVILLE - Robinson Saw Mill Works owner and operator Aaron Robinson revealed Monday that he will shut down and auction off the business later this month.

Robinson said he made the announcement to dispel rumors about his reasons for closing. Those reasons have to do with changing economic times, societal values, work habits, regulations and foreign competition, the 45 year-old businessman said.

With some 20 full-time and another ten contract employees, the mill is one of Highland's largest private employers. The mill includes 11 buildings totaling more than 40,000 square feet of floor space on a 30-acre industrial site.

The mill has an assessed value of $800,000, its equipment employs state-of-the-art technology and its gross revenues amount to several million annually. Despite all that, Robinson said, it was time to walk away.

Robinson said his decision to close down came after a good deal of thought and involved several problems that have made the business increasingly difficult over recent years.

He blamed local regulatory oversight, planning board reviews, of cutting plans for delaying operations that are often based on changing market values and weather conditions. He said the reviews often take two months and put people without knowledge of the business in charge of making vital decisions. The delays often wind up making the purchase unprofitable for the buyer and the sale is forfeit, Robinson said.

Those decisions, he said, are not based on environmental and ecological concerns, but on aesthetic policy. "They legislate what woodlands should look like" without regard to the economic impact on the property owner, he said.

Another major problem is finding employees, Robinson said. When he started 24 years ago, there were a number of sons of local farms who were accustomed to outdoor work and had basic knowledge of woodcraft. That employee pool has disappeared today.

Today's sawmill worker is not all brawn. The equipment is sophisticated and often involves computers. "You need a nerd, who wears a size 48 coat," he said.

Few young men are trained in any trades and few seek jobs involving outdoor physical labor. This, he said, is despite a need for such alternative employment. Robinson said his employees in the past often were intelligent, but unsuited or uninterested in academic careers. "The biggest disservice the schools are doing today is their lack of training in the trades," the former school board member said.

Despite competitive wages and benefits, the workers he does find don't stay. "They get bored... they want to do something else," he said.

Other problems have arisen from competition from warehouse home improvement stores. Retail customers have become accustomed to instant access. Robinson called it "the Home Depot mentality" and added, "People want instant gratification."

Large timbering outfits have also cut into Robinson's supply. He said the area has seen a wholesale liquidation of large tracts of timber and often local mills are not even invited to bid. "People have to remember that when trees leave like that, several levels of the local economy are impacted: me, the local cutter, the local truckers and all the businesses they do business with. I may not be the highest bidder, but my bid may help produce the highest bid," he said.

The world economy has played a part as well. Former socialist states in Eastern Europe have become major lumber exporters since the fall of the Soviet Union and Robinson's exports to Europe have declined.

Despite it all, the decision was difficult. "I'm broken hearted about it. You don't expect to spend your life building a business like this and then sell it off. What you're going to see at this auction is a multimillion dollar business getting sold off at 20 cents on the dollar," he said.

Robinson and his employees will have another three weeks of work. After that, he's not sure what he's going to do. He's not hurting financially, but he's hoping some part of the operation will get sold off intact and remain on the property where he might stay involved. He might do something with the surrounding property, some 230 undeveloped acres surrounding the mill.

"A lot of people told me I was crazy when I got into this business. I am happy that we provided good jobs for a lot of people for a long time. But they say an important part of running a business successfully is knowing when to get out. It's time," he said.

The auction is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. on May 20.