Lewiston officials get glimpse of Clearwater Paper

Mar. 26—Lewiston's mayor along with a majority of Nez Perce County commissioners and Lewiston's city council plan to attend a closed-door event at Clearwater Paper today.

The noon lunch presentation, with an optional mill tour, was included in the commissioners' weekly schedule and posted on the city of Lewiston's website as a notice of possible quorum of city councilors.

Clearwater Paper is one of the region's largest employers with 1,300 staff members in Lewiston.

Jeff Boulden, Clearwater Paper's pulp and paperboard mill manager in Lewiston, and Scott Charney, Clearwater Paper's consumer products plant manager in Lewiston, will make presentations, said Matt Van Vleet, director of government and community relations for Clearwater Paper.

Besides Lewiston Mayor Dan Johnson, County Commissioners Doug Havens and Doug Zenner told the Tribune they plan to go.

Council President Jim Kleeburg as well as city councilors Hannah Liedkie, Kassee Forsmann, Kathy Schroeder and Jessica Klein plan to attend, too.

A request by the Tribune to staff the event was declined by Clearwater Paper.

Idaho code allows events, such as the one happening today, according to emails from Nez Perce County Prosecutor Justin Coleman and Lewiston City Attorney Kayla Hermann.

"(The weekly schedule) is solely to make the public aware a quorum might possibly be present at the same location, however no meeting will take place and no deliberations or decision making that would fall under the open meetings laws will be happening," Coleman said.

Hermann had a similar take.

"The Open Meetings Law requirements ... are only triggered when a quorum of City Councilors convenes for a meeting, which is defined by Idaho Code 74-202(6) as 'the convening of a governing body of a public agency to make a decision or to deliberate toward a decision on any matter,' " Hermann said.

Coleman and Hermann did not plan to attend the Clearwater Paper event today.

The mill managers will cover a number of topics, Van Vleet said, such as a coming upgrade, maintenance and repair project at the Lewiston site that makes pulp, paperboard and tissue.

The paperboard is used for packaging and paper dishes. The tissue is turned into toilet paper, paper napkins, paper towels and facial tissue.

Portions of the Lewiston operation will be temporarily offline at various times from June 1 through July 14 while $75 million of work is completed, Van Vleet said.

All of Clearwater Paper's Lewiston staff will be working during the project that will involve contractors from around the world with 800 crew members, he said.

The largest share of the $75 million — $37 million — will be spent rebuilding one of two recovery boilers in Lewiston used in a process that converts wood chips into pulp for tissue and paperboard, Van Vleet said.

The 15-story-tall recovery boiler was originally constructed in 1988, he said.

Recovery boilers are where the expensive chemicals used for pulp making are recovered so they can be reused in a process that was introduced in the late 1800s that made paper of all kinds affordable to the masses, Van Vleet said.

Clearwater Paper's recovery boilers and a wood waste boiler create steam, which runs equipment and is channeled through turbines that generate electricity.

The strategic options for Clearwater Paper's tissue business will not be a part of today's discussion, Van Vleet said.

The company is evaluating strategic options for its tissue business that generated more than $1 billion in sales in 2023, Clearwater Paper President and CEO Arsen Kitch told stock market analysts in February.

"We have a well-run business with an outstanding team that has a strong track record of performance improvement," Kitch said.

Like paperboard, the tissue business needs scale to invest and grow with Clearwater Paper's customers, Kitch said.

"Given the consolidated customer landscape, and the fragmented supplier base, we continue to believe that consolidation is needed to build scaled tissue manufacturers that can make sizable, long-term investments and capacity to keep up with growth of these large retailers," he said.

It's a little too soon to be talking about timelines, Kitch said.

The implications for Lewiston, the location of Clearwater Paper's largest production site and only place where it makes pulp tissue and paperboard, are being considered, he said.

"We'll look at all options," he said. "One of those options, it may very well be operating the business. So we'll do the right thing for shareholders. We'll do the right thing for our customers and our people."

Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.