Heather Wright/The Independent

Plympton-Wyoming Mayor Gary Atkinson is hopeful a buyer will be found for New Life Mills in the heart of Wyoming.

The large silos of the mill owned by Canadian agricultural giant Parrish & Heimbecker, have towered over the rail line for decades. 

New Life Mills dates back to 1964 and specializes in milling feed for livestock. In March, the dozen or so employees who worked in Wyoming were told the company would be closing the aging mill, shifting its business to the three other facilities in Denfield, Inkerman, and Listowel.

Atkinson recently met with Phil Roberts, director of national operations, as the company stopped milling feed to hear first hand why the mill was closing. 

“They said it was a corporate decision,” Atkinson tells The Independent.

The mayor says the mill was aging and the company was having a hard time meeting environmental standards.

“They’ve been trying to meet some standards, as far as environmentally, and sound wise and they felt that because they had an older facility…I don’t know if it was more economically feasible for them to utilize their other locations because we do, everybody recognizes, this is an older facility.”

In March, Lambton Warden Kevin Marriott told the business magazine First Monday “The neighbours’s complained about noise and dust and the provincial environment ministry pushed them into stricter regulations.”

Atkinson says that was one of the concerns he had as he met with New Life officials.

“It was one of the questions that we asked them because as you’re aware, we have the new subdivision just down the road from them, but they said that had not been a factor to them,” he said.

He added he can’t recall any neighbourhood complaints about the mill either from the residents of the new subdivision or people who have lived near the site for decades.

Usually, he said “people will come through the municipal office first and complain about stuff,” he added.

The mill occupies a large stretch of land along the rail line next to the Wyoming fire hall. The mayor isn’t sure what will be done with the land.

“I understand there were some people that were possibly interested in it, but as far as we know, there’s been no decision made on the property at all.”

Atkinson says the company told him all the employees had either accepted positions with New Life’s other facilities or had found other work.