Ag lab loan gets OK from county

Red Willow County commissioners unanimously approved a revolving fund loan application Monday morning that will allow the continuation of local ownership of an agricultural lab in downtown McCook.

Rex Nelson, executive director of McCook Economic Development Corp., which oversees the county's CDBG revolving loan fund, told commissioners at their weekly meeting Monday morning that the loan application from Kevin and Christine Grooms, to help them purchase Olson's Lab from Bob and Connie Olson, indicates "good, sound financials." The Olsons have owned and operated the lab since 1976, and are planning their retirement.

Through the county's re-use loan fund, the Groomses will borrow $100,000, at 4 1/2 percent interest. The first monthly loan payment, of $1,390.02, is due Dec. 1; the loan will be paid off in seven years.

The county's re-use loan program normally requires the creation of jobs, but a loan application can stipulate the retention of existing jobs, which is what the Groomses' loan is doing, Nelson said.

"It's an established business, with good cash flow and good assets," Nelson told commissioners. The county will be in a second position to a bank loan, he said, but loan paperwork can enforce loan repayment and has collateral backing.

Commissioners unanimously approved the loan.

Other businesses operating with county revolving loans -- Pet Pros, Silverstone, Accents Etc., apimages, McCook Eye Clinic and MoDough LLC. --are current on their repayment schedules.

Pawnee Aviation is delinquent 10 payments on one loan and delinquent three payments on a second loan.

Commission Chairman Earl McNutt told Nelson that the county will "have to do something .. take some legal action" in the near future on the delinquent Pawnee Aviation loans.

Nelson said that Pawnee Aviation sold a kit helicopter last week and that he is pressing for partial payment of the county's loans with proceeds from that sale.