PAGE 8, WHITBY FME PUES% jWEDNESDAY, MALY 29s,199 e ~ ~ ~ ~ . 43Lbf ç?IM\>.f' 1. .:-fVTr Local- ýbusnesacï tiantieo>f rfùing to pay bill Byf Me Kowalsi A euai byAtlantic Packag- ing topay a Whitby-.nan's bis of almost $90,000 has helped put his company out of business.1 Bill Margeson dcaims the Toronto-baËed firm 'owes him $88,600 for installing a conv >eyor system at. ýAtiantic s plant on -Milliken Rd. in Scarborough. >But. mountin'g bis' from b is own, creditors forced Margeson to. give u the" legal rïight to any moneypioing from Atiantic. A spokesman ,for Atlantic, however, said the' company, always paysits bills. Anýy money outstanding is the result of Margesons own actions, said the company officiai. The-job was,-ney'er compieted and, the terms of the contract not fulfilled, the Atlantic spokesman c6ntends. Margeson was recently foroed to. close the. doors to his four- year-old company, Flex-Tech Conveyor Systems, located in Ajax. .Unable' to pay the rent,. the bailiff seized the premises, throwing Margeson and -his seven employees out of work. Whiieedoes not- hold Atlan- tic solely responsible for, his financial1 problèes, Margeson said,,bis inability, to collect from Atlantic made itdifficult to keep the company soivent. Tlhe matter is now in 'the banda of lawyers for Atlantic and Span Tech,- a Kentucky-based compay hich suppXed -parts, fo the nveyor Ma son built. Due.to money he..owed Span, Tecb Margeson -transferred,-any daim -to money owing ro Atlantic te the Kentuckyfrm «I- dont want te say- Atlantic put me out of business," stresses Mawunan there wa lsée 4ka ý- with me =,emitn Iirrmo;estimates problerns WKltantic cost humn about $147000 during bis 2 -/2-year invoivement -with 'the, Toronto- baied firm. * (Atlantic opened a newspaper reying plant -on Thickson'Rd. S. earli.r this year.) As a resuit, Margeson had te: sel bis home on Chipperfieloi Cres.' and move bis famiiy, tp smaiier quarters elsewhere in Whitby. Flex-Techs association with Atlantic began in 1989 when it, was awarded the first of thre contracte tetalling $335,000, said, Margeson. Although, work on- the initiai $40000 contract w«ent- welI, Mar- geson said Atlantià was «silow te pay off the bat. «They did not follow specifie terms and conditions and caussed us a lot of cash flow probiemà ." Margeson said Atlantic; offi- cals neyer indicated dis3ple4sure Wxîth lus company's work. 1«But they were',always la~ in peym.ents, this. causedprob ems with my suppliers,» ,he s aid. «ý Becausq we were a smali pom-' pany we worked, off-hours- and weeknd, w. invested a »~t of goodwil nte the re ationshie but weddtget anything back.'I Athe months wore onand %mon.'y became more difflici t t get,» Margeson «started'ma ing waves.» flYehalà d a meeting with Atlan- tic management' last December at which time «they apologized» and proniised te, be more p rompt in their payments, said Marge- son., However,, after Christmas the old'pattern returned and Mg- son began «feeling the beat» 'om, bis creciters. He retained a lawyer Wbo Oent, Atlantic a letter demanding pay- ment of ail outstanding invoices. The lawyer subsequen1ltiy recei- ved -a letter from'At lantic which essentially stated that FIex- Tech's work and equipment was not satisfactory. Margeson was stunned. «We lad no complaints before this, -we -alWays -thought .they were pleased with our work. In desperation and unable te pay bis own buis Margeson- ,transferreèd the riit te b isil recehibleste S an-Tech. -«They'reè still fighting withý Atlantic as far as, I know," said Margeson. An industrial engineer for 16 years, Margeson said he. neyer, encountered a situation similar te bis dealingswih Atlantic. «f theyhad problems".with anything why'not tell me? Wyi4 wait. .until Iget a -.lawyôr?I h. alcia.. «They used ýmisdirection, they kept .saying, te us, andmysp plier there. would,.b. more .workýý ini it for us,,but there wasnt.» Margeson caims conv eyorss tems Filex-Tech designed. or Atlantic saved the latter from purcbasing more expensive machinei. Hie estimated the cost of two p articular pieces of macbinery at $75000, and $50000 respec-, tively. , "*1 1I .Aniother innovation was copied and is now being used in aai Of Atlanties plants, said MaÃjeson. S«W. saved tb.m buying it (new-ý equipment>- and we also' saveéd tbem floor space, you'd tbink tbey'd b. bappy.» Margeson concedes Atlantic was entitled to bis company's ideas but did not show its appre- diation proprl NomiY, someone t bat size would make you the supplier of Runtning for* Municipal Office m1991? You must register before you raise, or spend arny money for your campaign. To registe-r and to find out what else every candidate should know, consuit your local municipal clerk's' office, then pick up your copies of the 'Icandidates guide - municipal elections 1991'1 and the Municipal Elections Candidatels Brochure. Miîtyof .Municipal Affairs choie., but they just took our ideas and cast us! aside.» Margeson adnlits there were occasional -problems instaliing the conveyot Atiantie's specifi- cations, bjut the problems were, always corrected. ,On. incident particularly- Stands out in bis mmid. «mhe" plant engineer-called in a panc and saidhis job was on'the lin.! because of a big contract with'Loblaws,» Margeson recai- led. «Part of the job was continent on a new bigh-speed wrapping machine. TIhey had promis.d te have x number: of cases by, a certain day, but iaou a result of poor piannlig it cýuldn'tb. don.. «Because h. was panicking w. said wed try ouar best.» Margesons Ainericansupplier worked around the dlock'te make the necessar parts and the matral arr7iveéd at Atlantic early on. Saturday 4zeing. "W. woÃkec though the night. I bad a machi». éshop on standby in case it w ýineeded and Ken- tucky had a 1 'an flown up ber. for th.,weeke4d.» The followj Monday mornin the plfant m '~er insjectedý the job~~~ anZxr~e iapprov al, said M,,argesor~ «W. worked on i t for anôther 24 iiours andi ey stun didnt 1k. it'so wewent 1 tit aâgain.» Early- Wecisday the- crew finaily caughtl èome sleep before returning tha# night'.te cob4plete tb*b.. pdfor the,.-spe- cial flight ofpis fromXentucky and they dicInt acknowledge tii. effort ofeusor my ,supplier, notbing,» said Margeson. IA FASHION SHOW was held by merchants at -the Wiitby Mail recently.' %b CORPORATIONO0F THE ... . TOWN 0F WHITBY 1991 FINAL TAX NOTICE The third instalment of taxes for 1991 is due and payable June 14, 1991. If payment is flot received b y de due date, poe n be added on the flst ayof default and the fit day- of each caendar month so long as nor-pment continues, at the rate of 1-1/4 per cent per month or part If you have flot recelved a tax bil and y ou are responsible for payment, plese ontctthe Tax Deparimentat 668-5803 to obtain the necessary infa tin . Taxes mray be pald at anyW Whitby bankwithout bank collection charges, or at the*Municipal Office, 575 Rosskand Road East Whhby, Ontaro. LYNN PIKE SUPERVISOR 0F REVENUE Atlantic vice-president John Cherry refuted. Margeson's charges. He said Flex-Tech's involve- ment with Atlantic only .occurred over the past year. «They neyer compled> "te 64b we had a lot of- trouble wt the".," said Cherry. 4éWehad-;to ýbring i aiother contractor to finish it.» -He termed it.«not true» -that Margesons irs t knowledge',of Atlantic's.'dmpleasure was,,the letterý to his lawyer. Cherry said -h e attended the Deoember meetingxmentioned: by Margeson '«where» we talked about the deficiencies. -As, for 1the: Lo.ýblaws' incident, Cherry was blunt. «That s-ituation -came .abýout becaue'tlie-,were behind ihn the frt plceji was their inability toullî ontracturai -o1 liga- tions.» Cherry was «not ,urprised? when told of Margesons ffina* «Ifis whole ,nethod" of doingý business was' very la, -.rm no~ surprised.» ta Cherry i'ite htAtlanti? always pa ts buis. «But wer interes»ted in receivl- inghtwpyfoheadd - Student' empléyment centre"is, now opent The;- Canada -Employment Centre for S tudentsisfnoîw open at 125 Brock'St.*S.,'Wbltbyil?---afh owners who "have, a job, big or amailn are invited -to contact thé centrïe. ) The Canada- Emplyment Centre for stu.dents n hitb rcipating,,in _Good -Neighbè,r, a.Saturday, June 15. The centre -will b. awardingtwo seIors. in the area w'Ith three- hours'of free labour eaèh. Seniors may, stp by the, Canada Employment Cen trë* for students in Whitby or by the WhiMtby Seniors Activity Centre, during regular business houri to MIî out a ballot. The' draw w ill be held June 1 5 at non, during the cake-cutting ceremony in downtown Whitby. FOR l100 MILLION- FAMILESTH1IS A'NUCLEAR THREA1- every daây in thegruelling search for- wvork, nuclear fanilies are separated, often ending upifl crowded "matchstick' - factories. CARE Canada ass 'ists families ta become self-reliant, GivetIo CÂRE Canada nowN, before their hope is extinguished.. c A N A D A P.O. Box 9000, 1550 Carling-Avenue, Ottawa;-OntarioXK16 4X6 Start Here