CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The owner of Gunnoe Farms announced in a Facebook post that Friday was the last day the company would be making its salads.
Gunnoe owner Joy Gunnoe said the decision to close the doors on salad production at the company’s Charleston plant was “a devastating blow to my family and all of our employees.”
But Gunnoe said it couldn’t be helped.
“We withstood 3 catastrophic occurrences in a 4 year span and what finally did the company in was WV American Water’s non-payment of our water claim,” she wrote.
Gunnoe claimed she was owed $1.1 million in damages from the 2014 spill of MCHM and the water emergency that followed but only received $145,000 as part of the $150 million settlement involving MCHM-maker Eastman Chemical and West Virginia American Water.
In Friday’s post, Gunnoe claimed she was told by someone at the water company in the days after the emergency that lines leading to her plant had been flushed. After receiving clearance from the health department, she began making salads only to find out that the lines hadn’t been flushed.
“I destroyed over 18,000 lbs of product! WV American Water simply lied and told settlement administrators that it was public health that gave me the information and it was WV American Water. Well, they got away with it,” Friday’s post said.
West Virginia American Water told MetroNews Friday it regretted to hear the news about Gunnoe’s decision but said Gunnoe Farms “voluntarily participated in the settlement process and had its claim reviewed by a court-appointed Settlement Administrator, twice, and an independent Appeal Adjudicator before receiving its final award.
“While Gunnoe Farms disagrees with its final award, we believe it was the result of a fair, independent process that reviewed the facts Gunnoe Farms presented,” West Virginia American Water said.
Gunnoe said she’s never been able to recover from the water emergency loss. She said she spent her retirement savings in an attempt to keep the business going.
“I’m going to do my best to sell my product line so it continues to be made. To all my employees, I much appreciate your hard work and loyalty to the company and my family. Thank you all,” the post said. “It’s been a wonderful 34 years!”
Gunnoe did not mention in the Facebook post how many jobs would be cut.
“So now it will cost the city of Charleston and Kanawha County. It will take $9,000 to $15,000 dollars weekly that my payroll puts into the area. It will cost the loss of B and O taxes and all the other taxes pumped into the economy,” Gunnoe said.
In a July 2017 story with MetroNews, Gunnoe spoke of plans to put the company up for sale. She said a lot of things had occurred including a loss of key customers and the state’s business climate.
Gunnoe will continue to produce its sausage which is made in Virginia.