Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Aegis Withdraws Offer; Looking At Other Property

Aegis Biomedical will most likely be locating in the Prescott area, but not in the Prescott city limits.

Ron Mercer, president of Aegis, said the company has been looking at several locations around Prescott and intends to find one.

The decision on which site will be made after all the necessary research has been completed.

However, the deal Aegis offered the city is now null and void, as the committee chosen to examine the company made a formal recommendation to the Prescott City Council Monday, Aug. 21, to deny a lease to the company, with the council agreeing.

Mercer said the company wants a site between Little Rock and Texarkana, and isn't married to any one particular location.

The important thing, he said, is the site chosen have access to utilities and be near an interstate.

"We invited the (council's) committee to come to St. Michael's and see our operation," he said. "We have the same things there we would have had in Prescott, but we never got to first base. The site in Prescott would be the same as the one at the hospital."

Mercer said the material is sterile after it's been treated by the JYD-1500, and only sterile material would go in the landfill.

The waste, he said, would be stored in Department of Transportation approved locking plastic carts for transportation.

The law, Mercer said, requires the containers have locks and not leak. "We've never had one break, they're incredibly durable."

The idea, he continued, is once a contaminated article is placed in the container, it's never touched by human hands again.

The container is picked up by a machine, which dumps it into the JYD-1500, where it's treated with steam sterilization at 250 degrees saturated at 15 pounds per square inch. This process, Mercer said, destroys all living organisms.

Once the city officials turned down Aegis' offer, Mercer spoke with Nevada County Judge James Roy Brown, who he said was helpful in finding a potential site for the company.

"We want to be good, responsible corporate citizens," he said.

The new site will be on private property and no royalties will be paid. "We hope the business grows and becomes significant," he said. "We want to be a viable company in the county. This is the best thing out there for this and we have the best way to deal with it."

While there will be no royalties paid by the company to the county, people will still be put to work, Mercer said.