Commission Chairman Ed Norden presents an occupancy certificate to Van Diest Supply Florence Distribution Manager Bill Edwardson at Thursday's open house of the new facility along Highway 67 west of the airport.
Fremont County and Florence officials were on hand Thursday to officially welcome the newest business to Fremont County. Van Diest Supply Company of Webster City, Iowa hosted an open house to show off their new 25,000 square foot warehouse and distribution center along Highway 67 north of Florence. Bill Edwardson recently relocated from Freeport, Illinois, to assume duties as the Distribution Center Manager at the Florence facility which is the western-most warehouse for a company that distributes herbicides and pesticides throughout the mid-west.
Edwardson said Van Diest opened the warehouse in order to better supply the San Luis Valley potato farmers with herbicides, offering daily service to Monte Vista and Center. In addition to herbicides, the company also offers mosquito control pesticides. It also serves the aerial market for large scale operations. The company does not handle ammonium-nitrate products.
Company officials credited their contact with Fremont County Noxious Weed Control Director J.R. Phillips for first bringing them to Fremont County after Pueblo city and county officials expressed little interest in helping locate the facility in Pueblo County. Edwardson said Fremont County officials made them feel welcome from the very beginning and expressed appreciation for the efforts put forth by county officials to aid in getting the warehouse open in time for the 2011 spring and summer seasons.
Edwardson said initially the company will employ five people at the Florence distribution site.