XML 27 R15.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v3.19.1
CONTINGENCIES
12 Months Ended
Dec. 29, 2018
CONTINGENCIES [Abstract]  
CONTINGENCIES
6. Contingencies

The Company is party to various legal proceedings from time to time related to its normal business operations.  Currently, the Company is not involved in any legal proceedings.

In 2010, the Company was contacted by the State of Illinois regarding potential ground contamination at its plant in Wheeling, Illinois. The Company entered into a voluntary remediation program in Illinois and engaged an environmental clean-up company to perform testing and develop a remediation plan. Since 2010, the environmental company completed a number of tests and the design of a final remediation system was approved in the third quarter of 2018. As of the end of 2018, the remediation plan was completed. The State of Illinois has received the documentation related to the remediation and is in the process signing off on the documentation.  The total estimated cost for the remediation system is anticipated to be approximately $50,000 which the Company accrued for and expensed.

In 2016, the Company created a plan to remediate a landfill of spent foundry sand maintained at the Company's metal casting facility in New York. This plan was agreed to by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (the "DEC") on March 27, 2018. Based on estimates provided by the Company's environmental engineers, the anticipated cost to remediate and monitor the landfill is $430,000. The Company has accrued for and expensed the entire $430,000 in the first quarter of 2018 ($50,000) and in fiscal 2017 ($380,000).  In the Fall of 2018 detailed construction drawings were prepared by an outside consultant in conjunction with informal progress reviews by New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC). A meeting is scheduled for in the first quarter of 2019 to formally present finalized construction drawings to NYSDEC and to request written approval. Approval is anticipated by March 2019 and construction of the closure remedies (improved drainage system, regrading, and installation of a low permeability cap) is anticipated in May or June 2019. Site preparation including surveying and clearing of select trees and shrubs was conducted in December 2018 to improve access for anticipated Spring 2019 construction work.  Long-term groundwater monitoring will commence in April 2019. In the fall of 2019, following the completion of construction work, a closure report and maintenance plan will be prepared for NYSDEC documenting the work done and requesting acknowledgement of satisfactory completion of the Order on Consent between Frazer and Jones and NYSDEC.