Ensuring the future Montana Machine owner purchases Payne Machinery

LeRoy Thom believes helping the community in Libby is very important, even if he does not make money doing so. Recently, he bought Payne Machinery Inc for $1.4 million, putting him in debt, but leaving lots of room for his business, Montana Machine & Fabrication, to expand.

“I wasn’t born here, but I grew up here,” he said.

Thom was picking up parts at Payne Machinery when Bill Payne approached him with an offer to buy his shop.

Buying the shop was a pretty big step, Thom said.

But Payne Machinery is an integral, necessary part of the community here, and Thom wanted to ensure a good future for the company.

Thom plans to keep all of Payne’s workers on staff and hire at least a couple more in the coming months. The shop will probably need to hire a machinist and a fabricator.

He also will move his smaller shop, Montana Machine, into Payne’s much larger space.

Moving all of the machinery is going to take some time. The move will take a couple of months, he said.

Many community members have already reached out and offered to help with the move, he said. Such strong support does not happen in other places.

Fighting for Libby

When someone comes into Thom’s shop, he often tries to do whatever he can to help them.

Whether it’s a lawnmower frame in need of welding or some other random job, someone has to do it, he said.

“The only thing we turn down is something we absolutely cannot do,” he said.

Even if the shop does not make any money off of a job — and it generally will not with those smaller jobs — the work still needs to be done, he said.

“There’s nobody else that’s gonna do it, so we do it,” he said.

Thom has built snow plows, fire trucks, fire equipment, railing, logging trailers, signs and worked on dozens of other projects.

In his shop’s yard he can point to various creations scattered around. Montana Machine is full, he said.

Payne said he has a lot more room for Thom and is glad Thom is taking over the business.

“In many ways, we compliment each other,” he said.

Payne attributed his success at Payne Machinery to hard work and diligence.

After concentrating on his shop for years, there has not been any time to think about retirement, he said.

“I put my heart and soul into this place,” he said.

Yet, Payne is not bittersweet or sad about handing over his business to Thom.

“The idea of getting away from this after 50 years is quite liberating,” he said. It should be a smooth transition.

Kim Peck, the vice president of the Libby Chamber of Commerce, has known Thom for 15 years. He is the kind of man who makes sure what he signs up for is done correctly, she said.

“He donates so much of his time to this town,” she said.

Thom is working on creating three welcome signs for the city and made the sign in front of the chamber’s welcome building, she said.

It is really cool to see someone fighting for the town, she said.

“He wants to see Libby succeed,” she said.