TINY COMPANY BEHIND NEW BUTTE COUNTY VOTER BOXES
CHICO » When Butte County voters tuck their ballots into the county’s steel drop boxes, the phrase should ring out: Tiny company, big job.
That may be what Scott Franklin thinks when he sees the dozen voter drop boxes that he and Eric Kunkel made in their Chico business, Slag Factory.
Carved from the eastern end of the former Fleetwood motorhome plant at the Chico Municipal Airport, Slag Factory landed a hefty contract with Butte County’s elections office, nudging out two other contenders.
It’s a feat that still amazes Franklin, not because of any doubt of skill, but the sheer luck of a local contract that could expandnot only in future elections but to other counties.
There were a lot of twists to the voter box project, whichtook a couple of weeks to complete.
For security, the boxes that will be located outside will be moved inside at night, so the units needed wheels and couldn’t be too heavy.
Each unit needed two different keys, one to unlock the door, the other to remove the inner box containing the ballots.
Boxes had to be crush-proof, and edges had to be smoothed so as not to cut entering or
exiting fingers. Boxes had to be powder- coated white and covered with county voting decals.
Small but flexible
“Yes, I’m small,” Franklin admits, “but thatmeans I’m flexible.”
It only took a few hours for him to sketch out a handful of different designs for the boxes, sent off to the elections office back in June. Changes were made, followed by a prototype, and the project launched.
A few changes were made, and Franklin revved up the CNC (computer numerical control) plasma cutter, slicing panels from the steel sheets.
“We have two out- ofstate vendors we use for drop boxes. But for these, we had a special purpose in mind (for use outside the voter assistance centers). We enlisted the services of three different local companies, including Slag. They were asked to design a box, with input, that would fit our needs.
After some design time, one company opted to not go forward with the job,” wrote elections office manager Keaton Denlay to this publication
“Slag nailed the custom design and fit within the budget, so they got the job,” Denlay noted.
A state grant paid the $1,800 unit cost of the boxes, Butte County elections official and Clerk-Recorder Candace Grubbs said, adding that shewas thrilled to hand the job to a local company.
Born and raised in Oroville, Franklin found his skills through his father and his work in construction, paving, trucking and logging.
“It’s not THAT Franklin Construction,” said Franklin about his dad Jeffrey’s business, “but it gave me a great background.”
Franklin took a couple of classes through Butte College, but found his side hobby/business of fabricating parts for rock-climbing and off-road vehicles took off, edging out classroom time. He took machining in high school and at Butte as well.
His Instagram account is
@iheartrocks
He was doing the fabrication in his father’s garage but eventually moved to Chico about four years ago, sharing space with Chico Metal, a complementing business owned by a friend Eric Schroeder.
Little by little, Franklin has added equipment, sometimes choosing older or well-used equipment that his budget could handle. A point of pride for him is being debt free when it comes to his equipment.
It’s also a point of amusement.
Inneed of a lathe, he purchased one from an online auction company, only to find that it was one he had used while attending Butte College.
“There were things about it that I noticed when I was working on it at school. And there was a Butte College sticker on it too.”
It’s still in use but retirement is just around the corner, muses Franklin.
Name
While some think the company’s name might have something to do with Franklin’s initials, it’s actually a company byproduct. Plunging his hand into the lubricant inside the plasma cutter, Franklin draws out a handful of metal “slag” — melted parts from cutting.
Other work has included handrails, ornamental fencing and ironwork, accessibility parts and new construction.
Slag has worked on the Butte College physical education building parts and handrails in Butte Valley, structural work for Neal Dow School’s newgymand CORE Butte’s new building at the Neighborhood Church, both in Chico.
Franklin isn’t in want for jobs, but he’d be happy if this contract played out into something bigger.
If not, there seems to be plenty of business for his services fabricating suspension systems, LEDlighting, truck armor, builder parts and other kinds of metal work.
Kunkel too has his hands full with another business, Sticky Whips, that creates the suction- cupped, standout flags for offload vehicles, and builds lift kits for offroading in his Prius.