My Last Mandate (3rd part)

The fish farm had been finished and on 21st May we took it over from the building constructors.

I became euphoric. The writing of my book was getting better, so I felt I would succeed.

Of course I wasn't aware what was about to happen in June 2015. So from my previous euphoric state I fell into a terrible crisis. I was concerned how that would influence my brain.

In June 20015 we first moved the fish (graylings 1+ and 2+) from the small fish farm by the Tolminka river into spacious pools, where there was more than enough water. We were enthusiastic about it.

On the same day we had the meeting of assembly of members. First we had a look at the beautiful new building, and then we had the formal part of our meeting. There were different topics on the agenda, among which also appointment to steering committee for the opening of the new fish farm.

When we came to the last topic, questions and initiatives, I proposed to soon start a new investment. At first the whole project consisted of 20 pools, but we only managed to build 14 of them due to lack of money. At that point we had almost everything; the building site and permission to build. What we needed was just money. In my opinion that wouldn’t be a big investment, presumably between 500 to 600 thousand EUR. Furthermore in 2016 the Ministry of Agriculture would call for applications from fishing funds EU and we could get 50 % of money needed. I explained to the members that by bigger capacity Faronika could produce higher surplus, so consequently we could pay of the credit more easily. The market of fish we raised was not a problem either. Furthermore, by 2018 the fishing clubs would have to buy rainbow trout only from certified fish farms, and that would be our advantage. The quantity of water in the six new pools would be equal as that in the fourteen built ones, and not many more workers would be needed to raise twice as many fish. So the investment would be wise.

The problem was that I was the only one who thought my idea was exciting. It did not come to my mind that anyone would disagree. All the members expressed a doubt, and they wanted to wait before enlarging the infrastructure. I couldn’t but ask if they were not aware that such good conditions wouldn’t last for long. No one supported my idea. Finally the manager of Faronika just said: “The problem is that we must buy some terrain from ARSO to round off our plot.”

God help him! He’s the manager and has no idea of improving the company. “We’ll see what happens,” I thought to myself. And then it struck me: “This is the first time of my mandate, that I’ve been defeated. I have to think how to hand over my function. It looks like things will go down!”

In February we checked, together with Andrej and Dušan, how the building was going on and I soon estimated that we would have financial problems again. The investment consisted of two parts: the fish farm and food processing. The agency of agricultural market constantly expected our reports on both the projects separately.  It was obvious that we could spend less money on the food processing project, but more on the fish farm. So the price for the fish farm was to be paid by Faronika d. o. o., whereas what we could save at the food processing project should be returned to Brussels. So we lost 100.000 eur provided from EU. Neither Faronika d. o. o. nor the Fishing club of Tolmin had the money we needed, which was 130.000 €. If we wanted to get funds from the EU fish fund, we were to finish both the investments by June 2015.

I can’t remember whether it was me or Dušan who called the Bank. Dušan, Andrej and I went to the bank in Celovec. The bank clerk had estimated that our project was progressing well, and promised to approve an additional credit. We calculated there would be no other complications until the project was finished. At the end of May 2015 the Bank association informed us that the additional credit for Faronika d. o. o. was approved. So I was certain we could pay all the bills and finish the investment on time that is till June 30th 2015 and send the confirmation about the finished works to the Agency of Agricultural Market.

What remained were only the pleasant jobs. I was writing the book very intensively and I was optimistic about finishing it. I invited the entrepreneur from Ljubljana that I was in contact with during the building of Faronika and he always assured me he would financially help us if needed. While planning and building the fish farm it was always on my mind that the bills should be paid on time if we wanted to acquire the EU fishing fund. On June 4^th the mentioned acquaintance came together with his friend and I proudly showed them our beautiful new fish farm. We agreed that we could cooperate in future if we decided to expand and improve our project. I thanked him for his moral support during my past projects.

Next day Mrs. Mirella, the owner of some Italian fish farms came. We had been buying rainbow trout for the Fishing Club of Tolmin from her before. Dušan and I invited Mirella to show her our new fish farm and to make a purchase agreement. Faronika was practically built and when the Veterinary Inspectorate approved it, we could import the rainbow trout from Italy. If we want to breed fish for putting into rivers, we could only buy them from EU certified fish farms. That was important for us because we ourselves wanted to get the EU certificate, so we couldn’t get fish from any Slovene fish farm.

At the beginning of June 5^th, 2015, we put rainbow fish into the rivers of Tolmin Fishing Club. It was also planned that we would do the same in the middle of June, and then we would use fish from our new fish farm. We also planned that dr. Crivelli would do field research on Sunday 22^nd June, like he had done for 22 years before. Tolmin Fishing Club had to organize ten of our fishermen under the leadership of Dušan.

On Monday, June 8^th, I invited Stane, our former president of Tolmin fishing family. He was the one who organized the building of the small fish farm in Zalog and thus enabled us to continue working on Faronika.  I showed him the new fish farm and he was enthusiastic about it, and so was I. We were about to go to the nearest pub to have a drink and a chat, when Dušan appeared and called me. He told me boldly that the bank association had just informed him that we wouldn’t get the promised credit of 130.000 eur, and that we should get money elsewhere.

My first thought was that another stoke would hit me. I told Dušan we would consider that later together with Andrej. When I joined Stane, I didn’t mention the bad news. I did my best to sound cheerful and we were talking about all our projects. But in my brain I felt confused.

I couldn’t imagine a new crisis just before finishing the project. I immediately called the bank clerk in Klagenfurt and wanted to know what went wrong. I insisted he gave me the manager’s telephone number. He told me that wouldn’t help, because all decisions on credits should be approved by the supervisor in Vienna. So I insisted on getting the supervisor’s phone number, which annoyed the clerk. Consequently he hung up.

I called Andrej and Dušan and told them to check all the bills to be paid before June 30^th. On Wednesday, 10^th June, we had a meeting and together we estimated that we needed at least 60.000 €. At that moment we didn’t need 130.000 eur, because we got a bridging loan of 140.000 eur from a bank for the EU fund. The food processing project cost 100.000 eur less, and that couldn’t be used for another project, but returned to EU.  Till November 2015 we would have to return the whole bridging loan, so we would need 130.000 € then.

We could not rely on the bank, so what to do? I didn’t like the idea of calling the entrepreneur whom I had already shown the new fishing farm. So I got emotionally ready to call him. I explained him what had happened and asked him for a 60.000 eur loan, as he had always assured me to help if needed. I also promised to return the money in a few months. I explained him we were short of time and kindly asked him to answer as quickly as possible (at least till Sunday, 14^th June) if he could help us. He promised me he would do that, I knew I would have a hard time waiting for his reply, so I postponed the writing of my book.

On 10^th June the Veterinary Inspectorate submitted a positive decision for the food processing project. The next day they submitted a positive decision for the fish farm as well. We could hardly wait to buy rainbow trout from Italy in order to put them into rivers from our new fishing farm. The last rainbow trout which were bought in Slovenia were put into the rivers at the beginning of June. In our financial plan we wrote we would buy the rainbow fish from different fish farms in Slovenia till June 2015, and since then we would buy them from Faronika d. o. o.

The entrepreneur didn’t call me neither on Sunday nor Monday. But on Monday, Mr. Podbršček, from Slovenian Environment Agency in Nova Gorica came with the news, that we have to get a water permit from  Slovenian Environment Agency in Ljubljana which was necessary to get the building permit. During the building construction we had made some changes. According to the plan we would use fuel oil for heating the building. Since we met with the supervisors, the architects and the contractors every Tuesday, we estimated that the heat pump would be more rational for heating. The price of heating would be ¾ lower in the latter case. I knew that would raise the price of investment for some thousand euros, but nevertheless Dušan and I confirmed the changing of heating system. That was before I had the stroke. We thought it could not influence the water permit. We asked Mr. Podbršček  from Slovene Environment Agency in Nova Gorica to join us at the meeting and discuss the matter with us.

After  my stroke I had troubles making telephone calls, thus I often asked Dušan if Mr. Podbršček came. He told me, that he had called many times, but didn’t arrive yet. Finally, just before the fish farm should be finished, he came. It was on 15^th June and only 15 days were left to do all what was necessary.  After having looked around the fish farm, we had a sort of meeting where we discussed the heat pump. Mr. Podbršček told us that we needed water permit and the changing of building permit.
I suddenly felt confused in my head again asking myself if I was going to have a stroke once again. Only seven months had passed since my stroke and at that period I was constantly under shocks. I was sure the project wasn’t going to be concluded successfully. I was wondering there was no chance to finish our project by 30^th June. And our Fishing Club would lose 1.400.000 € from the EU fund, and we wouldn’t be able to return about 2.000.000 € loan to the bank. Faronika and the Fishing Club were under the mortgage and we were about to lose everything, including the fish farm in Zalog. And how many years we would have to pay off our credit, so all the money from our fishing permits would be spent for that. All those thoughts were on my troubled mind and I couldn’t say anything for quite a time.

I don’t know what was on Andrej’s and Dušan’s mind then, but when I was finally able to talk, I wasn’t neither angry, nor furious, but absolutely resigned: “This is the end of our fish farm.”

Mr. Podbršček probably felt we were all desperate, so he started telling us that everything could be done. He promised to prepare the water permit soon, we only had to contact our architect in Nova Gorica and request a change of project. At the same time we had to get the agreement of changing the building permit at the Administrative Unit of Tolmin Municipality. Gradually our hope returned and we set off to do our tasks. We hoped we would succeed in spite of all the troubles.

My acquaintance from Ljubljana didn’t call me neither on Tuesday, nor on Wednesday, so I was trying to call him, but I couldn’t come through. Finally I got his secretary who told me he was on a business journey abroad. On Wednesday evening I got his mail: “Hi, Lucijan, I am sorry for writing so late. Unfortunately I must tell you there is no good news about my loan … we’re in the middle of … purchase of shares … which would require all our available funds.  I have no doubt you’re going to find a solution – maybe you can rely on your members of the Fishing Club?”

“Well, I understand that a big entrepreneur might be at the loss of funds for a moment, but why is he suggesting relying on our members? Is he fooling me around? How am I to do it in 12 days? The procedure for this is rather complicated and time consuming, not to mention that none of the members, including me, is able to credit the project so fast”.

Andrej, Dušan and I checked how much money we need. We found out that we needed 40.000 eur to pay all the bills. I was so desperate that I thought of borrowing money from my children. “The oldest has got three children and needs money for himself. The youngest works in Switzerland, but he had been there only for two years. I would call him if I didn’t find other solution. First I would ask my daughter. In 1996 she settled in New Zealand with her boyfriend. They both got work there. Then they transferred to Australia and later to England. Now they are both in Switzerland and I might get a loan from her”.

I decided to call her and tell her about our problems concerning Faronika. She couldn’t answer me straight away. She told me that she didn’t have enough money in Switzerland, and promised to check out in Australia, where some of the bonding of her money was about to be released. The next day she called me back and told me that she could help. I told her that I needed 40.000 eur for four months. Then Faronika would have the new fishing farm worth 2,5 million € and would be able to get a new credit. At that time I could return her money back. So her money would be transferred to Switzerland and she could lend us the needed sum. I was sure we would get the money on time.

On Monday 22^nd I organized the meeting of the organizational committee for the opening of the new fish farm. We agreed that the opening ceremony would be on 18^th September in the afternoon. The manager of Faronika would be the first to have a word. The president of Tolmin Fishing Club would follow. The head speaker would be the minister of agriculture, and in case he wouldn’t be able to come, we would ask the major of Tolmin municipality to give a speech. I told the members that both of the last mentioned people helped a lot with the project when something went wrong with the bureaucracy.  They had no objection to my decision. On 19^th September the Festival of the Marble Trout was planned. In the morning we would organize the open to public happening, and in the afternoon we would invite all the members of Tolmin fishing family. The program would start with the fishing family president’s speech, which would be followed by cultural program, awarding decorations, medals, and cups. We would have a picnic afterwards.

At the beginning of June the weather was hot. On 2^nd June we were happy to have moved graylings (born in 2013 and 2014) from the small fishing farm in Zalog to the new one. They had little space there. We hoped that the pools in the new fishing farm would be filled with water in May, but the contractors were slow and we had to “push” them a bit. Well, at last the graylings had three big pools, what was really luxurious compering to previous ones.

Our joy did not last long. Every morning we noticed plenty of dead graylings in the pools. We hoped that was just a temporary crisis, but it went on. I kept asking Dušan what he thought about that. He estimated that the fish underwent certain stress when being transferred from smaller to larger space, and also the water temperature was a bit different. In Zalog it was 14 degrees centigrade, whereas in Faronika it was 15, almost 16 degrees. Those might have been the reasons, or was it something else? Who knows? It was hard to watch the dead graylings.

Before I go on I must admit that it is better to write a few years after the things were happening. You somehow calm down and can think more rationally than at the time when you were in action. Of course it is necessary to have notes which remind you of those days.

Besides all described things so far, in June 2015 a new crisis was near. At the beginning of June we put rainbow trout, bought in Slovenia, into rivers. From the beginning of the season till then we put 4,5 tons of rainbow trout into rivers. We planned to buy new ones in Italy and transport them into the new fish farm. On 11^th June we got veterinary license for Faronika from the Veterinary Inspectorate. Dušan and I agreed to order the rainbow trout at Mrs. Mirella’s fish farm in Italy.

It was by the end of June that fishermen and fishing permit sellers started calling me and urging us to put fish into rivers due to bad catch. I was assuring them it was only the matter of short time when we would get rainbow trout. At the same time Dušan told me that the rainbow trout were ordered soon after we had agreed but the supplier had problems with their Veterinary Inspectorate, since our fish farm wasn’t registered on the EU list yet. 

On 15^th June field research started under the supervision of Dr. Crivelli. We still hadn’t got the fish, so Dušan and I started calling the suppliers in Slovenia; with no success though. After 20^th June it started raining heavily and till 23^rd June 258 mm rain had fallen. Most of the rainbow trout were taken away by the flood. After that we had great problem fishing.
 
At the beginning of June I was rather optimistic thinking we would have no problems finishing the fish farm on time. And then problems began to accumulate; first the approved money was lost, then we feared we wouldn’t get the change of building permit on time, and at the end we couldn’t get fish for putting into rivers! I became extremely irritable, which is not usual for me. We were uncertain about obtaining 1,3 million €, and on the top of that there were pressures from fishermen and fishing permit sellers. I couldn’t control my feelings so I was rather rude with people, who wanted something from me, including Roman (the president of Supervisory Board): “You insist on getting those fish, do you have any idea what is going on! The fish are a minor problem, we are about to stay without the new fish farm!” Roman was at the loss for words for a moment, and then he replied: “I am sorry I don’t know what your problems are, but without rainbow trout the fishing is really bad.”

When I calmed down, I realized that I was really impossible. I should have told him what was going on without bursting out. So I tried to explain him calmly, but I am not sure he understood.

On Monday 29^th June my daughter transferred her money on our account, so we paid all the bills. On the same day we got the change of building permit in the Administrative Unit of Tolmin, so we could report the completion of investment to the Agency for Agricultural Markets. On one hand I was very happy to have successfully finished the fish farm, but on the other hand I was concerned about the fishing season.

In the beginning of June my attitude towards Dušan was getting worse. One day I called him to my office, Andrej was present as well. If I felt well, I would talk to Dušan on our own. But I noticed that after my stroke I became choleric. It wasn’t nice of me, but I couldn’t help myself behaving like I did. I demanded from Dušan to solve the problem of purchasing fish in Italy. Of course, he was nervous about the situation himself and our tempers grew worse. I didn’t even hear him telling me that he was doing his best, and the fault was on the supplier’s side due to bureaucracy. I insisted that he should solve the problem no matter what he had to do. He despaired saying: “I am exhausted; I haven’t had a holiday for three years!”

I was thrown out of the track: “Never mention something like that again! You are the manager, so organize the company and take a holiday whenever you want. If you are not able to organize others, then work on your own. I don’t want to hear a word about it!”

He left and I am sure he was angry at me. It was well aware that our relationship was damaged for ever. Anyway, he soon solved the problem calling the Veterinary Inspectorate, where they checked our documents and found out they forgot to register our fish farm on EU web page. So the matter was solved instantly and Dušan informed me that we would get rainbow trout on 16^th June. For the same day I convened a meeting of the Management Board. I wanted the members of Management Board to see the rainbow trout in our new fish farm. After the meeting we went to the fish farm and the members of MB could see the fish destined to be put into our rivers.