Note 16 - Related Party Transactions

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Notes to Financial Statements

Related Party Transactions Disclosure [Text Block]

(16)

        

Related Party Transactions

Transition Agreement

In

September

2015,

we entered into a transition agreement with Sidney B. DeBoer, our Chairman of the Board, which provided him certain benefits until his death. The agreement has an effective date of

January

1,

2016

and the initial payment of these benefits began in the

third

quarter of

2016.

We recorded a charge of

$18.3

million in

2015

as a component of selling, general and administrative expense in our Consolidated Statement of Operations related to the present value of estimated future payments due pursuant to this agreement. We believe that this estimate is reasonable; however, actual cash flows could differ materially. We will periodically evaluate whether significant changes in our assumptions have occurred and record an adjustment if future expected cash flows are significantly different than the reserve recorded.

As of

December

 

31,

2016,

the balance associated with this agreement was

$17.3

million and was included as a component of accrued liabilities and other long-term liabilities in our Consolidated Balance Sheets.