NOTE 16 – COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

Rent expense charged to operations under lease agreements for the six months ended June 30, 2018 and 2017 aggregated approximately $1,655 and $1,613, respectively. Aggregate future minimum rental payments required under all non-cancelable operating leases at June 30, 2018 are as follows:

Year
July 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018	$	1,555
2019		3,156
2020		2,785
2021		2,342
2022		1,611
2023		1,220
Thereafter		4,369
Total minimum lease payments	$	17,038

In 1982, the Company discovered and thereafter removed a number of buried drums containing unidentified waste material from the Company’s site in Slate Hill, New York. The Company thereafter entered into a Consent Decree to evaluate the drum site with the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (“NYDEC”). Based on NYDEC requirements, the Company cleaned the area and removed soil from the drum burial site. The Company continues to be involved in discussions with NYDEC to evaluate test results and determine what, if any, additional actions will be required on the part of the Company to close out the remediation of this site. Additional actions, if any, would likely require the Company to continue monitoring the site. The cost of such monitoring has been less than $5 per year for the period 2004 to date.

The Company’s Verona, Missouri facility, while held by a prior owner, was designated by the EPA as a Superfund site and placed on the National Priorities List in 1983, because of dioxin contamination on portions of the site. Remediation conducted by the prior owner under the oversight of the EPA and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (“MDNR”).

While the Company must maintain the integrity of the capped areas in the remediation areas on the site, the prior owner is responsible for completion of any further Superfund remedy. The Company is indemnified by the sellers under its May 2001 asset purchase agreement covering its acquisition of the Verona, Missouri facility for potential liabilities associated with the Superfund site.

From time to time, the Company is a party to various litigation, claims and assessments. Management believes that the ultimate outcome of such matters will not have a material effect on the Company’s consolidated financial position, results of operations, or liquidity.