Ackermans sell to Lewiston Lennox dealer

After 30 years in business on Main Street, Scott and Lori Ackerman have sold Ackerman Heating and Air Conditioning to a Lewiston firm. Ackerman, who has headed the business since he was 24 years old, said he feels his team of 12 employees has developed as a strong functioning unit which will give the new owners an opportunity to take over the business and keep it functioning at the local level.

Mike's Heating and Air Conditioning of Lewiston, a part of Erdahl Holdings, will take over the business at the start of the new year.

The company will keep the Ackerman name.

The Ackerman business was started by Scott's father, the late Bud Ackerman, in 1962 when he purchased the business from Bill Lancaster. At that time the business was located at Thorn and Main Street, the present site of Eddy's Restaurant.

Bud Ackerman became a Lennox dealer in 1967. He moved the business to West Island Street in Colfax.

Scott Ackerman, a member of the last Endicott High School graduating class in 1987, attended trade school for nine months. He started working for his dad when he was 16.

Ackerman's moved to its present location at 631 N. Main in 1992, and Bud Ackerman was stricken with cancer shortly after that and had to step aside.

Bud Ackerman died at the age of 54 after a three-year battle with cancer.

Scott noted operating a business in a small town consumes hours of time for the owner, and he began to consider selling the firm. He said word circulated among other Lennox dealers, and the sale was closed with Mike's, which is now operated by Jon Brotnov.

Jon's father, Monte, who operated a Lennox shop in Grangeville, later worked at Inland Metals in Clarkston and then worked for Lennox in Sacramento, Dallas and Modesto, Calif., before moving to Uniontown where he has resided for the past 14 years. He was a representative for Custom Equipment, based in Oklahoma, and made many trips to the airport for assignments around the county.

Monte has joined the staff at Ackerman's and will be aboard for the last three months of the year when the transition will conclude.

Scott said one of his first priorities will be more time with family. Son Jake and daughter-in-law Ciara have two children, Oakley, age 2, and Scotty, 10 weeks. They reside in Colfax, and Jake works for Schweitzer Engineering.

Ackerman recently purchased the DSHS building on Main Street and plans to remodel the lower level to provide commercial rental units. He will also devote more time to his River Pointe development which offers housing sites along the South Fork of the Palouse River. Two of the sites now have houses and the third is under construction.

Two years ago, Ackerman sold his interest in Webb's Slough where he and Lori formerly competed in sprint boat races. The Ackermans and Matt and Amanda Webb started the slough under an arrangement where the Webbs provided the land, and Ackerman financed development of the race course and grounds.