Board approves grant submissions

by Staff Pioneer Times
16 years ago

By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer
    CARIBOU — The Northern Maine Development Commission Executive Board of Directors met with holiday cheer on Dec. 10 to discuss grant submissions and membership of the Aroostook County Tourism Standing Committee.
    The two grants that board members approved for submission were a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Solid Waste Management (SWM) Grant and a USDA Rural Development Training and Technical Assistance (RDTTA) grant in the amount of $90,000. Should funds be obtained through the two grants, the USDA RDTTA grant would be used for a geographic information system (GIS) pilot project that would clearly lay out wastewater infrastructure; the other application would be put toward the creation of an interactive recycling map, the renewal of 10 very popular compost education classes, updating operations manuals for landfills, and a visual multi-media training program.
    Board members approved an adoption of resolution to increase the membership of the Aroostook County Tourism Standing Committee and appointments to the committee. New committee members include Stephen Hughes, director of the Madawaska Chamber of Commerce; Jason Parent, Northern Maine Community College director of development and college relations; Jim Gardner, current Executive Board Member and town manager of Ashland; and Melanie Stewart, owner of Mojo’s in Presque Isle.
    The board also heard an update on the proposed rail abandonment of the Montréal, Maine and Atlantic line. Denis Berube, director of planning and transportation at NMDC, discussed work in progress to maintain or update existing rail services and about two informative sessions regarding the proposed line abandonment that took place on Dec. 15.
    During the meeting, board members also approved the adoption of the NMDC Workplace Smoking Policy, ratified service contracts, and accepted the NMDC Loan Review Committee Report and the agencywide revenue and expenditure statements for the period ending Nov. 30. They also viewed a presentation about the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) center at the Loring Commerce Centre.