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| Photo contributed by Jon Gulliver Duane Walton, left, business finance director at NMDC, presented Eric Scott, of Caribou, with a retirement present during the NMDC annual meeting in St. Agatha. Scott has been with NMDC for over 14 years. |
ST. AGATHA – The Executive Board of the Northern Maine Development Commission (NMDC) has given approval to two grant applications that, if awarded, would be a boost to manufacturing in the region and fund an aggressive “Education to Industry” initiative spearheaded by the Aroostook Partnership for Progress (APP).
Meeting in St. Agatha Thursday, June 13, the board unanimously approved a $50,000 dollar grant application to the Bangor Savings Bank Foundation.
“The ‘Education to Industry’ initiative is a fundamental component to growing our 18- to 44-year-old workforce here in Aroostook County,” said Ryan Pelletier, NMDC director of economic and workforce development. “The proposal we have submitted to the Bangor Savings Bank Foundation will be pivotal to our success by leveraging public and private resources to do marketing and outreach; hosting mentorships, job shadowing and intern programs to County youth and engaging our business community to ensure success.”
“This initiative will take significant time and resources to change the way education and businesses are working together and make it a standardized process over the next few years,” said APP President Bob Dorsey.
The Executive Board also authorized a $200,000 grant proposal to the Economic Development Administration for an Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership (IMCP) Grant. This proposal will develop a strategy to advance the design and manufacture of biomass heating appliances in northern Maine. The strategic process will focus on two options: the ability to accomplish research and development of more affordable heating devices in the region and the likelihood of attracting a European manufacturer to perform fabrication and assembly activities here.
“This dovetails well with our recent meeting with Schmid Energy in Switzerland,” said NMDC Executive Director Bob Clark. “Part of this whole application is to find manufacturers of biomass boilers and appliances and Schmid would be a perfect fit for that.”
The annual meeting of the members followed the Executive Board session, where Clark gave an overview of the NMDC operating plan for 2013-14. Clark said for the ninth consecutive year NMDC has not increased dues to the members, noting that most municipalities recoup the cost of dues by savings received through NMDC’s cooperative road salt purchase. He also indicated staff is working to find other cooperative opportunities to save members even more in the future.
Also at the annual meeting the slate of officers for the fiscal year were selected. Don Guimond of Fort Kent will serve as chairperson, replacing Jim Tweedie. The other officers are Christy Sirois of St. Agatha, vice chair; Christina Therrien of Madawaska, treasurer; and Austin Bleess of Caribou, secretary. Also elected to Executive Board two-year terms were: Don Adams, Patten; Jim Bennett, Presque Isle; Ralph Dwyer, Ashland; Jon Frederick, Castle Hill; Denis Gagne, Bridgewater; John Herold, Fort Fairfield; Max Lynds, Littleton; Ray Mersereau, Mars Hill; Patricia Pelletier, Allagash; Sirios; Therrien; and Barb Pitcarin, Portage Lake. Elected to one-year terms were Bleess and Gene Conlogue of Houlton.
Two employees were lauded for employment milestones with NMDC. Leslie Jackson, regional tourism and IT design developer, has been with NMDC for 10 years and Dave Spooner, business and workforce development specialist and PTAC coordinator, has 15 years of service.
Also at the annual meeting, Eric Scott, a loan officer in the business finance department, was presented with several retirement gifts. He is retiring in July after 14 plus years with NMDC.
