Bangor worries and waits as DFAS Day approaches

Bangor and state officials involved with DFAS who don’t normally bite their nails probably started to on Wednesday.

The same officials who have scrambled for nearly a year to bring one of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service centers to Bangor woke up to the potentially devastating news that Defense Secretary Les Aspin might put the DFAS system on the back burner, if not scrap it altogether.

Working the phones, city officials called the State House. State officials called Washington. And they called each other, all in the hopes that some news — the good stuff, preferably — would turn up.

But for the most part, they sat on the edge of their seats, holding their breath.

“To the best of our knowledge, the timeline that was established was a procedural one,” said Michael Aube, commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development, adding that rumors that five cities had been selected, Bangor among them, might have increased pressure on Aspin to take another look.

The state and city, Aube noted, have invested heavily in money, energy and hope that the DOD would tap the Queen City for the 3,000-plus jobs a DFAS site could produce. If the plan is put on the back burner, he said, Bangor could lose some of the momentum it had built up during the past couple of months.

“We, on our side, would have loved to have had more time to polish the proposal further,” Aube said, adding that the Maine DFAS team nonetheless put the pressure on to complete the proposal.

Kenneth Gibb, director of economic and community development for Bangor, reserved most comment until city officials learn whether the DFAS procedure will be kept as is, postponed, or thrown out altogether. So far, he said, the city has pumped about $30,000 into the project, much of it raised through private donations.

City Manager Ed Barrett could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Cory Tilley, spokesman for Gov. John R. McKernan, said the governor had checked in with the congressional delegation about the reports and was concerned about the possibility of a delay.

“Obviously, it’s not good news,” Tilley said.