Caribou residents envision better economy, community

CARIBOU — Members of every municipal board and committee got together for two hours Wednesday night to share their vision on how to make Caribou a better place to live and work.

Within the last decade, several large retailers have either closed or moved to the Aroostook Centre Mall in neighboring Presque Isle. Losses also were experienced when Loring Air Force Base closed in 1994.

Local officials are working, however, to build the city’s economic base as well as to keep current services available while keeping the tax burden affordable.

The Caribou Development Corp. wants to attract office call centers, industrial machinery makers, food processing and engineered wood products to the state’s most northern city.

According to Jack Allston, CDC executive director, the agency has three “hot” prospects, including a call center, a wood-products manufacturer and a machinery manufacturer. Two firms are interested in Caribou, but need help to begin the move, Allston said.

“We exist for one purpose, and that is to create jobs,” said Dennis Curley, CDC president. “We exist to make sure that Caribou does not become a Monticello or a Bridgewater.”

Caribou Utilities District has applied to state regulators for a water rate increase. While the numbers are not final, district manager Verne Blackstone assured those attending that they could afford the increase.

On the school end, officials are pursuing the possible consolidation with smaller, neighboring school districts. According to Caribou Superintendent Arthur Benner, the school committee is discussing the formation of a school administrative district or a community school district.

No decision will be made without public meetings and a referendum, Benner said.

The district also is looking at replacing its middle school, built in 1926, said Benner.

Chairman of the Caribou Medical Center’s board of directors, E. Allen Hunter, said the municipal hospital remains fiscally sound. In addition, the hospital has a new administrator, Lee Ashjian from Oregon, and two new members on its board, Norm Collins and Ted Pierson.

The Nylander Museum, built to protect the collections of Olaf Nylander, plans to focus on the natural resources area, according to its director, Jere Leary. He suggested that even during hard economic times, County residents “have access to what a rich man can’t buy in Boston.”

He plans to put together displays depicting natural sites in the Caribou area, including the newly constructed Collins Pond way. The museum also should be more helpful to teachers and be a tourism destination.

The recreation committee, represented by Leslie Pelletier, hopes to expand access to the natural river resources in the area by purchasing land. While realizing that funds are short, the recreation department’s creative financing alternatives have allowed every child to participate in programs without charge.

Over the next five years, volunteers will play a larger role in the recreation department, Pelletier said. The department will encourage volunteer coaches to become certified, and the certification program may be offered to high school students as a way to ensure a source of volunteers in the future, Pelletier said.

To draw more people into the Sweden Street area, the Caribou Chamber of Commerce plans to revive a farmers market and conduct more yard and merchant sales, according to Chamber Director Kirk Tibbetts.