Bill seeks to bolster northern Penobscot County

AUGUSTA – A bill asking the state to fund $300,000 to spur economic growth in northern Penobscot County will be heard by a panel of lawmakers next week.

Sen. Mary Cathcart, D-Orono, along with several area lawmakers, including Senate President Michael H. Michaud, D- East Millinocket, are sponsoring the bill.

The Legislature’s Business and Economic Development Committee will hold a hearing on the bill, “An Act to Promote Economic Growth in the Penobscot Valley,” at 1 p.m. Thursday, March 8, in Room 208 of the State Office Building.

The bill proposes spending $50,000 to hire an economic development specialist to work with towns, Chambers and development groups to attract more business to the region. It also proposes spending $250,000 to construct a building to attract business and provide job opportunities.

“This region is probably one of the worst economically hit areas in the state right now because of the uncertainty at [Eastern Paper’s] Lincoln mill and the layoffs at International Paper’s sawmills in Passadumkeag and Costigan,” said Cathcart. Cathcart said action was needed to help promote growth before more jobs are lost. Michaud and Rep. Rod Carr, R-Lincoln, who co-sponsored the bill, agreed.

Carr said the region needed a person who could work full time to attract businesses to the area. “We need to try to provide more and better-paying jobs,” the Lincoln lawmaker said.

In addition to supporting Cathcart’s bill, Michaud is proposing his own economic development package, which includes several bills and two bonds. One bill would provide $2 million to the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development to help attract and market business and would provide block grants to regional districts for needs such as coping with the loss of a major employer or responding to long-term patterns of downsizing in business sectors. Another bill would provide $100,000 a year for the next two years to the Maine Rural Development Council to develop community building projects.

Michaud is proposing a resolve to provide $1.7 million for fiscal 2001-02 and $2.7 million for fiscal 2002-03 to increase access and student services at Maine’s Technical College System.

He said in business sectors such as metal trades, employers were having a hard time finding enough skilled workers to fill jobs, which was precluding them from expanding their businesses. The senator said more funding would allow the technical colleges to increase enrollments and offer programs that would give students the skills needed by businesses.

The Senate president is proposing a $7 million bond to provide facilities for business expansion or relocation, along with a $7 million bond to fund capital expenses for new laboratories at applied technology centers and regions, better known as vocational schools.

Michaud said his initiatives were designed to give various regions of the state, particularly rural areas, the tools they need to attract or expand businesses that will provide jobs for their regions.