Greenville vote planned on incubator financing

GREENVILLE – Selectmen voted 4-0 Wednesday to include a $75,000 bond package for the construction of a wood-composites incubator on the annual June town meeting warrant. The move is designed to show state officials that the town backs the project.

The fate of three other bond issues proposed by Greenville Town Manager John Simko will be decided Monday at a special budget session. In addition to the funds for the incubator, Simko has recommended the town borrow $450,000 for road improvements, $105,000 for a new snowmobile trail groomer and $327,500 for a new fire department annex and municipal building renovations.

Action on the incubator proposal came this week after Mark Scarano, executive director of the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council, suggested a vote to place the funding on the town warrant could help leverage state funds. The town, with help from Scarano and Eastern Maine Development Corp., has a federal commitment of $250,000 for the incubator, which is planned for town-owned land.

The $75,000 is the local match for the approximately $550,000 project. Initially, the project was estimated at $1.5 million.

Selectman Eugene Murray, who supports the project, said the incubator will not provide a lot of job opportunities, but the potential is there to expand.

The incubator, which will focus on the needs of entrepreneurs who wish to manufacture wood-composites products, is viewed as a natural fit for Greenville.

It is expected that most of the products produced at the incubator will be developed first at the University of Maine’s Advanced Engineered Wood Composite Center. A public presentation about the project is planned for April 15 in Greenville. Local officials hope many of the entrepreneurs who graduate from the incubator will open businesses in Piscataquis County. One such entrepreneur already has expressed interest in locating at the incubator.

The rent generated from the incubator is expected to pay the debt service on the bank note.

In other action Wednesday, the board reduced some line-item accounts, shaving $5,000 from the code enforcement account for additional hours and a similar amount off for part-time constables.