WCCC boat program funded

EASTPORT – It appears that the boat school will remain afloat for another year, city officials announced Thursday – thanks to a $75,000 commitment from the governor.

City Manager George “Bud” Finch said the Washington County Community College’s Marine Trades Center, known locally as the boat school, will need about $75,000 to keep it in its present location.

Community college officials had announced earlier this year that they planned to mothball the facility and move classes to the Calais campus.

But Finch and others decided to fight the move. The first step was to formulate a plan and then meet with Gov. John Baldacci. The governor held the key to the money.

“The governor has agreed to work with the [Community College] system, the local legislative delegation, the city and local interested parties to find funding for the financial gap necessary to keep the school open and operating in Eastport,” Finch said Thursday.

Boat school instructor Dean Pike described the eleventh-hour appeal to the governor, who was in Washington County last week for a rails and trails announcement.

“We did the rabbit-out-of-the-hat trick with Gov. Baldacci on the tarmac over at the Machias Airport when his plane was idling there,” he said. “He pledged it [the money].”

Sen. Kevin Raye, R-Perry, said the money would keep the program in Eastport for one year and give the group time to fix the problem.

“I told him [the governor] that if we can identify that $75,000 in state funding, we could use this year to formulate the long-range plans for the use of the facility and the continuation of the boat school,” Raye said.

The governor’s press secretary, Lynn Kippax, confirmed Thursday that the governor has committed $75,000 in new money to the school.

“That money will allow classes to start in September,” Kippax said. “The governor knows that the boat-building industry is important and vital to Maine’s economy and cultural heritage. And he also notes that the boat-building industry needs workers and the boat school in Eastport is a demonstration by the governor of that fact. And its another indication of the governor’s belief that Maine and Washington County deserve a diverse economy that provides long-lasting benefits to all.”

Finch said the reprieve gives the group time to look at business partnerships.

“We believe there is an ability with the community college to partner with industry to subsidize and make that project grow,” Finch said. “We don’t have confidence in the economy in the state of Maine that its going to be so blessed that it is going to pour tons of money into the community college system.”

Earlier this year, Washington County Community College President Bill Cassidy announced that because of a cut in state funding the boat school would have to be moved from Eastport to the Calais campus.

Cassidy said he had to cut more than $500,000 from a $6 million budget. School officials said the move would save the college more than $160,000 in operating costs.

He also said he planned to cut one of the program’s two instructors. Cassidy was in Augusta and unavailable for comment Thursday.

Pike said that adjunct instructors would be used for some classes. “In the long term we have to have another boat-building instructor,” he said. “There’s a lot of courses out there that I don’t teach or can’t teach because I’m teaching too many other courses.”

It has been a tough two years for the boat-building program. Boat building has been part of Maine’s economy since 1607, yet in 2004, the college program that trains students for the industry was placed on hold to allow college officials time to retool the curriculum. College officials blamed the one-year shutdown on poor enrollment.

In December, the college began advertising for students for the new program, and 17 students applied.

Cassidy maintained that moving to the Calais campus would attract more traditional-age college students because of access to the college dorms. Finch said the group planned to explore long-term housing for students, including dorms.