BUCKSPORT – Bucksport Town Manager Roger Raymond talked Tuesday about the recent sale of International Paper Co. with a steady resolve befitting a man with 22 years of experience.

When the company announced on Monday the sale of its coated-paper business, which includes the IP mill in Bucksport that employs 800, to a New York-based investment firm, it didn’t surprise Raymond.

“This is nothing new to us,” he said. “Seeing these properties exchange ownership, sometimes it’s more of an investment, sometimes it’s less, but we’re always optimistic.”

Yet even if the sale turns negative, Raymond said Bucksport is not in danger of going the way of other Maine mill towns, simply because its economy is not as reliant on the mill as it once was.

“We have worked to become less dependent on the mill,” he explained. “It used to be 70 percent of our tax base; now it’s down to about 50 percent.”

The town manager didn’t want to get ahead of himself, though.

“Our mill is still open, it’s still operating and making paper,” Raymond continued. “You can always think the worst, but sales like this are part of life.”

Workers at the Bucksport mill on Tuesday echoed the town manager’s upbeat attitude, according to local IP spokesman Bill Cohen.

“I’ve been at both mills,” he said, referring to Bucksport and IP’s other Maine mill in Jay, which also is part of the sale. “Everyone is really focused back on the job. Do they have questions? Absolutely, we’d all like to know the details, but those [questions] are normal.”

For the moment, layoffs at IP seem unlikely in light of the company’s sale of its coated paper business to Apollo Management of New York. The $1.4 billion deal also includes mills in Michigan and Minnesota.

Despite initial wariness and the general instability of the paper industry, Apollo officials have said it does not anticipate changes to the work forces in Bucksport and in Jay.

“The [paper] industry seems to have licked most of its problems. There is a much better balance between supply and demand,” Steve Anreder, a spokesman for Apollo, said Tuesday. “Apollo is a good corporate citizen. They have already indicated that the two mills in Maine are core facilities.”

The IP mill in Bucksport has a strong union presence that accounts for about 80 percent of the work force, something that could factor into any changes.

Jack McKay, president of the Greater Bangor Area Central Labor Council, said Bucksport has a big advantage over the mill in Jay, which has very little union presence.

“In a nonunion workplace, management can do whatever it wants,” he said. “With unions, certain things are covered. As long as they continue working and producing paper, they should continue with the same pay and benefits.”

The impending sale has been percolating in Bucksport since last July, when IP announced plans to sell.

Now, with a buyer in place, albeit a buyer that is making its first foray into the paper industry, town officials in Bucksport are doing their best to remain positive.

“We know that there could be cuts to the labor force,” Raymond said. “Our attitude is just to appreciate it when you have it and try to do the best we can to keep it.”

In truth, it’s far too early to speculate on the future of the IP mills in Maine, according to Maine’s top economic development official.

“We’re concerned and we have a right to be concerned, but it could have been a lot worse. [Apollo] is a company with an impressive track record,” said Jack Cashman, commissioner of the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development.

Cashman has been heavily involved with the sale of another Maine paper mill, Georgia-Pacific in Old Town, and said he hopes the IP deal bears no similarities.

“The group that has bought IP is an investment group with a good reputation for management skills and for long-range planning,” Cashman said. “It seems to be bent on growing those mills.”

The mill has been the lifeblood of Bucksport’s economy since it opened in 1930. Despite the 800 employees and the mill supplying the town with about half of its taxes, town officials said IP is not the economic juggernaut it used to be.

“The town developed a plan in 1998 that talked about diversifying businesses in town to be less dependent on any single employer,” Bucksport Economic Development Director Dave Milan said.

“For the last seven or eight years, we’ve begun to see paper industry changes and we’ve began to seriously think about diversifying the economy,” Raymond added. “We’re certainly not as vulnerable as we were.”

Milan said marine technology and the food manufacturing industries make the most economic sense for Bucksport, using Union River Boat Co., which has recently moved into town, as an example.

“We’re not trying to be all things to all people, but once we get businesses in there, it’s going to be easier to recruit more,” Milan said.

Cashman agreed that Bucksport has done well to expand its economic base.

“I think every town would like to diversify its base. Relying on one industry is not something any community wants to do,” he said.

For now, the town and IP’s employees in Bucksport can do little but wait and see whether Apollo will keep its promise.

“We don’t know much about this company,” Cohen admitted. “But it’s a privately held company, so I don’t know how much we’ll ever know.”

“So far, they seem to be very supportive of the businesses that they buy. We’re anxious to find out more.”