Eager labor market lures small business

DOVER-FOXCROFT – The large number of available skilled workers in the Penquis region and their eagerness to work prompted a businessman to pull his roots in the southern Maine town of Eliot and move north.

While looking for a permanent home in Dover-Foxcroft, Glenn Ruesswick of Kittery Point, owner of Island Cottage, has been working for the past few weeks from temporary quarters in the former Dorman Farm in the Eastern Piscataquis Industrial Park in Milo.

The company builds, delivers and installs post-and-beam cottages made from native pine. Every item used in the construction of the buildings is from Maine, he said Friday.

The company’s goal is to provide a solution to the many challenges presented by remote or water-access-only locations in Maine, particularly its coastal islands, as well as rivers, lakes and ponds deep in the Maine woods, according to Ruesswick.

To help him settle in Dover-Foxcroft, selectmen have agreed to apply for a $300,000 Community Development Block Business Assistance Grant for the construction of a building in Pine Crest Business Park. There the company would join Creative Apparel, a manufacturer of military chemical protective garments and other military and commercial specialty clothing.

If the town is successful in the grant process, Ruesswick would be required to match the grant with another $300,000.

“Hopefully, we’re in a new facility in Dover-Foxcroft in about a year,” Ruesswick said. He already employs four people and the move would mean a total of 10 jobs, he said.

Dover-Foxcroft Town Manager Jack Clukey said his community is more than willing to help the businessman. “We’re happy he’s interested in coming to Dover-Foxcroft,” Clukey said Friday.

Ruesswick has about 30 years of construction experience in mostly high-end architectural mill work. He said he manufactured mahogany greenhouse packages in Alaska and wood cores for snowboards before shifting to cottages four years ago.

“These grant programs are not something I’m used to,” Ruesswick said. “It’s nice to have available funds from the federal level that can be disbursed through the state to help small businesses relocate to areas in the state where there are large numbers of qualified and eager employees.”

Ruesswick said he was surprised more businesses haven’t moved to the region because of the available labor pool and the help provided by local officials. During his first venture to the county, Ruesswick said several representatives of the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council turned out to meet him.

“It was so heartwarming to see businesses turn out to welcome a small-business man who’s looking to relocate to the area,” Ruesswick said. He also was surprised, he said, when 70 people responded to his initial query for potential employees. In southern Maine, a business is lucky to get one response a week, he said.

“This area is just eager to have small business come up this way,” Ruesswick said.