ONE YEAR LATER: OLD TOWN AFTER G-P

“It’s been like a weird dream,” Dan Bird said. “Really, it’s been a long haul.”

And it’s not over yet.

When the Old Town mill shut down, Bird was vice president of the papermakers union local. He slid into the role of peer support worker with the Bangor CareerCenter, assisting former colleagues in their struggle to cope with the shutdown, find work or go back to school.

Since then, he has been hired as human resources manager for the mill’s new owner, Red Shield Environmental LLC. The company’s goal is to make the site a diversified facility so its success isn’t dependent on one use.

Bird explained that Red Shield wants to bring manufacturing businesses to the site and not just fill the space with warehoused goods. The company would entertain renting storage space for the short term to bring in revenue to allow growth, he added.

“There’s still a lot of work to do,” Bird said. “It doesn’t seem possible it’s been four months since we started here.”

Before the mill shut down a year ago, Bird spent 20 years representing colleagues with the union, and has fond memories of years of shift work and practical jokes.

“It’s my personal mission to see this place survive the Georgia-Pacific years,” Bird said. “It’ll never be exactly like it was, but in many ways we think we can make it a better place. It’s just taking longer than anybody likes.”

It was a disappointment when label-maker Lamtec Inc. decided not to move its operation to the site, but Bird is confident that void will be filled. The Portland-based manufacturer produces peel-and-stick labels. It bowed out of its agreement to come to Old Town on Feb. 9, choosing instead to manufacture in Westbrook.

“This is a pretty interesting thing to be involved in here,” he said. “You only get to do something like this once in your life,” Bird said.

In the end, he hopes it will pay off and he can be working alongside his former coworkers, many of whom are like family.

“I’ve been having fun, learning a lot, looking forward to coming to work every day, and putting in a lot of hours,” he said.