DOVER-FOXCROFT – In a first-of-its-kind conference held in Piscataquis County, municipal officials, planners and economic development officials gathered last week to discuss economic development that is not offered in the county but is offered elsewhere.
More than 70 people in addition to about 30 panelists attended the daylong conference last Friday titled “New Directions for Piscataquis County.” The conference was the brainchild of Erik Stumpfel, president of the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council, and was funded in part by a grant from the Maine Community Foundation and support from Eaton Peabody Attorneys at Law. Space was provided by the Penquis Higher Education Center.
“Overall it went really well,” Thomas Kittredge, PCEDC executive director, said Monday. He said the participants will be asked to help the PCEDC when it begins its scoping sessions to review the county’s economic development plan.
Sessions were held on water bottling, health care, wind farms, wood pellets, telebusiness and home-based businesses, hotels and conference centers, and advanced manufacturing.
The event sought to educate town officials about the positive and negative aspects of these types of projects, so they can better evaluate proposals that may be presented to them in the future. For example, some town officials might investigate the use of wind power for municipal buildings while others might investigate the use of wood pellet commercial furnaces to heat public buildings. It gave town officials an opportunity to learn and ask questions, Kittredge said.
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