Business group wants more say in Millinocket

MILLINOCKET – A group of downtown businesspeople has formed the Millinocket Business Association – yes, as in MBA – as part of their efforts to have a stronger voice and more direct role in downtown’s direction, organizers said Wednesday.

The group, organizer Marsha Donahue said, intends to complement, not contradict or replace, the Katahdin Area Chamber of Commerce or other town development groups, such as Eastern Maine Development Corporation, the town’s part-time economic development agent, or Town Manager Eugene Conlogue, who handles Millinocket business inquiries and decides whether to pass them to EMDC.

“There are certain things that we can tackle that maybe going through the Chamber might be more difficult to accomplish,” Donahue said Wednesday. “I am not saying they are not responsive. I am saying they are not able to respond immediately to things that we can respond to more quickly.”

Representing all businesses in the Katahdin region of East Millinocket, Medway, Millinocket and Woodville, the Chamber has a much more broad focus than that of MBA, organizer Dan Corcoran said.

And MBA’s membership consists largely of downtown or town business owners, they said. Donahue owns North Light Gallery, and Corcoran is owner-broker at North Woods Real Estate and owns Corcoran Associates, a private forestry consulting firm.

Other group members include Alan Pangburn, owner of Pangburn’s Family IGA; Gary Rideout of Rideout’s Market; Jean McLean, owner of Memories of Maine Gallery; and Rick Levasseur of 5 Lakes Lodge on South Twin Lake, Corcoran said.

MBA can promote downtown goals in conjunction with, or supplementary to, work by the C hamber or any other organization, he said.

Economic development is a thorny issue in Millinocket, with much controversy generated around the former Millinocket Area Growth and Investment Council and what critics felt was its partisan role in town politics and ineffectuality in drawing businesses to town, a claim MAGIC supporters denied.

With many of the people in MBA pro-MAGIC supporters, some critics feel that MBA is MAGIC redux, but that is not so, said Donahue and Corcoran, who is stepfather to MAGIC Executive Director Bruce McLean, a Town Council member.

“We don’t see ourselves following that agenda,” Donahue said. “Some of the things we care about might be similar [to what MAGIC wanted] but these things are things everybody can agree upon – the need to beautify downtown, to develop all forms of business and industry in Millinocket. It would be very narrow and petty to assume that of us.”

MBA has had Chamber members and Conlogue attend at least some of its meetings so far. Conlogue said he felt the group would be helpful and that it would be unfair to label MBA, or any other group, that seeks to help the community.

“I am attending their meetings and right now, they have promised as a group to help this area and the town in particular,” Conlogue said. “These are people who have ideas about the community, and it can give us a fresh perspective on how to approach certain things, especially economic development, which they have a good and valuable insight into.

“If your economic development effort gets mired in politics, it is going to fail. It would be wrong to label this group or any other that might spring up,” he added, “because if we do that, we are defeating our goal of economic development. Economic development caught up in politics is almost 100 percent unsuccessful. With the issues this community has to face, we should welcome everyone at the table who has ideas. I know that I want them [MBA] at that table.”

Among the ideas MBA is working on:

. Busing tourists into town or downtown. The group, Corcoran said, has contacted Cyr Bus Lines to see about this and gotten an encouraging response.

“We think that this is a real possibility here,” Corcoran said.

. Organizing downtown beautification.

. Creating town festivals and celebrations that could draw thousands to the area. Donahue is already working on a Trails End celebration for mid-September, she said.

Individuals within the group, such as Pangburn, are already working on the Jerry Pond revitalization effort or as members of the Millinocket Historical Society, which is raising money to launch a downtown museum.

“We want this group to be a positive voice that shows that this community is a good place to do business,” Corcoran said. “We want to be the group that tells that story.”

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