MILLINOCKET – One of the Katahdin region’s oldest and most-respected businesses will get a slew of tax breaks as it attempts to expand its clientele and invest at least $100,000 in new equipment, facilities and marketing over the next several years.

With Councilor Jimmy Busque absent, the Town Council voted 6-0 on Tuesday to extend Pine Tree Zone status to about 4.75 acres where Millinocket Fabrication and Machine Inc. is located at 432 Katahdin Ave.

Linda Ireland, an operator of Millinocket Fabrication, told Town Manager Eugene Conlogue in an e-mail on Tuesday that the 102-year-old business is aggressively seeking new work to counter work losses caused by the temporary shutdown of the Katahdin Paper Co. LLC mill on Sept. 2.

“We have bid on 4 large government contracts (things such as submarine hatch covers) in the last few months … We are also pursuing work from the energy industry,” Ireland wrote.

The company plans to convert a storage building at its site to a fabrication facility, increasing its space and work force, wrote Ireland, who was unable to attend the meeting.

“This might involve large government contracts,” Conlogue said.

The company specializes in fabrication, specialty machining, and reconditioning of machinery, among other things, according to the company’s Web site, millinocketfab.com.

Company owner Fred Lewis “has been quite aggressive at fixing up his buildings. Everything he is doing is building up his business,” said Councilor David Cyr, a cement contractor who did some work for the foundry last year.

Given that the town has 295 acres of Pine Tree Zoning available, the zone move “really has no impact upon anybody” except Millinocket Fabrication, Conlogue said.

The Pine Tree Zones initiative was spearheaded by Gov. John Baldacci to spark economic development in designated areas of the state where unemployment is relatively high and wages sluggish. The project offers tax incentives and other advantages at both the state and local levels for businesses that settle within a zone.

“This is an easy vote for me,” chairman Wallace Paul said.