Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — Economic development that results in growth and prosperity is “a process not a project” was the message June 11 during a joint meeting of the Aroostook Partnership for Progress and Leaders Encouraging Economic Development at the Northeastland Hotel.
Staff photo/Mark Putnam
Growth from within, according to Aroostook Partnership for Progress Chairman Chris Anderson of Houlton, has been identified as the region’s best development opportunity in these challenging economic times. Chris Anderson of Houlton, APP chairman, gave an update on the ongoing process of attracting $50 million in investment and 1,000 new jobs in Aroostook County within the next four years.
“Significant challenges exist and always will for any region faced with out-migration and an aging population. This year was particularly challenging due to a national economy in significant recession with little hope of using traditional attraction methods to grow regional jobs,” he told the group of 75 business and industry leaders.
During the past year, Anderson reported, APP and its investors have focused their efforts inward. “APP embraced the challenge in becoming the Mobilize Maine leadership body. What a great opportunity to re-think economic development at a time when traditional approaches … have all but dried up,” he said.
“Adding entrepreneurial growth from within to our arsenal of job and capital producing activities will serve to make Aroostook stronger and more dynamic,” Anderson added.
Also offering remarks during the combined meeting were Virginia Joles of Presque Isle, LEAD president, and Walt Elish, also of Presque Isle, APP president and CEO.
Joles highlighted several LEAD initiatives during the past year, including weekly legislative action updates, aggressive campaigning to save railroad service in northern Maine and to promote bond issues deemed beneficial to Aroostook County, as well as ongoing efforts to encourage small businesses and entrepreneurs who make up a major proportion of the region’s economy.
Joles presented a special “going away” gift basket to Dr. Richard Cost, who is retiring as president of the University of Maine-Fort Kent and relocating out of state. She also cited several Aroostook businesses for their ongoing efforts to make the region a welcoming place to work, live and do business. She hoped recipients would “pay it forward” by identifying other companies that are “doing great works.”
In his report, Elish credited the Mobilize Maine economic development model for helping area leaders focus on a manageable number of industry sectors and set real, attainable goals.
“We discovered that the real power of the Mobilize Maine initiative is the bringing together of industry leaders with the vision, capacity and passion for the region and the cultivation of entrepreneurs to take advantage of identified business opportunities that would generate incomes, wealth and new jobs in the region.”
Identified business opportunities, according to Elish, include renewable energy such as biomass, wind and hydro, and information technology operations centers and IT outsourcing. Key to seizing upon these identified opportunities, he said, is working with Aroostook County higher education institutions in supplying the market with employees who are skilled in accounting, computer applications, business management and e-commerce.
Elected to office during the combined annual meeting were Chairman Anderson, Vice Chair Robert Clark of Fort Fairfield, Treasurer Scott Kent of Fort Kent, and Secretary Alan Landeen of Caribou for APP; and President Joles, Vice President Jon McLaughlin of Houlton, Secretary Jim Davis of Caribou and Treasurer Linda Smith of Presque Isle for LEAD.
