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Commissioners consider contract proposal for economic development service

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Commissioners Terry Brann of Wilton, at left and Charles Webster of Farmington, discuss a contract proposal for the county’s economic development services.

FARMINGTON – One charitable agency’s request for funding consideration during the upcoming budget cycle was denied by county commissioners at their recent meeting and another organization, traditionally funded through the county’s program grant section for nonprofit organizations submitted a draft outlining economic development services for soliciting contract proposals.

Commissioners decided to pull economic development services out of the program grant section of the county budget and to list it as a line item for separate consideration. The Greater Franklin Development Council board of directors proposed the idea to move it as a contracted service and developed a request for bid proposals for the commissioners to consider.

The nonprofit council, established in 1998 was founded by local business people as a way to market Franklin County, initially received $60,000 each year from the county. Over the last couple of years, that total has been reduced by commissioners and the county advisory committee to $42,000. Half of the county’s total contribution for economic development services is paid by tax increment financing raised by the Kibby Wind Power Project in northern Franklin County.

Alison Hagerstrom, executive director of the GFDC, noted the importance of the county’s “support of job growth (and that) collaboration is key to economic development.”

For Franklin County not to have economic development services, she said, “would be devastating.” Businesses recently have contacted her with an interest in relocating to the county.

“If there wasn’t an organization, who would he call,” Hagerstom asked. The organization work includes providing interested business owners information on available site locations, workforce demographics and other data, and routinely holds business networking seminars.

Commissioner Charles Webster of Farmington noted the original intent of the council was to have it funded through the private sector and not be reliant on the county.

Hagerstrom said that was the goal, but “it didn’t happen.” The county doesn’t have the large company support once thought to be relied on for support of economic development services. Much of the work to bring a business here takes three to five years to develop, she said.

“Is it appropriate to take taxpayer money to support these agencies given the mill closing,” Webster said.

“Economic development is one way to make this county strong and vibrant,” Hagerstrom said, especially since the Jay mill’s future is in doubt.

The council’s board intents to submit a contract proposal to continue providing the county’s economic development services.

In other county program grant matters, commissioners had earlier requested that organizations which have previously received funding through the program grants section of the county budget be notified that funding might be reduced or cut entirely over the next couple years.

Commissioners Webster and Terry Brann of Wilton, a former member of the county budget committee, have previously backed reducing or eliminating the funding of many nonprofit organizations that are supported by the county.

At their recent meeting Webster and Brann voted to not consider a request for program grant consideration by the homeless shelter in Farmington. Both commissioners noted the county’s past policy not to accept any new requests for funding by the county. Commissioner Clyde Barker was absent from the meeting.

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10 Comments

  1. Seems like people in Franklin county are struggling to confront some painful realities. There’s a tendency to get defensive and dismissive of the harsh realities regarding why investment or people are choosing Franklin County. I’ve noticed that, when some painful truths are brought to the fore….a lot of local people, local leaderships also, just feel affronted and shut down. Um, it’s not helping fix what’s wrong to avoid/deny what’s wrong because you find it a painful truth. When you have a tumor, if you are too afraid to have it examined you can’t confirm it’s benign nature or confirm it’s malignant nature in order to remedy it. This is scary. Confronting things you don’t want to know, hear, like, accept etc. doesn’t mean you should not confront them.

    I think people tend to be so afraid of speaking openly…they don’t speak at all. Many are afraid of “offending” someone if they speak up. This is understandable, but its not helpful to fixing the problems.

    Things I hear time and again from those that have left Franklin, are leaving Franklin :

    Geographic isolation/distances to other population hubs. You need to be able to exchange goods/commerce/ people to generate economic diversity/robust commerce. It’s hard to get to and from here. The drive to Augusta and L/A is…a drag. People and businesses don’t find it worth it to come up here with services or for services.

    Inconsistent goods/services and unwelcoming attitudes in Franklin community. People can get mad at this, but it’s true. Not every business or resident is rude to outsiders, but, let’s face it, everyone here has witnessed the bad attitude towards people “from away”. This sours the exchange of people and services required for robust economic development.

    Unappealing atmosphere. Reality is, no one is going to invest in a business venture or home when the town has no ordinances for “good fences keep good neighbors”. Barking dogs, fireworks, guns and excessive noise unchecked near property lines or farm animals…does not make people say “Oh gee, I’d love to sink hundreds of thousands here for the next 30 years”. There are ways to protect residents right to enjoy the things they enjoy…without disturbing their neighbors. I’d also point a 2016 DHHS study ranked Franklin County as having some of the highest rates of child abuse in the entire state of Maine. Um, Franklin, you will have to do better than that if you want to make this a county people want to invest and live in.

    Drugs. Franklin County is awash in drugs. I can’t quote it verbatim, but, there was a study conducted last year at the high school. Really frightening number of kids, I think 70+ % stated they knew someone using heroin and they knew where to buy it. There’s a lot of crystal meth as well. I’ve seen opioids and cocaine sold/used right in the back room of a local bar. Everyone knows about this from what I understand?

    Intolerance of people different from the prevailing white/Christian conservative lifestyle/creed. You don’t have to like/agree with other peoples religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender norms, race etc. You just have to leave them to live their life in peace/ leave them alone if you don’t agree/like what they do. Copping an attitude and making women, non Christians, LGBT, non whites etc. feel threatened and unwelcome in Franklin County….is going to drive away needed investment.

    Right, so, by now, several people reading this will have gotten all mad and started to fume, highly insulted by what they perceive to be unfair criticism of Franklin County. Fine…you know, if you’ve never experienced this stuff here, lucky you. I can tell you I have. I know others that have, and they are afraid to speak out about it precisely because people get mad at them for talking about it.

    In conclusion, what do people like and want to come to Franklin County for? The land, the nature, wildlife, cheap prices for large acreages, have a farm of your own, have some livestock etc. UMF is an important fixture as well. These are the assets Franklin has to market.

  2. I really wonder how the everyday citizen would be impacted if the GFDC was no longer here? We already have a Family Dollar? I don’t really see what the benefit of having them is honestly?
    I would be interested to see exactly what their accomplishments have been since 1998.
    It really doesn’t seem as though the area has been inundated with new businesses that have moved to the area due to them. Maybe I’m wrong but would love to see some examples.

  3. Dear Living the Dream,

    Just check their website and then if you have lived here long enough remember back to when Franklin County had its own Economic Development Director and we were not getting anything done GFDC has created 100’s of good paying jobs within easy traveling distance of Farmington

  4. The bottom line is, Franklin County is not attractive. It’s just not. Why would a business want to come here? Huge overhead to maintain a site year round and to connect/ bring their product to whatever their market it is from a remote geographic location.

    The issue of high speed internet is a important one, but, IMO the ship has kind of sailed. Franklin should have been on that issue 10 years ago when it was new and we could have tapped a niche market for industry that might develop here utilizing highspeed internet to market their product.

    The select boards and county commissioners have consistently tried to sell Franklin County much like a 3rd world sweatshop “come on down! these folks are so poor they’ll work for 25 cents a day! hooray! And don’t worry about that pesky OSHA and EPA.,..our people don’t like ’em either. Oh boy and do we hate unions here have no fear! Ayuh.”

  5. Since it takes three to five years of work to bring businesses to the area the GFDC should be able to show the county commissioners good reason to give support.If they are worth their salt then they must have some businesses lined up.

  6. Specific examples “Long List” That’s all I asked for. Are there more people working in Franklin County today then there were back in 1998? Maybe there are but it certainly doesn’t seem that way. Just think in the last year or so, the paper mill has laid off 100’s, the hospital slashed nearly 100. How come the old Bass and Foster Manufacturing buildings aren’t full to capacity? Remember back in the 80’s when everyone could work and stores were full at night? Mount Blue Shopping Center – full. Now look, empty space for years as well as the empty space in the Hannaford Plaza. It’s nice to have the Dollar Store, Auto Zone’s etc but is this what you consider some the 100’s of good paying jobs? What about Barclays in Wilton, sure maybe a 100 people working there but they replaced the 500 or so that were employed there back in the 80’s.
    Farmington has some great stores and there are definitely other great niche businesses in the area but really how did they end up here? Did the GFDC seek them out and convince them this is where they can thrive.
    I think it’s well worth any town to look into saving money any way they can.
    Why is it that the companies that are here now don’t choose to support the GFDC? The thing that really made me wonder about exactly how valuable they are is this fall when they were looking to hire the independent company to go after new business for the area. I thought that was GFDC’s job??

  7. Living the dream,

    What if GFDC had not been here. Those 100 jobs you talk about might not be here. The Wire plant in Kingfield might not be here. Poland Springs in Kingfield might not be here. And that just begins the list. When was the last time you attended a Selectman’s or Commissioner’s meeting. If you hire an outside firm you still have to pay a fee which might equate to higher cost than what we have. The Townships have the cash cow now in the Power project. Township costs are half what we who live in the area pay while they depend on us for services and support. Attend a Commissioner’s meeting and ask them what they are doing to keep the businesses here and what is their plan to replace businesses that leave. It’s easy to find fault and point the finger at those that are working hard to get business here. Everyone needs to take a look in the mirror and ask themselves this question. What did I do today to help an business succeed in Franklin County? What am I doing to encourage businesses to move here.?

  8. Long list. Is GFDC taking credit for the Poland Spring plant and the wire company coming to Franklin County? If so,they should be proud of thier impact . Not convinced that they had all that much influence, but maybe!

  9. Long List – AGAIN just looking for examples of what they have brought to the area. Are they responsible for bringing the wire mill to Kingfield, Poland Springs?? Great if they did, this is their job.
    Their funding is very dependent on the county thus the taxpayers. I think they should prove their worth before we write them a check.
    Obviously the independent company (I forget the name) do not offer complimentary services, again my point.
    You appear to be in “the know”. Can you give me examples of businesses they have brought to the county?
    Are we better off today than we were back in 1998?
    It seems as though the 3rd largest employer in FC (Saddleback) has been closed now going on 2 years.
    How are they helping them?
    I’m not finding fault with anything they’ve done to this point. I’m really wondering if the money could be better spent elsewhere. If not than lets support them.

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