By Natalie De La Garza
Staff Writer
CARIBOU — The country’s most northeastern city received accolades on July 24 when officials with the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development announced that Caribou has earned the distinction being named a “Certified Business-Friendly Community” of Maine — a title held by less than 25 other municipalities.
“The communities that take the time to go through the application process, take a critical look at all areas of their business strategy and examine the ways in which their community interacts with businesses, these are the communities that see an immediate success from this program,” said DECD Commissioner George Gervais. “And if this certification reminds the communities to ask the question — ‘Is this program or initiative we’re about to undertake truly business-friendly?’ — then the certification is truly working for them.”
Officials with DECD cited some of Caribou’s attributes that led to its new title, which included efforts that have been made to streamline licensing and permitting processes to reduce turn-around time, and effective utilization of the Caribou Economic Growth Council (CEGC) loan program.
An official event to celebrate Caribou’s business-friendly title is in the works but for now, Caribou’s City Manager is pretty excited about the hard-earned certification.
“We’ve done a lot in the eight months since I’ve been here to try to be more business friendly; it’s great to see that recognition,” said Manager Austin Bleess, who took the helm in Caribou last October.
Receiving the business-friendly distinction is something Bleess personally wanted to see through for Caribou, but he was quick to note that the city’s staff really made it possible.
“There’s not any project that gets done, that all of staff doesn’t help with,” he said, citing the fun, bi-monthly Thursdays on Sweden events as an example of the collaborative efforts between the Recreation Department, Public Works, Chamber of Commerce, Fire and Police Departments as well as Assistant City Manager Tony Mazzucco to help make Caribou a great place for businesses and a great place to live.
“Everybody pitches in to make Caribou a great place, and a really big thanks goes out to the entire staff for getting behind the push to become more business friendly,” Bleess said.
Tangibly, DECD will present the city with two signs signifying its business-friendly status as well as an official certificate of distinction, but it’s the concept of being a great place to live and work that Bleess is excited to add to the city’s marketing strategy.
“We’re taking a very aggressive marketing approach to make sure business owners know that Caribou’s out there … we’re welcoming and we’re open for business,” the manager said, explaining that he’s sent letters nationwide to businesses looking to expand and companies looking to relocate to a friendlier climate.
Bleess hasn’t been the only one writing letters to help Caribou grow — it took the expressed support of local organizations and economic development entities for the city to become a Certified Business-Friendly Community.
Penning letters of their own to express that Caribou is a great place to do business included S.W. Collins, Chand Eisenmann Metallurgical, F.A. Peabody, Bouchard Potato Company and Progressive Realty, as well as the organizations NMDC and CEGC.
Recently, Caribou took efforts to live up to its new title by haulting a decision previously made by council to sell some of the city’s parking lots downtown — a decision that caused an uproar by business owners and led to a special meeting of the Caribou City Council on July 23 (see story titled “Business owners encourage council to rethink parking lot sales”) to hear their concerns.
“That’s a prime example of how we are working harder to be a business friendly community,” Bleess said. “The businesses had a concern, the council recognized that there was a concern that needed to be listened to and they called a special meeting to listen to [business owners’] concerns,” he said.
Because of the Tuesday night meeting, Council has staved off their decision to sell the parking lots.
“We’re doing a little more research and are going to look at it deeper, thinking about it a lot more and asking ‘is that initiative truly business friendly,’” Bleess said.
As the councilors concluded their meeting with business owners, another group was gearing up to meet at the municipal building — the diverse members of the Community Revitalization Committee (CRC), which was in part born through the city’s desire to become more business friendly.
“We have a wide variety of people that bring their viewpoints from life — which is what you need,” Bleess described. “It’s a great cross-section of the people we have living here now, and they all want to see Caribou grow and be a solid community.”
With the hard work and activity of the CRC, the new distinction received by the DECD and community pride that’s palpable during Thursdays on Sweden events, suffice to say efforts to make Caribou a better place are being felt in the community.
“Caribou is on the move,” Bleess said. “You feel and you sense that things are happening in Caribou right now, and it’s great to be a part of that.”
