PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Participants of a business forum, hosted by the Presque Isle Kiwanis Club and held Feb. 26 at the Presque Isle Middle School, agreed that an educated workforce is a necessity to ensure the region grows and prospers in coming years. They also concluded that more collaboration is needed to ensure the survival of all communities, not just a select few.
Making up the panel for the evening were: Robert Dorsey, president/CEO of Aroostook Partnership for Progress; Martin Puckett, Presque Isle’s deputy city manager; Patti Crooks, manager of the Aroostook Centre Mall; Craig Green, Presque Isle city councilor and businessman; Amy Bouchard, chairperson of Momentum Aroostook; Austin Bleess, Caribou city manager; and April Flagg, executive director at AAI/Gauvin County Scholarship Fund.
“Business owners are vitally important as citizens of Aroostook County. The economy depends on all areas, not a particular city or town,” said Green. “We’ve been isolated communities for a long time. We haven’t collaborated as much as we should have. It’s important that collaboration move forward, be it by business, city government or other institution.”
Green said without working together, many communities won’t be able to continue to provide services as they need to.
“We as taxpayers won’t be able to do it much longer. We’ll either pay more (in taxes) or lose services. We need to find ways to keep the area affordable,” said Green.
Bleess said more “good-paying jobs need to be created.”
“We need to dispel the myth that there are no good jobs in the county,” said Bleess. “It’s my mission to create more jobs in Caribou and northern Maine. That takes a lot of time but we’re working to make it happen.”
“It’s not that there aren’t jobs, there are. They’re just different — needing higher-skilled, trained employees. We believe connecting students with the communities they live in, through volunteering, will help keep them here,” said Flagg.
Shawn Cunningham, serving as emcee, asked Crooks about recent closings at the mall and what’s being done to attract new businesses.
“Being a mall manager is tough, both nationally and globally. The population here is stagnant. The mall’s been here over 20 years but it’s a different ballgame and a different century. It’s constantly evolving,” said Crooks. “I’m optimistic but pragmatic. I don’t think we’ll ever see ‘big boxes’ again. The stores of yesterday won’t be the stores of tomorrow.”
“We still need goods and services, but to get those we need innovation. We’re working on that. But part of the problem is the competition for space is brutal (for businesses looking to locate in the area, there are a number of available spots),” continued Crooks, noting she’s currently working with someone to reopen The Jump, as well as a smaller Sears facility.
Green noted that much of the focus in Presque Isle has been on revitalizing the downtown but now efforts are being made to expand that effort.
“The focus is to not leave downtown but to realize we have distinct areas in the community — all are important to us. I don’t like hearing negative criticism about the mall or the city, etc., and that we don’t care or that we let this happen,” said Green.
He said more emphasis should be put on “the things we’ve done right.”
“Today we need to focus on the things we do well and are working and think outside the box. The region needs to pull together,” Green said.
Bouchard said “we need to look at the bigger picture, with the area’s economic successes as drivers, not the closings.”
“We need to stay ahead of the curve. The state hamstrings (us) when they take revenue sharing. We need to focus on the good things,” said Bleess. “We can’t look back to when The Base was here. We have to deal with what is. We have a lot of opportunities we should utilize.”
Flagg stressed the importance of “shopping local.”
“We need to educate our children of the opportunities right here in Aroostook. The message I carry consistently is shop local and the importance of education,” she said.
Dorsey said it’s important to understand the area’s demographics.
“Not enough attention is put on the area’s growing renewable energy, wind projects, forestry. We have Ecoshel and Irving open in Ashland, creating dozens of jobs. We’re working to bring a Chinese firm to Loring to build rail cars — but will need the U.S. government’s help on that. The point is kids can have jobs in any field they want — places like Cam Manufacturing in Presque Isle and Porvair in Caribou —but they’re more technical,” said Dorsey.
Dorsey said it’s not about “Tigers and Wildcats.”
“It’s not about sports any more. We need to put more emphasis on education and skill awareness. Parents, schools and the communities need to talk. Pulp and paper are expanding up here, but we don’t have the workforce. There’s potential for mining. Even if we keep all the kids here over the next five years, that won’t even touch the number of jobs becoming available,” said Dorsey.
Dorsey said “we can save the environment by using new technology. We need to take advantage of our natural resources. We should also promote cattle and food production.”
He said the workforce issue is a huge one, with the majority of jobs of today requiring a more skilled workforce than in the past.
“We need to encourage our kids to get skills, because more are needed,” said Dorsey, noting that many area high schools who once offered business and other classes no longer do so. He said more needed to be done to educate younger students about the many job opportunities in today’s market. “To work in a hospital doesn’t mean you have to be a doctor, there are many possibilities.”
Green said it was up to business leaders to get the message out.
“There’s only so much the news can do. In two minutes you can’t educate the population of what’s going on in The County. It’s up to us to promote (our communities),” said Green. “Unless we make a concerted effort to have a conversation regionally for all of us, we’re not doing our job.”
“We’re depressed because we have a bad attitude. We won’t ever have the boon of Portland but we’ll never have a bust as we’ve seen either,” he said.
Bleess said Aroostook County Tourism and other organizations need to capitalize on snowmobiling and other recreational activities. “We need to be willing to work together.”
“Collaboration happens when people decide what’s best for the whole is better than what’s best for one,” said Flagg.
Puckett said there are a lot of opportunities for partnerships.
“We have to be advocates, go to Augusta and lobby for causes important to us. We need to meet with businesses and have a dialogue,” said Puckett.
The discussion concluded with the panel hearing public comments.
Steve Dobson, owner of the Aroostook Hospitality Inn in Washburn, recommended more be done to advertise available opportunities in the county, including recreational activities. Ray Rice, UMPI provost and vice president for academic and student affairs, of Bridgewater, said he recently went skiing with his family at Bigrock in Mars Hill and talked to other skiers who commented the lack of accommodations and eateries was a deterrent. Rice suggested making information readily available to what the area offers.
Tim Crowley, president of NMCC, said “the way we hire today is not the way of 10 years ago.”
“More effort’s being made to recruit online. Kids are leaving because they get offers now. Local businesses need to consider how they’re recruiting. We have to work with the business community on how to connect with students today.”
