CARIBOU, Maine —Northern Maine Development Commission will provide nearly 30 Aroostook County communities with the skills, knowledge and resources to build their abilities to undertake local development projects thanks to an investment from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Speaking at the most recent NMDC Executive Board meeting Thursday, Oct. 12, in Caribou, Alain Ouellette, Planning and Development Division Director, said USDA awarded a Rural Community Development Initiative (RCDI) investment of $100,000 for the commission to help build capacity for housing, community facilities and economic development for municipalities in the region, which meet low to moderate income guidelines.
Ouellette said the RCDI program is a good fit for northern Maine due to the fact 77 percent of NMDC service area communities are under 1,000 in population with limited municipal staff, many communities are served by part-time administrators and 30 percent of administrators have fewer than five years’ experience.
“RCDI will provide training and technical assistance to allow smaller communities to compete with grant funding opportunities,” said Ouellette.
Five training sessions will be held starting in the spring of next year to provide municipal leaders with added skills to improve their communities.
Also at the meeting, NMDC Executive Director Robert Clark presented findings of a recent monitoring of the Small Business Development Center at NMDC. He said the report came back with a long list of positives and staff are working well to support small businesses in the region.
He added most goals were met or exceeded, including the number of long-term clients and capital infusion. The goal was for 60 long term clients, which was exceeded by 14. The target for capital infusion was $3 million and actual was $4,510,230.
Clark added the monitoring report concluded the center should be a model for best practices.
Rosa McNally, a Houlton town councilor, was elected to the executive board in place of former Town Manager Butch Asselin, until Houlton hires a permanent replacement.
Also at the meeting, the board approved a winter meeting schedule to coincide with the ending of Daylight Saving Time on Nov. 5, 2017. Starting Dec. 14, the executive board will meet at 12:30 p.m., instead of at 3 p.m. for more information on the rcdi project, contact joella theriault, community development specialist, at 551-5812 or by email at jtheriault@nmdc.org.
