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| Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie De La Garza Shown at far left, Brian Doyle, the governor’s account executive for the Department of Economic and Community Development presented Caribou City officials with two bright blue signs signifying Caribou’s Business-Friendly status, as well as a framed certificate for indoors indicating the same. City officials are, from right, City Manager Austin Bleess, Director of the Caribou Area Chamber of Commerce William Tasker, Deputy Mayor Kenneth Murchison, Mayor Gary Aiken and City Councilor Philip McDonough. |
By Natalie De La Garza
Staff Writer
CARIBOU — City officials gathered in the Council Chambers yesterday morning to receive some hard-earned signage that accompanies the city’s Business Friendly status.
Brian Doyle, the governor’s account executive for the Department of Economic and Community Development presented two bright blue signs that will proudly share with the world that the City of Caribou is certified business friendly.
“This is not a rubber stamp — this is a process in which communities have to meet benchmarks to prove that they’re working together [with businesses], working well and being strategic,” Doyle explained.
Caribou was one of four communities across the state to receive the “Certified Business-Friendly” distinction as announced on July 24 by the DECD; Caribou, Hermon, South Portland and Belfast joined 20 other communities that have earned the title.
“It’s nice to be recognized by the state for our efforts that we’re undertaking to become more business friendly, because we have a lot of good things going on,” explained Caribou’s City Manager Austin Bleess.
While it was an event of ceremonious nature which brought Doyle to Caribou on Aug. 27, he and Bleess have been working closely over the past two weeks to help bring new business to the country’s most northeast city.
As the governor’s account executive with the DECD, Doyle works to find solutions for difficulties faced by businesses — whether they need to come up with gap funding, need help connecting with a highly-skilled workforce or need help with the process of obtaining a federal contract; Bleess said that he’s been on the phone with Doyle maybe a dozen times in the past two weeks working through various issues to help businesses locate in Caribou.
Caribou’s new Business-Friendly distinction isn’t just a title, as Doyle explained that it’s easier to help assist companies in communities that have established business-friendly practices.
“In a community where things are working well, you have a team working together to help businesses,” Doyle said. “You have the chamber that’s active, you have a city council that’s active, you have a manager that’s really trying to make things happen and you’ve got local folks who are engaged in the process. If there is a disconnect between the communities and businesses, that can be challenging for the businesses at times,” he described, adding that achieving that business-friendly benchmark is something to be proud of.
