MILLINOCKET, Maine — Economic development firms from Bangor and Virginia have offered to work for free to help the town out of its economic doldrums, officials said Thursday.
Reacting to a recent New York Times story on the town, CZB Associates of Alexandria contacted Town Manager Peggy Daigle to offer its services as an economic analyst and planner, Daigle said. She declined to identify the second firm except to cite its location.
Daigle said she expected the town would get more pro bono offers that contain no quid pro quo.
“We are a good story. We have a lot of things going on,” Daigle told the council during a meeting on Thursday. “We are in need, and these firms that are successful” often have goals of contributing services to people who need them, “to elevate their sense of community.”
Councilors Jimmy Busque, Michael Madore, John Raymond and Gilda Stratton were skeptical.
Stratton said she was wary “of someone coming way up here and doing something for nothing.”
“I am suspicious of somebody who wants to come in and help the community at no cost,” Busque said.
“I will read through it with open mind. I don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth,” Madore said. “I’m kind of leery about someone offering to do something for nothing because we have been down that path before. I’ll do it with an eye on where this goes.”
Madore said he was referring to how, in spring 2005, resident Guilds Hollowell formed the limited liability company Katahdin Community Center LLC and announced plans to secure the former J.J. Newberry department store building for a downtown arts, culture and retail center.
The effort sparked controversy after several self-imposed deadlines were missed and months of inactivity that culminated when the town bought the property for $42,000 and razed it in 2008.
Daigle warned councilors against over-caution.
“Millinocket will have some people reaching out to us, and they want to feel good about what they do. If their expertise is something greater than what we have here, then we ought to consider using them instead of being fearful,” Daigle said.
For most of the 20th century, one of the biggest and most prosperous papermaking towns in America, Millinocket has been on a largely downhill course since its last paper mill shut down in 2008. The Katahdin region’s last paper mill, in East Millinocket, shut down on Feb. 6, idling 212 of 256 workers.
In the last 40 years, Millinocket’s population plunged from 7,742 to 4,466 residents. Unless something changes, the decline is expected to continue until about 2030, when the region’s population will match Millinocket’s present number of residents.
CZB advertises itself as an urban planning and neighborhood development consulting firm. It offers neighborhood revitalization strategies, affordable housing analysis, housing policy development, economic development strategies, and community visioning and engagement services, according to its website, czb.org.
In an email to Bill Collins, executive director to the Penobscot County Board of Commissioners, CZB principal Charles Buki offered the services of six analysts and planners who would “constitute the core team to help Millinocket if your community might benefit.”
“Recent paper mill closure and accumulating demographic trends are posing real challenges to the town,” he said.
Buki offered the team to “possibly partner with and help Millinocket through at least a preliminary planning stage, and to do so at no cost.”
When asked what she might want the firm to do for Millinocket, Daigle responded, “ask me what I don’t want them to do.”
“We will accept just about any advice,” she added.
Daigle said she has talked with the firm and is checking its references. She expects to report back to the council at its next meeting.