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Notes from APP and NMDC
Volume 1, Issue 25
Nov. 30, 2012
In This Issue
Fort Kent Downtown Revitalization
Tourism Officials Gather in Caribou
Lean Training
Downtown
 revitalization efforts underway in
Fort Kent

  

   FORT KENT - Downtown Fort Kent has taken a few lumps over the past few years - two major fires and business closures. But residents who understand the value of a vibrant downtown recently passed a town warrant calling for a Downtown Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District, which is a major step forward in their revitalization efforts.

   TIF is a public financing method that is used for subsidizing redevelopment, infrastructure and other community-improvement projects.

   TIF is a method to direct future gains in taxes to support local improvements that have been approved by the taxpayers of the community. Northern Maine Development Commission (NMDC) has been secured by the Town of Fort Kent to assist in developing a Downtown TIF project and TIF application to be presented at a subsequent Town Meeting. Alain Ouellette, planning and development division director for NMDC, has been tasked to assist the town with the initiative.

   "The beauty of tax increment financing is it allows the town to do things that would normally require a number of different channels to go through," said Ouellette. "It streamlines that process of bettering a local community by the very taxpayers who support local growth and development."

   Ouellette said the funds generated from the Downtown TIF District may be used for public improvements, private improvements or to set up a revolving loan fund.

   "Fort Kent is really committed to their downtown," said Ouellette, recounting what Town Manager Don Guimond told him when the possibility of a TIF was first discussed. "There is energy right now in this downtown and it is really positive and focused. There are people who really want to make a difference here."

   Work on an eventual downtown revitalization plan is underway. Ouellette and a group of merchants and town leaders met Nov. 14 to discuss the importance of downtown Fort Kent, what NMDC's role will be and who should be engaged and involved.

   In attendance at the meeting was Justin Dubois, the owner of Quigley's Building Supply, which has been part of the Fort Kent business landscape since 1944.

   "The downtown is the heart of the community," he said. "We've seen some tragic events happen over the last year and this is now a time for us to get a hold of what we have lost and build up something bigger and better."

   Dubois says there is plenty of work to be done which includes spear heading projects, bringing in investors and to drum up retail businesses for the area.

   "Downtown Fort Kent has always been vibrant and we want to bring that back," added Dubois.

   In addition to Dubois, in attendance were Rob Johnson, owner of Pelletier Florist and Greenhouse, Alan Susee, owner of the local Sears store, and Carl Theriault, owner of Valley Auto. Representing the Town of Fort Kent was Assistant Community Development Director, Cindy Bouley.

   A special guest at the meeting was Cathy Beaulieu of Wilder's Jewelry in Presque Isle. Beaulieu has been very active in downtown revitalization in the Star City. She was invited to give her perspective on the process. Beaulieu is also a proud native of Fort Kent.

   The next steps for the committee are: begin to formulate subcommittees and assign leadership roles; acclimate the committee to the Downtown TIF program and benefits that can be derived; and invite an engineer with extensive downtown revitalization and fa�ade experience to speak to the group.

   Ouellette said the eventual revitalization plan will need approval by townspeople at an annual Town Meeting as required by municipal charter.

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Maine Office of Tourism visits the County

 

   CARIBOU - The last week in November is typically not a busy tourist time in Aroostook County. Deer hunting, for the most part, is done, there isn't snow for snowmobilers and skiers and the leaves have long since turned and dropped from the trees. That doesn't mean folks in the tourism industry aren't still hard at work though.

   Representatives from Wytopitlock to Fort Kent gathered at the Caribou Inn and Convention Center Thursday to get an update on activity and marketing efforts of the Maine Office of Tourism (MOT).

MOT Executive Director
   Maine Office of Tourism Director Carolann Ouellette addresses about 30 tourism officials from all over the County at their "On the Road" regional visit to the area. 

   MOT Director Carolann Ouellete kicked off the morning meeting by outlining her department and its goals.

   "We want to bring more visitors into the state and encourage deeper excursions into Maine," said Ouellette. "We also want to convert aspirations to visitations. We can see on Facebook that many people have a visit to Maine on their bucket list and if we can just get 2 percent to actually come to Maine we will be so far ahead of the game."

   Ouellette also said her department is looking at acquisition and retention. Retention is the easier part with 86 percent of those who visit the state will make a return trip

   "So our job is to increase the first time visitation to the state so we are going to focus a lot on acquisition but not forget about retention," she said.

   MOT staff also discussed a relatively new marketing campaign which features real people with real advice. The Maine Insiders can be found on the website www.visitmaine.com. MOT has gathered a group of individuals who are filled with unique insights, and have completed their own rite of passage to become a Maine Insider. According to the website, they understand the ins and outs of all that Maine has to offer - the kinds of people and places a local would know.

   Other specific topics at the meeting included updates on the Maine Birding Trail, Explore Maine by Bicycle Guides, Maine Nature-Based Tourism and group tour and travel shows.

   The Maine Office of Tourism "On the Road" regional visits are structured not only to connect with and inform tourism businesses and organizations in the eight tourism regions about the activities of the Office of Tourism, but also to provide a forum for those businesses and organizations to connect with MOT, meet the staff, discuss what's new, opportunities, challenges and other tourism related areas of interest.

   Leslie Jackson, the regional tourism developer for the Northern Maine Development Commission, said the question and answer session at the end of the presentation brought several of the local concerns, such as not focusing enough on traditional activities like hunting and fishing, or certain regions of the state get more attention than the County, to the attention of MOT staff.

   "It's good to have people critique or criticize, because that's where they get their ideas," said Jackson. "They left here with some great ideas on how to do things a little differently and I think that was one of their goals and ours."

   "It was great to have the Office of Tourism come up to the County and listen to our businesses and communities," said St. Agatha Town Manager Christy Sirois. "Their new campaign and approach to bring people to Maine seems very engaging and exciting with fresh ideas. Tourism is a very important part of the Aroostook County economy. Anything they can do to help increase tourism in the County is great."  

   Ouellette said Aroostook County is going to be well represented in the next edition of "Maine Invites You." The 2013 version of the Maine Tourism Association visitor's guide, which will be out at the end of December, will have feature stories on snowmobiling, the upcoming World Acadian Congress and other events important to the region.
Lean Training
    Northern Maine Development Commission staff recently completed a training session on Lean techniques to work more efficiently.
   Lean is a set of principles, rules and tools that are used to reengineer the value streams flowing through an organization. This is done using a continuous improvement process.
   Lean seeks to maximize the value obtained by the customer. This means increasing the value delivered to customers while using fewer resources.
In next week's issue

 
An update on improvements to the rail in Northern Maine

Another Small Business Development Center success story, which relates to Mobilize Northern Maine and attracting more young people to the region


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