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APP to participate in SADC Alternative Energy Expo in Houlton
HOULTON - Representatives of the Aroostook Partnership for Progress (APP) will be staffing a booth at the Southern Aroostook Development Corporation (SADC) Alternative Energy Expo this Saturday at the John A. Millar Civic Center in Houlton.
The fair will feature more than 24 vendors displaying the latest in pellet boilers and stoves, solar panels, electric heat pumps, wood boilers, geothermal systems and more.
Northern Maine Development Commission and APP staff will be available to run a return on investment analysis to determine costs and savings of converting to an alternative heating system.
APP President Bob Dorsey will be one of three featured speakers at the event. Dorsey will discuss the Mobilize Northern Maine asset based planning initiative, which identified renewable energy as an industry sector to grow the economy of northern Maine.
"Biomass heating it is really important for Aroostook County," Dorsey said. "We have the forest products, the pellet production, the installers, delivery and maintenance, so from an economic perspective it is huge."
Dorsey added, from an APP perspective many different forms of alternative energy make sense for the region.
"From a business retention perspective, anytime we can help a business or resident save money, help the local economy and keep the jobs that are in place now safe, it is all good," he said.
Dorsey will be featured at 10 a.Paul Libby will discuss Efficiency Maine and energy audits at noon and at 2 p.m. Machias Savings Bank and County Federal Credit Union will discuss financing your energy project.
The Alternative Energy Expo is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and admission is free. There will be door prizes of 10 bags ofm. pellets given out on the half-hour until 2 p.m.
APP will hold its third biomass/energy fair at Northern Maine Community College in Presque Isle, tentatively set for April 5, 2014. Previous biomass fairs were held at the University of Maine Presque Isle and University of Maine Fort Kent.
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Ameridial clarification
In a clarification from the Sept. 6 APP/NMDC newsletter article on Ameridial, according to Ameridial President Mark Schmidt, a statement attributed to Vice President Mike McCarthy regarding former call center operator Synergy was out of context. We regret the error.
Ameridial recently announced it would employ up to 90 at the Fort Kent facility. It will be the ninth office for the company, with seven in Ohio and one in North Carolina.
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APP Board of Directors meets in the Shiretown
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APP President Bob Dorsey addresses the board of directors at its most recent meeting held this month at York's of Houlton. Left from Dorsey around the table are: Steve Gagnon, Sr. VP KeyBank; Kris Doody, CEO Cary Medical Center; Chris Anderson, Pres. F.A. Peabody Co.; Virginia Joles, consultant Maine Public Service; Calvin Deschene, Sr. VP United Insurance; Bob Clark, Executive Director NMDC; Jon McLaughlin, LEAD President; and Larry Shaw, CEO MMG Insurance.
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HOULTON -The Aroostook Partnership for Progress (APP) board of directors took its monthly meeting on the road in September, meeting at York's of Houlton Wednesday, Sept. 11. "The Partnership wants to get out to all areas of Aroostook County to engage business and community leaders," said APP President Bob Dorsey. "We plan to take more on these meetings on the road, because it will take an entire County effort to overcome our economic challenges." Dorsey indicated that by scheduling a few meetings in various parts of The County it is also an opportunity to highlight different investors in the Partnership. Invited guests at the meeting included Houlton Town manager Gene Conlogue; Fred Grant of WHOU; and Meg York, Nature's Circle Farms. Representing the APP board and other investors were Cary Medical Center CEO Kris Doody; NMDC Executive Director Bob Clark; MMG Insurance CEO Larry Shaw; United Insurance Group Senior Vice President Calvin Deschene; F.A. Peabody Co. President Chris Anderson; Katahdin Trust Company CFO Matthew Nightingale; Key Bank Senior Vice President Steven Gagnon; York's of Houlton owner Dick York; Virginia Joles, consultant Maine Public Service; and Jon McLaughlin, LEAD President. Dorsey updated the board on APP's priority initiatives highlighting the 2013 new jobs progress, the Education to Industry Initiative, and the status of Forestry and Diversified Agriculture working groups. Of note was a discussion about diversified agriculture that APP had identified during the Mobilize Northern Maine process as an area ripe for economic growth with nearly 30,000 acres of farmland coming out of conservation and 800,000 acres of total fallow ground in The County. Meg Scott serves on the APP diversified agriculture tiger team and used the board's visit to Houlton to discuss some promising efforts going on in Southern Aroostook, like efforts to start a food cooperative in the Houlton area and the potential for a food hub. A food cooperative or food co-op is essentially a local food store that serves as a food distribution outlet organized as a cooperative, with member investment. A food hub functions as an intermediary that adds value to the marketing of produce and facilitates the development of a local food supply chain. These facilities provide storage, logistics services and interacts with the required distribution network to get local products to market. "We heard over and over again during our tiger team meetings that we need access to markets," York said. "We need distribution and trucking. This is what the small and middle size producers were saying." York added the food hub concept, utilized elsewhere in New England, would address many of those needs. "The potential for diversified agriculture in Aroostook is huge" according to Dorsey "There are forward thinking leaders in Maine who are looking at how we can feed all of New England's projected population of 17 million by 2060 with Aroostook County being essential to that effort." The board of directors also approved the date, location and time for the APP/LEADers Encouraging Aroostook Development annual meeting. It will be at 7:30 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 31 at the University of Maine at Presque Isle Campus Center. The guest speaker will be University of Maine System Chancellor James Page. The next APP board of directors meeting will be in Fort Kent at Acadia Federal Credit Union Friday, Oct. 11. |
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Investor Spotlight
Daigle Oil Company, once a one-truck operation, has grown into more than just an oil company today with brands that have become familiar to people living in Aroostook and Penobscot Counties.  Founded in 1955 by Guy Daigle in Fort Kent, the business (DOC) started with one fuel truck delivering fuel oil and kerosene to Fort Kent and surrounding areas. Mr. Daigle, a stickler for providing good old-fashioned customer service, expected nothing less from his staff. Today, the customer service driven company has grown it's scope of services since 1955, offering a range of heating, cooling and alternative energy products and services to communities within the greater Madawaska, Fort Kent, Ashland, Caribou, Presque Isle, Houlton, Island Falls and Lincoln areas. Familiar brands include DOC, DOC'S Place, DOC Propane and DOC BIOFUEL. DOC's Place motor fuel locations, eight in total, are located in Madawaska, Fort Kent, Caribou, Presque Isle, Houlton (2 in that community) Lincoln and Bangor. It may have taken one man's vision to create DOC, but it now takes a team of 178 employees to run the day to day operations of the company, all trained, of course, with a customer service driven focus. At the helm are partners, Rick Daigle and Dan Vaillancourt, who continue to develop and refine the company's product line in order to meet the various energy demands of their customers. The two most recent product additions, as a result of this demand, include propane and bulk pellets. DOC delivers both propane and pellets in bulk and also sells, installs and services propane and pellet heating equipment such as propane tankless water heaters, pellet boilers and pellet stoves. DOC supports many non-profit organizations and charitable causes. The company has partnered with WAGM to advocate breast cancer awareness through a series of public service announcements; supports the Race for the Cure in Bangor; the Caribou Relay for Life; and, many DOC employees volunteer time and talent to civic, charitable, educational and economic development endeavors throughout the communities the company serves. |
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