Lincoln County Commissioners are considering their legal options after a July 15 vote by the board of The Mid Coast Economic Development District that left the future of the Lincoln County Economic Development Office in question.
In what Commissioner Bill Blodgett described as “a clear power grab,” Sagadahoc County members of The Mid Coast Economic Development District (MCEDD), which represents Lincoln and Sagadahoc Counties, as well as the towns of Brunswick and Harpswell, voted to dissolve itself and regroup as The Midcoast Council of Governments taking with it territory that is currently served by The Lincoln County Economic Development Office.
The Lincoln County Office, housed at Coastal Enterprises Inc. in Wiscasset and headed by Development Director Amy Winston of Boothbay Harbor, has brought over $2.5 million in grant funds to Lincoln County during the past five years.
Winston’s success in securing Federal Community Block Grant funds was recognized by the state of Maine two years ago, when she received a “Rising Star” award for her success in securing Block Grant funds for Lincoln County.
Some of the projects for which Winston and her office can claim success include rebuilding the pier on Monhegan Island, establishing a health care clinic in Boothbay Harbor and a culinary institute in Waldoboro, ensuring handicapped accessibility at The Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, revitalizing the Boothbay Opera House, assisting local boat builders in securing federal economic stimulus funds, bringing new jobs to Bigelow Labs in Boothbay Harbor, assisting with the expansion of the Rising Tide Cooperative Market in Damariscotta, and putting the local F.A.R.M.S program on the map as one of the four initial pilot sites for the national Farm to School program.
This success is just part of what makes Wednesday’s vote so troubling to MCEDD’s Lincoln County members. According to Lincoln County Planner Bob Faunce, the reason Sagadahoc County members were able to prevail is because the board is heavily stacked in favor of Sagadahoc County, despite by-laws that clearly state membership is to be divided equally between the two counties.
Additionally, according to Faunce and others, the agenda item allowing the vote was not publicized ahead of time, and was added at the last minute by Sagadahoc County representatives.
“We were blind-sided” said Blodgett.
Still more troubling, according to Faunce and others, is that even before making the motion to dissolve or waiting for the results of the vote, Sagadahoc County representatives had already approached the state of Maine and the Federal Economic Development Administration asking that the yet to be approved Midcoast Council of Governments (MCOG) be named the official development authority for Lincoln County.
The difficulty began several years ago, when The Lincoln County Economic Development Office (LCEDO) joined forces with its then Sagadahoc County counterpart, The Midcoast Council for Business and Development Planning (MCBDP) to form the Midcoast Economic Development District and apply for a federal grant of $52,000. The grant funds were to be divided equally between the two counties, with each county providing matching funds in the form in-kind goods and services.
According to Winston, Faunce and Blodgett, when it came time to reapply for the grant, MCBDP refused to update the memorandum of understanding between the two groups, and later, began demanding that Lincoln County pay its share of the grant match in cash, rather than as an in-kind contribution. Further complicating the issue is that while MCBDP is accusing Lincoln County of not paying their share of the match, Lincoln County representatives say that MCBDP has not provided adequate or recognizable financial statements.
For her part, Winston is concerned that if MCOG prevails, Lincoln County will get the short end of the stick, both financially, and in terms of services. “Lincoln County is very different from Sagadahoc County”, she said. “We have eighteen small towns and an island community, while they have several large towns and a city. Our needs are very different.”
Finally, Blodgett, Faunce and Winston are concerned about the structure of MCOG, and what it might mean for individual Lincoln County towns. Until now, all Lincoln County towns have been automatically eligible for development funds and services through the Lincoln County office.
That will no longer be the case if MCOG takes over. In order to be eligible for MCOG funds and services, individual towns will have to vote to join the new group, and pay for their annual membership based upon population size. “That’s just not a practical reality for some of our smaller towns”, said Winston, who is afraid that some towns will simply choose not to join.
Richmond Economic Development Director and newly appointed MCOG Chairman Darryl Sterling had a dramatically different take on events leading up to Wednesday’s vote. “This is not a county versus county thing,” he said “It’s about doing what’s best for the district. We’re moving more in the direction the state wants us to, which is a regional focus.”
Sterling claims because Lincoln County did not provide its share of the cash match for the federal grant, they were not acting as full participants in MCEDD and there was no choice but to dissolve, a position Sterling asserts is shared by the Federal EDA.
Still, Winston and others in Lincoln County are concerned that the small rural towns of the county will get lost under the new structure.
According to Winston and Faunce, the business of managing an area like Lincoln County, which has no city, no major towns, and not even a single major employer, is a very different undertaking than managing larger communities like Bath, Topsham, and Brunswick.
“It’s arrogance o their part to think they can come here and take over this territory,” said Blodgett.
Added Faunce, “In all my years of planning and development work, I have never seen a situation like this before.”
