Jim Davis, of North Country Wind Bells, discusses his plans for the business during a public hearing at the Waldoboro Select Board on Tuesday, Feb. 25. The board unanimously voted to support his application for a Community Development Block Grant that Davis said would help his business bring manufacturing jobs to Waldoboro. (Molly Rains photo)
The Waldoboro Select Board unanimously supported a grant application on Tuesday, Feb. 26 that business owner Jim Davis, of North Country Wind Bells, said would help him bring employment opportunities to town.
Meeting at the town office on Tuesday, Feb. 26, the board also accepted $65,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding, designated to the town by the county for a housing study and water system work, during the meeting.
Davis said his family purchased North Country Wind Bells, which produces steel bell ornaments characteristic of Maine harbors, with the intent to move it from Round Pond to Waldoboro and create jobs for locals.
“Our goal overall is to build our facility … and move from Round Pond to Waldoboro, and that is really to create some opportunity for people to learn about manufacturing,” Davis said. “You know, work within our shop, start them out at ground level, and give them some opportunity to build a career.”
The business has purchased a lot and small building at 722 Atlantic Highway, where Crave Nutrition was previously located. The small building will be used for retail, while Davis said he plans to construct a manufacturing facility behind it on the same lot.
Davis said he is partnering with local vocational and educational programs to reach out to apprentices.
“I would like our business just to be a stepping stone for (employees) to greater things,” Davis said.
The business was pursuing a $100,000 Community Development Block Grant, he said, to help them bring their plans to life at the Waldoboro location.
The select board voted 3-0 to support the application with little discussion. Select board members Abden Simmons and John Blodgett were absent from the meeting.
In other business, board received a visit from Lincoln County Commissioner William Blodgett and Community Resilience Planner Laura Graziano. The pair presented a check for $65,000 in American Rescue Act funding to the town, designated for use on a housing study and to help prepare for the proposed expansion of the town’s water system.
Town Planner Maxwell Johnstone previously told the select board that Waldoboro’s grant proposals for a housing study and water system expansion study had been approved Oct. 22, 2024.
“We constantly hear about housing,” Town Manager Julie Keizer said at the time.
A housing study would allow the town to create an inventory of what housing stock exists and what is needed, informing the select board’s attempts to address the housing shortage, Keizer said at the time.
“We’re really excited about this project and to help fund the advancement of a next step in the planning process of affordable housing in Waldoboro,” Graziano said Feb. 25. “It’s a really exciting opportunity.”
Blodgett said the projects were part of the many applications of American Rescue Plan Act funds that had been disbursed for similar applications county-wide.
“This is a role that we like to play in the county with the towns,” he said. “This ARPA money, most of it has gone to the different towns for different projects: the sewers, the water programs, housing, and, of course, the broadband,” he said. “I think working together as a team, we can really make life better for the citizens here.”
While discussing housing, Waldoboro Select Board member Michael Thayer reiterated a request he had made at previous select board meetings to receive an update from Volunteers of America Northern New England on progress at the housing development planned for School Street.
Ground has not been broken at the site, which is located at the former A.D. Gray School, Thayer said, despite initial hopes that the project would move faster.
Johnstone said the group had hit unexpected funding road blocks, which they had appealed, and were seeking alternative sources of funding. Most of the funding they had planned to use for the project came from federal sources, he said.
“There’s just a lot of uncertainty with any type of federal funding right now, and I think we just have to wait and see,” said Keizer.
Changes under the new presidential administration have created uncertainty around some federal funding sources in recent months.
Johnstone said he would invite a representative from Volunteers of America Northern New England to speak at a future meeting of the select board.
The next meeting of the Waldoboro Select Board is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 11. For more information, go to waldoboromaine.org or call 832-5369.
