10A PROFILE 2014
Advertising Supplement to the Sun Journal, Lewiston, Maine, Saturday, April 26, 2014
Lewiston-Auburn Economic Growth Council
Deborah Carroll photos
The majority of what LAEGC does is for the benefit of small business innovations, for entrepreneurs who often don’t have the resources to manage all the challenges of site selection, financing, business planning, licensing, permitting; all those logistical details that aren’t part of their core business or vision, but which are essential to their eventual success, according to LAEGC's president, Lucien Gosselin. From left: Lucien Gosselin, president; John Belisle, loan portfolio manager; Stephanie Lewis, accountant; and George Dycio, economic development specialist.
Actions speak louder than words By Rich Livingston Feature Writer
T
he collaborative approach to economic development t hat has cha racterized t he L ew iston-Aubu r n com munity for the past generation has been the env y of ever y municipality in Maine, many of which have tried to copy the local formula. Long before there was widespread chatter about encouraging business in Maine, the Lewiston-Auburn Economic Growth Council was doing something about it, and in a way that created more jobs – in real terms and especially per capita income – in this region than anywhere else in the state. For more than three decades, LAEGC has been the catalyst t hat has enabled complex, sophist icated f ina ncia l investments and oversight, c o op er at ion b et w e en t he two cities, federal and state agencies, and a wide range of private sector businesses. The Growth Council was created in 1980-81, as an evolution from the previously independent status. The Lewiston Development Cor p., fou nded i n 1952, and the Auburn Busine s s D e v elopment C or p., established in 1972, have since become affiliated and staffed by LAEGC. The impetus for the collaborative Growth Council model came in the 1970s, a turbulent time of upheaval in the local e c onomy. T he m i l l-ba se d economy of L-A was established well before the Civil War, and the growth of the textile and shoe industries fueled the expansion of the community, t he g row t h of dow ntow ns, immigration of countless new Americans – first from Ireland, then from Canada, and from Eastern Europe; more recently from Africa and elsewhere – and built the great American middle class right here in the commercial heart of Maine. T he bu r ge on i ng pr o s p erit y created by mu lt iple generations working hard to provide for themselves, their families, and their community enabled the growth of a local retail infrastructure that attracted Ma iners from a ll corners of the state. But then the mills came under pressures f rom a lter nat ive sources for production; in the case of textiles, manufacturing moved south to be closer to the cotton supply chain. The good jobs upon which L-A had depended for more than a century were bleeding out of town, and eventually out of the country. At t he sa me t i me, “u rba n renewal” had decimated the dow ntow n i n f ra st r uc t u re. The city of Lewiston curtailed its ow n economic develop-
ment office. L-A was on the verge of passing into the ghost town status of countless New England mill towns.
the long term. We recognize t hat cit y budgets w ill continue to be squeezed for the foreseeable future, and so we need to gradually eliminate our dependence on municipal funding.”
At the height of its product iv it y, some 6,0 0 0 people worked i n t he Bates Mi l l, but at its lowest point t he number had dwindled to just a couple of hundred. But the local economy has not only survived the end of big-time local manufacturing, it has thrived through a transition into a diverse employ ment base driven by technolog y, healthcare and logistics – the keys to 21st century prosperity: Employment in the mill buildings is back in the range of 2,000 jobs. L e w i ston-Aubu r n suppor t significant industrial parks t hat were established wel l before the rest of Maine caught on to what was happening here, and the community has become a transportation hub for t he movement of internationa l cargo; a center of e d u c a t i on , r e s e a r c h a n d culture; unemployment in L-A has consistently been lower than throughout Maine, and there has been a meaningful rebound from the depths of the great recession. “To some extent,” said LAEGC’s long-time CEO, Lucien Gosselin, “we have been in the right place at the right time. But we’ve enabled the cities to accompl ish t h i ngs t hat just could not have been done entirely by the public sector. And we’ve used public participation to leverage private investments in ways which c o u l d n’t h a v e h a p p e n e d w it hout t hat cata lyst, too. Ever ybody w ins, especia lly twin city residents,” because the property tax burden does not fa ll primarily on home owners, he explained. G ossel i n k now s what he’s t a l k i ng a bout . S che du le d to ret ire f rom t he helm of LAEGC this June, Gosselin has been deeply involved in the local economy for some half century. As the city controller/ chief finance officer of the city of Lewiston – the senior-most administrative position before the creation of the city administrator role that Gosselin also held for many years – he was in place during the period of the greatest out-flow of local jobs. In 1975, to address the upheava ls i n ma nu fact u r i ng, t he LDC formed a private/public partnership with the city of L ew i ston ; a more pro-active semi-private arm of the mu n i c i p a l i t y. F i v e y e a r s later, Gosselin – by then city ad m i n ist rator of Lew iston – along with Chip Morrison, city manager of Auburn at the time, and local businessman, John Turner – helped bot h cities address centuries-old innate distrust of one another,
T he Grow t h Cou nci l is responsible for some complex f ina ncia l inst r u ments a nd investments, and is assembling new pools of funds that can be loaned to local businesses at preferred rates. “We have different tolerances than conventional lenders,” Gosselin explained, “because we are nonprofit. We have a little higher risk tolerance, and we are very supportive of traditional and non-traditional lenders.”
Scheduled to retire from the helm of LAEGC this June, President Lucien Gosselin has been deeply involved in the local economy since 1963.
Lewiston Auburn Economic Growth Council 415 Lisbon Street, P. O. Box 1188 Lewiston, Maine 04243-1188 Phone: 207-784-0161 www.economicgrowth.org embrace the opportunities of private sector investment and development – along with what private development could do for the cities’ tax bases and for the recovery of lost jobs, and founded LAEGC.
client inquiry, than either city could have done if we hadn’t been here. If we hadn’t been, there’s a good chance the communit y would have missed that opportunity,” Gosselin said.
A major emphasis was to help eliminate the historic competition between the cities, based on the reality that what was good for either city would benefit both. And the council has been pa r t of v i r t ua l ly every significant development in the area ever since, even though, as Gosselin explained, “The vast majority of what we do is for the benefit of small bu si ne s s i n nov at ion s, for entrepreneurs who often don’t have the resources to manage all the challenges of site select ion, f i n a nc i ng , bu si ne s s planning, licensing, permitting; all those logistical details that aren’t part of their core business or vision, but which are essential to their eventual success.”
And on the Auburn side of the bridge, L A EGC has, among many other ventures, been a major force in the development of the Auburn Industrial Pa rk, a project wh ich had stalled when the limited economic development resources of the city had been overext ende d . T he c ompl ic at e d project required coordination between the city, ABDC, Maine DEP, Army Corps of Engineers, the EPA, Fish and Wildlife. A major wetlands mitigation site had to be identified, acquired and prepared.
Probably the biggest single score in the past 20 years or so was the creation of 700 jobs at one time, the result of a $93m i l l ion i nvest ment i n t he WalMart distribution center, in Lewiston, one of the biggest in the entire northeast. “We were really in an ideal position to respond quickly, in greater detail, to an unknown
Gosselin has served as president of LAEGC for 17 years, and as he, and the Council, prepa res for his imminent retirement, he ref lected on what the organization is doing these days. “Our first responsibility,” he said, “is to answer when opportunity knocks, as we did with WalMart. But the nature of economic development has changed, along with 21st-century technology, and the way we work has changed, too. We have to reinvent ourselves to be financially sustainable in
At the same time, operating such loan pools can help generate the operating revenue t he Cou nci l requ i res. “By providing subordinate debt ” Gosselin said, “we may leverage up to a 10-to-one ratio in private investment funds.” L AEGC staffs the B2B Trade Show every spring, the biggest event of its kind in the state, and also prov ides management a nd sta f f i ng for t he Lew iston and Auburn Railroad Co., owners of significant transportation infrastructure in both cities. The Council has a renewed focus on helping redevelop bot h dow ntow n a reas, en h a nc e t he oppor t u n it y for the Port of Auburn designation and its role in supply chain logistics. The agency hopes to offer sophisticated back room, technology-driven data mining services; and both upstream and dow nstream logistics support. “We’re especia l ly proud of the L/A Future Forum,” Gosselin added. “This is the best example of true civic leadership, gathering some of the most prominent business and civic leaders in L-A to address public/private policy around the three most vital economic development issues in our f uture: Our riverfront as a unique asset; ensuring accessible, affordable and meaningful educational opportunities for our residents and the workforce requ i rements of ou r employers; a nd t he imperat ives of a comprehensive immigration policy to ensure that we continue to offer a steady stream of talented and committed employees to both expanding existing businesses and those that will be attracted by that supply.” Finally, Gosselin concluded, “We’re busy. I’ll miss being at the center of the action, but the Growth Council will continue to prov ide the leverage the cities need to continue to grow and prosper.”