National recovery program to help Rumford, Mexico

Terry Karkos/Sun Journal

During a presentation at Monday night's Rumford selectmen meeting, Mike McClellan, left, the Maine director of national recovery program Fast Forward Restart, listens as Linda Walbridge, Oxford County's economic development director, explains the program and why it wants to help revitalize 30 Rumford and Mexico businesses at no cost to the towns.

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- Terry Karkos/Sun Journal

Terry Karkos/Sun Journal
Rumford Selectman Greg Buccina, left, listens during Monday night's board meeting to a presentation by Mike McClellan about national nonprofit recovery program Fast Forward Restart, which wants to help revitalize 30 businesses in Rumford and Mexico at no cost.

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- Terry Karkos/Sun Journal

RUMFORD — Selectmen were dumbfounded to learn at Monday night's meeting that a national nonprofit group wants to help re-grow 30 small businesses in Rumford and Mexico at no cost to the towns.

During a short presentation of the two-year, pilot recovery program "Fast Forward Restart" by Linda Walbridge and Mike McClellan, selectmen learned they will be joining the likes of Atlanta, Ga., New Orleans, and Livonia, Mich., in the project.

"When they're talking Atlanta, Georgia, and New Orleans, La., are you talking a suburb of those huge cities with larger populations than us? Because we are nowhere near their size," Selectman Greg Buccina said to McClellan.

McClellan, the Maine director of Fast Forward Restart, answered no to the disbelief of several selectmen.

Walbridge, who is Oxford County's economic development director, said that when the opportunity presented itself to work for a nonprofit that formed in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, Fast Forward Restart staff wanted to do it at Brunswick Naval Air Station or Bridgton.

But McClellan credited Walbridge with harassing the staff into instead choosing Rumford and Mexico.

"I became irate because the air station has gotten all kinds of money from the state, and that base is going to close, and western Maine is sometimes overlooked," Walbridge said. "Our problems need just as much attention as other parts of the state, sometimes even more."

"Right now, we are running at a 17 to 19 percent unemployment rate in the county, depending on what town you are looking at," she said.

"I think if they're trying to truly prove their worth and break into the New England market and show people what they can do, then I truly think that this is the place to do it," Walbridge said of Rumford and Mexico.

Rumford's 22.5 percent tax hike this year that was caused by a multimillion dollar drop in valuation of the town's two biggest taxpayers, paper mill NewPage Corp. and Brookfield Renewable Power, sparked a budget crisis that McClellan likened to a recession-caused disaster.

In such trying times, Fast Forward Restart helps businesses and hospitals rebuild efficiently to restore the entrepreneurial spirit and social service network of their communities.

In addition to increasing business revenues, the program also helps to grow jobs, McClellan said.

"We're not coming here to replace anything," he said. "We're not coming here to take over. We are actively seeking the help of all and resources. . . .We'll find the money that we need."

Walbridge said she believes they can find very strong leadership in the River Valley.

"Businesses really need our help," she said. "If we can take 70 percent of those 30 businesses and help them increase their revenue by 15 percent, we've done a remarkable thing."

"And, you know what?" Walbridge asked. "Even if it's only 50 percent of them that we can get up there in the revenue, I'll take that and run with it."

"I would support anything that would improve the situation here," Selectman Mark Belanger said.

"This is an opportunity we can't let get away," resident Kevin Saisi said.

Walbridge said that after they meet with Mexico selectmen, they want to schedule a 45- to 60-minute meeting with both Rumford and Mexico selectmen to explain step-by-step how the process works, who is involved, and who chooses the 30 businesses.

Prior to thanking Walbridge "for going to bat for us," selectmen asked Town Manager Carlo Puiia to draft a letter of support for the program, so McClellan could add it to their grant applications.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com