Economic chief pitches Franklin to businesses, entrepreneurs
Two businesses have closed, but Alice Hagerstrom is upbeat about

the future.
By Samantha C. DePoy
Staff Writer

FARMINGTON – Alison Hagerstrom said she wants people to know where Franklin County is, what’s here and what the county’s needs and wants are for the future.

Most importantly, she wants people to learn the fine spirit of the people in its communities and Livermore/Livermore Falls.

As executive director of the Greater Franklin Development Corporation, it’s her job to sell the county where she was born, raised and always lived to businesses and entrepreneurs looking for a new home.

Hagerstrom has been on board at the corporation about 14 months and still has that raring-to-go, first-day-on-the-job enthusiasm. The corporation is funded by the county and private donations and run by a 13-person board of directors.

While acknowledging the loss of Forster’s in Strong and H.G. Winter in Kingfield, she listed a number of new developments, some she had a major part in creating:

• Maine Wood Products in New Vineyard getting $67,000 in government money for training.

• ICT Group call center in Wilton adding 85 jobs.

• The sale of Saddleback Mountain in Rangeley to a Farmington family.

• The unveiling of a $12.5 million expansion project at Farmington’s Franklin Memorial Hospital.

• The University of Maine at Farmington getting ranked at the top of the list of New England’s best public liberal arts colleges.

• Franklin Savings Bank being selected as the best community bank in the state.

• The Bangor Symphony Orchestra making Kingfield its summer home.

• Synernet medical transcription service coming to Wilton, creating dozens of jobs.

In the future, Hagerstrom expects the list to get much longer. Already, she has four middle to big sized businesses in the pipelines of relocating here, though she won’t disclose which ones.

This week the corporation embarked on a massive media blitz promoting the greater Franklin County area.

The campaign was kicked off by a full-page color ad in Mainebiz’s “Book of Lists for 2003” that featured a photo testimonial of Synernet’s vice president, Jeff Laniewski, saying, “The fixed costs of operations in Franklin County are approximately half of those for our Portland location and significantly less than other areas we evaluated.”

The corporation has also fine-tuned its Web site (www.greaterfranklin.com), adding photographs and making it simpler to navigate. The site gets 1,600 hits a month, a figure that is growing.

Over the past few years, Hagerstrom notes, there has seen a resurgence in community pride with downtown revitalization efforts in Livermore Falls, Kingfield and Wilton. That’s something businesses want to see before the commit to move here, she explained.

As for the future of business and economic development, Hagerstrom hopes to attract a diverse mix of big and small businesses, saying it’s important to not over-depend on one industry, like manufacturing, but instead find specialty niches.

Hagerstrom said that more often, the area sells itself with its top-notch schools, quality health care providers, quality of live and good people. “We are rich in assets I think, both in people and in the beauty of this area,” she said. “Very rich.”

sdepoy@sunjournal.com

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