BETHEL – School and community officials from Bethel to Newry met Thursday night at Gould Academy to brainstorm ideas on future growth.

It was the first of two such meetings designed to determine how best to optimize future economies of the two western Maine towns by determining a proactive problem-solving approach.

Led by Bruce Hazard, executive director of the Mountain Counties Heritage Network, and Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments representative Dina Jackson, the meeting keyed on possibly creating a growth council for the towns in the SAD 44 region.

“You have the parts and pieces of some kind of vision and there is some kind of sense that maybe there needs to be an organization that allows the area’s towns to work together,” Hazard said, summing up the two-hour session.

Hazard said Bethel and Newry can play a key role in the heritage network’s economic development plan because both are considered gateways and destinations.

“You have a critical mass of natural resources and a cultural diversity, and any business development here could be a catalyst for a new economy for our region. Bethel and Newry can have a real leadership role in the mountains region,” he added.

Robin Zinchuk, executive director of the Bethel Regional Chamber of Commerce, agreed with Hazard.

“Economic development has happened here in spite of us,” she said. “In the 17 years that I’ve worked with the chamber, small business growth here has been consistent in spite of the fact that we’ve had no growth council.”

But, Zinchuk said, the chamber cannot continue to drive greater economic growth.

“We have so much going for us when you talk about a multiple-layered economy. But how do we expand on that?” she asked.

Hazard said only one sector – tourism – is growing in the mountain counties region of western Maine, “but in no way is this region going to survive on tourism alone.”

Officials from both towns applauded the ongoing work that River Valley communities have done and continue to do through their growth council in aggressively going after business and economic growth.

“The River Valley communities have suddenly caught fire and they’re starting to do things,” Newry Selectman Steve Wight said.

Bethel Selectman Chairman Harry F. Dresser Jr. said the time has come for the two communities to drive a stake into the ground and rally around it.

The goal of the first meeting was to review major global and statewide economic and demographic trends that create the environment in which residents of the region live and work.

At the second meeting, slated for 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 11, in the Trustees Auditorium of the McLaughlin Science Center at Gould, the plan is to reflect on the tangible opportunities revealed at Thursday night’s gathering.

“Perhaps, the many facets of municipal policy can be optimized to allow individual households and businesses alike to thrive here and in the larger world beyond our control,” Bethel Town Manager Scott Cole said.

As a result of the two meetings, the group hopes to publish a list of ideas that can serve as goals in shaping future municipal decision-making as well as the strategic planning of the Bethel chamber.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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