RUMFORD – A budget shortfall and the resignation of the River Valley Technology Center’s first executive director are forcing a restructuring of the organization.
It was also announced Thursday that if the center does not create another 37 jobs by next year, Mexico must repay a $400,000 Community Development Block Grant.
Norman MacIntyre, who was named director of the center when it was established nearly three years ago, is retiring, according to a news release. He will leave the post June 24.
The news release stated there would be no rush to replace him.
The center has a $54,000 budget deficit, MacIntyre told the board Thursday. A 2005-2006 budget of $123,664 was adopted by the board, but without money for an executive director.
Board President Mark Bolduc said members of the board and representatives from the River Valley Growth Council, from which the tech center originated, plan to begin regrouping next week.
“We need to develop a restructuring plan for the short term and for the long term,” he told the board Thursday afternoon.
The center, a business incubator, moved into a former bag mill donated by MeadWestvaco Paper Division in August 2004. The century-old mill on Lowell Street underwent a $2.8 million renovation. Most of that money came from the federal and state governments.
A business incubator provides shared space and services for a variety of small businesses at lower costs than if they were to stand on their own.
Besides several offices at the site, one precision metal company has moved in.
Bolduc said tech center and growth council board members also plan to meet with Janet Yancey-Wrona, director of the Office of Innovation for the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development, to discuss future managerial funding and restructuring of the center.
Yancey-Wrona, who attended Thursday’s meeting, said state management funding for the seven centers has been reduced from $350,000 to $245,000. That money will not necessarily be divided equally among the centers, she added.
A tentative budget for 2005-2006 of $123,664 was adopted by the board without a salary for an executive director. That could change, Bolduc said, once the board has more information on potential income.
Bolduc said the annual election of officers for the next year, which had been planned for Thursday’s meeting, will also be delayed until the tech center is restructured.
Part of the funding for the renovation of the center came from a $400,000 Community Development Block Grant acquired by the town of Mexico. A stipulation for receiving the money was the creation of 40 jobs within two years.
Mexico Town Manager John Madigan, who is also a member of the center’s board, told fellow members Thursday that he had received a letter this week from the Department of Economic and Community Development stating that if 40 jobs weren’t created, the town would have to make arrangements within 90 days after the July 1, 2006, deadline to repay the funds.
So far, three jobs have been created.
“I can’t believe the federal and state governments can force this issue. Everybody is trying to do a good thing for this community,” Madigan said.
He looked at Rep. Michael Michaud’s representative, Andrea Quaid, and added, “I would hope that Michael Michaud would help us. We have to be concerned with this. Mexico has the most to lose.”
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