By Carol Coultas,Business Writer

AUBURN – Joel Packer groaned when he heard the news.

As executive director of Pathways, a social services agency that helps people with disabilities, Packer has an $850,000 contract with Brunswick Naval Air Station.

About 35 of his clients work at BNAS earning between $9.36 and $11.48 per hour in the commissary and at a base restaurant. Pathways’ contract with the Department of Defense will be tough to replace.

“It certainly is a blow,” Packer said. “We’ll have to scramble to find something else.”

Pathways employees are just a few of the 700 civilians who work at the base. About 15 percent of the civilian work force lives in Androscoggin, Franklin or Oxford counties. About 7 percent of the 4,000 military personnel live in the tri-county area as well.

Development opportunity

Although Packer’s concern for his employees is very real, his situation is somewhat isolated in the Lewiston-Auburn area. At first blush, it appears the impact of the base closure locally will be limited. A survey of development officials and business groups couldn’t produce other examples of businesses similarly affected by the news of Brunswick’s closure. In fact, many see a silver lining of more development opportunities for Brunswick and the area.

A 1995 study revealed that Maine ranks fourth among the most defense-dependent states in the country. The combination of Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, BNAS, Bath Iron Works and smaller defense operations plus private companies like Pratt & Whitney and Saco Defense, underscored the state’s dependency.

Since then, jobs in health care, finance and the service sector have sprung up, fortifying a diverse economic base. Locally, BIW still holds the greatest sway over the area’s economic well-being. In fact, unemployment rates for L-A rose from July of 2004 (4.2 percent) to July of this year (4.8 percent) based solely on job losses at BIW.

“It’s the only reason our employment rate is lower than last year,” said Gerard Dennison of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. BIW employs about 1,000 people from the tri-county area. BNAS employs fewer than 400, including the military personnel.

Still, the closure of Brunswick will have some effect. Maine contractors landed about 75 percent of the $123 million the base has spent in the last three years on construction projects, according to John James, base spokesman.

Although a complete breakdown wasn’t readily available, several local contractors won bids for the base’s 2004 hangar project including K&K Excavating of Turner ($2.4 million); MacFarlane Steel of Fryeburg ($65,000); Industrial Roofing of Lewiston ($800,000); Northeast Industrial of Winthrop ($2 million) and LaPointe Drywall of Lewiston ($850,000).

Hahnel Bros., a Lewiston roofing and sheet metal company, is currently working on the airfield’s new control tower. Its executive vice president, Bill Hunter, said the company has worked on projects at the base for decades.

“In the short term, it will probably affect us somewhat,” said Hunter of the closure. “But in the long term, there’s the potential for private development. I think it will increase our opportunities.”

His view is shared by Dan Feeney, economic development director for the town of Lisbon. Most of the L-A area people who work at the base live in his town. Feeney was relieved in July when the Base Realignment and Closure Commission decided to consider closing the base along with the option of mothballing it.

“Closure has more possibilities for the future,” he said, noting the base is well maintained, has lots of amenities and new infrastructure. “I see multiple uses – think Pease Air Force Base. There’s much greater economic potential.”

Ideas for the future

Pease Air Force Base in Portsmouth, N.H., closed in 1991 and has been redeveloped as a private international industrial park. It now employs more than 5,000 people and contributes more than $400 million annually to the local economy.

Several economic planners have suggested that BNAS could be turned into a hub for Federal Express, UPS or another freight carrier given the size of its airstrip and amenities.

But first, local economic planners are trying to assess the closure’s impact on Lewiston-Auburn and line up resources to make the best of it.

Some have had plenty of practice.

In 1992, the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments spearheaded a study of the local economy’s dependence on the defense industry. It showed employment numbers, contracts and business affiliations between L-A and both BNAS and BIW.

Now, 13 years later, Bob Thompson, executive director of AVCOG, is trying to assemble the same data. The Navy hasn’t provided him with the updated information he needs, but he expects it will materialize soon, given that the final BRAC vote has been taken.

“We’re trying to determine what the level of impact will be and what’s the appropriate response, if any,” he said.

All about timing

The priority is understanding the time frame for the closure. That will determine how long AVCOG and other economic development groups have to study the situation and devise a plan for the businesses and people affected.

Pathways would welcome the help. Its employees are part of a crew that operate Neptune Hall, a galley at the base that was recognized last month for excellence in a national competition among 100 other mess halls. Its five-star accreditation provided a real morale boost for the employees.

Lois Barr, administrative assistant at Pathways, said Wednesday’s vote did the reverse.

“Even though it won’t be closed for several years, I think they’re making a big mistake.”