By Daniel Hartill,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – Grow. Expand. Attract new wealth and capital. Just don’t take money or jobs from Lewiston-Auburn.

That’s the advice of City Administrator Jim Bennett, whom Gov. John Baldacci has appointed to a group overseeing the redevelopment of the condemned Brunswick Naval Air Station.

“It’s important that we win as a region, one that includes Lewiston-Auburn and Brunswick,” Bennett said.

New enterprises at the base might even help businesses in Lewiston-Auburn, perhaps dovetailing with Auburn’s status as an intermodal rail hub and a port for international shipping.

However, such talk is speculative, Bennett said.

His appointment was announced less than two weeks ago. And the group, titled the BNAS Advisory Council, has yet to meet.

“I’m not coming to this with an agenda,” Bennett said.

However, he said he will be careful to protect businesses and jobs in Lewiston-Auburn from either unreasonable competition or their relocation to Brunswick.

“I think that’s part of my role,” he said. “I ought to be parochial that way. Besides, I believe we can do more through cooperation and finding ways of being complementary.”

Just as Lewiston and Auburn have worked together rather than compete with each other, so do the cities and Brunswick, he said.

The advisory council was created by the governor to help focus the strength of the state. Its goal: Fill the hole that will be left by the Navy when it leaves.

The departure is forecast to begin in three years, perhaps more.

Some people here in Lewiston-Auburn will lose their jobs, but Bennett is unsure how many. The base employs about 2,500 full-time sailors. About 720 civilians will lose their jobs, say Navy leaders.

Some Navy people will move away. And some businesses that work with the Navy will be forced to shrink. No one is sure what the effect will be until the base actually shuts its gate.

Bad for L-A

However, the state is betting that the closure will hurt Lewiston-Auburn. That’s why Baldacci made sure a representative of the Twin Cities was on the 25-member board, said Joy Leach, a spokeswoman for the governor.

Bennett believes he can help Brunswick by using some of the knowledge he gained as Westbrook’s city administrator.

While he worked there in the 1990s, the local paper mill shut down its pulp-making plant, putting about 300 people out of work.

The job losses rippled through the town. But when the pulp machine stopped, so did the odor.

Over time, housing values rose and the jobs were recovered elsewhere.

One of the first challenges for the Brunswick group is likely to be a matter of direction, whether redevelopment will be accomplished fast with land sales and retail stores or whether industries slower to attract but with higher paying jobs will take precedence.

Part of that will likely come from an analysis of the base’s primary assets: a new aircraft control tower, hangars and two runways long enough to land any airplane in the sky.

“They need to decide if they are going for the quick cash,” Bennett said. “I think there is a lot of potential either way.”

The advisory council is just one piece of a bureaucratic machine created in the wake of the decision to close the Brunswick base.

Council members include several people from the governor’s cabinet, education and economic development leaders and administrators from area towns and cities.

The group is expected to begin meeting after the Thanksgiving holiday.

Already created are a pair of local redevelopment authorities: boards that will directly oversee Navy properties in Brunswick and Topsham.

Meanwhile, the Maine Department of Labor is offering tutorials at the base with subjects ranging from resume writing to anger management.

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