By Kerri Pepoy,Staff Writer

PARIS – Two high-level EnterpriseMaine employees and one part-time employee have been laid off after the economic development agency lost $150,000 in rent, its president said Wednesday.

Brett Doney, chief executive officer, said Acorn Products, a slipper sock manufacturer, outsourced 50 jobs, most of them seasonal, to a company in Ohio and did not renew its lease at Enterprise Maine’s Bridgton Commerce Center on Route 302 at the end of January.

Barb Olson Deschenes, who was vice president of business development, left EnterpriseMaine last Friday. Deschenes had been with the organization for about 11 years and also served as vice president of the Growth Council of Oxford Hills, a nonprofit entity of EnterpriseMaine involved in several development projects, including the Oxford Hills Business Park on Route 26.

Bob Shinners, vice president of lending for another nonprofit entity, Western Maine Finance, will leave at the end of the month. Shinners, who has a background in commercial lending, has been with EnterpriseMaine for nearly two years.

“It was purely financial,” said Doney, who was reached by phone while traveling on business in Boston. “It was a very difficult thing to do.”

“It was tough walking out the door,” Deschenes said Wednesday night from her home in Norway. “But it was a good ride. She said the decision was “board-driven.”

“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the past 11 years. My job was such a pleasure because it is a wonderful community,” she said. “The organization has accomplished a lot, and I hope the community continues to support their efforts.”

Deschenes said she’s doesn’t know what she’s going to be doing next, but said she’s submitted two applications, one locally and another within the state. “I’d love to continue doing something with economic development.”

Meanwhile, she said, she has received severance pay, and though she was offered the opportunity to stay through the end of March, she opted to take her remaining vacation and sick pay and take a vacation. On March 17, she said, she’s headed south to see her sons, one who plays college baseball and the other in the military at Fort Benning, Ga.

The third person laid off is Louis Page, who worked about 40 hours per month, Doney said.

He said no further layoffs are expected.

Doney said Acorn Products had been in the 115,000-square-foot commerce center for about five years. The $150,000 from the lease had been partly funding EnterpriseMaine’s operations for the past five years. “We don’t have any way to replace that revenue,” he said.

EnterpriseMaine’s current budget is approximately $1.5 million.

Dielectric Communications, the other tenant in the building, is still there.

EnterpriseMaine purchased the building in 1999. Doney said he is looking for another manufacturer to lease the vacated space.

The layoffs leave EnterpriseMaine with a total of six employees. EnterpriseMaine is the umbrella name for three nonprofits and one for-profit entity dedicated to economic development in the Oxford Hills region.

The nonprofits are the Growth Council of Oxford Hills, Western Maine Finance, and Western Maine Development.

The for-profit entity is Western Maine Community Capital, which was created as a subsidiary of Western Maine Finance. Another nonprofit, Lake Region Development Council, is managed by EnterpriseMaine under contract.

Doney said EnterpriseMaine is reworking its strategic plan to focus on fewer but “more substantial” projects going forward. “We don’t have the financial resources or staff resources to do everything we want,” he said. “We are going to focus our efforts on doing fewer things, more quickly, while operating with a smaller staff.”

Doney said some of the larger projects that will receive continued attention include efforts to secure state money to repair Route 26; development at the Oxford Hills Business Park, where construction of Norway Savings Bank’s Education Center has been delayed due to drainage concerns; and a proposed technology park on Roberts Road overlooking Norway Lake.

EnterpriseMaine has been involved in other high-profile development projects, including its sale last fall of the former C.B. Cummings & Sons mill site to Norway Properties Inc., which is owned in part by the Libra Foundation of Portland. The 4.6-acre property was purchased for $300,000 and is being redeveloped for condominiums.