BRUNSWICK – As the organization overseeing redevelopment of Brunswick Naval Air Station closes in on its master plan, a new authority is being created to implement and market it.

Last week the Legislature’s Business, Research and Economic Development Committee unanimously endorsed eight candidates nominated by Gov. John Baldacci for the new Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority. When confirmed, the full 11-member panel will succeed the Brunswick Local Redevelopment Authority.

The 13-member BLRA has been drafting the reuse plan for BNAS since the base was targeted for closure in 2005. The MRRA will begin implementation once the BLRA’s master plan is complete, potentially by December.

Plan adoption will mean the dissolution of the BLRA, although its seven-person staff may be retained by the MRRA.

The state Senate is scheduled to review the first eight nominees on Sept. 20. Two of the remaining MRRA positions will be appointed in January. The governor will appoint the final seat to a state agency commissioner – probably John Richardson, a former Brunswick legislator and current commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development, who also serves on the BLRA.

Baldacci chose seven appointees based on recommendations from their respective communities. By law, at least seven appointees had to be from towns directly affected by BNAS closure. The governor was also allotted three statewide appointees.

Shep Lee of Cape Elizabeth, Art Mayo of Bath, John Moncure of Harpswell, Stephanie Slocum of Harpswell, Charles Spies of Topsham, Jennifer Stowell of Rumford, Dana Totman of Brunswick and Marty Wilk of Brunswick received the committee’s unanimous approval last week.

Lee, the chairman of Lee Auto Malls, is a Bowdoin College graduate who was once appointed by President Jimmy Carter to organize the White House Conference on Small Business. He is also a longtime Democratic Party financial contributor.

Moncure is a partner at the Brunswick law firm Moncure & Barnicle and former attorney at BNAS. Slocum is executive director of the Freeport Economic Development Corp., and Stowell is Lisbon’s director of community and economic development.

Mayo, a former Democratic state senator in District 19, is a BLRA director; Wilk is the BRLA chairman and an attorney at Eaton Peabody.

Other BLRA board members in line to join the MRRA include Totman, a member of the Brunswick Planning Board through 2010, and Spies, of CEI Capital Management.

Sen. Beth Edmonds, D-Freeport, and Rep. Stan Gerzofsky, D-Brunswick, supported the candidates.

“This is the biggest economic development issue for our area for the next 50 years,” Gerzofsky said in a news release. “And I know these are the people who can help us make the most of a bad situation. The federal government is removing $140 million in payroll from our local economy and 5,000 to 6,000 jobs. We have seen no sign that they are offering Maine any significant help in dealing with this crisis. That is why it is so important that these people are of the highest quality, and I know they are.”

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