BanAir official outlines advantages of Foreign Trade Zone

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    DOVER-FOXCROFT — The executive director of BanAir Corporation met with the Piscataquis County Commissioners last week to explain the advantages of having the county become part of the Bangor area Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ).
    Steve Bolduc said that new regulations permit counties adjacent to an FTZ to file an alternative site framework application to become eligible for the same benefits as the “host” zone.

    Bolduc explained that Bangor has operated an FTZ since 1979. But until recently, the 33-acre site near Bangor International Airport was the only location where imported products could be exempt from tariffs or customs duty. “But we’re now allowed to expand to other locations like Piscataquis County,” Bolduc said. “For example, a company in Dover-Foxcroft brings material in. Rather than paying duties on the items entering the U.S., they could be put in storage or kept in inventory,” Bolduc explained. Duties would only apply when the finished product is “exported” to a customer. “So this also helps with a company’s cash flow,” he said.
    The duty exemption would also be a huge advantage if the material arrives damaged or has to be returned, Bolduc said, since there would be “less hassle” with customs.
    Bolduc said that the Bangor FTZ would like to expand to Piscataquis, Hancock and Washington counties to take advantage of the program. “Most auto manufacturing in the U.S. now takes place in Foreign Trade Zones,” he added.
    The county commissioners had already endorsed the concept of joining the FTZ at an earlier meeting, so the endorsement was pretty much a done deal. “Are there any downsides to the program?” asked James Annis, chairman of county commissioners. “If there were, companies would obviously not participate,” Bolduc said.
    Any firm that wants to become part of the FTZ can contact Bolduc at steve.bolduc@bangormaine.gov. “I hope word gets out in the press about this,” said Commissioner Fred Trask. “We need jobs in this area.”
    In other business conducted at the June 6 meeting, commissioners approved the hiring of Kristen Flewelling as a corrections officer. She was one of five candidates interviewed for the position.
    However, during the time between the interviews and the commissioners’ meeting, another officer gave his notice, said Jail Administrator Dave Harmon. So he recommended that the person who finished second in the interview process be hired for the new vacancy. County Manager Marilyn Tourtelotte, who was on the screening committee, said that the scores between the first two candidates “were very close together … they both are very qualified.”
    Harmon asked, however, that the name of the second candidate not be published since he has not given notice to his current employer. So commissioners’ voted to take up the recommendation at their June 17 meeting.
    Harmon also told the commissioners that finding qualified corrections officers is going to be more difficult in the future, now that the Maine Criminal Justice Academy is mandating 200 hours of training instead of 80. “How do you find a person who wants to work part-time who has the time to put in 200 hours’ worth of training?” Harmon said.
    The administrator said his part-time payroll budget is already “out the window” and he’s still short-staffed. Sheriff John Goggin said that in his view, the new requirements are part of a statewide movement “to get rid of all part-time law enforcement positions and make them all full-time.” Harmon agreed. “I’m going to be standing in front of you a lot more than I want to,” he said.