The new Coös Economic Action plan was introduced to residents and community leaders Tuesday night.
A forum was held Tuesday at city hall, in Berlin, to outline the structure and goals of the action plan and collect feedback at the listening session. Kathy Eneguess, president of White Mountains Community College, Peter Riviere, executive director of Coös Economic Development Corporation and Jeff Hayes of the North Country Council, facilitated the discussion on the action plan.
The action plan outlines goals, that can be accomplished in a five-year span, to promote economic development in Coös County.
The plan was developed over the past 18 months, according to Eneguess. She added the plan was designed to incorporate the multiple other initiatives already happening in the county and fill in some gaps.
There are three key messages of the action plan, said Eneguess.
The first is to have the county speak in one voice, second is that the process is transformative, and lastly that the plan is regional.
She said it is aligned with the Northern Forest Sustainable Economy Initiative and other initiatives across the region, including Maine, Vermont, and northern parts of New York.
To develop the action plan, there were several technical review committees looking at specific areas including creative/ knowledge economy, timber, tourism, energy and health.
Each of these areas generated several “action steps” to focus on during the process.
Hayes outlined the priorities for the different committees.
“These are the best potential projects,” said Hayes.
For the timber committee, he said the first step is to establish a wood availability study. He added this would paint a picture of the ability to sustain the wood industry in the future, in the county.
Secondly, Hayes said the timber committee wants to create more research and development going on for wood products.
“It’s really about trying to find news uses for wood resources,” said Hayes.
Lastly, he said looking at reducing costs within the wood industry. He added some of this is already happening, in developing a co-op between lumber companies to cuts costs.
Another one of the committees is the creative economy committee. One of the goals is to support creative business by providing access to high speed Internet and north sourcing. Another was developing creative spaces or clusters for cultural arts.
A handout provided at the meeting lists other priorities under this heading. They include having a marketing plan for these creative businesses, workforce development and training, and community values and leadership development.
For the health review committee, Hayes said there were two major priorities for the group. First, he said was to develop a pipeline program for students and residents in the health care industry.
Hayes said the health care industry will become a major contributor to the economy of the region in the future.
The second priority, according to Hayes, was to educate people on new methods of health care delivery.
In the area of tourism, one of the priorities was to develop and fund more promotion. Hayes added that the North Country Investment Corporation is working with Roger Brooks in this area.
“Tourism is a mainstay of our economy,” said Hayes. “Coös has a lot of potential there.”
A third priority for the committee is to protect the cultural and natural resources of the area, according to Hayes. Lastly, the tourism committee sought to increase customer service in the area.
The last review committee dealt with energy. There were four major goals for this group.
First is to support the development and growth of local energy committees. Another is to develop an alternative energy curriculum at the W.M.C.C. Hayes said this would be necessary to sustain a workforce for new energy sources in the region.
The energy committee said another priority is to create a model for small scale community heat and power production. Hayes said a project of this nature is already underway in Groveton.
The last priority for the energy committee is to conduct an energy audit for Coös County.
Though there were other items looked at during the development of the action plan, it focuses on items which could be accomplished in a five-year span.
Riviere said there was a huge number of ideas generated during the process.
Another thing that was generated during the process were seven consistent themes. Hayes said that initially, there was no plan to have thematic threads in the action plan, but many underlying concepts were found in the five committees.
“As we were reviewing the actions, common themes really came out,” said Hayes.
These themes included developing a marketing plan, networking across business sectors, widespread broadband Internet access, workforce and talent development, developing the village center concept, having affordable access to health care and aligning revitalization efforts across the region.
The listening session was the first that will be held on the Coös economic action plan. Two other hearings are planned, one in Colebrook on June 25, and another in Lancaster on June 26.
Back to News List
