RUMFORD — The Board of Selectmen have unanimously voted to support a plan drafted by Envision Rumford! and the Western Maine Economic Development Council that would help market the Puiia Business Park on Route 108.
Town Manager Carlo Puiia said that the plan, drafted by Envision Rumford! member Jim Rinaldo and Glen Holmes, director of the Western Maine Economic Development Council, would proceed in three steps.
Holmes said that the first step in marketing the business park would be to distribute a flier to 2,500 light industrial companies located in the Northeast that would talk about the business park and would promote the benefits of moving there.
Among the costs involved with distributing the flier are hiring a graphics person to design it, printing the fliers on quality glossy paper and the cost of mailing them.
The second step, according to Holmes, would be to advertise a “request for qualifications.”
“This would allow you, as a board, to set a minimum standard for a Realtor to be engaged with the property,” Holmes said.
Holmes said that the third step would be to advertise the business park in the New England Real Estate Journal, the “largest commercial real estate publication of its kind.”
In other business, the Board of Selectmen voted to extend the town’s wood harvesting contract by one year.
Puiia said Friday afternoon that the contract extension would give the town extra time to get “a little more harvest” from the area off of South Rumford Road.
“We’re only able to get into that area to cut during the wintertime,” Puiia said. “We had to extend the contract for a little longer so we could get more harvest.”
The Board of Selectmen also voted to allow the Planning Board to oversee the implementation of the town’s Comprehensive Plan.
Residents approved the Comprehensive Plan update during a Nov. 6 vote, five months after it was originally rejected by voters in June at the annual town meeting.
“The board talked with two Planning Board members at Thursday’s selectmen’s meeting, and they said they would discuss it at their next meeting,” Puiia said.
mdaigle@sunjournal.com
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