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V I E W P O I N T S W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 3 JA N UA R Y 9 , 2 0 1 7 For a daily digest of Maine's top business news, sign up for the Mainebiz Daily Report at mainebiz.biz/enews Get Maine's business news daily at mainebiz.biz and on Twitter (@Mainebiz). Below is some of the best from our online-only offerings: Featured @ Mainebiz.biz Maine Health Access Foundation delivers $2 million in 'Healthy Community' grants Maine's largest, private, nonprofit health care foundation has selected 11 rural health care ini- tiatives to receive more than $2 million over the next three years. Find out which projects are fund- ed and how they intend to use the grants at mainebiz.biz/healthygrants New future for shuttered Madison mill? A joint venture involving three companies that specialize in re-purposing shuttered mills has pur- chased the mill assets of Madison Paper Industries for an undisclosed price. The acquisition, which closed on Dec. 29, includes the real estate of the main paper mill site as well as all mill equipment. Find out more about the companies involved in the acquisition at mainebiz.biz/madisonmill Maine's court system is going digital Tyler Technologies Inc. (NYSE: TYL) signed a $16.8 million contract with the Maine Judicial Branch to implement a unified electronic case management system for all courts and types of legal cases in the state. The 10-year contract will replace the paper-based system used for 200 years and cre- ate a unified e-filing court management system. Find out how it will benefit judges, lawyers and the public at mainebiz.biz/digitalcourt From the Editor M aine's economy may have fi nally moved out of the shadow of the recession. Many companies are growing. Demand for real estate continues to grow and there's ample evidence that the construction industry is benefi ting. Food and beer concerns seem to have brought a new dynamic to the economy. And companies are look- ing for skilled workers. I say "looking for" because the search has not been completed. One of the dominate things I hear as editor of Mainebiz, whether it's in our "On the Road" roundtables statewide or just in casual con- versations, is that companies cannot fi nd the work- ers they're seeking. It's an ongoing theme. Maine's economic future rests on more than cre- ating jobs. We need workers to fi ll the jobs. In our "Five on the Future" feature, a yearly staple at Mainebiz, state economist Amanda Rector says southern Maine's economy has seen the strongest growth and farming, aquaculture, food production, restaurants and beverages are shining. She also cites the need for a "multi-faceted approach" to address the workforce needs. Charles Lawton, chief economist at Planning Decisions Inc., says even shrinking indus- tries like paper products won't have enough workers to replace those that are retiring. In our focus section on commercial develop- ment, building contractors say the labor shortage is so acute it sometimes prevents them from taking on additional projects. On the plus side, the short- age has forced contractors to come up with more effi cient ways of building projects — building more pre-fab sections, doing more work off site and join- ing forces with other contractors. e issue is twofold: Maine's workers keep getting older and we have fewer and fewer young people coming out of high schools. Solutions off ered by our "Five on the Future" respondents varied widely. Rector suggests includ- ing making Maine more competitive by off ering more competitive tax policy, lower energy costs and infrastructure improvements; if people know they can fi nd well-paying jobs, they'll move here. Others cited the need to open the door to immigrants, whether they're from other countries, or from con- gested cities like Washington, New York or Boston. Lawton also said much of our potential workforce — males ages 25 to 55 — have, for whatever reason, taken themselves out of the workforce. We need to create jobs, yes, but also need to pro- vide additional incentives to move to Maine — or move back into the workforce. Heard on Main Street Ramblers Way, a Kennebunk-based apparel com- pany launched in 2007 by Tom's of Maine founder Tom Chappell, has grown far beyond its mail-order roots. In recent weeks it opened a retail store at 37 S. Main St. in Hanover, N.H. Other stores are planned for Portsmouth, N.H., and, later this year, Portland; Cambridge, Mass.; and West Hartford, Conn. Ramblers Way sells ethically sourced, sustainably produced men's and women's clothing made from Pima cotton and Merino wool … In the fall, Laurie Schreiber reported in Mainebiz's Real Estate Insider that Moody's Auto Body had acquired the former racetrack site in Gorham, paying $1.2 million. At the end of December, Shawn Moody, the founder of the company, unveiled a plan to develop an incubator space on the site. e Cooperative Workplace Campus will serve as an incubator for startups. Since Maine already has an abundance of startups and even incuba- tor spaces, it seemed like the more signifi cant part of his announcement was that Moody's will help with fi nancing solutions, including capital, land leases and build-to-suit options. Now we're talking. Peter Van Allen pvanallen@mainebiz.biz Maine's future rests on more than creating jobs bernsteinshur.com Be smart. BE SHUR. When you need a lawyer who thinks like an executive and speaks like a human.

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