Mainebiz

W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 11 JA N UA R Y 2 3 , 2 0 1 7 Based on the Dec. 21, 2016, clos- ing price of $31.64 per share, the annualized dividend of 92 cents per share translates into a yield of 2.91%. The bank also declared a one-time special cash dividend of 12 cents per share is also payable Jan. 31, 2017, to shareholders of record as of Jan. 6, 2017, and is the first special cash dividend paid by the bank since 1998. Bangor Savings unveils plan for waterfront Bangor Savings Bank plans to develop a campus on the Bangor waterfront, a move it says will help accommodate its projected growth. e bank purchased 20 South St. and has contracts to buy two adjacent parcels. It is looking for further space on the waterfront. e bank, which is the second-largest in Maine, has added 60 employ- ees in Bangor in the past five years. It expects to add employees over the next 15 years, a task that will be aided by the addition of the new waterfront site. e bank will move 350 employees to the site, the Bangor Daily News reported. "Bangor's waterfront area has truly become a jewel for the city, and we believe it is the perfect loca- tion for a new Bangor Savings Bank campus," said President and CEO Bob Montgomery-Rice. e bank said it also plans to add office space in Augusta and Portland. In the past two years, it has invested $10 million in the Portland mar- ket, including adding a site at 20 Marginal Way and a branch at 77 Middle St. Bangor Savings Bank, which has $3.6 billion in assets, has 54 branches. N O T E W O R T H Y N O R T H E R N & E A S T E R N Husson University's College of Business in Bangor created the Husson Stock Index. The index tracks and analyzes 28 companies that have an effect on Maine's economy. A commission created by the 127 th Legislature to study the economic, envi- ronmental and energy benefits of Maine's biomass industry has delivered its final report to two legislative committees with 15 recommendations for con- sideration in the new legislative session. The 24-page report draws on input from stakeholders in Maine's forest products sector, which contributed $8.5 billion to the state's economy in 2016 but which has seen a loss of $1.3 billion in total economic impact, largely due to closures at six paper mills in the past three years and the related decline in employment from 16,551 jobs in 2014 to an estimated 14,563 in 2016. An additional complication was the closure last March of Covanta Energy's biomass power plants in West Enfield and Jonesboro, resulting in the loss of 44 jobs at those facilities as well as important markets for low-grade wood and waste wood left over from pulp and paper manufacturing and sawmills. Covanta has since been purchased by Stored Solar, a subsidiary of the French energy firm Capergy. In mid-December, Maine's Public Utilities Commission split $13.4 million in subsidies between the state's other biomass power company, ReEnergy Holdings, and Covanta. A Dec. 28 PUC order subsequently approved an energy agreement between Stored Solar and Central Maine Power, putting the former Covanta plants on track for resuming power generation from biomass. Those two-year contracts at above-market rates were never seen as anything more than a stop-gap effort to buy time for Maine's biomass power plants, which lost above-rate payments for their electricity when Massachusetts changed its Renewable Portfolio Standard policy to require greater efficiency than standalone plants can easily deliver. In effect, Massachusetts penalized plants that gener- ate only electricity without capturing the heat that's produced. "These new standards are very difficult to achieve for a standalone biomass facility," the biomass commission's final report states. "This loss of revenue and the possibility of changes in policy in other states have created a great deal of uncertainty for biomass facilities, and Maine's current renewable portfolio standards do not provide any buffer." Goals and recommendations The biomass commission held five public meetings and solicited suggestions from stakeholders, including in-state and out-of-state utility regulators, Efficiency Maine Trust, pellet companies, loggers, biomass experts, pulp and paper com- panies and land owners. It developed five broad goals: 1. Encourage investment in biomass facil- ities and promote greater efficiency 2. Encourage investments in combined heat and power systems to promote efficiency 3. Enable and encourage co-location and other innovative projects utiliz- ing "behind-the-meter" technologies to encourage manufacturing growth and increase system reliability 4. Promote and develop Maine's for- est-related resources, both in-state and abroad, and take advantage of federal grant funding and other collaborative efforts to bolster the forest-based economy in Maine 5. Create state policies that encour- age biomass energy production and heating with biomass. The 15 recommendations provide ample guidance for lawmakers, with specific suggestions to amend existing state laws with the goal of assisting and encourag- ing further investment in the biomass industry. Two suggestions involve amending the state's renewable portfolio standards to encourage using biomass for heating and to extend "new renewable capacity" portfolio requirements beyond 2017. Other suggestions include: "Amend existing laws to explicitly allow microgrids statewide" and creating incentives for "schools and other public institutions to convert to combined heat and power systems." Commission lays out proposals to strengthen state's struggling biomass industry B y J a m e s M c C a r t h y P O L I T I C S & C O. Q: I understand that Maine is getting more culturally diverse. How can we engage with these new Mainers? ACE advises: You're absolutely right. According to the American Community Survey, all of Portland's population growth since 2000 has been due to an increase in multicultural people. If we had left it up to Mainers who look like me, we'd be down by 3,000 people! The future will definitely be more of the same, so you absolutely need to engage with this increasing cultural diversity. First: explore, learn and understand the realities of cultural competency: 1. What "culture" is and the ripple effects it has. 2. Your own cultural lens. 3. Culture-specific information about the populations you hope to engage. 4. How you can learn and practice cross-cultural communication and bridging skills. Second: get an independent analysis of your hiring processes, the interview or screening questions, to avoid inad- vertently rewarding a specific culture. Are you using idioms that only Americans would understand? Does your computerized application allow for only American schools, phone num- bers, or references? Or only ".com" email addresses? Or use of password retrieval questions that don't have enough options for international applicants? Might qualified multicultural candidates be slipping through the cracks because of such oversights? If you have people from the various populations working for you (and thriv- ing, which means you have a culturally competent workplace), there's a good chance more people from that commu- nity will come through the door — as customers, clients, or applicants. A S K AC E A n s w e r e d b y E l i z a b e t h G r e a s o n o f M a i n e I n t e r c u l t u r a l C o m m u n i c a t i o n C o n s u l t a n t s The Association for Consulting Expertise (ACE) is a non-profit association of independent consultants who value "Success through Collaboration." The public is welcome to attend its regular meetings to share best practices and engage with industry experts. For more information go to www.consultexpertise.com. N O R T H E R N & E A S T E R N

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