1. 6A ADVERTISER DEMOCRAT — THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 2014
for more info
www.oxfordhillsrotary.org
LIVE
ENTERTAINMENT
RAIN oR
ShINE!
4:00p.m.-7:00 p.m.
Oxford Hills Comprehensive
High School
In-advance Tickets $20 per person
Day of the Event $25 per person
Tickets On Sale at Books n’ Things or Park Street Press
Includes: lobster or steak, clams,
corn, fries, watermelon & drink.
Orders available for take out
AUGUST 16th
Lobster
& steak Fest
28thAnnual
Brett farm
storage
storage for:
743-8251
• cars • boats • campers
gore road, otisfield
stanley and ann Brett
Email: info@villagesquarerealty.net
www.villagesquarerealty.net
Valerie Weston Owner/Broker
Debbie Warrington/Broker • Donna Snay/Associate Broker
Linda Wynott/Associate Broker
82 MAIN STREET, NORWAY, MAINE 04268
207-743-2338 207-743-7777
www.austinpa.com
Your Financial Team
CHANDLER
Funeral Homes & Cremation Service
Business Office & Arrangement Center
207-743-2561 • fax: 207-743-0497
51 Main Street, South Paris, ME 04281
Funeral Home Locations:
Bridgton – Buckfield – Bryant Pond
Bethel – South Paris – Mechanic Falls
www.chandlerfunerals.com
Dana Chandler, Director
Polly’s Variety
115 King Street, Oxford 539-8254
Purchase an 18"
2-Topping Pizza &
Get a FREE 2 Liter Soda
(your choice of flavor)
Call ahead for faster service
No more
crackers,
Polly wants
pizza!
Ice Cream
Shop
Now Open!
Friendly Service
Sandwiches • Subs • Homemade Salads
We have homemade dinner specials every lunch time and our warmer is always filled with great
tasting pizza slices. Our beverages are always ice cold & we offer a wide variety of groceries,
snacks, and homemade cakes & cookies! Please Stop By!
into town and believes the
casino serves as the catalyst
for the area.
“I think there’s no question
there’s going to continue to be
development up there in and
around the casino and certain-
ly Oxford is gong to benefit
tremendously from that,” he
said.
Chammings and Williams
both point to Applebee’s—and
now Aroma Joe’s—opening
their doors in Oxford as a
direct result of the casino. The
coffee shop and drive-thru
should be open by mid- to
late-August, Williams said.
And there’s more lining up.
“We’ve got more restaurant
activity associated with the
casino,” Williams said, declin-
ing to name any franchises
that may want to come to the
area. “There’s another restau-
rant that’s interested in coming
in that will be adjacent to the
Hampton Inn hotel at the top
of the hill.”
He added there’s also been
some discussion of what he
calls a convention center being
built up in that area, but not
necessarily right next to the
casino. Williams said this
facility could be host to corpo-
rate meetings, concerts and a
meeting place for large groups
of people, which he said is
desperately needed in the area.
“Which is great because
you’re seeing some of the sec-
ondary jobs and businesses
come in to be in the service
c e n t e r o f O x f o r d ,”
Chammings said.
And Williams said the eco-
nomic boon for Oxford has a
positive ripple effect on
Oxford Hills.
“When you see these new
restaurants coming in and
these coffee shops and that
type of thing, it enables people
to stay,” Williams said, instead
of people driving to Lewiston
or Auburn for dinner. “It
enables people to take advan-
tage of what we have here.
And that is a benefit, no ques-
tion, to the small business
environment we have here.”
Chammings cited a couple
of other businesses in town
that have been successful and
didn’t move to Oxford
because of the casino.
“Places like MGA [Cast
Stone] and Grover Gun
Drilling, they could care less
about the casino, it’s not rela-
tive to their business but we do
have a good business environ-
ment in Oxford,” he said. “Our
mill rate is low and steady,
they don’t [go] up and down.
They’re lower than average,
lower than any town that abuts
us in the service centers by
far.”
MGA Cast Stone opened its
expanded doors in Oxford in
2010, moving 30 miles north
of its former location in New
Glouster. The family run busi-
ness specializes in precast
architectural elements that
decorate a wide variety of
buildings, along with full wall
panels, sills and lintels in win-
dows and the like.
According to Greg
Hamann, who’s the company’s
CEO and one of its owners, it
made economic sense to move
the business to Oxford. Oxford
was struggling economically
even before the recession hit
after Robinson Mill shuttered
in 2004 and then in 2008,
Burlington Homes closed its
doors, with roughly 1,000 peo-
ple losing their jobs,
Chammings said.
“We came because it was
an area that economically hit
hard and it was affordable for
us to bring our business here,”
Hamann said.
When MGA Cast Stone
arrived in Oxford, the compa-
ny had six employees. Within
the first 16 months of opera-
tions there, the employees
had grown to 26. And now,
that number hovers around
50.
“We’ve grown quickly,”
Hamann said. “It’s been a
good area for us. There’s a
good workforce to pull from.
It’s been advantageous
because it’s also a pine tree
[business economic] zone for
the state of Maine. It’s
allowed us to have some tax
benefits of free capital to go
back into the business to be
able to continue to grow the
business.”
He added the town has
been excellent to work with
and has supported the busi-
ness along the way.
Hamann said besides from
the casino, MGA Cast Stone is
one of the fastest growing busi-
nesses in the area. And people
want to work there. Hamann
said his company receives
about 10 job applications a day
and they pay slightly above the
industry average.
“We want to retain good
employees,” he said. “But it’s
a competitive market place.”
In addition to make archi-
tectural elements for buildings
like Martin Point Health Care
in Portland, MaineGeneral
Hospital, MIT and Park Plaza
Hotel in Boston, MGA has
cast a larger net in other ser-
vices and products it now
offers. These include recycled
glass and concrete products.
“As we’ve expanded, we’ve
had opportunities to pursue
other ... channels as part of
the growth to diversify our-
selves,” Hamann said.
He pointed MGA’s choice
to expand their market up
and down the Eastern
Seaboard and now as far
west as Ohio and Michigan.
This also helps since these
areas and southern states
have longer construction sea-
sons than the Northeast.
“It’s how you stay in busi-
ness,” Hamann said, laugh-
ing.
The town manager credits
the board of selectmen for
being progressive and look-
ing to the future, along with
a well organized Planning
Board, Code Enforcement
Department and Economic
Planning Committee in town.
Chammings and the select-
men worked a long time into
developing the TIF zone and
other tax shelters to help
encourage people to do busi-
ness in Oxford.
“We haven’t been desig-
nated by the state as business
friendly, because we haven’t
turned it in, but we were
business friendly before they
started business friendly,”
Chammings said. “It’s now
coming to fruit six, seven
years later. ... That’s why we
get a lot of people coming
in.”
He pointed to Tractor
Supply and Aaron’s setting
up shop in town because of
this environment.
As he looks to the future,
Chammings is confident
there will continue to be eco-
nomic growth in Oxford.
“You’re going to see con-
tinued people buying the
property on [Route] 26,” he
said. “The sewer system it’s
hard to explain how important
it is to economic development
but it’s part of the infrastruc-
ture, if you don’t have [it],
then quite frankly, a lot of the
businesses won’t be there.”
Business from page 1A
Erin Place
ROLLING STONES—MGA Cast Stone, located on Route 26 in Oxford, is one
of a number of businesses that has seen positive economic growth since setting
up shop in town.
for the Zadoc Long Free
Library was amended to
$800 at the request of resi-
dent Tom Standard. Jones
agreed with the request,
which would give the
library the amount of
money it originally request-
ed. The town approved the
$800, which increased the
total social services line
budget from $3,775 to
$4,475.
Residents also approved
$212,134 to clear winter
roads for the upcoming
year—$178,534 for winter
road maintenance and
$33,600 for winter road salt.
The salt will be housed in a
$15,000 salt storage facility,
which residents also
approved.
A total municipal budget
of $693,255 was approved
by voters, which is a $1,680
increase over last year.
Sumner from page 1A
office building will be about
25,500 square feet and will
accommodate Oxford Hills
Internal Medicine and merge
the primary care practices of
Western Maine Family
Practice and Oxford Hills
Family Practice. The renova-
tions on the Ripley building
will begin after the comple-
tion of the new medical
office.
"A primary goal for our
organization is to improve
access to care for our
p a t i e n t s , " T i m o t h y
Churchill, president of
Western Maine Health, said
in a press release. "We
believe it will be a positive
development for our medical
staff, employees, our
patients and the communi-
ties we serve."
Property from page 1A
Detours in Harrison Monday and Tuesday
H A R R I S O N — W i t h
storms in the forecast, the
culvert replacement project
on Route 35 in Harrison has
been delayed until Monday,
Aug. 18.
The culvert replacement
project will take place
roughly 100 feet south of
Zakelo Road on Route 35.
The southbound lane in
this location on Route 35
will be completely closed.
For those heading north-
bound, road work barri-
cades with flaggers will
stop traffic on Route 35 at
the northern entrance to
Cape Monday Road. Only
l o c a l t r a ffi c w i l l b e
allowed to pass.
There is a 13-mile detour
for motorists. For those driv-
ing northbound, the detour
will begin at the junction of
Route 35 and Route 302/11
in Naples. Traffic will head
north around the western
side of Long Lake, using
Route 302 from the Naples
C a u s ew a y a r e a i n t o
Bridgton. It will then head to
Route 117 North, back into
Harrison at the top of Long
Lake to Route 35.
For those heading south,
the detour will begin at the
intersection of Route 35 and
Route 117 in Harrison.
Drivers will head south on
Route 117 around the west
side of Long Lake into
Bridgton. They will head
east onto Route 302 back
into Naples, past the
Casuseway area to the junc-
tion of Route 35.
It's expected the work for
the project will be completed
by the end of the day on
Tuesday, Aug. 19. —EP