Dear Editor:

Following two recent articles in the Boothbay Register which discussed Lincoln County and Midcoast Economic Development District (MCEDD) it is necessary to provide some clarification for your readers.

Lincoln County is a member of MCEDD and Commissioner Blodgett and two other Lincoln County members sit on the Executive Committee of MCEDD. Lincoln County also has six members on the 29-member board.

MCEDD is an Economic Development District under the Economic Development Administration (EDA) and is one of seven for the state. This district includes Sagadahoc County, Lincoln County, Knox County and parts of Cumberland and Waldo counties.

MCEDD requested funding as follows: $16,379 from Cumberland, $20,750 from Sagadahoc, $27,076 from Lincoln, $28,491 from Knox and $4,055 from Waldo. The Lincoln County Budget Committee, made up of nine selectmen and one legislator, voted not to support MCEDD for 2015.

The budget committee had allowed a second presentation where Jeff Kobrock, executive director of MCEDD, was supported by John DelVecchio of Whitefield, who is a member of the MCEDD.

Subsequent to that vote of the budget committee, the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners voted to fund $8,000 for a specific project relating to efforts to bring better access to broadband in Lincoln County. Knox County voted to fund $10,000 of their $28,491 MCEDD request.

Neither Lincoln nor Knox County was persuaded that the MCEDD requests reflected the benefit to the county yet wished to provide some funding in order to continue to participate. All Lincoln County towns remain eligible for any applicable EDA funds.

I hope that this provides some useful clarification.

John O’Connell

Administrator

Lincoln County