County commissioners learn more on PCEDC leadership transition
DOVER-FOXCROFT — Earlier this month the executive committee of the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council (PCEDC) announced the resignation of Executive Director Christopher Winstead, who after joining the council in 2015 has accepted the new position of director of workforce development at Eastern Maine Community College. The Piscataquis County Commissioners learned more from Winstead during a Dec. 17 meeting.
“The executive committee has launched a transition team,” Winstead said, with the executive director position having been posted the week before.
“The important thing is that I really wanted to thank you for the support since I have been here,” he said to the commissioners. “I plan to stay on until the new person is here and help them with the transition.”
Winstead
Winstead said Eastern Maine Community College President Dr. Lisa Larson has been gracious in granting flexibility as he will be able to be based in the PCEDC office at the Penquis Higher Education Center in Dover-Foxcroft part-time while also serving in the new position at the community college.
“It was a good opportunity and a great chance to enhance Eastern Maine Community College workforce development,” Winstead said, saying Dr. Larson believes in the mission of the organizations at both his new and current positions. He said in Piscataquis County there have always been strong ties between economic development and education groups, but in other parts of the state this is not always true.
“We do plan to use Chris’ expertise in some of the questions we ask and we will ask his opinion on some of the candidates,” PCEDC Executive Committee President Denise Buzzelli said about the executive director search.
“Thanks again for all the work you have done and we look forward to great things,” Commissioners Chair James White said.
In his report County Manager Michael Williams said, “We’re still awaiting the final offer on the building” as the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Office is looking at a new home for its patrol and investigation divisions. The county is negotiating with the owner of a commercial building in downtown Guilford to become the permanent location of the divisions.
Earlier in the month the commissioners authorized Sheriff Robert Young to sign a lease through mid-2020 for the patrol and investigation divisions to remain at the former Guilford Primary School building through the middle of next year while a real estate transaction is pending. In November a sale closed on the building with Friends of Community Fitness purchasing the structure from owner Clark’s Enterprises.
The county also looked at the C.H. Lightbody Medical Center on Park Street, which now is the new location of the Guilford municipal office. In the middle of the process the county found another building that would better suit the needs of the sheriff’s office, and the commissioners have said the town was very gracious in letting the county back out of the verbal agreement.
To alleviate cramped conditions and lack of privacy inside the main sheriff’s office in the same larger complex as the Piscataquis County Jail on Court Street in Dover-Foxcroft, in the spring of 2018 the patrol and investigation divisions moved up Route 15 to Guilford at the former primary school building. The law enforcement space previously was the home of the SAD 4 administrative office suite.
With the school building placed up for sale, county officials had been working with the town on an agreement to rent and then purchase, following an affirmative vote at the annual March town meeting, the C.H. Lightbody Medical Center. In April Mayo Regional Hospital closed its primary care office in Guilford after experiencing significant provider turnover in the previous year and a half. Guilford Medical Associates was housed there via a lease with the town.