The Times Record
October 31, 2007
| Seth_Koenig@TimesRecord.Com |
| 10/31/2007 |
| BATH — A panel of Gov. John Baldacci's advisers Tuesday considered creating a model corporation that would employ civilian base workers after the Navy leaves Brunswick in 2011. The plan could offer continued employment to more than 600 non-military Brunswick Naval Air Station workers who would otherwise be in jeopardy of losing their jobs when the base closes. But the proposal won't move forward without a business plan identifying the base workers as marketable in the region. Steve Sorett, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney with McKenna Long and Aldridge LLP, described Transitional Benefit Corporations during Tuesday's regular meeting of the Governor's Advisory Council at the Bath CareerCenter. The council is a regional group assembled to guide Baldacci on matters relating to the redevelopment of Brunswick Naval Air Station. According to Sorett, non-military base workers could retain federal retirement and medical benefits by joining a not-for-profit umbrella organization that subcontracts their jobs back to the Navy as long as the base remains running. Between now and 2011, he said, that umbrella organization would search for opportunities to expand its clientele beyond the Navy and keep the former base workers employed into the future. The goal, said Sorett, is for the Transitional Benefit Corporation to ultimately grow and become a sustainable business entity. He described a situation in Charleston, S.C., where 400 environmental engineers went to work for such a corporation when their local military base was slated for closure — now, he said, "that company is one of the fastest growing companies in South Carolina." The Navy would benefit from the creation of the transitional organization as well, said Sorett, because the organization would assume the overhead costs of managing the work force. Additionally, as part of the arrangement with the federal government, the workers would resign from their federal positions to take the guaranteed continued employment with the corporation, forfeiting whatever severance packages they would get when the base closure forces layoffs. The big hurdle now, though, is whether Brunswick's case can be feasible. "We have the model figured out pretty well," Sorett told the council, "but we need to determine if it will work here." In order to finance the creation of a Transitional Benefit Corporation, Sorett said a feasibility study must determine its market viability in Brunswick — and a subsequent business plan must pass muster with Wall Street investment banking firms and private equities. The corporation would then also be able to issue bonds and apply for grants to supplement its startup revenue stream. "You can amass very quickly a large amount of cash based on that 'bankable' (business plan)," said Sorett, but he added that sustainability all starts with private investors. "If you can't get somebody to write a check for $10 million, that tells you something," he said. Council co-chairman Tony Armstrong wondered if the current base work force — which consists of firefighters, public works staff and security personnel, among other professions — would generate a demand on the open market. "I'm not sure who needs 50 firemen right now," he said. "(Sorett) alluded to a base in South Carolina with a large group of environmental scientists. That I can see. At this particular facility, though, we may not have skill sets that are really marketable." Admitted Sorett: "We may find that some of the units you have are not bankable. In that case, we'd have to deliver the bad news to some folks that 'This just isn't going to work for you.'" Bill Babbin, the council's other co-chairman and the president of the base's civilian labor union, noted that the caretaker, maintenance, airport management and engineering work that currently takes place on the base will still need to be done on the property after 2011. Steve Levesque, executive director of the Brunswick Local Redevelopment Authority, said he also could see an "environmental cleanup company" being built around civilian base workers. "I think there are some opportunities here worth exploring," he said. "We may not be able to employ everybody, but we may be able to help some folks." The first step toward determining if there are opportunities in Brunswick will be funding the feasibility study, which Sorett said would likely cost "on the lower end" of a scale ranging from $100,000 to $250,000. In other cases across the country, he said the federal Office of Economic Adjustment has picked up the tab for such a study. The council did not take an action on Sorett's report Tuesday, but will continue to consider the process. |