The company plans to hire 40 people and process several millions pounds of lobster meat annually. But the scale of these plans is in doubt unless Live Lobster can qualify for a federal grant and loan program.
On the day he was interviewed by telephone for this story, Live Lobster owner Antonio Bussone said engineers were in the facility converting it to handle lobster processing.
“Two days ago, we had the person setting up the live lobster tank,” Bussone said.
Bussone hopes to begin processing by June, but the size of the operation still hinges on whether he can secure federal funding through a Community Development Block Grant. The funding package would provide a $200,000 grant and a $200,000 loan to help with startup costs. The deadline to apply for the grant is March 25th.
But one of the requirements for Bussone to be awarded the grant is the signed support from the Gouldsboro board of selectmen, and so far Bussone and the selectmen haven’t been able to agree on the terms of that support. Gouldsboro selectmen will hold a special meeting March 24th, the night before the application deadline, to debate whether to support the application.
The town government and Bussone frequently have been at odds throughout this process. During an earlier attempt to secure a grant, he complained publically that the town was obstructing his progress and being unsupportive, according to coverage in the Bangor Daily News.
Before buying the plant, Bussone had said he would take the business elsewhere, possibly to Bucksport, if Gouldsboro didn’t provide sufficient support to his venture. Now that he owns the plant, it’s unclear what options he has if the town government does not support his grant application.
Bussone said he will be able to open the lobster processing facility without the grant, but not provide nearly as many jobs.
Under the provisions of the grant and loan package, Bussone would be required to hire 40 workers or would have to pay back the $400,000. In essence, the town co-signs on the grant, said Gouldsboro selectman Jim Watson.
In interviews, Watson and fellow selectman William Thayer have indicated they will go against the grant unless Bussone can provide protection to shield the town from having to repay the grant if the business fails to meet the hiring requirements.
Gouldsboro selectmen publically have indicated they would support Bussone’s application if he is able to produce an irrevocable line of credit that would pay back the $400,000. Bussone counters that he instead can give the town a lien on the property and a personal guarantee to pay back the $400,000 himself. This isn’t good enough, in Watson’s opinion.
“Where on the list of lienholders are we? We’re going to fall last on the list,” Watson said. He also added that a personal guarantee is not really a guarantee.
The sale of the Stinson plant has encountered more than a few bumps along the way. Initially, then-Governor John Baldacci hoped to engineer a quick sale of the plant before leaving office, but there were numerous delays and Bussone lost the opportunity to apply for a previous grant.
“That was a very ambitious schedule that the governor set up, almost a ‘Mission Impossible,'” Watson said.
Also, Bussone’s plan to buy and process lobster has raised some concern that a grant would give him an unfair advantage over other local lobster buyers. (One selectman, Dana Rice, has recused himself from voting on Bussone’s grant because he owns a lobster-buying business.) Town selectmen prodded Bussone repeatedly to provide documentation proving the grant money would go towards necessary startup costs and not subsidize his operation. Bussone since has provided more information to the town.
“Giving him this free money essentially means he can buy a location that is more expensive or valuable than what he simply needs to buy or sell lobster,” said selectman William Thayer. “The other people who buy and sell lobster on the peninsula did not have this advantage.”
Some in the Schoodic lobstering community also have been wary of Bussone’s plans. But Bussone says he is winning trust by hiring people, indicating at times in his interview that he has hired both seven and ten people. At a special meeting on March 17, Gouldsboro residents formally authorized selectmen to vote on whether or not to authorize the grant application; the vote wasn’t close.
Corea co-op manager Dwight Rodgers initially worried about Live Lobster’s entry into the local lobster industry, but after getting to know Bussone, he now is cautiously optimistic.
“The question is, ‘Will he be able to make a go of it?” Rodgers said. “If he can make a go of it, he would be a tremendous help to the town.”
Bussone says he will be able to overcome any initial friction that has built up between him and the town in the past year. And he’s confident he’ll meet the grant requirements to hire 40 people before the deadline for doing so passes. Of course, to do that, he will need to win the grant first.