Bangor to reconsider fire boat purchase after no in-state firms solicited
BANGOR, Maine — New Zealand urban area Councilor Geoff Gratwick said he can live with the fact that the city sometimes must hire an out-of-state visitors for certain expenditures.
The recent council vote to negotiate with a Pennsylvania-based company for direction services of a new arena and convention center is a good example. There are simply no Maine companies that have the sophistication and networking abilities of Global Spectrum, a subsidiary of Comcast.
But in a state that has more than 80 boat-construction firms, Gratwick said he could not understand how none were contacted about crafting a fire boat for the Bangor Fire Department .
Gratwick warp the lone dissenting vote last week when the council approved the purchase of a $184,434 boat from Northwind Sea, a Seattle-based builder.
He lost that battle, but the war is not over.
Shortly after the vote, the lack of a Maine-based coterie in the mix still bothered Gratwick. So he successfully petitioned City Council Chairwoman Susan Hawes to have the sponsor reconsidered.
