BIDDEFORD — Over the years, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has visited a lot of Maine’s defunct mills. But, she said, the mill buildings that make up the Pepperell Mill Campus are impressive.

The property’s owner, Doug Sanford, led the senator and her entourage on a tour of his holdings, the former site of WestPoint Home, on Wednesday.

Afterward, the senator told a group of several dozen business owners and others gathered to meet with her, “I’ve been in a lot of mill buildings around the state, and I’ve never seen buildings in such good shape as these are.

“I’m so impressed with the diversity of businesses that have located in these mills,” she added.

Large manufacturers, like WestPoint Home, that were once the source of thousands of jobs and the backbone of Maine’s economy, have left the state, Collins said.

Growing businesses like the types located at the Pepperell Mill Campus ”“ such as specialized manufacturers, expert advisors and industries in the creative economy ”“ can be the new source of economic development for the state, she said.

Collins also discussed with those gathered some of their specific concerns to help them maintain and/or expand their businesses.

For instance, Amy Steenstra, with Hyperlite Mountain Gear, a manufacturer of ultralight backpacking gear located in Pepperell Mill, said her company is having a hard time finding skilled workers to produce equipment. She asked whether there were federal resources to match skilled workers with jobs.

Collins noted that she has asked the federal General Accounting Office to survey the types of federal job training programs available. After that’s completed, she said she would like to introduce legislation that would make those programs more effective by working with employers so the programs train the unemployed for jobs in those fields with demand.

Another issue brought up by Susan Swanton, executive director of the Maine Marine Trades Association, also located at Pepperell Mill, was in regard to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Instead of helping businesses become compliant with workplace safety rules, Swanton said she believes the federal agency is making it more difficult to become compliant because the high amount it fines companies for workplace violations. That’s a change from OSHA’s past practices, she said.

Collins said she heard a similar complaint recently and would look into it.

Now that she’s seen the Pepperell Mill Campus and was impressed by its potential, the senator said her office would work with the mill building’s owner to see if any federal assistance is available to help develop the property, which contains more than one million square feet.

One of the items discussed, she said, could help with the issue of job training. Sanford showed Collins a space where he would like to locate a vocational school,  which could provide job training for the type of light manufacturing he’d like to one day locate in his building. Collins said she hopes federal grant money can be found to make that possible.

— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.