WISCASSET

Town officials are all in for a tax abatement plan that would help Molnlycke Health Care add as much as 32,000 square feet to its Wiscasset Industrial Park facility.

Company officials told selectmen Tuesday such an expansion would entail up to $7 million in construction spending and 10 to 30 new jobs in the next five years.

After a presentation from two Molnlycke officials Tuesday night, the Board of Selectmen quickly agreed to pursue a 20-year tax-increment financing setup. Town Manager Laurie Smith will work on specifics, and the board will vote on approval during its Aug. 13 meeting.

Approval from residents then would be necessary, and it would require a 45-day notice.
Molnlycke has another option, though.

At its Brunswick facility, which will be operational before the end of the year, a TIF zone already is in place at Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority. And in Brunswick, a Town Council vote is all that would be necessary to expand the TIF.

Molnlycke’s parent company in Sweden, meanwhile, is anxious to get the process started, in order to be up and running with an expanded operation by this time next year.

“We’re not trying to pit Brunswick versus Wiscasset,” James Detert, the company’s business development director, told the Wiscasset board. “We like to have ‘Plan Bs.’ We’re just trying to keep our options open.”

Molnlycke, which manufactures absorbent foam products and supplies them to health care facilities, employs 70 people at its Wiscasset plant, which opened in 2005 with the company’s acquisition of Rynel.

The company plans to have 45 people working at its Brunswick Landing facility, which is gearing up to begin operations.

Detert and Fred Libby, the company’s research and development manager, spoke to a receptive board of selectmen. They displayed an artist’s rendering of the proposed Wiscasset project, which would be an expansion of the existing building — already part of a TIF. An expansion in Brunswick would entail a separate building across the road.

Prior to their presentation, Town Manager Laurie Smith posited that economic development is “everybody’s job.”

Timing in this case, she added, “is big.”

“I can’t think of a company that I’d rather be sitting at the table here with than Rynel,” Smith said.

Detert explained that, in February 2012, Molnlycke purchased the Brennen Medical manufacturing operation in St. Paul, Minn.

Libby told the board and town department heads Brennen is focused on the burn market: Its Porcine Derma graft products are derived from pig skin, a byproduct of meat-packing plants.
Brennen also makes grafts made from human skin, silicon-based products and oat glucan products. It’s a light manufacturing process that requires a “skilled interface,” he said.

Town Planner Misty Parker explained the TIF process, which in this case would be reimburse Molnlycke 50 percent of its development costs.

“It’s a continued investment in our community,” Parker said. “There’s an opportunity to create 10 to 30 jobs. I think that’s always a great thing for any community. It strengthens and diversifies our tax base. They’ve been a great community partner.”

All five board members expressed strong support for the TIF. Chairman Ed Polewarczyk did, however, note that the town has had issues with the owner of the Molnlycke property.

“We don’t have a great relationship with Ferry Road Development, and what they owe the town,” Polewarczyk said.

Detert assured the board his company would make that a non-issue.

“Rynel would buy Ferry Road Development or get someone else to take ownership,” Detert said. “They’re just not in a position to take over this development. Molnlycke or possibly another local developer would be the property owner. We can buy that building if we so choose.”

Wiscasset and Brunswick form Molnlycke’s two U.S. manufacturing hubs, Detert said.

“Wiscasset, Maine, believe it or not, is probably the hydrofoam capital of the world,” he said.