City Manager's Report 4-7-2008
Notre Dame Cleanup
We just received word that a $200k EPA Brownfields grant has been awarded and the cleanup of the Notre Dame High School building that the City owns can now take place. Last year we were not successful in this application. This is really wonderful news and is a general reflection of the whole housing clean up effort in the City. It has been slow and not without setbacks. But with the persistence of the Notre Dame group which just keeps working at it, steady and very great progress has been and continues to be made. A press conference is being held tomorrow in Concord at the DES Commissioner's office where the check will be presented to the City. Andre Caron will attend this on behalf of the City. Attached is the letter we received today, making the announcement.
Green Street Closing
NHDOT has announced that the Green Street Bridge will be closed again starting April 14th to allow Piper Construction to finish the uncompleted utility, sidewalk and street work of the project.
The DOT is saying that the closing will be for six weeks. We had originally understood it to be all summer. However, through the winter Piper was able to complete all the wing-walls for the bridge. A six week closing vs. an all summer closing would be a good thing if it actually transpires that way.
Legislative Items
Attached are the legislative histories of two of the bills the City has taken strong positions on. HB 1645 is the retirement reform legislation which passed overwhelmingly in the House. It is scheduled for a Senate Hearing this Wednesday April 9, in Rm 301-303 at 1pm.
HB 1573 is the bill we proposed which would amend RSA 155B to allow us to lien all the properties in the State owned by a property owner whose property we had to clean up and lien in Berlin because of the property owner's failure to do so himself. The bill would also assure that a property owner's insurance proceeds if any would have to be put toward the cleanup of a burnt out property rather than the owner just walking away from it all and abandoning the property. This bill has also passed the House and will have a Senate Hearing on Tuesday April 15th, 2008.
Unfortunately, both labor bills which the Mayor and Council took positions in opposition to have passed the House. HB 1127 which would allow for the governing body to approve smaller bargaining units and HB 1436 which contains the sort of super but not very well understood "evergreen" clause. Both of these bills now move to the Senate for review there.
BIDPA Land Bids Rejected
The Berlin Industrial Development Park Authority took bids for the roughly 300 acres of land it owns off Rt 110. One bid came in at $190k and the other at $250k. Since BIDPA has a prior appraisal of the land which puts its value at around $395k, BIDPA chose to reject all bids for the land.
Meeting with OEM Director Pope
New Hampshire Office of Emergency Management Director Chris Pope met with representatives of area municipalities at City Hall on Monday March 24th. His purpose was to review area flood plans and to answer any questions from local officials about planning for and what to do in the event of a flood in the area. The potential for flooding this year is much greater than normal because of the greater amount of snow in the woods due to record setting snowfalls. This snow combined with the right rain storm could create serious flooding events in the State.
Local Government Center Workshops
Attached is a flier from the Local Government Center which Councilors may want to review and sign up for in the near future. The work shops cover a number of topics which municipalities deal with on a regular basis.
PD Highway Safety Grants
Attached are award notices to the Berlin PD for five Highway Safety Grants which the Department has applied for. Essentially these grants provide overtime funding for the Department to carry out fairly specific types of patrols such as running red lights, bicycle enforcement, safety belts and DWI.
Manager's Time Keeping
Attached.