City Manager's Report 4/2/2007
Premature News -- Laidlaw Energy to Build 50 Megawatt Bio-Mass Energy Plant in Berlin
After a call late this afternoon from a Union Leader Reporter, Sue was able to retrieve the attached press release from the web which is headed by the above title. Needless to say, this is pretty big news. I contacted NADC as the owner of the property. The NADC owner says that they are negotiating with Laidlaw Energy but nothing has been finalized yet. So what would be really great news appears to have to stay on hold for a while longer…
Mill Assessment
George Sansoucy will be in town this week to begin work on the revaluation of the Mill property and the Hydros as of April 1, 2007 for FY 08. He has made arrangements with NADC to tour the purchased pulp mill property.
NHDES Letter of Compliance on City WWTF
The Council will recall that we had a random inspection from the NHDES at our WWTF. It found some areas of minor non-compliance. Attached is follow-up letter from NHDES indicating that they are satisfied with the corrective actions which have been implemented at the WWTF to deal with the concerns that were raised in their inspection.
Cole Street Bridge Inspection
Attached is a NHDOT letter to us regarding posting the Cole Street Bridge over the Dead River. Public Works has checked and the bridge is posted in accordance with the State recommendation.
LGC Bills of Interest
SB 140 which would allow PSNH to construct generating assets has been amended from a very simple one sentence bill to a fairly involved bill which we have not really been able to figure out.
According to LGC Legislative Bulletin #14, HB 882 will likely be amended to increase municipal liability for damages in personal injury actions from the current $150k per person and $500k per occurrence to $275k and $925k respectively. LGC feels that this is a reasonable compromise which reflects inflation since the original amounts were set in 1986. LGC feels that this is a reasonable compromise. It should be voted on the House Floor on April 14th.
On Tuesday, the full House voted to pass HB 653 on the New Hampshire Retirement System as amended. The amendments included some, but not all, of the changes suggested by the LGC working group which the Mayor and Council supported.
I am happy to report that HB 732-FN which would have lowered interest rates on unpaid taxes to a lower fluctuating rate was voted "Inexpedient to Legislate".
HB 692, which would allow certain municipalities to adopt a property tax exemption for industrial construction was voted by the House as "Ought to Pass with Amendment". This
is a bill sponsored by Senator Gallus and Reps. Stohl and King. This is a bill of obvious interest to the North Country. I admit to serious reservations about this bill in that I fear that the municipalities in the North Country who qualify will be forced to compete against each other to provide property tax exemptions to industrial concerns which would have come to the North Country anyway and paid full property taxes.
Communication from Claremont Coalition
Attached is a letter we received from Co-Counsel Scott Johnson of the Claremont Coalition and Project Director for New Hampshire Citizen's Voice Project. The letter argues that the Governor's proposed constitutional amendment could actually make things worse for the poorer communities in the State.
NCC Land Use Workshop
The North Country Council is sponsoring a workshop on Land Use which will be led by Bernie Waugh, former NHMA legal counsel. The workshop will be held at the Franconia Town Hall starting at 5:30 on Thursday April 19th, 2007. The flier is attached.
Manager's Time Keeping
Attached