City Manager's Report 4/6/2009

Neighborhood Stabilization and Gov's Tour of Berlin

Because of the Neighborhood Stabilization Competition in which Berlin is one of five communities state-wide in the competition to receive first-tier funding under the Neighborhood Stabilization Act, Governor Lynch visited Berlin last Thursday to tour some of the neighborhoods that we have targeted for the program. Housing Coordinator Andre Caron was the tour guide and reviewed with the Governor the work that we plan to accomplish in these neighborhoods. Mayor Bertrand and Councilor McCue attended the tour also.

Berlin Falls Realty Transfer

The deed transferring the parcel of land north of the Fraser Administration Building from Berlin Falls Realty to the City was passed last Tuesday. This is part of the development which would allow HHS to be housed in the new building which will replace the Fraser Administration building. Attached are the letters received from the State of NH assuring both that the State will not look to the City as Potentially Responsible Party (PRP) and that no further contamination has occurred while the property has been under the ownership of Berlin Falls Realty.

Stimulus Funding Meetings

On Friday I attended another NH DES meeting in Concord on stimulus funding. The purpose of the meeting was to review where they were in the process for the distribution of the funding coming through DES and to take comments on the draft eligibility listing they have put together to date. Written comments on the draft scoring or ranking list need to be in by April 10th. We will be submitting written comments.

There is another stimulus funding Informational Meeting which is going to be put on by the NH Office of Economic Stimulus (OES) which is going to be held tomorrow at UNH. OES will talk about how the American Recovery and Investment Act (ARRA) will affect municipalities, schools, businesses and non-profits. Maura Carroll of NHMA will be presenting information relating to municipalities. This meeting will be streamed via webcast and Pam Laflamme has signed up for the webcast.

OHRV Bill Defeated

In much the same way she did to oppose the Jericho Mountain State Park project, Representative Judith Spang of Durham was able to maneuver to kill Rep. Ingersoll's OHRV bill in the house. Rep. Ingersoll will undoubtedly raise it again in future sessions. Trails Chief Chris Gamache feels that in Berlin in spite of the failure of the passage of this bill we should be able to do pretty much what we need with the current authority that we have.

Animal Shelter Plan

Attached is a sketch of a plan for a new animal shelter prepared by Resta Gray, the lady Council has met with who is working on this issue. Mrs. Gray indicates that she has received a shelter license from the State of New Hampshire and has created a small temporary shelter at her home. She has already started operating this and setting up foster homes for animals she can't handle.

Rabies Clinic

This past Saturday April 4th, at the Rabies Clinic at the Berlin Recreation Center which is annually sponsored by the White Mtn. Beagle Club and the Lancaster Veterinary Hospital, Florence Fitzsimmons and Chris Davis of the Finance Department attended and offered attendees the opportunity to register their dogs. As a result of this effort, 110 dogs in Berlin we properly licensed.

Laidlaw Presentation to the PB

Lou Bravakis contacted the City Planner this morning to let her know that due to a family emergency, he needs to postpone the Laidlaw presentation to the Planning Board which had been scheduled for Tuesday evening until the next regular Planning Board meeting.  That meeting will be Tuesday May 5, 2009.  

Landfill Monitoring

Each year the City is required to monitor two closed municipal landfills – East Milan Road and Cates Hill. Attached are the results of this year's monitoring of these two landfills which have been sent to NH DES.

Legislative Matters

HB 532 as originally submitted which would eliminate compensation from special details as being counted as "earnable compensation" under the New Hampshire Retirement System was passed by the House. This is one small step toward the reform of a state retirement system in need of a quadruple bypass.

Although recommended out as Inexpedient to Legislate, the full House in its wisdom passed an amended version of HB 351 which would lower the interest rates on unpaid taxes. The bill as written drops interest rates from 12 and 18% to 8 and 12% respectively. This makes no sense at all. We must keep in mind however, that it is not the state legislature which has to collect or rely on the property tax.

The budget bills are of course still being considered. It is still far too early to tell how things will end up. It seems like Rooms and Meals Revenue Sharing is likely to be restored. However, this still leaves Berlin with $1M less in revenue than what we would have had before the Revenue Sharing cuts.

Public Works Report

Attached.

Manager's Time-Keeping

Attached