By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD – The Laconia State School property is still on track to be sold and developed into a multi-family mixed use community by Pillsbury Development, though the process could take another 18 months, the state’s Executive Council was told Wednesday.
On Jan. 31, the due diligence period ended and the company has gone forward and told the city of Laconia they want to continue the contract and deposited another $250,000 which now has an escrow balance of $500,000. They have entered a contingency period and a filing application for a master development plan is expected in the next few months, said Executive Councilor Joe Kenney, R-Wakefield.
Kenney said various state permits will likely be sought to connect the former state school grounds with necessary services to support development.
The council agreed to a two-year security agreement for the property, but it was noted when and if the state sells the land to the developer that deal would end.
“It very well could be sold this year,” he said.
The $10.5 million deal was to develop about 2,000 units of housing on the state land which has been off the tax books in the city for most of the past century.
A deal to sell the more than 200-acre parcel to another developer for $21.5 million fell through but the state rebid it and selected Pillsbury, which is developing the former Woodmont Orchards in Londonderry into multi use, mixed family and commercial development.
“Don’t spend it before you get it,” said Charlie Arlinghaus, commissioner of the Department of Administrative Services, which has been working to see the state come to a closing with a developer on the land for some time.
He said when the council agreed to go with Pillsbury last August it was envisioned that the process toward closing could take two years.
Kenney said the development company is moving in the right direction.
Arlinghaus said the company would lose “a bit of money” meaning the $500,000 but he said it is still “a long way ahead.”
WORKFORCE GRANT REJECTED
On a 3-2 vote, the Executive Council opposed a $564,415 contract for the implementation of a federally required, four-year combined Workforce Opportunity state plan with one councilor maintaining the state could find someone to do it in-house for less.
The contract with Thomas P. Miller and Associates of Indianapolis had been placed on the table at the last meeting after Executive Councilor John Stephen, R-Manchester, made the contention that the state could save money.
Stephen, a former Health and Human Services Commissioner who replaces the retiring Ted Gatsas, said he has vowed to find efficiencies and reduce government costs.
Voting to support the contract were Executive Councilors Karen Liot Hill, D-Lebanon, and Janet Stevens, R-Rye.
The state is in the midst of a hiring freeze and there is a deadline to renew the statewide WIOA in two-years or face the potential for loss of funds in excess of $8 million in federal funds, the council was told.
The plan revisions are required under federal law and the contract was to run through June 30, 2026.
All the money to fund the plan was being provided by the federal government.
Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte, after the meeting, said the state will have to sit down and decide whether the contract should be rebid or if there are methods, as Councilor Stephen suggested, where in-house staff can do the work.
But she acknowledged there are deadlines and could be in-house staffing limitations.
The contract was to be between the Department of Business and Economic Affairs, Office of Workforce Opportunity and the company for a four-year state plan across state departments as well as drafting and implementing the two-year revisions as required under WlOA.
A selection committee reviewed and scored the proposals and identified the Miller Associates proposal to be the most in line with the scope and deliverables outlined and therefore ranked their submission the highest, Taylor Caswell, commissioner wrote.
$8 M FOR CHILD CARE GRANTS OK’D
A child-care scholarship program, a federal contract for roughly $8 million for three years was approved.
Karen Hebert, director for the Division of Economic Stability within DHHS, said there is no expectation that the fund is “drying up” as was questioned by one councilor.
There has been a tremendous increase in interest in use of the scholarship grant program, she said, noting a 44 percent increase in utilization in the past year.
Ayotte said there was an increase in eligibility thus access during that time frame and the changed formula is allowing for more children and their families to be able to take advantage of the grant.
She said that while there have been closures of child care agencies since COVID-19 the state is not at the declining position it was several years ago.
“It seems to be going in the right direction,” Hebert said.
Councilor Kenney noted several items on the agenda to increase child care and he said he is noticing fewer calls for concern in that area.
DEAL CLOSED ON HAMPSTEAD
The state has closed on its deal with Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital to operate state-owned Hampstead Hospital for Children, said Commissioner of Health and Human Services Lori Weaver.
Offers were made and the majority of the hospital staff is on board as employees with the state’s largest health care provider, while there has been an increase in the number of beds there and a reduction in the number of people waiting for beds for mental health care.
She said the average stay for a child at Hampstead is about two weeks though it varies.
CONTRACT WITH MARY HITCHCOCK TABLED
A $25,000 contract with Mary Hitchcock Hospital requiring vaccinations for care at New Hampshire Hospital was tabled while the Attorney General said the state is getting clarification that its contractor Dartmouth Health is in keeping with the state’s patient bill of rights which prohibits the withholding of treatment for those who are not vaccinated.
That assurance is expected on Friday, Attorney General John Formella said.
CONCERNED By DOT CONTRACTS
Assistant Department of Transportation Commissioner David Rodrigue was pressed by Councilor Stephen about contracts that were way above state estimates.
Stephen noted that one $23 million project for roads in Jaffrey is $6 million above a state estimate.
Rodrigue said the location of that project only brought out two bids and he said he doubted if rebidding it would bring a lower price.
The projects, however, were approved.
OFFICE OF CONSUMER ADVOCATE
Don Kreis of the Office of Consumer Advocate was asked by Councilor Liot Hill on the impact of House Bill 610 which would eliminate his office. He was there to get approval for an annual membership for his office.
He said if HB 610 becomes law, it would eliminate the Office of Consumer Advocate.
Kreis said the department is independent of the executive branch and speaks for the public instead of a portion of state government.
In cases of offshore wind, for example, he said his job is to question how it is going to impact consumers in terms of costs.
“I am just an advocate,” he said, “But I try to raise those issues.”
Asked about impacts by tariffs, he said there is worry about energy costs and it was good news to have President Donald Trump put off Canadian tariffs for a month.
HONORED
Lebanon Police and Fire Department members were recognized for their heroic efforts by the governor Wednesday for their efforts in a structure fire in Lebanon in which they rescued three individuals on a roof on Jan. 9.
Coordination and courage were used, Gov. Ayotte said, to help make Lebanon and the state among the safest in the nation.
Four police and four firefighters were individually honored for their actions.
LIOT HILL HOSTS FIRST COUNCIL MEETING
Liot Hill of Lebanon, a Democrat, hosted her first council meeting and chose the musical duo Second Wind from her district to perform. They played Stand by Me, Peaceful, Easy Feeling and This Land is Your Land.
She also hosted a breakfast meeting at the NHTI Concord facility.
