CEDC Director’s Report
June 7, 2007
First off, for CEDC Board of Directors, we will be holding a quick business session just prior to the annual meeting on June 26th at the Cabot Motor Inn, starting at 5 p.m. This should not last more than 30 minutes and will take the place of the normal business meeting tentatively set for June 20th.
I’ll be looking to get board support for the Coös EAS project and CEDC’s role in that in the years ahead. I also think it wise to agree on some further standards on what loans CEDC will participate in.
The most recent vote had some members casting from one point of view and others taking a different tack. A little clarification is probably a good thing as we evolve our understanding of this process and refine our participation.
Lastly, if you have an interest in an officers’ position, please let me know ASAP so we can include you in the nominations. Beno and I would like to have the officer election in this short business meeting with just a report of who the new officers are during the Annual Meeting Dinner.
Our Annual Dinner speakers are from the Carsey Institute at UNH and they have been doing extensive surveying on the demographics and economic situation of Coös and the other 34 counties that comprise the Northern Forest Region of New York, Vermont, StateNew Hampshire and placeStateMaine. They will give us a snapshot of where we fit in that region. It should be most instructive and the kind of information that informs our decision making.
EDA Economic Adjustment Strategy
At long last the EDA Economic Adjustment Strategy funds have been announced and we are off and running on that $680,000 project.
As you recall the EAS funds are intended to mitigate the “sudden and severe” job losses from the closure of the Burgess Pulp mill in placeStateBerlin and the Groveton Paper Board Co. in Groveton last year.
CEDC will work with North Country Council, the project administrator, to organize and develop a consensus Coös County Economic Strategy Plan by early December.
Plans are to convene the Steering Committee, choose a consultant to work through the technical review process and pick members of the technical review committees to work on four main topics: wood industry; alternative energy; tourism and creative economy.
These Technical Review Committees will help set an action plan for ensuring these economic facets as sustainable bases of the region’s economy, identify funding sources, action steps, responsible entities and measurement of progress.
It will be CEDC’s continuing role to manage the plan once it is received, accepted and promoted as a consensus plan for the region.
This is a first effort at truly getting all communities and Economic Development efforts in the County on the same page. No small task in itself. But it is felt that such a plan will help focus business recruiting and development efforts, coordinate work force training and provide any state or federal agencies with a clear sense that Coös speaks with one voice and one plan for developing the larger economic base for the County.
Wireless Broadband-Wireless LINC Project
Considerable time is being applied to getting Pilot 1 of the Wireless LINC broadband deployment up and running in the greater CityplaceLancaster area. This includes site selection for access points (antenna transmitter locations), permitting, grant support, and myriad issue related to the whole affair.
Timeframe is to have signal moved from Burke Mtn., Vt. to PlaceTypeplaceMt. PlaceNameOrne in early July and then to deploy access points that same month. Essentially there is a deadline to get all this done and operational (and debugged) by the NCIC annual meeting at the placeCityMountain View for October 2nd.
When that meeting adjourns early on the afternoon of the 2nd, a Rural Wireless Broadband Expo will begin on the grounds attracting some of the biggest names in the industry and anticipated Presidential candidate policy statements about national rural broadband deployment. It is expected that national media will be prominent and this is seen as placePlaceNameCoös PlaceTypeCounty’s chance to showcase its problem-solving capacity, its infrastructure preparations for the economy of the future and readiness to welcome new industry.
Without making too much of a shopworn phrase, the Wireless LINC project could become the model for rural, mountainous area deployment of wireless broadband nationwide.
Alternative Energy
Our third major effort involves Alternative Energy and major progress has been made at the legislative level and in siting new projects in CityplacePhillips Brook, StateBerlin and Groveton. As I write this we are awaiting the vote on SB 140, once the enabling legislation for PSNH to build a biomass facility in the state but now containing deadlines for working out the transmission logjam in placePlaceNameCoös PlaceTypeCounty and establishing state siting criteria for wind farms.
Already legislation has moved positively extending the period of time that Payments in Lieu of Taxes can be contracted with towns by alternative energy generators as well as a watershed Renewable Portfolio Standard for Alternative Energy generation.
This latter piece of legislation is a necessary first step to the state providing Renewable Energy Credits for alternative energy generators which helps attract investment and encourages weaning the power supply from costly imported oil products.
In coming years the RPS legislation will need to be amended and improved to include more RECs, emphasize efficiencies and recognize transmission and conservation of energy as valuable components of any energy plan.
placePlaceNameCoös PlaceTypeCounty is now the central focus of three alternative energy projects with a combined investment of a half a billion dollars. Our work is to ensure that these are sustainable, long-term generation facilities and that the County can garner some of its future energy from what otherwise could be seen as purely an exported commodity.
I have been blogging on this topic in the Coös Conversations.com blog site established by Katie Paine. Check it out and participate. The blog site is intended to develop more discussion in the region about critical issues that sometimes are not very well vetted publicly. Some interesting give and take has already occurred. My role is to keep the conversation focused on what’s real, not mythical or fanciful.
Coös Business-Legislative Roundtables
Our first two Roundtables have been a success and I have received several commitments from corporate groups willing to sponsor those affairs thereby expanding our budget capacity. Our third is tentatively set for Sept. and I am thinking of having a CityplaceConcord lobbyist for one of the energy groups speak to the legislative accomplishments this year and possibly offer a panel on wind siting issues bringing proponents and environmental viewpoints to bear.
Personally, I don’t think we can spend too much time on these issues. These are new concepts for the county and we need all the intelligence we can get in order to make the best decisions that will impact our residents for decades to come. If anyone wants to offer other topics for Roundtables I am open to those for scheduling as well.
Also, I’ve been asked to move these breakfasts around the county to make them more available to more folks in the far north or far eastern areas of the county. I am really conflicted about this and believe what we gain in occasional local attendance we lose in consistent participation which helps form a consensus of information on important issues/ Lancaster also offers a more easily reached spot for participants coming from outside the region. I’m not closed to the concept just having some thoughts about it and, as always, welcome other input.
Community Work projects
I continue to work closely with numerous communities on development projects notably: a Whitefield downtown project intended to upgrade properties and attract businesses and foot-traffic to the Whitefield Common area.
One key update there is that NH Central Railway will be cleaning the rail ties, rails, rolling stock and detritus from the train station area across from the Town Hall and St. Matthews church on addressStreetJefferson Road.
Some discussion, in the very preliminary stages, suggests a tourism excursion train might set up operation from the site in the future and offer a small, replica station with public restrooms (critical for tourism destinations) perhaps space for a visitor center and a small eatery close by the banks of the John’s River. This park-like setting with parking could be just the ticket for bringing visitors to town to the benefit of new businesses around the Common.
In Groveton we are working to expand wireless broadband and with the G.R.E.A.T. group and the town to draw grant funds to address water, sewer and other infrastructure issues limiting economic and tax base development.
I am also heading up the GREAT Paddle Fest safety team for a recreational race set for July 7th as a means of attracting attention to the placeConnecticut River as a regional resource.
In CityLancaster I am working with the Town Manger to upgrade the PlaceNameplaceLancaster PlaceTypeIndustrial Park (make it shovel ready with infrastructure in place) and entertaining development inquiries requiring additional land and 3-phase power.
Similarly, several large manufacturing developments are looking at PlaceNameplaceWhitefield PlaceTypeIndustrial Park as possible locations for businesses that like the potential of co-locating near the Whitefield power plant for steam and possible off-peak energy.
See you all at the Annual Meeting. We have much to celebrate.
Peter Riviere, Executive Director
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