December 9, 2000

By Dan Tuohy

Fosters Daily Democrat Staff Writer

To submit a Letter to the Editor: letters@fosters.com

CONCORD, New Hampshire. The Executive Council on Wednesday accepted a donation of 154 acres in the Great Bay estuary to protect wildlife and $3 million in federal funds for recovery assistance from the 1998 ice storms.

The Great Bay lands donated by The Nature Conservancy have a combined value of about $2 million. The donation was 75 acres adjacent to Great Bay in Durham and Newmarket; 50 acres on the Cocheco River in Dover; and 29 acres on Great Bay in Greenland and Newington.

Fish and Game and The Nature Conservancy are founders of the Great Bay Resource Protection Partnership, which supports land acquisition efforts within the Great Bay estuary.

Great Bay provides critical habitat for 80 percent of New Hampshire's wintering waterfowl population, said Wayne Vetter, executive director of the state Fish and Game Department.

The $3 million for continued recovery from the 1998 ice storm and flooding is a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. This assistance is a supplemental appropriation from the Community Development Block Grant fund, which is intended to help municipalities solve development problems.

The council also approved the following:

Allowing the Department of Transportation to enter into an amended agreement with Rist-Frost-Shumway Engineering of Laconia. The agreement amends a prior existing agreement dated 1997 and increases the lump fee by $1,236,000 from $506,000 to $1,742,000. The project is for the design and construction administration of the renovation of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system at the Health and Human Services Building and Laboratory in Concord.

A $2,134,502 agreement between the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Child Support Services, and the Supreme Court for continuing the Marital Masters Program. The program allows the state child support agency to meet federal regulations for the establishment and enforcement of child support orders.

An $539,494 increase for the Public Utilities Commission contract with Liberty Consulting Group of Pennsylvania for assistance on New Hampshire's electric industry restructuring. With the increase, the contract climbs to $2,605,518. Part of the increase is due to an expanded scope of services, which included the company's assistance in overseeing the design and implementation of an auction of Public Service of New Hampshire's generating facilities.

A Business Finance Authority request for a state guarantee of up to $4 million from the Laconia Savings Bank to Kevin Craffey. The state guarantee is in an amount equal to 75 percent of the principal amount on the five-year term note. The loan is being used to renovate and reopen the Mountain View House Hotel in Whitefield.

A $200,000 federal grant for the Governor's Office of Energy and Community Services from the U.S. Department of Energy for the Industries of the Future program. The grant will assist New Hampshire industries in the use of advanced industrial technologies to promote energy conservation and waste reduction. The project is a public-private partnership between Energy and Community Services and the New Hampshire Business and Industry Association.

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