City Council recognizes Got Lunch! Laconia

LACONIA — City councilors declared Sept. 23, 2024, to be Got Lunch! Laconia Day during their regular meeting at City Hall. 

Before a large crowd gathered in the Armand Bolduc City Council Chambers on Sept. 23, Mayor pro tempore Mark Haynes (Ward 4) read a proclamation in recognition of Got Lunch! Laconia, a program which helps provide food to families throughout the summer while schools are closed.

Got Lunch! Laconia is a community-based effort which serves to address food insecurity among the city’s schoolchildren and is provided to any student registered with the school district, including public, private and homeschool students. The program includes food deliveries made directly to students' homes over the 10-week summer.

A group representing Got Lunch! Laconia, which included two children, attended the council meeting to hear the proclamation in person.

According to the city, the Got Lunch! Laconia program served 469 children with the assistance of 140 volunteers this summer. Fresh vegetables, healthy food and literacy materials were delivered throughout the program. 

Representatives of the program received a standing ovation before the city council during the meeting.

In other business, councilors approved the acceptance of a grant which will fully fund a project to rebuild the Mill Street pedestrian bridge, located near City Hall and connecting Beacon Street East to Union Avenue.

The $810,000 Community Project Funding grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development will allow the city to rebuild the pedestrian bridge in the heart of downtown. 

The grant will be administered by the city’s department of public works in a manner similar to how New Hampshire State Department of Transportation grants are overseen. It will include an engineering study phase, a public hearing of proposed actions and preliminary and final engineering phases to create issue for construction documents. 

Construction could begin in 2026. 

Mill Street bridge, originally constructed in the 1780s, is one of seven downtown bridges which cross the Winnipesaukee River, according to NH DOT. It’s the only footbridge downtown which crosses the river, but there are four road bridges and two railroad bridges.

The river provided the demarcation between Gilford and Laconia until 1874, at which point a portion of Gilford was annexed to Laconia. Another part of Gilford was annexed in 1893 when the City of Laconia was incorporated. 

The Mill Street pedestrian bridge of today was constructed in 1958, and provides riverfront views of the city’s historic brick mills. There has been a bridge at that location since 1788, according to NH DOT. The 1958 bridge opened in November of that year, replacing a wooden bridge which had been closed to vehicle traffic since 1949. 

Councilors approved the resolution unanimously. 

And city councilors unanimously approved a lease agreement between Mark Woglom and the Laconia Airport Authority in order to construct a hangar on the development area known as the Crosswinds, adjacent to an abandoned runway at Laconia Municipal Airport. 

The length of the lease agreement is 40 years at $0.20 per square foot and is to be renegotiated in 20 years. The rate is to be adjusted according to the urban consumer price index each year. The lease agreement is expected to generate $7,372.60 in the first year. This lot is the second of nine that’s ready to be developed. 

“This is lot No. 3 now that is ready to be developed,” airport manager Marv Everson said. “We need to get the lease agreement in place before the site work begins on that property.”