Council approves $100K money for mill

LACONIA — The City Council on Monday unanimously approved a request for $100,000 to help with a major campaign to restore and renovate the Belknap Mill.

Belknap Mill officials asked for the money by letter and in person at a previous City Council meeting in which former Laconia mayors Paul Fitzgerald and Rod Dyer, as well as Bank of New Hampshire CEO and President Paul Falvey, spoke in favor of the request.

Councilor David Bownes endorsed the expenditure Monday in a meeting in which the council also found a way forward for the Colonial Theatre refurbishment.

“I think the mill and the theater can work beautifully together,” he said. “We’ve got the ability to do this now and it is an important project.”

The $100,000 for the mill will come from the $509,000 the city realized from the sale of property in the Lakeport Landing area to Irwin Marine.

A total of $300,000 of that amount is to be set aside in case the school district needs extra money to fund a 5-year agreement under which teachers are receiving significant raises. Another $100,000 is to go into a reserve fund, leaving an additional $100,000 for the mill.

Mill Executive Director Karen Prior said the mill has raised $900,000 of a $1.5 million goal since embarking on restoration plans in 2015. That work has included a new roof, boilers and an elevator. Windows are to be replaced and brickwork repointed. Third floor interior improvements are planned.

The mill was built in 1823, one of many along the Winnipesaukee River that used hydro power to produce everything from hosiery to grain. It is billed as the oldest unaltered brick textile mill in the United States.