Council to consider using $20K from insurance rebate for Belknap Mill foundation repairs

LACONIA — The Belknap Mill is in need of repairs to its foundation, and city councilors, during their meeting on Feb. 23, discussed allocating $20,000 in insurance rebate monies to support the project. 

They’ll hold a public hearing on the matter during their meeting at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 9, at City Hall.

The Belknap Mill is located downtown on Beacon Street East, just steps away from City Hall. It was a working textiles mill in the past, and now is home to a museum and event spaces.  

In January, the city received $86,316 from New Hampshire Interlocal Trust, its health insurance provider, as a rebate from an earlier over-assessment. City Manager Kirk Beattie asked councilors to deposit the funds into the city’s Health Insurance Stabilization Reserve Fund, to be used to stabilize the impact of future health insurance expenses.

“At the end of this last fiscal year, our health insurance buying group charged an assessment — as you remember, the [school district] was hit through their SchoolCare one at over $800,000, ours was just over $170,000 — it was a ‘pay now or we will not be processing your claims,’” Beattie said. “This group here has folded. It was a very long-term company that we worked with, many people in the state did. The [Attorney General’s Office] took over, the only reason that they were able to continue to pay their bills was to assess communities a certain amount of money.”

Beattie said after they redid their books, they awarded rebates to various communities, including the City of Laconia.

If the entire sum were deposited into the stabilization reserve fund, its balance would be $286,543. But Ward 1 Councilor Jon Hildreth, during the Feb. 23 meeting, told colleagues the Belknap Mill was in need of assistance, and councilors appeared amenable to sharing funding. The mill needs to raise $78,000 or so, Hildreth said, and they’ve asked the city for $20,000.

If approved, the remaining $66,316 would go to the insurance stabilization fund. 

“I have met with the Belknap Mill and I know Councilor Hoffman has as well. We’re seeing this windfall, they’re having a serious problem with the foundation where the sluice used to run underneath the building,” Hildreth said, referring to Ward 3 Councilor Eric Hoffman. “They have two supports there that are deteriorating.”

A canal sluiceway is a channel with a gate used to control water flow, manipulating water levels and velocity. The Belknap Mill is located above the Winnipesaukee River, and its machinery was powered by water. It was constructed in 1823, and in operation by 1828, replacing an earlier wooden mill which burned in 1811.

“At this point, they’re actually not taking large parties, because they’re worried about foundational issues,” Hildreth said.

Beattie said he’ll ask a representative of the Belknap Mill to attend the public hearing. Acting Executive Director Katherine Switala Elmhurst did not respond to a request for comment.

According to a June 2017 historic building assessment conducted by Mae H. Williams, preservation consultant, and Misiaszek Turpin, “periodic water infiltration occurs in several different locations along the walls of the basement, and the old canal sluiceway under the eastern side of the building and under a portion of the Power House generally has a few inches of standing water.”