Council to hold public hearing on dissolving Lakes Business Park agreement Monday night

LACONIA — City councilors at their next meeting will discuss repealing part of an ordinance that lists the Human Relations Committee as a council committee. 

During a meeting of the council’s Government Operations and Ordinances Subcommittee on Jan. 28, Ward 6 Councilor Mike Conant made a motion to amend ordinance 5-32, striking the Human Relations Committee from the committee list, according to a staff report attached to the meeting agenda. Ward 5 Councilor Steven Bogert seconded the motion. 

The city council will meet at 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 9, in the Armand Bolduc Council Chamber at City Hall downtown. 

Included in a discussion portion of the staff report is an anecdote indicating that, at the subcommittee meeting, Ward 3 Councilor Eric Hoffman expressed opposition to the motion, and he did not like the idea of removing the committee from city ordinance. The staff report indicates Hoffman thought the membership of the committee “is fine and going to the appointments committee is a thorough process.” 

The motion passed 2-1, with Hoffman in opposition. 

A proposed motion attached to the staff report suggests scheduling a public hearing on the matter for Monday, Feb. 23, to strike the Human Relations Committee from the list. 

Councilors in December approved city ordinances 2025-5-20, 5-32 and 5-33, which included the Human Relations Committee on a list of boards, commissions and committees in the city. Other such bodies include Board of Assessors; Personnel Advisory Board; Planning Board; Zoning Board of Adjustment; Trustees of the Trust Funds; Board of Water Commissioners; Public Library Trustees; Parks and Recreation Commission; Housing Board; Building Code Board of Appeal; Board for the Examination and Licensing of Plumbers; Licensing Board; Conservation Commission; Redevelopment and Housing Authority; and “other committees and boards” under section 5-20.

Section 5-32 specifically outlines the process whereby the Human Relations Committee is constituted and its members selected.  

According to the ordinance, the committee consists of 13 members, appointed for staggered, three-year terms. Appointments to that body include one by the city manager; two by the mayor; nine by city councilors following interviews and recommendation by the appointments subcommittee; and one councilor appointed by fellow councilors.

The committee comprises only city residents, according to the ordinance.

In other business, councilors are expected to hold a public hearing about and potentially vote on ending an agreement between the city and the Town of Gilford governing Lakes Business Park.

In May 2001, an inter-municipal agreement was signed governing the joint economic activities between the city and town related to the Lakes Business Park, on Hounsell Avenue.

Voters in Gilford authorized their selectboard to negotiate a successor agreement with the city, according to a city staff report. At the Jan. 12 meeting of the city council, a public hearing was scheduled for Monday, Feb. 9, on the matter.

A draft successor agreement attached to the meeting agenda includes an amendment noting the two communities agree certain provisions in the original agreement are satisfied, and would end it, besides revenue-sharing provisions.

The revenue-sharing provision states Gilford shall continue to fund the Lakes Business Park Phase II Capital Replacement Trust Fund, provided their obligations would pause or be capped whenever the balance of the fund reaches $1 million, calculated on Dec. 31 each year, and the town’s appropriations into the fund shall not exceed $50,000 annually.

Gilford would pay Laconia 25% of the total property taxes collected on the land and buildings situated in Phase II of Lakes Business Park, less the amount of money to be deposited into the Lakes Business Park Phase II Capital Replacement Trust Fund.

The agreement, if ratified by council, would be in effect starting Jan. 1, 2026, and expire Dec. 1, 2040, except for the balance of the Capital Replacement Trust Fund, which would remain available for use until depleted “upon mutual consent of the two governing bodies pursuant to its intended purposes as otherwise referenced herein.”