Mayor by ‘accident,’ Engler concludes tenure

LACONIA — Ed Engler ends his tenure as the city’s mayor this week. During his six years in office, the city has taken on challenges related to growth and development, responded to social issues such as economic dislocation and pervasive drug use, and embraced projects and initiatives which many hope will stimulate redevelopment and renewal. As mayor, Engler has played a pivotal role in the city’s challenges and accomplishments these last six years.

As Engler prepares to hand over the mayor’s gavel to Andrew Hosmer, it is extraordinary to think he came to the position not by intention, but by chance.

“It was more an accident of circumstance than anything,” he said as he sat in the living room of his house and reflected on his tenure.

When the candidate filing period for the 2013 city election opened that August, the assumption was that Mayor Mike Seymour would run for a third term. However, Seymour chose not to seek re-election, citing the responsibilities of a new job.

With the filing period lasting just 10 days, the question suddenly became who was going to run for mayor. “And somehow, during that 10-day period, my name got thrown into the hat,” Engler said.

He went on to win the election in November by a margin of almost 3-to-1.

During that first campaign, Engler said economic development would be his priority.

Since taking office, there have been $1.6 million in infrastructure improvements on Lakeside Avenue in Weirs Beach, as well as work to extend the River Walk pedestrian way through downtown, the creation by the Legislature of a commission to consider development options for the old Laconia State School property, and the beginning of the restoration of the long-closed Colonial Theater — a project seen by many as critical to spurring downtown revitalization.

It was 4½ years ago that Engler stood in the Wayfarer coffeehouse and announced that the city, in collaboration with the Belknap Economic Development Council, would renovate the 20,000-square-foot theater, along with the abutting commercial and residential units, which together comprise another 18,642 square feet.

Previous efforts to revive the Colonial failed when those interested in saving the building and the building’s owners were unable to come to terms on the purchase price.

Asked why this effort succeeded while the others failed, Engler had a succinct answer.

“Very simple. Public money,” he said.

“No one had ever proposed before spending public money on the Colonial Theater,” he said. “It was the city stepping forward with the City Council unanimously behind it and saying, ‘Yes, we will invest public money in this project.’”

The Colonial restoration accomplishes two goals: stimulating downtown revitalization and providing the city with a first-class, 750-seat community auditorium, Engler explained.

Important to the Colonial project has been the commitment by Rusty McLear to invest more than $1 million to build at least eight market-rate housing units on the second and third floors of the building.

“I think it shows tremendous confidence and faith in the positive direction the city’s headed that Rusty McLear (whose business ventures have been pivotal to Meredith’s economy) would be willing to invest his own personal money in this,” Engler said.

While Engler sees the Colonial project as important to Laconia’s future, he sees residential development as absolutely crucial.

“We are facing a housing crisis,” he said.

What the city lacks is housing aimed at younger families.

“We just don't have housing that’s attracting or can attract middle and upper-middle class families,” he said.

In order the prosper economically, the city needs to promote development that will attract more people to come and live here.

“To have a more dynamic economy, you have to have population growth,” Engler said.

That, to him, means making a concerted effort to attract “people in the wealth-accumulation stage of their life as opposed to the wealth-preservation stage of their life. We need that energy.”

To accomplish that, Laconia needs to show that it welcomes residential development.

“We have to, at a minimum, end restrictive zoning or very much scale back zoning practices that make it very, very difficult and very expensive to build out,” he said.

It is Engler’s hope that an increase in the city’s population will, in time, bring in new businesses that are not currently attracted to the city because of the lack of a ready labor force waiting for the jobs those businesses would bring.

“But in the meantime, I think we can build our population and build our labor force if we can leverage good housing stock,” Engler said.

While acknowledging the challenges that lie ahead, Engler said much has been accomplished in the city in recent years.

Long-deferred improvements on major city streets have been undertaken. The Central Fire Station has been enlarged and upgraded. Sixth- through eighth-graders attend classes in a new middle school. Major improvements have also been made to Laconia High School and its athletic facilities.

Former mayors have been impressed with Engler’s leadership.

“He’s one of the best mayors we have had in a long time,” said Rod Dyer, who served as mayor in the late 1960s and early ’70s.

He pointed to Engler’s role in the Colonial project, pushing for the state to move forward in efforts to develop the old State School property, and taking a leadership role in the city’s annual budget process, which involves coming up with a budget within the limits imposed by the city’s tax cap.

Former Mayor Matt Lahey likewise cited Engler’s success in making the long-dreamed-of Colonial restoration a reality.

“Ed took a much simpler approach,” he said, referring to having the city become a partner in the Colonial project. “He said this is something the city should have, and that the city should pay for it. That carried the day. It was brilliant in its simplicity.”

He also praised Engler for bringing a “more-sophisticated approach” to development than recent mayors — “including me.”

“He looks at things with a lot of depth,” Lahey said.

City Manager Scott Myers similarity praised Engler for pushing for Laconia’s growth.

“His number-one goal has been to get Laconia to be a growing community, to be more business-friendly.”

He credits Engler for taking strong positions, and having a nuanced understanding of issues. He also respects the determination that Engler has shown on the job, even in the face of cancer surgery and subsequent treatment.

“He’s more than ceremonial,” he said of Engler’s approach to the office, “but never overstepping his proper roles” in the city manager form of government.

As to Engler’s influence, Myers pointed to Engler’s position on the issue of short-term rentals. Myers initially saw the issue as merely a matter of enforcement, but he said it was Engler who made him see that, without proper controls, short-term rentals posed a threat to the city’s housing stock.

What many see as Engler’s in-depth approach to issues is apparent as he considers the drug problem which has grown in recent years.

“Drug dependence, substance abuse can happen to anybody at any income level, but you can't talk to people who are involved in this crisis on a day-to-day basis without coming to the realization that, at its heart, this is a socio-economic problem,” Engler said. “In other words, this is rooted in despair, and a lot of that despair is rooted in poverty — generational poverty — hopelessness, [and] under-education.”

While Engler acknowledges that treatment and counseling services are essential to deal with the problem – and has great respect for those involved in those efforts – he believes improved economic opportunity is critical to conquer drug abuse.

“Where are the parts of the country that are most severely affected by this?” Engler asked rhetorically. “I mean, it’s just not an accident that it’s poor rural areas of the country, whether they’re in Ohio or West Virginia or New Hampshire or wherever; that’s where the biggest problems are, the highest number of concentration of problems is, and that’s poverty [and] that’s despair.

“Unless,” he continued, “we can somehow find a way to change that demographic over time, we’re just going to keep making more” people who fall into drug abuse.