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Councilors Disagree on New Economic Development Proposal
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He may not be alone. Fellow councilor Janet Fairbanks, who also opposes the proposal and who also said she would not run again, may change her mind as well. Both councilors have a history of questioning and opposing DEDC efforts.

Town Councilor Joel Olbricht and Council Chair Brad Benson don't agree with Coyle's and Fairbanks' assessment.

"It is very similar to what has been done and tried in the past, but on a grander scale," Coyle said of the Kassas proposal. "It requires at least a $2 million investment on a risky venture that has already been tried, and that lost hundreds of thousands of dollars, by the DEDC.

"It is not my desire to stay on Town Council, but somebody has to stand up because this is stupidity - investing $2 million of taxpayer money," he said. "Our tax funds are not supposed to be somebody's piggy bank."

At the Jan. 17 Town Council meeting, Kassas presented his plan to turn downtown Derry into an incubator for high tech start-ups, a plan that would require a multi-million dollar investment from the town.

Several years ago, the DEDC spearheaded a plan to turn the building at 6 West Broadway into an incubator for start-up companies. The venture failed, Coyle said, claiming the Town of Derry lost the $500,000 it gave the DEDC for economic development, which the corporation had invested into 6 West Broadway.

"They lost all our money and then some," Coyle said.

Olbricht, however, who is a former board member and president of the DEDC, countered that the $500,000 was not lost.

"Derry always paid about $60,000 to $80,000 per year since about 1992," he said. "The DEDC was paid to be the consultant for economic development for Derry, and that money went to salaries."

It did not go into 6 West Broadway, Olbricht said emphatically. "To say it's a loss to the taxpayers is wrong," he said. "Derry funded the DEDC to manage its economic development office, not to invest in 6 West Broadway, and no taxpayer money was used for 6 West Broadway."

Olbricht noted that a former DEDC executive director, Cheri Crawford, embezzled money from Derry Depot Square Holdings, LLC, the investment arm of the DEDC, which purchased 6 West Broadway. He said Derry Depot Square Holdings used bank loans and investors' money to purchase and redevelop that property.

"The investor and bank money is where the loss came," Olbricht said. "Both of those groups lost money - but that was not taxpayer money.

"All the DEDC did with the town money was fund a position," he emphasized. "We didn't lose town money."

The Nutfield News reported in March 2009 that the DEDC's fledgling business incubator kicked off late in 2008 to aid small business owners in the stages of growth before self-sufficiency. At that time, two of the potential 10 offices in the downtown's business incubator were occupied. Craig Bulkley, DEDC president at the time, went before the Town Council to seek $20,000 to keep the DEDC solvent through the remainder of that fiscal year, as well as an additional $60,000 for the new fiscal year.

"We're primarily trying to get this business incubator off the ground," DEDC Executive Director Jack Dowd told the Nutfield News at that time. Two months later, the DEDC withdrew its request for town funding in the face of rising opposition, and that was the end of the incubator project.

Coyle said he ran for Town Council in order to stop what he considered a "wasteful and secretive" DEDC in the first place. "That got me into politics, and as I am getting ready to leave, they rear their ugly head.

"I don't want to run, I want to see someone step up who sees how bad this is," Coyle said. "I still hope someone steps up, but I'm not just going to hand it off to who they have next in line."

Town Council Chair Brad Benson said money from the town to the DEDC was used to fund an economic advisor position, and not to buy the building at 6 West Broadway. He called what happened with 6 West Broadway an "independent real estate transaction that stands on its own.

"We did not give them money to buy buildings," Benson said.

While Benson said any economic development project will inherently resemble what the DEDC was doing, he called the new proposal unique and does not think the two projects are similar.

However Benson was careful to note that no decision has been made on Kassas's plan. "We are still trying to figure the logistics and details of the project," he explained. Benson said it would be four to six weeks, perhaps longer, until the Town Council makes a decision on Kassas's plan.

Fairbanks opposes the plan. "Six West Broadway failed miserably," she said. "They paid more than it was worth, expensive renovations were required to make that building operable, and I don't know to what degree restorations were made, but it wasn't enough to keep the tenants there."

Coyle said the reason for the initial failure at 6 West Broadway is the same reason why any subsequent investment would fail. "Drive around Derry," he said. "Development is not happening downtown and will never happen downtown. It was good 100 years ago but not now."

Coyle said the town should instead be focusing on Manchester Road, Tsienneto Road and Crystal Avenue, where businesses are coming in and the town could be doing more to help.

He said downtown Derry is inherently inadequate for new businesses. "What business wants to go to an old, rundown, crappy building with no space and bad parking?" he asked.

As for new construction to house start-ups, Coyle said the town has tried erecting buildings before. "We failed as developers," he said.

Kassas has said Derry "cannot keep doing the same thing" when it comes to economic development. Coyle said he was therefore surprised "that he started out his presentation with 'don't repeat the mistakes of the past,' and then he proceeds to give us a mistake of the past. Clearly this is one of our mistakes of the past."

Olbricht thinks differently. He said Kassas's proposal is very much different from the old DEDC incubator effort.

"Under Kassas's proposal, this would be a town-managed entity," Olbricht said. "The concept is to have matching federal, state and local funds to invest in the equity of start-up companies in Derry, where successful consultants can walk them through the process. The DEDC had no funds to give them, and had no professional resources."

As of Tuesday, neither Coyle nor Fairbanks had filed for a council seat. The filing period closes at 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 3.

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Local Reps Sponsor Bill That Would Reclassify Pinkerton
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Sapareto has said previously that he has checked with the state Attorney General's Office and found it is legal to tax Pinkerton, as it does not have a religious affiliation.

Underhill said the bill would create tax revenue for Derry at a consequence to the other sending districts. Currently, Derry, Chester and Hampstead tuition their high school students to Pinkerton. Starting in the 2013-14 academic year, Auburn will become a sending district as well.

Sapareto, who is chairman of the Derry delegation to the State House, has justified the bill by saying that since Pinkerton began, it has been dependent upon Derry services such as police, fire and plowing. He said that it is unfair for Derry taxpayers to provide town services to a high school that serves students from other towns.

Underhill said the bill would be "precedent setting, adding, "If you can tax a school, what about hospitals, YMCAs and Boys and Girls Clubs?"

He said he has been in contact with sending districts over the bill and that the Hampstead and Chester School Districts are drafting letters declaring their positions against it. The Derry School Board has yet to meet as a whole on the matter.

Underhill also said he has begun contacting local leaders, such as town councilors, other state representatives and business officials. He said Derry Republican State Reps. Patricia Dowling and Phyllis Katsakiores, along with State Senator Jim Rausch, R-Derry, have all stated to Pinkerton their disapproval of the bill. Rausch also represents Hampstead and Windham.

Underhill said Pinkerton officials are planning on appearing before the Derry Town Council on Feb. 7, after Sapareto requested an appearance with the Town Council to explain his bill. Pinkerton was invited by the Town to provide its perspective, Underhill said.

A public hearing on the bill is set for Feb. 9 at the Legislative Office Building, Room 301 in Concord, and Pinkerton officials will testify. Underhill said Katsakiores, Dowling and Rausch all stated that they intended to testify against the bill as well.

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Construction Plans Announced for Career & Technical Education Program
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Grube also said that according to the grant, construction must be finished 24 months from when the money was authorized, which was July 1, 2011, but noted the school has received a two- to three-month extension for the construction of a new sugar house.

The winter meeting is for the superintendents and school board members from Pinkerton Academy's sending schools - Derry, Chester and Hampstead - so that they can be updated about the school's future plans. Representatives from the Auburn school district, whose contract as a sending town with Pinkerton begins in the 2013-2014 school year, were also present.

Along with a new sugar house for the production of maple syrup, a 6,500-square-foot building will replace the existing Animal Sciences Building and an approximately 15,000-square-foot building will house Environmental Studies, along with other programs such as architecture and technical drawing. Within the building will be a 400-square-foot greenhouse.

The new buildings are being designed to keep with the established esthetic of the Pinkerton campus and will be built on the south side of the campus. Grube said Pinkerton was still looking at sites for the sugar house.

The Piper Building, the Low Building and the Campus Corner store in the Shepard Building will be the three locations slated for renovations.

For the Piper Building upgrade, Grube said a new roof for a remote building site would be constructed, along with a new 1800-square-foot storage area on the Kelly property.

Derry School Board member Brenda Willis said that when the ventilation system in the Piper Building is on, it can be deafening, and Grube responded that they plan on redesigning the ventilation system in hopes of mitigating that problem.

For the Campus Corner store, Grube said the plan was to "revamp the store area" by updating equipment and design.

Grube also said redesigns would be done in a way to draw emphasis to programs that many Pinkerton students don't realize are available. Grube said when some students are informed of the possibilities on campus, they say, "Oh, we have that?" and by emphasizing the visibility of the programs and classrooms in the redesign, students may have an easier time considering the possibilities of the different programs Pinkerton CTE offers.

According to the Pinkerton website, its CTE program is one of 26 regional CTE centers in New Hampshire. Its courses are organized around labs designed to simulate actual workplace environments.

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	Councilors Disagree on New Economic Development Proposal continued from main page He may not be alone. Fellow councilor Janet Fairbanks, who also opposes the proposal and who also said she would not run again, may change her mind as well. Both councilors have a history of questioning and opposing DEDC efforts. Town Councilor Joel Olbricht and Council Chair Brad Benson don't agree with Coyle's and Fairbanks' assessment. "It is very similar to what has been done and tried in the past, but on a grander scale," Coyle said of the Kassas proposal. "It requires at least a $2 million investment on a risky venture that has already been tried, and that lost hundreds of thousands of dollars, by the DEDC. "It is not my desire to stay on Town Council, but somebody has to stand up because this is stupidity - investing $2 million of taxpayer money," he said. "Our tax funds are not supposed to be somebody's piggy bank." At the Jan. 17 Town Council meeting, Kassas presented his plan to turn downtown Derry into an incubator for high tech start-ups, a plan that would require a multi-million dollar investment from the town. Several years ago, the DEDC spearheaded a plan to turn the building at 6 West Broadway into an incubator for start-up companies. The venture failed, Coyle said, claiming the Town of Derry lost the $500,000 it gave the DEDC for economic development, which the corporation had invested into 6 West Broadway. "They lost all our money and then some," Coyle said. Olbricht, however, who is a former board member and president of the DEDC, countered that the $500,000 was not lost. "Derry always paid about $60,000 to $80,000 per year since about 1992," he said. "The DEDC was paid to be the consultant for economic development for Derry, and that money went to salaries." It did not go into 6 West Broadway, Olbricht said emphatically. "To say it's a loss to the taxpayers is wrong," he said. "Derry funded the DEDC to manage its economic development office, not to invest in 6 West Broadway, and no taxpayer money was used for 6 West Broadway." Olbricht noted that a former DEDC executive director, Cheri Crawford, embezzled money from Derry Depot Square Holdings, LLC, the investment arm of the DEDC, which purchased 6 West Broadway. He said Derry Depot Square Holdings used bank loans and investors' money to purchase and redevelop that property. "The investor and bank money is where the loss came," Olbricht said. "Both of those groups lost money - but that was not taxpayer money. "All the DEDC did with the town money was fund a position," he emphasized. "We didn't lose town money." The Nutfield News reported in March 2009 that the DEDC's fledgling business incubator kicked off late in 2008 to aid small business owners in the stages of growth before self-sufficiency. At that time, two of the potential 10 offices in the downtown's business incubator were occupied. Craig Bulkley, DEDC president at the time, went before the Town Council to seek $20,000 to keep the DEDC solvent through the remainder of that fiscal year, as well as an additional $60,000 for the new fiscal year. "We're primarily trying to get this business incubator off the ground," DEDC Executive Director Jack Dowd told the Nutfield News at that time. Two months later, the DEDC withdrew its request for town funding in the face of rising opposition, and that was the end of the incubator project. Coyle said he ran for Town Council in order to stop what he considered a "wasteful and secretive" DEDC in the first place. "That got me into politics, and as I am getting ready to leave, they rear their ugly head. "I don't want to run, I want to see someone step up who sees how bad this is," Coyle said. "I still hope someone steps up, but I'm not just going to hand it off to who they have next in line." Town Council Chair Brad Benson said money from the town to the DEDC was used to fund an economic advisor position, and not to buy the building at 6 West Broadway. He called what happened with 6 West Broadway an "independent real estate transaction that stands on its own. "We did not give them money to buy buildings," Benson said. While Benson said any economic development project will inherently resemble what the DEDC was doing, he called the new proposal unique and does not think the two projects are similar. However Benson was careful to note that no decision has been made on Kassas's plan. "We are still trying to figure the logistics and details of the project," he explained. Benson said it would be four to six weeks, perhaps longer, until the Town Council makes a decision on Kassas's plan. Fairbanks opposes the plan. "Six West Broadway failed miserably," she said. "They paid more than it was worth, expensive renovations were required to make that building operable, and I don't know to what degree restorations were made, but it wasn't enough to keep the tenants there." Coyle said the reason for the initial failure at 6 West Broadway is the same reason why any subsequent investment would fail. "Drive around Derry," he said. "Development is not happening downtown and will never happen downtown. It was good 100 years ago but not now." Coyle said the town should instead be focusing on Manchester Road, Tsienneto Road and Crystal Avenue, where businesses are coming in and the town could be doing more to help. He said downtown Derry is inherently inadequate for new businesses. "What business wants to go to an old, rundown, crappy building with no space and bad parking?" he asked. As for new construction to house start-ups, Coyle said the town has tried erecting buildings before. "We failed as developers," he said. Kassas has said Derry "cannot keep doing the same thing" when it comes to economic development. Coyle said he was therefore surprised "that he started out his presentation with 'don't repeat the mistakes of the past,' and then he proceeds to give us a mistake of the past. Clearly this is one of our mistakes of the past." Olbricht thinks differently. He said Kassas's proposal is very much different from the old DEDC incubator effort. "Under Kassas's proposal, this would be a town-managed entity," Olbricht said. "The concept is to have matching federal, state and local funds to invest in the equity of start-up companies in Derry, where successful consultants can walk them through the process. The DEDC had no funds to give them, and had no professional resources." As of Tuesday, neither Coyle nor Fairbanks had filed for a council seat. The filing period closes at 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 3. back to main news page _____________________ Local Reps Sponsor Bill That Would Reclassify Pinkerton continued from main page Sapareto has said previously that he has checked with the state Attorney General's Office and found it is legal to tax Pinkerton, as it does not have a religious affiliation. Underhill said the bill would create tax revenue for Derry at a consequence to the other sending districts. Currently, Derry, Chester and Hampstead tuition their high school students to Pinkerton. Starting in the 2013-14 academic year, Auburn will become a sending district as well. Sapareto, who is chairman of the Derry delegation to the State House, has justified the bill by saying that since Pinkerton began, it has been dependent upon Derry services such as police, fire and plowing. He said that it is unfair for Derry taxpayers to provide town services to a high school that serves students from other towns. Underhill said the bill would be "precedent setting, adding, "If you can tax a school, what about hospitals, YMCAs and Boys and Girls Clubs?" He said he has been in contact with sending districts over the bill and that the Hampstead and Chester School Districts are drafting letters declaring their positions against it. The Derry School Board has yet to meet as a whole on the matter. Underhill also said he has begun contacting local leaders, such as town councilors, other state representatives and business officials. He said Derry Republican State Reps. Patricia Dowling and Phyllis Katsakiores, along with State Senator Jim Rausch, R-Derry, have all stated to Pinkerton their disapproval of the bill. Rausch also represents Hampstead and Windham. Underhill said Pinkerton officials are planning on appearing before the Derry Town Council on Feb. 7, after Sapareto requested an appearance with the Town Council to explain his bill. Pinkerton was invited by the Town to provide its perspective, Underhill said. A public hearing on the bill is set for Feb. 9 at the Legislative Office Building, Room 301 in Concord, and Pinkerton officials will testify. Underhill said Katsakiores, Dowling and Rausch all stated that they intended to testify against the bill as well. back to main news page _____________________ Construction Plans Announced for Career & Technical Education Program continued from main page Grube also said that according to the grant, construction must be finished 24 months from when the money was authorized, which was July 1, 2011, but noted the school has received a two- to three-month extension for the construction of a new sugar house. The winter meeting is for the superintendents and school board members from Pinkerton Academy's sending schools - Derry, Chester and Hampstead - so that they can be updated about the school's future plans. Representatives from the Auburn school district, whose contract as a sending town with Pinkerton begins in the 2013-2014 school year, were also present. Along with a new sugar house for the production of maple syrup, a 6,500-square-foot building will replace the existing Animal Sciences Building and an approximately 15,000-square-foot building will house Environmental Studies, along with other programs such as architecture and technical drawing. Within the building will be a 400-square-foot greenhouse. The new buildings are being designed to keep with the established esthetic of the Pinkerton campus and will be built on the south side of the campus. Grube said Pinkerton was still looking at sites for the sugar house. The Piper Building, the Low Building and the Campus Corner store in the Shepard Building will be the three locations slated for renovations. For the Piper Building upgrade, Grube said a new roof for a remote building site would be constructed, along with a new 1800-square-foot storage area on the Kelly property. Derry School Board member Brenda Willis said that when the ventilation system in the Piper Building is on, it can be deafening, and Grube responded that they plan on redesigning the ventilation system in hopes of mitigating that problem. For the Campus Corner store, Grube said the plan was to "revamp the store area" by updating equipment and design. Grube also said redesigns would be done in a way to draw emphasis to programs that many Pinkerton students don't realize are available. Grube said when some students are informed of the possibilities on campus, they say, "Oh, we have that?" and by emphasizing the visibility of the programs and classrooms in the redesign, students may have an easier time considering the possibilities of the different programs Pinkerton CTE offers. According to the Pinkerton website, its CTE program is one of 26 regional CTE centers in New Hampshire. Its courses are organized around labs designed to simulate actual workplace environments. back to main news page _____________________
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