Laconia City Council Meeting - August 25, 2025
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Laconia City Council Meeting - August 25, 2025
The Laconia City Council met on Monday, August 25, 2025, at 7:01 PM. Mayor Andrew Hosmer presided over his final meeting, announcing his resignation. The meeting included public comments, proclamations honoring community members and organizations, reports on the master plan update, and votes on various resolutions and ordinances.
Consent Calendar
- The minutes of the previous meeting were accepted as distributed with no corrections.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Patrick Wood, representing the Human Relations Committee, updated that all minutes are now correctly filed, clarified that the multicultural festival is a separate 501(c)(3), announced a "Know Your Government" program starting after the November election, and requested that the committee be made a permanent city council-appointed committee. He thanked Mayor Hosmer for his leadership.
- Joe Haas of Gilmanton spoke about Class 6 roads, tax rates, and abatement processes. He requested that the city ensure any tax rate received is corrected. He referenced legal cases and advised residents with abatements to file by September 1st.
- Charlie St. Clair, on behalf of the Laconia Motorcycle Week Association, thanked Mayor Hosmer for his support during his tenure, especially during the 2020 pandemic.
Discussion Items
- Mayor's Farewell Report: Mayor Hosmer delivered a farewell speech, highlighting the city's growth (property values increased by over $2 billion since 2019), downtown revitalization (Colonial Theater, Lakeport, Weirs Beach), and the importance of community unity. He thanked city employees, council members, and volunteers.
- Proclamations: The council issued proclamations to Bill and Paula Guile (founders of Got Lunch Laconia, which served over 550 children that summer), Bank of New Hampshire (194 years of service, $45,000 grant for supportive housing, new headquarters downtown, maintenance of Veterans Square), and Charlie St. Clair (first annual Citizen of the Year Award for his decades of service including Motorcycle Week, state representative, and community involvement). Additionally, a proclamation was presented to Mayor Hosmer honoring his service as mayor and councilor.
- Master Plan Update (Resolution 25-27): Director of Planning Rob presented an update on the upcoming comprehensive master plan revision. The current plan is from 2018. After an RFP process, the firm Resilience Planning & Design (Plymouth, NH) was selected with subcontractors (RKG Associates for studies, Beta Group for transportation). A kickoff meeting is scheduled for October 6, 2025, at 6:00 PM at the Belknap Mill. The plan will include a steering committee of seven members and a dedicated website. Councilor Cheney requested that the Laconia State School property be a major focus and that performance zoning be considered. He also asked for analysis of school enrollment and public safety impacts from the development. The manager agreed to pursue adding that scope.
- Hospital Concerns: Councilor Cheney raised concerns about Concord Hospital in Laconia following a citizen complaint about staff wearing perfumes triggering asthma attacks. He cited a lack of a maternity ward and staffing issues, and he requested a public meeting with hospital administration to discuss long-term plans. Councilor Susi asked for a status report from the attorney working with the AG's office. The council asked the city manager to arrange a meeting.
- Downtown Economic Development: Councilor Hoffman reported that the value of the downtown TIF district increased from $108 million to $148 million (a 37% increase, about $40 million), generating $1.6 million in annual tax revenue. Councilor Cheney credited police efforts for improving the downtown environment.
- Docks Commercial Use: The Government Operations & Ordinance Committee concluded that commercial use of docks at the Weirs would remain private. Councilor Bogart requested that the issue remain open for future negotiation, but the committee noted that businesses could bring the topic back to the council.
- Chickens Ordinance (First Reading): Ordinance 2025-235-12/13/14 to permit keeping domestic chickens as an accessory use in single-family residential zones was introduced. Key provisions: minimum lot size of 0.25 acre, up to 5 chickens, no roosters, coops must be 20 feet from property lines, located in rear yard, rodent-proof feed storage, manure management. Enforcement is through zoning violations (up to $275/day if court-ordered). A public hearing was scheduled for September 8, 2025.
- Resident-Only Parking Permit System: Council approved the concept of a resident-only parking permit program for dead-end streets with high density. As an interim measure, temporary permits for Simpson Avenue were approved to address parking congestion from the Weirs Beach area.
- Halloween Street Closure: Temporary traffic order 2025-16 was approved to close a portion of Pleasant Street (from north of Harvard Street to north of Pleasant Street) on October 31, 2025, from 4:00 PM to 9:00 PM for trick-or-treating safety. Local traffic only.
- City Manager Compensation: The council approved a 5% merit increase and a 4% cost-of-living adjustment for City Manager Kirk Biotti, bringing his salary to $168,550.20, plus 7% retirement contribution, matching non-union employee raises.
Key Outcomes
- Minutes accepted (unanimous).
- Resolution 25-27 (Master Plan Grant): Authorized the city manager to accept and expend a $40,000 Department of Safety grant for the master plan update. Passed unanimously after three readings.
- Hazard Mitigation Plan 2025 approved as amended (unanimous).
- Property Tax Credits for Disabled Veterans: The first reading of Resolution 25-28 was approved, and a public hearing was scheduled for September 8, 2025 (unanimous).
- Chickens Ordinance: First reading approved; public hearing set for September 8, 2025 (unanimous).
- Simpson Avenue Resident-Only Parking: Approved interim temporary permits while the full program is developed (unanimous).
- Halloween Street Closure: Approved (unanimous).
- City Manager Compensation: Approved (unanimous).
- **Meeting adjourned at 8:59 PM.
Meeting Transcript
Yeah, she's in the she's in the second to last round. Somebody must have emailed her. Good evening, everyone. The hour being seven oh one PM on Monday, August twenty-fifth, twenty twenty-five. I'd like to call to order the Laconia City Council meeting. Um welcome to everyone. Um I'm going to move the um with council's permission. I'd like to move the agenda around a little bit here as we've got a number of people and maybe move some things up. I will not be staying for the entire meeting. I'm happy to turn it over to Mayor Pro Tem uh Mark Haynes, if that's acceptable to everybody too. I see no opposition. I think you're happy to see me leave. And if we said no. Here, Councillor Susie. Here. Councillor Hoffman. Here. Here. Here. I am here as well. We're also joined this evening by our city manager Kirk Biotti and our finance uh director, Glenn Smith right now. Um, I'm going to jump up to um citizens' comments for matters not on the agenda. If anybody this evening would like to speak to matters not on the agenda, I will afford you a very generous three minutes. But welcome, Patrick Wood. I'm Patrick Wood. I'm here on behalf of the Human Relations Committee. Uh I know that there has been some recent publicity. Um I want to make a note that the minutes uh are all up to date. They've all been filed previously, but they were not in the correct place, and that was my fault because I when I sent them to Nancy, I sent them in the wrong way. But now they're all up to date. Um there's also a question about the multicultural festival. Uh, that is not a subcommittee of the Human Relations Committee. It's a separate 501 C3 that operates the multicultural festival. We cooperate with them, we uh help them, but it is not run by the city per se. Um we also have a program that we're starting, and I've been working with the county. I've talked to City Manager uh Biatti about a know your government program, and hopefully we can start that uh probably after the election in November and have some sort of a program uh here in Laconia with the uh new city council and the current city council and have an opportunity to share with the public, you know, what the city does, what the agencies are, how it operates. Non-political, this is purely just uh basically a civics program. Uh the county uh commissioners are on board with this. We're going to try to get something uh from them. Um maybe the end of September, the beginning of October, we'll have a program on the county, and then we'll also work with the schools uh and have something uh along that line. Um, as I think all of you know, the human relations committee is a committee that was established uh by Mayor Angler many years ago. Um it is not a city appointed committee, it's appointed by the mayor as a mayor's committee. Uh I think it would be beneficial from the city's point of view to make it a more formal committee, uh and I will ask the city manager uh in the future, and we'll see if we can't get something uh along the lines of uh a committee that would be appointed by the city council and a permanent committee of the city. The reason I say that is I think the human relations committee uh is a very important aspect of what we do as citizens and as a community and as a government. It's a recognition of the importance of each and every one of our citizens as they add to our community in all the different ways that they do. So the human relations committee is very important, and I think it ought to be a permanent part of our community. Um the final thing I want to say is we have had great support from our mayors and from all of you and the community. But I want to especially thank Mayor Hosmer for his efforts, his leadership, his commitment to the people of our community. And he has been a great leader for the human relations committee. He has been on top of things.
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