Each week, City Manager Tom Aspell sets up a yard sale on the steps of City Hall. He puts out his old VHS tapes, that Nordic-Trac that never got totally set up and his fashionable Zubaz pants, but there's a hidden agenda. Somewhere amid the sale items, he's placed a city memo, and each week, we find it, haggle him down to $3.50, and print it here. Here's this week's memo!
Concord tops list
we're no. 1!
Last week, the city of Concord was ranked the No. 1 “micropolitan” economy by the Policom Corporation, a Florida-based economic research firm, Aspell writes. Policom annually ranks the 366 metropolitan and 576 micropolitan statistical areas in the United States for “economic strength.” Policom defines a micropolitan area as a city with a population of 10,000-50,000 people; a metropolitan area must have at least 50,000 people. Washington, D.C. was ranked the No. 1 metropolitan economy.
The study, entitled “Economic Strength Rankings 2012,” measures 23 different economic factors over a 20-year period to create the rankings. According to Policom President William Fruth, “The top rated areas have had rapid, consistent growth in both size and quality for an extended period of time.” Last year, Concord was ranked fourth. Visit policom.com to view the report.
there's an app for that
New scanners arrive
The circulation desk at the Concord Public Library has a new scanner that can read your library card barcode if it's entered in a barcode app on your mobile phone, Aspell writes. It can even read a picture of your library card barcode on your phone if the image is large enough. Simplify your life and add your library card to your phone, and never have to worry about forgetting or losing your card!
pool party!
Passes available soon
The Parks and Recreation Department will begin issuing non-resident pool passes on June 7, Aspell writes. Non-resident families may purchase a family pass for $113 at the Parks and Recreation Office located at White Park. The family pass is good at any of the city's seven pools during the 2012 season.
Residents are not required to have a pool pass but will need to show identification at the pools. Pools are scheduled to open on June 18.
thanks aplenty
Food pantry aided
Thanks to the Capital Region Food Program, the United Way, and the U.S. Postal Service, the Human Services Department was the beneficiary of 11 large cases of food for its pantry May 12. This was a real community event, Aspell writes, with the residents who donated food, the local postal workers who collected and delivered the food to the New Hampshire Distributors facility and the many volunteers that sorted, packed and loaded up all the trucks with much needed supplies for the local food pantries.
Shelves could not have been stocked without the help of General Services Department Fleet Manager Bob LeBreux, who provided a truck large enough to pick up the food, and Mike Mills and Bob Whatmough, who helped lift the very heavy cases of food into the pantry. Thanks go out to all who participated in this wonderful partnership with a great mission to feed those in need, Aspell writes.
The Department also recently received a large donation of diapers, wipes and food from the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church. Thanks go to Ed Mullen, who coordinated this donation and delivered it with the help of his son and grandchildren, Aspell writes.
raise the roof
City Hall work starts
The first phase of the repair and replacement of the City Hall roof is nearing completion. Work will commence later this summer to repair and/or replace varying roof areas and materials.
