Sununu meets with Tech Village to discuss jobs, infrastructure grants

Push for water, sewer north of the Saco key

United States Senator John E. Sununu (R-N.H.) had a busy few days in the district last week, Feb. 21 and 22, including a meeting Friday, Feb. 22 with Mount Washington Valley Economic Development Council President John Bruni and board member Bayard Kennett at the Mount Washington Valley Technology Village to discuss plans for future jobs at the center as well as the goal of the Conway Village Fire District to obtain federal grants to extend water and sewer north of the Saco River to to allow for future development of the Technology Village site.On Thursday, Sununu met with officials in Colebrook, Groveton, Berlin and Gorham concerning the loss of jobs at the Wausau Paper Mill in Groveton, as well as his efforts to secure federal funding to improve broadband services in Coos, Grafton, and Carroll Counties. Sununu helped secure federal funding that established a job training center, which offers assistance for affected workers.In Tamworth on Feb. 22, Sununu attended a kick-off of the New Hampshire Bureau of Trails and the New Hampshire Snowmobile Association Annual Snowmobile Trail Tour at Sammys Restaurant on Route 16, accompanied by Executive Councilor Raymond S. Burton (R-Bath) of District 1.That was followed by a meeting with Tamworth town officials at the public library to discuss the Chocorua Village Safety Project.On Saturday, Feb. 23, Sununu was the keynote speaker at the Carroll County Republican's annual Lincoln Day Dinner, held at the Whittier House in Ossipee. His appearance there drew a protest of a reported 15 local residents, many of them active Democrats.Extending sewer and waterAt his appearance at the Mount Washington Valley Technology Village, Sununu listened to Bruni and Kennett outline their vision for federal assistance for an economic development grant to bring sewer and water service north of the Saco River from the Conway Village Fire District.David Mercier, of Underwood Engineering of Concord and Portsmouth, said this week that Phase 1 of the project involves a 15,000-foot water line replacement and extension to connect the Conway Village Fire District with the North Conway Water Precinct for emergency water service. Rolled into that is a 10,000-foot extension of sewer services from the Saco River to Eastern Slopes Terrace.Involved with that is a river crossing we will will hang the new sewer piping across the river under the Route 16 bridge and put in a new wastewater pump station and upgrade the pumps and controls at the existing pump station across from VFW drive, said Mercier.He said the total project is $12.4 million.So far, we are pursuing monies from multiple sources, but we are proud to say that with Sununu's help, we got the largest Rural Development package ever in the history of New Hampshire. Of that $12.4 million, we have the $11.9 million Rural Development package, which is $3.9 million in grant money and $8 million in loans, said Mercier.In addition to that, he said the state Department of Environmental Services is supplying funds for the interconnect.We are pursuing an Economic Development Administration grant with the Tech Village and the Conway Village Fire District for $5 million, of the $12.4 million overall cost of the project, Mercier said.The EDA grant would be for $2.5 million, of which the economic council would get $600,000 for road and insfrastrucutre improvements, according to Bruni and Kennett.The fire district is also seeking EPA State and Tribal Grant of approximately $300,000. Kennett told Sununu the next project is needed for future growth.All of those businesses [along Route 16 between the Saco and Eastern Slopes Terrace] are on water but nowhere near the capacity size, said Kennett, noting that sewer is to follow that all the way to the Elks Lodge. That will not be an interconnect with North Conway Water Precinct as we have a sewer upgrade going here in the district, said Kennett, noting that upgrade will take place at the Conway distirct site off Route 113, off VFW Street.Bruni and Kennett said the Technology Village needs the expanded water flows for fire protection for the Technology Village site in order to allow for future expansion on the 81-acre parcel.Sununu said he had helped to secure funding for the original business incubator for the Mount Washington Valley Economic Council at the former Echo Computers building near Town Hall in Center Conway, and that he had also helped secure funding for the construction of the Mount Washington Valley Technology Center in Conway that opened two years ago.It was always understood that over time this would create infrastructure demands for water and sewer to develop the site to its full potential, said Sununu. To the extent that EDA or Rural Development and water infrastructure, sewer treatment, to allow the community to grow and meet all EPA requirements that's what we're discussing, said Sununu.We can't develop without it, said Bruni.Touring the Tech VillageBruni and Kennett told Sununu that the total work force now at the Technology Village is 38. When we moved here from the other building, 10 were from here, so the other 28 are new. We will have been here at the new site two years this coming June, said Bruni, noting that other companies have moved on from the incubator site to new spaces in the valley.The site is home to the Technology Village and Granite State College and White Mountain Community College (formerly known as the New Hampshire Community Technology College at Berlin). The Tech Village consists of six businesses as well as office space for SCORE, School to Career and the council. The businesses are Alakalay and Smillie PLLC; Animetrics Inc.; MHP Asset Management; North Country Graphics; Rapid Insight Inc. and Mason and Mason Technology Insurance Services.The Technology Village is housed in a 25,500-square-foot building, according to Executive Director Jac Cuddy.The 81-acre site has approximately 175,00 square feet of buildable office space. That figure of 28 employees doesn't include the education side of the building with Granite State College and White Mountain Community College. They have been adding programs, too, said Bruni, noting that the educational and business components of the center have been running joint seminars and plan to do more.Doing a tour of the facility, Bruni and Kennett introduced Sununu to Animetrics president and CEO Paul Schupp, who outlined the progress that technology company has made in recent years, especially working for the defense industry since its founding four years ago as a two-person company that now has 10 employees and plans to add two to four more over the next year.We are a facial technology company for doing face creation and face recognition for security systems, said Schupp. The face creation side of the business is going in many ways beyond security, even into entertainment and cell phones any place that people want to see a 3-D image of their face.The company is relocating within the Technology Village to larger space down the hall to make room for more employees. Schupp said the company is also looking to open a new office for its sales force, possibly in Newington.After the tour, Sununu a three-term former congressman and one-term senator, who is a resident of Waterville Valley and who is running for re-election headed south to make other stops in his district in the southern part of the state.