Pittsfield Economic Development Committee
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Meeting Minutes 12/05/2007
1) Meeting called to order at 5:10 pm. In attendance: Ed Vien (EV), James Hetu (JH), Lyn
Roberts (LR), Chris Conlon (CC), Ellen Barbasso (EBa), and Matt Monahan representing
CNHRPC. Also attending: Linda Small (LS), and Leon Kenison (LK).
2) Minutes from 11/28/07 reviewed and accepted. Correction on attendees and #3. Bill Abbott is
not a member yet.
3) Presentation by Mike Reed on CATCH (Concord Area Trust for Community Housing). He is
the director of Real Estate and Asset Management.
a. Developed in Concord in 1989
b. Can be individual homes, duplexes or rental units
c. They provide credit counseling, home buyer education classes, financial advice on meeting
obligations.
d. They try to provide housing for the work force-not subsidized housing.
e. They renovate homes to bring them up to minimal standards
f. Look for tax credits, set affordable rents
g. They can’t help everyone it depends on income (some people may be too high or too low)
h. Their main area is Merrimack County but they do go outside of Concord.
i. The educational services are available to all adults, not just those using CATCH.
j. East Side Village was one of their first projects.
k. Buildings benefit community because property is tax paying.
l. Currently re-evaluating their by-laws to see what housing is practical for today
m. Larger projects are usually better than smaller ones.
5) YMCA
a. Matt prepared a preliminary survey on Survey Monkey
b. It can be taken on line or on paper
c. A suggestion was made to leave some questions open-ended so the person can fill in their
information
d. Distribute to schools, businesses-Globe, Pittsfield Weave, Kentek, Senior Citizen center,
library and town web-site.
e. A suggestion was made to send it out to churches in town also.
f. Survey would be used by town also for other things- for example-Parks and Rec Dept,
10) Meeting was adjourned at 6:33 pm.
Submitted by: ________________________________
Ellen Barbasso