APRIL 10 - 23, 2020 VOL. 42 • NO. 7 • $1.75
ONLINE @ NHBR.COM
The new coronavirus
FEATURED INTERVIEW
Q&A: U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen
reality
PAGE 29
NH real estate market faces one of its PAGE 24 toughest tests
Across New Hampshire, manufacturers adjust shifts, work areas and product emphasis PAGE 8
The new world of remote working New Hampshire tech experts see rewards and risks BY LIISA RAJALA
Yet another wave of New Hampshire businesses scrambled to set employees up to work remotely, after the governor issued a stay-at-home order and the closure of in-person activities for nonessential businesses beginning Friday evening, March 27. Systems Engineering had already experienced doubled ticket volume among its clients in the two weeks before the governor’s
announcement, as businesses preemptively moved employees to work remotely full time in the wake of the spread of Covid-19. “A higher percentage of those demands were helping end users connect in ways they were prepared to do but hadn’t done frequently,” said Todd Molloy, director of sales and marketing at the Portland, Maine-based managed IT, security and cloud REMOTE WORKING, PAGE 18
How employers, employees can adapt to remote working PAGE 14 New Hampshire nonprofits in a battle to survive ‘Time of crisis’ shuts down a range of revenue sources BY SUSAN GEIER
The harm done to New Hampshire’s nonprofit industry brought by the global Covid-19 pandemic has been swift. “Nonprofits are making layoffs right now. Nonprofits are closing right now,” said Katie Merrow, vice president of community impact at the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. She said the foundation is moving $5 million in three weeks to nonprofits through several different initiatives. “Private philanthropy is moving quickly to get money out … we can be a bit of a bridge while waiting for public funds.” The foundation has created a Community Crisis Action Fund, which raised $1.7 million in a week with more funds coming in every day. “We are humbled by our donors,” she said. “This (funding) provides fuel and hope, which is what we all need right now.”
In 2019, there were 6,547 charitable 501(c) (3) organizations in New Hampshire employing more than 83,000 people and generating $11 billion in revenue and $4.6 billion in wages, according to the New Hampshire Center for NONPROFITS, PAGE 17
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Banks, state agencies step up to aid NH businesses
dinary moment.” While the business community awaits Meanwhile, Little stressed that banks are committed to the relief promised by the federal ensuring depositors uninterrupted access to their cash. government, New Hampshire financial “Many branches have closed their lobbies,” he said, “but institutions and state agencies are taking are providing a full range of services from their drive-up steps to ease the pressures and provide liquidity to hard-pressed small enterpris- windows and ATM machines.” es and nonprofit organizations. Bank Commissioner Jerry Little said ‘We stand ready’ thatREGION the Federal Financial Institutions NASHUA LAKES REGION UNTRY Examinations Council (FFIEC) issued James Key-Wallace, executive director of the state Busia statement on March 22 encouraging ness Finance Authority, said the agency has two loan pro“financial institutions to meet the grams for both businesses and nonprofits. financial needs of customers and memThe Capital Access Program, or CAP, can lend up to bers affected by the corona$200,000 to small businesses and nonprofit corporations Jerry LittleARCHITECTURE, ENGINEERING, HOSPITALS, BUSINESS TECH, virus.” BANKING, PERSONAL FINANCE, ENERGY with less than $5 million in annual revenue for working capiOW: FEATURE STORY AND JUMPS, IN BRIEF, FLOTSAM, LAW, THE LATEST, ABOUT TOWN The OPINIONS, FFIEC consists of the Federal tal, temporary needs, lines of credit and long-term assets. W: REAL ESTATE + CONSTRUCTION, EDUCATION, HEALTHCARE, TOURISM, NEWS, CHARITABLE GIVING, MORE ONLINE Reserve Board, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, These loans can be applied in circumstances and for purW: AREA GRAPHICS, another TOURISM choice, CALENDAR, LAST WORD Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., National Credit Union poses for which banks may not lend and are typically apAdministration, Comptroller of the Currency and Conferproved within 24 hours. ence of State Bank Supervisors. The regulators noted that Another, the Temporary Loan Program, provides loans “financial institutions should work constructively with borto businesses and nonprofits of between $100,000 and rowers and other customers in affected communities.” $2 million with a three-year term and flexible amortization Likewise, the Financial Accounting Standards Board schedule with no minimum collateral requirement, but a (FASB) confirmed that short-term loan modifications demonstrated capacity to repay the borrowing. made in good faith to borrowers current before receiving Key-Wallace said that apart from its existing programs, the relief would not be deemed as troubled debt. the agency expects to develop other financial instruments Little said that he has urged the 16 state-chartered banks to assist businesses. and 10 credit unions that he supervises to follow the guidIn addition, the Community Development Finance Auance of the federal agencies. thority has established a Response Fund, funded in part He stressed that these financial institutions are all wellby contributions from the business community, to procapitalized with significant liquidity and “very much able vide nonprofit organization with grants and loans of up to to work with borrowers to alleviate financial pressures aris- $100,000 for working capital, equipment purchases and ing from the impact of the coronavirus. This is an extraorprogramming expenses. — MICHAEL KITCH
Covid-19 takes a big bite out of NH Lottery’s take The year dawned as a banner one for the New Hampshire Lottery. Keno 603, introduced at 40 locations in 2018, more than tripled its revenues and sales to $27 million last year. On New Year’s Eve, Gov. Chris Sununu took a flyer on the Patriots, the first of a million wagers totaling $28.6 million placed by 36,923 bettors in the first six weeks of the year. In FY 2020, the state lottery was projected to generate $100.4 million of revenue for the Education Trust Fund, which contributes to funding the state’s share of the cost of public education. But, with the onset of Covid-19, all bets are off. Maura McCann, marketing manager at the Lottery Commission, said that in February lottery sales were about $2 million ahead of the same month a year ago, but fell off the pace by some $3 million in March. She pointed out that in March 2019, a $750 million jackpot swelled sales of Powerball tickets. Instant scratch tickets represent nearly two-thirds of total sales and totaled $250.5 million in 2019, followed by Powerball with sales of $37.6 million, or 9.6%, and Mega Millions with sales of $31.6 million, or 8.1%. Most outlets for all three of these products — convenience stores, supermarkets, liquor stores — continue
to operate under the executive order requiring “nonessential” businesses to close, though some may have limited their hours or closed altogether. McCann said sales of traditional products at these locations have also fallen somewhat as the public has responded to guidance to limit travel and remain indoors. Meanwhile, lottery sales will likely be adversely affected by the economic dislocation stemming from the Covid-19 virus, which will squeeze the discretionary income of many households. On the other hand, McCann said Keno 603 and sports betting are both “down substantially.” Keno 603, which posted $26.9 million in sales in 2019, accounts for 6.9% of lottery sales. The game is played at more than 200 bars and restaurants around the state, in 10 of the 13 cities, which have been restricted to providing takeout service by executive order. While there are no obstacles to betting on sports, there are precious few sports to bet on. After the auspicious start to the season, marked by $2.3 million in wagers on the Super Bowl and high hopes of a bonanza from March Madness, the games were suddenly over, overtaken by the ghastly numbers game of Covid-19. — MICHAEL KITCH
Ernesto Burden Vice President/Publisher eburden@mcleancommunications.com, ext. 5117 Jeff Feingold Editor jfeingold@nhbr.com, ext. 5118 Liisa Rajala Associate Editor lrajala@nhbr.com, ext. 5158 Bob Sanders Staff Writer bsanders@nhbr.com, ext. 5136 Mista McDonnell Business Manager mmcdonnell@nhbr.com, ext. 5114 Jodie Hall Creative Services Director jhall@nhbr.com, ext. 5122 Nancy Tichanuk Senior Graphic Artist ntichanuk@mcleancommunications.com, ext. 5116 Robin Saling Graphic Artist rsaling@nhbr.com, ext. 5124 Kimberly Lencki Advertising Sales Director klencki@mcleancommunications.com, ext. 5154 Karen Bachelder Sales Executive kbachelder@nhbr.com, ext. 5148 Cynthia Stone Sales Executive cstone@nhbr.com, ext. 5146 Connie McCullion Sales Executive cmccullion@nhbr.com, ext. 5121 Ronnie Schlender Special Projects Sales Representative rschlender@nhbr.com, ext. 5150 Angela LeBrun Sales & Marketing Coordinator alebrun@mcleancommunications.com, ext. 5120 Emily Samatis Event & Marketing Manager esamatis@mcleancommunications.com, ext. 5125 Kristine Senna Event Coordinator ksenna@mcleancommunications.com, ext. 5113 Heather Rood Business and Sales Coordinator hrood@mcleancommunications.com, ext. 5110 Morgen Connor Digital Media Specialist mconnor@mcleancommunications.com, ext. 5149 Brook Holmberg Vice President, Consumer Marketing brookh@yankeepub.com Sherin Pierce Vice President, Retail Sales sherinp@yankeepub.com
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Internet providers confident of networks as usage surges Atlantic Broadband, Comcast, Consolidated Communications — the internet service providers with the largest portion of the New Hampshire market — report traffic is up, as so many employees work from home, students use remote learning tools and people spend more of their leisure time streaming videos and playing games online. “In the past couple of weeks, there has been a noticeable uptick [in network utilization],” said Rob Koester, vice president of consumer product management at Consolidated Communications. “It varies between a 15% to 30% increase during the day and 3% to 5% increase in peak nighttime hours.” Concurrently, a Comcast report analyzing pre- and post-Covid-19 data shows usage is up 32% nationwide, and traffic from Atlantic Broadband customers has increased approximately 25%, with some areas as high as 30%, said an Atlantic spokesperson. Nationwide, voice over IP calls and video conferences are up a whopping 212% and 40%, respectively, since March 1, according to Comcast’s report. Looking at the stats, Koester said there is a significant difference when comparing pre-
and post-Covid-19 peak usage times. “Most of that increase in traffic really comes between noon and 4 p.m.,” said Koester, who speculated it could be parents are logging in later in the day, after helping their schoolaged children with educational materials. Comcast reported that, nationwide, the peak upload period has shifted from 9 p.m. as of March 1 to 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. as of March 30, presumably because workers are actively sharing files during typical work hours. Even though nighttime usage is up only slightly since Covid-19 precautions started, nighttime remains the time period when the bulk of Americans utilize the internet, mainly for entertainment. According to Comcast’s report, there is a 38% increase in streaming and web video consumption, and gaming downloads are up 50%, sometimes 80% during new releases. It’s an unprecedented situation, but not one that is incredibly taxing to network infrastructure, the providers say. “Our network is built to accommodate the increased levels of demand that have occurred due to e-learning and work-from-home arrangements,” said Walton. — LIISA RAJALA
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UNH employs its 3D printers for medical face shields In an effort to support healthcare facilities in surrounding communities and neighboring states, the University of New Hampshire has fired up 3D printers usually used as teaching tools to help make much-needed medical parts. UNH has shifted into production mode switching over research 3D printers to manufacture plastic headbands that are being used to assemble medical face shields worn by healthcare workers. Over a dozen 3D printers have already made more than 300 of the essential headbands that go around the forehead and hold the clear plastic face shield in place. “Everyone at UNH involved is really proud to be a part of this effort,” said Shawn Banker, director of UNH’s University Instrumentation Center. “In the midst of all that is going on, it feels very positive to be able to use our resources to help make something that is desperately needed and will aid the doctors and nurses on the front lines treating patients with the coronavirus. It means a lot to everyone.” The UNH printing effort is being coordinated through the University Instrumentation Center, which responded to a request from Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. A team at the shipyard, which is also printing 3D parts, is attaching the headbands to shields and distributing the assembled masks to seacoast area hospitals and medical facilities in New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts and the town of Kittery in Maine.
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NH sets up resource page for businesses hit by Covid-19
Businesses, individuals get a state tax filing break
Most companies filing New Hampshire business taxes and individuals filing interest and dividends taxes are getting a The New Hampshire Department of Business and Economic two-month extension because of the coronavirus panAffairs has launched a website offering resources for busidemic, the state Department of Revenue Administration nesses affected by Covid-19, including information about the announced Monday. NASHUA REGION LAKES REGION UNTRY U.S. Small Business Administration’s disaster declaration. Larger businesses still have to pay on time, but they The BEA said that the state’s application for SBA economic will be given greater leeway to file for an extension injury disaster loans was approved on Wednesday, a move and to make estimated quarterly payments. that will help small businesses in all 10 counties overcome “We sympathize with taxpayers during this uncerthe loss of revenue during the Covid-19 outbreak. “We know tain time and anticipate this relief will help put them at that the Covid-19 pandemic is having detrimental effects on ease as we all continue to navigate this rapidly changBUSINESS TECH, ENGINEERING, Caswell HOSPITALS,said. BANKING, FINANCE, ENERGY NewARCHITECTURE, Hampshire businesses,” “The PERSONAL BEA mission ing situation,” said DRA Commissioner Lindsey Stepp. OW: FEATUREisSTORY AND JUMPS, BRIEF,the FLOTSAM, LAW,and OPINIONS, THE resources LATEST, ABOUT TOWN to provide themINwith financial technical The filing change primarily benefits businesses that paid W: REAL ESTATE + CONSTRUCTION, EDUCATION, HEALTHCARE, TOURISM, NEWS, CHARITABLE GIVING, MORE ONLINE they need to ride out these uncertain times and be ready to less than $50,000 in combined business profits tax and W: AREA GRAPHICS, another TOURISM choice, CALENDAR, LAST WORD continue operations.” business enterprise tax in 2018. That encompasses 98% of all Caswell also outlined additional resources for businesses, New Hampshire businesses, according to the DRA. These businesses including a resource portal that will be updated regularly. won’t have to file or pay their 2019 returns until June 15, no questions asked, no penalty charged. The online business page is designed to be a one-stop They can also put off their first quarterly estimated payments for 2020 until then, the same time resource, including details of Gov. Chris Sununu’s emergency their second quarterly is due. orders, the SBA disaster declaration and how to apply for Similarly, the relief also extends the deadlines to June 15 for individuals who paid less than low interest loans, unemployment information for businesses $10,000 in interest and dividends tax. and employees, and other state and federal resources. All taxpayers, including large ones, also are being given a bit of a break when it comes to estiCaswell said the agency’s team of regional specialists will mated tax payments and filing extension for Nov. 15. Under previous rules, anyone can file for the help businesses access relief programs, address specific November extension, but they might owe a penalty if they weren’t paid in full by April 15. issues and concerns, and refer to professional business adviHowever, taxpayers may not know if they are paid up in full because the federal government sors. extended its filing deadline to July 15. And since state returns are based on federal returns, many For more information, visit nh.gov/covid19/resources-guidbusinesses won’t be sure of their state tax liability in June, much less in April. So those penalties ance. will be waived, if they are paid up in full using 2018 figures. Similarly, taxpayers could use 2018 figures to figure out their quarterly estimates for 2020, without penalty.
NH bankruptcy picture remained the same in March
So far, the economic tsunami that hit New Hampshire in mid-March hasn’t resulted in a deluge of bankruptcies, but that’s no surprise since bankruptcies are a lagging indicator of the state of the economy. Some 149 individuals and businesses filed for bankruptcy in March. That’s 34 more than February but 17 fewer (or a 10% decline) than March 2019. Compare that to 586 filers in March 2010, when the monthly record was set for most filings during the Great Recession. Indeed, March 2020 had the lowest number of filings of any March since 1989 (with the exception of 2006, after the bankruptcy laws were rewritten to make it harder to file). But two-thirds of those March filings came after March 15, right when the state of emergency began in earnest. This brings the average monthly number of bankruptcies to 128, 20 fewer than at the same point in 2019. There were seven business-related filings by individuals, one more than last month, and one filing by a business itself. That business was: • American Machining Solutions LLC, Manchester, filed March 2, Chapter 7. Assets: $334,600. Liabilities: $206,314.
SEATTLE, WASH.:
Projections from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington show that the coronavirus crisis will peak in New Hampshire around April 17, with about 1,027 people in the hospital and 11 people dying per day at the height of the virus, according to the independent global health research. The projection assumes New Hampshire residents maintain social distancing, with schools and nonessential businesses closed and the governor’s “Stay-at-Home” order still in effect. With 1,018 available hospital beds in NH and 83 available ICU beds, projections show New Hampshire will experience a shortage of 88 hospital beds and 84 ICU beds during the projected peak time of need as of the March 31 data.
WESTMORE LAN D:
Eversource has withdrawn its proposal for a $7 million battery-storage project that the company had hoped would improve service reliability for customers in the town. The
company says it’s re-evaluating after the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission, which grants approvals for such projects, suggested broadening the scope. The battery cells would have stored electricity from the grid and served as a backup during an outage.
CONCORD: Superior Court Chief Justice Tina Nadeau has announced all criminal and civil jury trials scheduled in the state’s Superior Courts through May 4 will be rescheduled due to the coronavirus crisis. There will be no jury trials in May. Plaintiffs and defendants in any trial scheduled for that period will be notified of rescheduling, she said.
LACONIA:
The Lakeshore Redevelopment Planning Commission, which is working to redevelop the former Laconia State School property, is asking for a waiver so it can qualify for a special grant of up to $1 million from the Northern Border Commission. The waiver is being sought because the commission recently dropped Laconia from the list of communities that qualified for funding because the city did not meet the poverty threshold. Communities can receive a waiver if they can show a project will be an economic benefit to nearby communities that are considered sufficiently distressed.
CONCORD:
The Concord Regional Visiting Nurse Association and Central New Hampshire VNA & Hospice have signed a non-binding letter of intent to merge their two organizations. The merger, they said, would allow them to better serve the home- and community-based healthcare needs of residents of central New Hampshire. The letter is the first step in a process
that involves further due diligence, negotiation of final terms, opportunities for public input, approval by each organization’s board of trustees and review by federal and state regulators.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND.:
Simon Property Group, the largest owner of shopping malls in the country, has asked at least three New Hampshire communities to defer for a year paying nearly $6 million in property taxes due in July for their malls. The city of Manchester, home to the Mall of New Hampshire, the town of Salem, home to the Mall at Rockingham Park, and the town of Merrimack, where the Merrimack Premium Outlets are located, each received a letter with a request to defer the tax payment until July 2021.
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➜TAKE
RAISE your hand if your life has
changed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Gallup compared its surveys of U.S. employees from mid-March to late-March and found the percentage of full-time employees who say Covid-19 has disrupted their life “a great deal” or “a fair amount” has jumped from 58% to 81%.
OVER the last two to three weeks, the percentage of full-time employees working from home due to Covid-19 closures has jumped from 33% to 61%, according to Gallup. Employees are using this time to take social distancing seriously. The percentage of full-time workers “always” practicing social distancing has risen from 22% to 51%. About two-thirds of Americans reports they are completely or mostly isolating themselves. IT’S a nerve-wracking time. Over
the course of a few weeks, the percentage of parents working full time who have their kids home from school because of Covid-19 has increased from 44% to everyone, 100%. Stress levels are up. Reports of daily worry have increased from 37% to 60% in 2019 to 48% to 65% in March 2020, according to Gallup.
Learn at Home Online educational resources for parents, teachers and students.
nhpbs.org/learnathome
HOW have employers responded?
Forty-percent of employees say their employer has frozen hiring and 33% say their employer has reduced hours or shifts because of Covid-19, up from 33% and 27% respectively. Yet, 49% of employees agree their organization cares about their overall well-being, up from 45% a few weeks ago.
MORE than half of employees strongly agree their employer has communicated a clear plan of action in response to the coronavirus, an improvement of 15 percentage points from mid-March, according to Gallup. Little has changed in terms of an employee’s ability to do their job, with 55% of workers agreeing they felt well prepared, approximately the same number as a few weeks ago. There’s a slight uptick of employees (54%) who say their supervisor keeps them informed and sets clear expectations, compared to 47% in midMarch.
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THE BOTTOM LINE JUDGE WON’T DISMISS CLASS ACTION AGAINST SIG SAUER A class action lawsuit against Newington-based gun manufacturer SIG Sauer has cleared a key procedural hurdle after U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Laplante ruled against the company’s motion to dismiss, New Hampshire Public Radio reported. Derick Ortiz of Snowflake, Ariz., filed a proposed class action suit last September alleging SIG Sauer’s P320 pistol could inadvertently discharge when dropped, due to an alleged design flaw. The case now moves to the discovery phase. Laplante will eventually be asked to certify the class, which could make hundreds of thousands of P320 owners potentially eligible for compensation. The U.S. Army first discovered the risk of potential discharge in April 2016, while the weapon was being considered as the new standard issue sidearm for soldiers. Ortiz alleges that SIG Sauer made necessary modifications to the military version of the P320, but didn’t alter the civilian version for another year. In 2017, a prominent online gun shop pulled the P320 from its shelves, citing its own testing that found the weapon could fire if dropped from certain angles. In an unrelated case, SIG Sauer agreed last month to settle another proposed class action suit centered on a different design issue with the P320.
VAIL RESORTS FURLOUGHS EMPLOYEES FOR TWO MONTHS
Vail Resorts has announced pay cuts and furloughs for employees at its 37 ski resorts in the U.S., including those at Mount Sunapee in Newbury, Attitash Mountain Resort of Bartlett, Wildcat Mountain in Pinkham Notch and Crotched Mountain in Francestown. In making the announcement, Vail Resorts also said it would pause payouts for its CEO, board of directors and shareholders, all due to economic and health impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. According to Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz, the company put nearly all of its U.S. yearround employees on furlough as of April 4 for “at least the next one to two months, without pay, but with full healthcare coverage for any impacted employee currently enrolled.” Katz said it’s unclear when the company’s mountain, retail and transportation businesses will be able to reopen, but added it will be an ongoing evaluation.
GENEIA NAMES HEATHER LAVOIE ITS NEW CEO Heather Lavoie, president of the healthcare analytics company Geneia, has been promoted to president and CEO, succeeding Mark Caron, who announced his retirement effective April 6. Lavoie has more than 30 years of experience in the healthcare industry, leading startups, health plans and provider organizations. She has directed initiatives for private and public organizations on strategy, transparency, diversification, product innovation, operations and analytics. Before joining Geneia, she co-founded and served as vice president of product development, delivery and engineering for Choicelinx Corp., a Manchester-based healthcare IT company that was sold to Cigna in 2005. Caron called Lavoie the “heart and soul of Geneia. Since Day One, she’s been a leader at the company. I’m thrilled to entrust Geneia’s employees and its bright future to her very capable hands.” He pointed to some of her accomplishments at the firm, which has offices in Manchester, NH, and Harrisburg, Pa.; creation of the Geneia Data Intelligence Lab; development of the company’s remote patient monitoring program and the company’s work to restore the “Joy of Medicine” to practicing physicians are among the multitude of Lavoie’s accomplishments.
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NORTH COUNTRY
LAKES REGION
The new coronavirus NASHUA REGION
TOP ROW: BUSINESS TECH, ARCHITECTURE, ENGINEERING, HOSPITALS, BANKING, PERSONAL FINANCE, ENERGY SECOND ROW: FEATURE STORY AND JUMPS, IN BRIEF, FLOTSAM, LAW, OPINIONS, THE LATEST, ABOUT TOWN THIRD ROW: REAL ESTATE + CONSTRUCTION, EDUCATION, HEALTHCARE, TOURISM, NEWS, CHARITABLE GIVING, MORE ONLINE FORTH ROW: AREA GRAPHICS, another TOURISM choice, CALENDAR, LAST WORD
Q
All workers don protective gear on the manufacturing floor of Vapotherm in Exeter. (Courtesy photo)
uestion: Which of the following New Hampshire manufacturers will be allowed to remain open under Gov. Chris Sununu’s March 26 order to close non-essential businesses? • Exeter-based Vapotherm, which makes a low-cost respirator that can free up the heavy-duty ones being used to help those stricken with Covid-19. • Homefree in Windham, which makes nutritious cookies that people with severe allergies can eat safely. • Textiles Coated International of Londonderry, which among other things, makes the top of the little glass vials used in tests for viruses. • Wire Belt Company of America, also in Londonderry, which manufactures conveyor belts, some of which are used to process foods that go to fast-food restaurants and the frozen food sections of supermarkets. • E. Boyce Highlands of Concord, which makes custom moldings for high-end homes and commercial buildings. Answer: All of the above. On March 26, Sununu said he had to make “tough decisions” and announced, by the weekend, the state would be requiring New Hampshire residents to stay at home and close nonessential businesses to stop the spread of the coronavirus, which has been gaining momentum since first being diagnosed in the state at the beginning of March. But shortly after issuing the order, the governor released a list — called Exhibit A to Emergency Order #17 — of essential businesses exempted from that order. “The vast majority of manufacturers are considered essential,” said Sununu later to WMUR-TV in answer to an interviewer’s question. The order exempts manufacturers “producing and supplying materials … for industries [including] pharmaceutical, technology, biotechnology, healthcare, chemicals and sanitization, waste pickup and disposal, agriculture, food and beverage, transportation, energy, steel and steel products, petroleum and fuel, construction, gun and related products … operations of dams, water and wastewater treatment, national defense, communications, as well as products used by other essential businesses and operations.” Other parts of the order exempt manufacturers of pack-
reality
Across New Hampshire, manufacturers adjust shifts, work areas and product emphasis BY BOB SANDERS
aging materials, containers, pesticide, forest products, tissues, paper towels and anything related to the military.
‘A pretty broad list’ But Sununu called the list “a living document,” meaning that any manufacturers (as well as other businesses) that don’t fit into the categories could send an email to essential@nheconomy.com to see if they could be exempt too. “It is a pretty broad list,” said Jim Roche, president of the state’s Business and Industry Association, of the 3,000-
Manufacturers are conducting frequent cleanings, providing protective equipment, taking employees’ temperature and sending home those with a cough or sniffle. word Exhibit A. “But we would have preferred that he had exempted all manufacturing. We don’t think government officials should pick and choose what is essential.” Many individual manufacturers echo that sentiment. Closing down a manufacturer in one market could disrupt the supply chain of others, similar to how wiping out one species can harm the food chain and damage the ecological system. “Everything is a chain. Everything is connected,” was the way Brien Murphy, vice president and co-owner of Boyce Highlands Inc., put it. “Most everything is made out of what someone else
makes,” said David Worthen, president of Worthen Industries in Nashua. “And you can’t do anything in this economy without making stuff.” While management and office staff of manufacturing companies can work from home, production workers can’t. The very process of manufacturing requires them to work closely together in the same building, making it extremely difficult to follow recommended social distancing guidelines. Employers are forced to take proactive actions to keep them safe — deep and frequent cleanings, providing protective equipment, changing shifts to keep people apart, taking employees’ temperature at the door, or sending home someone with the least cough or sniffle. “My great nightmare is someone feels they have to come to work and they spread it through the building,” said David Greer, CEO of Wire Belt Company. That possibility came a little closer to reality at Monadnock Paper Mills in Bennington after an external salesperson tested positive for Covid-19. But the plant continued “to operate without disruption” and took precautionary measures, such as limiting business travel, using hand sanitizer and restricting visitors, according to a press release issued by the company, which declined to be interviewed. The very interconnectedness of manufacturing presents other difficulties. As the economy suffers and other states and nations impose stricter measures, the results are supply chain disruptions and order cancellations. On Friday March 20 — a lifetime ago in this rapidly unfolding medical and economic crisis — manufacturers reported that supply chain was their greatest problem, according to a survey by the New Hampshire Manufacturing Extension Partnership. But there are also shipping disruptions and rushed orders. Yet they also have to be accommodating to workers who suddenly need to take time off or change their schedule to take care of kids sent home from school. Despite this, nearly 100 New Hampshire companies have responded to the state’s request for protective equipment and medical supplies. The state has set up a portal for businesses that want to help. Here is a look of what some are up against in this crisis.
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FROM PAGE 8
Boyce Highland, Concord
Vapotherm
49 employees, about 35 in production
350 employees, 100 in production
The company makes custom molding out of such materials as mahogany or cherry walnut for high-end residential and large commercial projects, including football stadiums, classy hotels and Ivy League universities. Boyce’s products are usually one of the last to be installed before a building can be occupied. The company is covered under the wood product and construction exemptions, but before that announcement was made, when CEO Brien Murphy was interviewed, he was clearly worried that his company would not be considered essential. “Unless we continue, we are going to strand not only our workers but hundreds of thousands that rely on our projects to get those certificates of occupancy,” he said. If he were to be ordered to shut down, he said, “make no bones about it. There will be no Boyce Highlands.” Echoing President Trump, he added, “we think the cure would be worse than the virus, if we have no economy to come back to.”
Vapotherm makes high-velocity respirators, freeing up the heavy-duty kinds used to treat the most severe coronavirus patients. The shoe box device, usually hung on an IV pole, has been in great demand in Europe and now in the United States. So the company has hired 50 people in the last few months, doubling its manufacturing staff, to quadruple production. But the building is only so big. “We are confined by our walls,” said Lindsay Becker, vice president of human resources. “So we can’t maintain six feet of separation, probably around three feet. We are certainly not shoulderto-shoulder, but the machines are where they are.” That means all workers don protective gear, including masks, and the company does daily temperature checks. It transformed a warehouse into another break room so people can eat further apart and has added a shift on Saturday to spread people around and increase production. “We are not around the clock yet, but demand is continuing to increase,” she said. “There is a large number of increased orders with lots of overtime.”
Cirtronics Corp., Milford 210 employees, 150 in production Half of this contract manufacturer’s product line is for medical or military uses. The company’s main mission now is to fill gaps in the supply chain that other medical manufacturers need, since it has the certification necessary. “Yes, we can build, yes we can serve,” exuded Stephanie Gronvall, director of marketing and development. “We are reaching out to companies, especially locally. We are open, we are here for you, we are all in this together.” The company is “blessed with a lot of space,” added Jessica Kinsey, career development manager. In addition, “everything is on wheels,” further allowing staffers to spread out. The company also has found that shifting people to the usually lighter evening shift helps them keep an even safer distance while helping to accommodate caregiver needs.
Textiles Coated International, Londonderry 230 employees, about 200 in production Business had picked up early on because the virus first hit companies in China that TCI competed against. So far the firm has not had much problem with its supply chain, except for a specific resin that was manufactured in Italy. “They were supposed to ship it to us, and we are hoping it is on the ocean,” said Peter Spohn, director of business development. TCI manufactures primarily for the medical and pharmaceutical industries. Its products can be used in making the tops of vials used to test for things like coronavirus, so “we are needed now more than ever,” said CEO John Tippett. But it also makes the material used to process food for companies such as Tyson and Dunkin. “The spacing in our site is much safer than a supermarket,” said Tippett, who added, “I’ve been with this company for 25 years. I’ve never seen anything like this. I can tell you that you can’t close manufacturing down, because that would turn this problem into something far worse.”
W.S. Badger Co., Gilsum 80 employees, 30 in production Badger, which makes a variety of personal care products, was deciding how to move forward in the crisis when contacted by NH Business Review. “If we are asking them to come to work, there has to be a reason,” said Emily Hall Warren, director of administration. At first blush, she said, “I would say sunscreen and diaper cream are essential products, while maybe tinted lip balm is not.” There has been a downturn in business as gift shops and some natural stores shut down, but pharmacies and grocery stories carry their products, and they are sold online. And some workers have also pulled out, taking advantage of the company’s very generous leave policies, to take care of their school-age kids. On March 16, the company closed the administrative part of the operation to work remotely and split production employees into two shifts of 15 — Monday through Wednesday and Thursday thru Saturday — so its workers would be spread out more, allowing time for deep cleaning in between. Instead of several around a table, each employee has his or her own, with clear markers on how to walk to avoid each other. “We are trying to relearn old habits, but it is difficult,” said Hall Warren.
Wire Belt Company of America, Londonderry 100 employees in New Hampshire, 60 in production Wire Belt manufactures conveyor belts used in food processing. Think fish sticks, breaded patties, Big Macs, French fries. “We are obviously an essential business,” said CEO David Greer. But keeping everyone safe is a challenge. Both thermometers and masks are on order, and the company eliminated the overlap between day and night shifts to sanitize and spread out the workforce and is staggering lunch breaks so workers can avoid each other. Already one employee who Greer suspects has the virus is self-quarantined and awaiting test results. But Greer said that health privacy laws prevent him from asking about it. “They don’t have to tell us, but we don’t want them in the building,” he said.
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Gorham Paper becomes a toilet paper hero BY MICHAEL KITCH
Although diarrhea is not among the principal symptoms of the Covid-19 virus, among the most immediate and visible responses to the crisis has been shoppers stripping shelves of toilet paper. Enter Gorham Paper & Tissue, which traces its origin to a sawmill that opened in 1852 and, after being shuffled among a handful of owners for a century, it was acquired by Patriarch Partners in May 2011. Under its new ownership and new name, the mill, one of the few remaining in northern New England, invested $35 million in a machine capable of producing 36,000 tons of tissue a year. And that’s something the Kelley brothers, Mark and Barry — who own White Mountain Lumber Company and Ace Hardware and Building Supply and operate a sawmill on the east side of Berlin — were quick to remember. Mark Kelley recalled that on Thursday, March 19, his brother Barry dropped by the hardware store and noticed there was little toilet paper on the shelves. Kelley checked with Ace and other suppliers to no avail. Remembering that the mill had produced tissue, he called Wayne Johnson, financial officer at the mill. Johnson said that Gorham Paper & Tissue makes 2,000-pound “parent rolls” of toilet paper, which are shipped to converters where they are “cut, sliced, embossed and packaged” into toilet rolls. For several years, the mill distributed White Mountain Tissue for the retail market. “Our biggest customer was Walmart,” he said. In 2017, rising demand for toilet paper in developing countries, including China, drove the price of pulp — about half the cost of making tissue — to “skyrocket,” he said. Johnson said when Walmart refused to adjust its wholesale pricing, the mill abandoned the retail market. When Kelley called, Johnson told him some White Mountain Tissue remained and he would send him three units — four-by-fourby-four blocks of 45 packages of 20 rolls apiece, or 900 rolls altogether. Kelley said a corrections officer spotted the truck laden with toilet paper as it reached the store, jumped out of his car to become the first customer. “I had 20 people in the store right away,” he said, “and between 3 and 5 o’clock had sold 1,800 rolls.” When Johnson asked if he wanted more, Kelley took another nine units, and by the beginning of the following week the mill had delivered 20 units. “Between Thursday and Tuesday, 17 of the 20 units were sold,” Kelley said. The mill also delivered to the Berlin Marketplace and Caron Building and Rental Center as well as donated tissue to Androscoggin Valley Hospital, where Kelley said a woman had scoured restrooms and made off with several bags of toilet paper. Kelley said word of his bounty quickly spread on social media. He said that after a customer of his lumberyard from Exeter heard the news, he drove to Berlin to get some. The company’s prompt and generous response to the shortage moved U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen to express her appreciation in remarks on the floor of the Senate chamber. Johnson said the experience has led him to explore returning to the retail market. He said that, in the past, the parent rolls produced at the mill were converted at a plant in Long Island, with other facilities in Maryland and Pennsylvania. However, he said that a less distant facility in Maine may offer a more economically viable alternative to putting White Mountain Tissue back on the shelves.
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FROM PAGE 9
MilliporeSigma, Jaffrey Over 1,000 employees, roughly 600 in production MilliporeSigma’s Jaffrey site makes filtration devices and membranes used for the discovery and manufacturing of a number of drugs, including vaccines. About 40% of the workforce is working remotely, while the company uses temperature checks and shift changes. So far “no confirmed cases at this time,” said David Poggi, head of the plant’s operations, but he did not elaborate further. “This is probably going to get worse before it gets better,” he added. “Our production is critical to the crisis. Our employees are one of the many heroes on the battlefield of work to keep this society afloat.” SoClean’s Facilities Manager Brooke Joseph, left, and Eric Burbank, vice president of operations, stand in front of boxes of masks at the warehouse in Peterborough, ready for donation.
Homefree, Windham 23 employees, most involved in production Homefree makes cookies “that everyone can enjoy” because the company makes sure that they contain no ingredients that could trigger severe allergies. Like the makers of all food products, it is considered an essential business. The company already has the highest standards in terms of sanitation; not a speck of contaminants gets into the food, which is distributed on campuses and at hotels and conferences, all of which has been put on hold. “We are taking this one day at a time,” said Jill Robbins, the company’s founder and president. The company also has had supply problems. The special film to wrap around the cookies, a strong oxygen barrier that keeps them fresher and thereby less in the need of preservatives, comes from Asia. Last she heard, the shipment is stuck somewhere in India. She was able to find a local supplier, which indicates how manufacturing is interconnected. “It’s not just the supermarkets that need to stay open, we need to keep the whole chain flowing.”
Worthen Industries, Nashua 200 employees, 60 to 70 in production Worthen manufactures adhesive chemicals and fabrics for such uses as EKG pads. There is a rush on those orders, while others are being put off. The result? “We are shockingly steady. We prioritize the pads. Hospitals are going to have those pads.” The company has been able to get supplies for production, but not medical supplies. It makes its own hand sanitizer, donating extra to local nonprofits and local manufacturers. Worthen’s biggest concern is that they might run out of alcohol, used not only for the sanitizer but also as a key ingredient of the chemicals in production. Digital thermometers are on order. And despite the need for workers, the company has sent everyone over 60 home because they are at high risk. Already one person called in with a temperature and self-quarantined. He got tested, but the two weeks were up before he got the results back. “He may never get those results,” Worthen said. Bob Sanders can be reached at bsanders@nhbr.com.
Up to the coronavirus challenge
NH businesses, organizations do their part to support the community Throughout New Hampshire, businesses and other organizations are joining in the effort to take on the Covid-19 pandemic. Here’s a roundup of just some of the actions being taken.
Masks for New Hampshire A private-sector initiative to supply at least 250,000 masks to New Hampshire healthcare facilities has been launched with an initial donation to Monadnock Community Hospital in Peterborough and Cheshire Medical Center in Keene. The effort, dubbed Masks for New Hampshire, is being led by Peterborough-based SoClean and several private donors. The group has plans to provide upwards of 20,000 masks a day to small healthcare communities in need of supplies. “Masks for New Hampshire is focused on filling the gap between now and April 17 and get masks to New Hampshire while larger traditional supply chains get up and running,” said John Gargasz, who is managing this much-needed effort with a diverse group of resources. In addition to SoClean, donors include the Wilkins family, the Pierson family, the Gargasz family, the Daly Family, Borealis Ventures and Jeremy and Liz Hitchcock.
From candles to face shields With medical personnel and first responders urgently asking for additional personal protective equipment to combat the coronavirus pandemic, Alene Candles transformed its Milford-based production facility so it can assemble 10,000 face shields. Once completed, the face shields will be donated to first responders and healthcare facilities in New Hampshire and Maine. “Our team could not sit by while doctors, nurses and first responders do everything they can to combat the coronavirus pandemic, all without enough personal protective equipment to keep them safe,” said Rod Harl, president and CEO of Alene. “Many of our team members have stepped up to make this effort possible — from our supply chain team working nonstop to secure the scarce materials needed to produce face shields, to our operations and engineering team creating a production plan and our candlemakers who are mastering the new assembly procedures to create the shields. This is truly a team
effort to give back to our community.” Alene located a face shield design from John Hopkins University and then its supply chain team got to work identifying suppliers, eventually partnering with Thermoformed Plastics of New England in Biddeford, Maine. Thermoformed Plastics offered to donate the plastic to Alene if they would also give face shields to Biddeford’s Emergency Medical Services. Alene also plans to donate face shields to first responders in Milford and neighboring communities and hospital groups in Concord and Nashua. To request face shields produced by Alene Candles, contact faceshields@alene.com.
ConvenientMD-Anthem team up on testing ConvenientMD and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in New Hampshire have partnered to open a Covid-19 testing site at Pease International Tradeport. The site is across the street from ConvenientMD’s headquarters. Anthem’s financial support will allow ConvenientMD to provide testing for Covid-19 on a much larger scale, the companies said.
$3m in grants to regional nonprofits The Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation is urging New Hampshire nonprofits to apply for more than $3 million in grants to help in their Covid-19 relief efforts. As part the $3 million distribution of funds, the foundation has committed resources to community-focused initiatives, including the engagement of select restaurants throughout the region to provide and deliver takeout meals to families in need and helping to put people back to work. Additionally, the resources are designed to help communities in facilitating access to Covid-19 testing. Besides New Hampshire, nonprofits in Connecticut, Maine and Massachusetts are also eligible. Carson said the $3 million is the foundation’s initial phase in providing community funding support “to meet the immediate needs individuals and small businesses are facing in our communities.” For more information, visit harvardpilgrim.org/foundation.
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FROM PAGE 10
Northeast Delta Dental grants The Northeast Delta Dental Foundation has approved grants totaling more than $170,000 in support of 20 programs designed to improve the oral health of the residents of communities in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. Grants are awarded based on the description of how funds will be used, as supplied by the applying organization. However, given the Covid-19 crisis, the Foundation has notified grant recipients that they have the flexibility to use the funds for more urgent purposes, if it is necessary to do so.
Citizens Bank’s commitment Citizens Bank has made a $5 million commitment to support communities and businesses dealing with impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. The bank’s Covid-19 support effort will have two components: • A Community Support Relief program that will provide charitable contributions to community partners to assist with wider relief efforts. • A Small Business Relief and Recovery program that will provide charitable contributions and other assistance aimed at helping small businesses restore full operations, rehire and recover in the months to come. In addition, Citizens has implemented several initiatives that will enable customers and colleagues to lend their support, including enabling users of the bank’s cash-back credit cards to designate all or part of their cash rewards to the relief and recovery fund.
Eastern Bank’s funding Eastern Bank and the Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation today have committed over $10 million in funding to help offset the impact of the coronavirus in the communities it serves. Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation will target $3 million in financial support to area nonprofit partners focused on Covid-19 relief, while EastJosh Rowsey, an employee at Alene Candles, packs up face shields being produced by the private-label candle manufacturer, which has transformed its Milford production facility to assemble 10,000 face shields to donate to first responders and healthcare facilities in New Hampshire and Maine.
ern Bank has created two loan funds that will provide a total of $7 million to its individual and small business customers experiencing financial hardship as a result of the coronavirus crisis. Specifically, the Consumer Impact Loan Fund will provide $2 million in lending to local individuals and families, and the Small Business Impact Loan Fund will provide $5 million in lending to small businesses.
Tamworth’s hand sanitizer Tamworth Distilling & Mercantile has shifted gears to make scratch-made hand sanitizer in order to best support their remote village during the Covid-19 crisis by donating 95% of their hand sanitizer production to the Tamworth Community Nurse Association. The White Mountain Hand Sanitizer is made with scratchmade neutral grain spirit made on-site by Tamworth Distilling’s team of distillers and will be available to purchase in 16-ounce glass pump containers exclusively at tamworthdistilling.com and artintheage.com for $9 per bottle.
Tufts Health Plan Foundation’s commitment Tufts Health Plan Foundation has identified the first 21 organizations to receive support from the $1 million it has committed to community efforts on behalf of older people affected by the coronavirus in New Hampshire and the other states it serves. The “first wave of funding” addresses food insecurity. In New Hampshire, grants were awarded to: Granite United Way, $15,000; Monadnock United Way, $15,000; New Hampshire Food Bank, $50,000; United Way of Greater Nashua, $15,000; and United Way of the Greater Seacoast, $15,000.
crisis, Granite United Way launched the Granite United Way Covid-19 Relief Fund, with 100% of the proceeds going directly to those impacted by the pandemic. Interested donors can give either online at graniteuw. org; by texting GUWHELPS to 41444 on a mobile device; or mailing a check to Granite United Way, 22 Concord St., Manchester, NH 03101.
Catholic Charities launches Crisis Fund Catholic Charities New Hampshire has created the Catholic Charities NH Crisis Fund, which will provide direct assistance to help individuals and families most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The Catholic Charities NH Crisis Fund will support immediate needs, including: • Emergency financial relief assistance for individuals and families throughout the Granite State. • Food assistance for homebound, disabled and isolated seniors in Greater Manchester, Greater Nashua and the Monadnock Region. • Unplanned childcare expenses for essential healthcare staff across Catholic Charities NH’s skilled nursing facilities statewide. • Access to teletherapy for uninsured individuals struggling with anxiety, stress and unexpected life changes. Catholic Charities NH’s goal is to raise $250,000 for the Crisis Fund by April 17. Initial contributions were seeded through a $100,000 anonymous donation and $10,000 grant from Catholic Charities USA. To donate to the Catholic Charities NH Crisis Fund, visit cc-nh.org/fund.
Granite United Way Covid-19 Relief Fund After being identified by Gov. Chris Sununu as the resource for Covid-19 information, Granite United Way-operated 211 NH information line has fielded thousands of calls from concerned residents. Recognizing needs will continue well beyond the initial
United Way of Greater Nashua’s ‘SHOP UNITED’ United Way of Greater Nashua has launched an online, volunteer-driven grocery shopping platform to address the food needs of individuals and families in the greater Nashua community. People who are quarantined, don’t have access to their usual modes of transportation or cannot get the support of those caregivers who usually assist them with groceries can now access “SHOP UNITED,” a system that allows a person to prepay for groceries, enter a shopping list and have their groceries shopped for and delivered by a United Way volunteer. The system is available in Nashua, Hudson, Milford, Merrimack and adjacent towns. There is no cost for utilizing the service and it works both for customers who can pay via credit card as well as for those who are utilizing public benefits like SNAP. To learn more, visit unitedwaynashua.org.
Unitil aids customers in need Unitil Corp. has donated $225,000 to help customers with their utility bills and other pressing needs through its Customer Assistance & Recovery Effort (U-CARE) Fund and has donated $150,000 directly to Community Action Programs working in its service territories to provide direct utility assistance to residential customers impacted by Covid-19 related job loss or reduced wages. The remaining $75,000 will be donated to Covid-19 based programs at agencies, such as the United Way, to combat food insecurity, homelessness, mental health, and substance abuse, while also supporting first responders.
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Pandemic has made landfall
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So, how was our week?! The virus of the century washed ashore like a nor’easter. With it, we have been washed into the uncharted waters of a generation. It’s high tide. We’re not sure when this tide will ebb and how well the sea walls will hold. We are hopeful. The pandemic is a seminal, shared experience that is akin to the “I remember where I was” events. Our collective subliminal memories, though, will be positively imprinted by those people and organizations that through the firestorm gave us understanding, compassion and a collective sense of hope for the days ahead. In the midst of the vortex, we think of and thank our neighbors who are helping us to get through this. The scientists. The physicians, nurses, medical technicians, and their support teams. The first responders. The grocery and retail workers, supply chain and logistics. The restaurateurs and food service employees who are prepping meals to go. The hospitality workers who are ensuring there are places to stay for those who need to travel. The federal, state and local government employees and leaders who are rallying 24/7 to ensure government continues to provide the necessary services. The longterm care professionals who are caring for our parents and grandparents, and those who are most at risk. The journalists who are working 24/7 to help distribute the essential information. We’re WFH, SFH, CFH (work, school, church from home). We’re finding ways to stay in touch while social distancing. We’re Zooming, Skyping and FaceTiming. These are the gray sky days when we hope the work we have done during the clear sky days to strengthen our organizations, and the people in them, will help us stay on course and weather this storm. We’re making up the playbook as we go … together. There will be tough days ahead. We can’t know for sure what they will bring. We need to be wary of the riptides and undertows that can bring us under. What we do now will help chart the way forward when the tide subsides. Organizations that are rooted in character are committing and providing leadership to their customers, employees, suppliers and communities with empathy, humility and purpose. Authentic, they are being better positioned to emerge from the storm the stronger. They are demonstrating that they are understanding the needs of their customers and will “be with them” as they
progress through the vortex. Consumers respond by finding organizations worthy of their trust. Cases in point are the restaurants and other businesses in New Hampshire that responded to the need for our neighbors who are food-insecure, providing important personal protection equipment for healthcare providers, the distillers who did a twist on making lemonade from lemons with making hand sanitizer from alcohol, Southern New Hampshire University, which provided and released insights to its significant experience with online learning pedagogy available to other higher education institutions. Leaders should continue to ensure the hatches are secure to ride out the storm … while preparing to assess the organization for its ability to adapt to the new normal. Update your SWOT analysis. Reach out to your advisors. Reach out to the amaz-
BY CLARK DUMONT
Corporate Communications ing array of public resources that are at the ready to help. Reach out to your industry thought leaders. Reach out to smart thinkers and academics. Say thank you, support and bolster those on the front line and their families. In fact, if possible, keep an extra eye on the needs of the families so the front line doesn’t have that worry. We are only as good as we are healthy. Leaders need to model the behaviors they desire from those they lead. In times of fear, leaders need to be thoughtful, demonstrating vulnerability while harnessing the strength of our collective courage. Ken Blanchard put the spotlight on “Servant Leadership.” Simon Sinek has updated it with “Leaders Eat Last.” The leadership formula for the immediate days ahead: Observe. Study. Learn. Listen. Act. Communicate. Communicate some more. A New Hampshire resident and native, Clark Dumont is a Fortune 500 communications leader and principal and founder of Dumont Communications LLC. He can be reached at dumontcommunications.com.
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A gift of closely held stock Donations of closely held stock can have a big charitable impact, but timing and planning are critical BY LOIS SHEA
Richard Samuels is a director in the Corporate Department of the law firm McLane Middleton. He concentrates his practice in corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions and securities regulation, including SEC regulation, private securities offerings, formation of private investment funds and registered investment adviser and broker representation. Samuels has helped many clients increase their philanthropic impact by helping them choose wisely about which assets to give. He has extensive experience with assisting clients in giving closely held stock. That stock can be a great philanthropic asset, he said — but timing is critical. “Let’s assume that we’ve got a typical family business with one founder, or the founder and his brother, who own all the shares, so that there are no concerns about other shareholders or investors,” he said. The time comes when they are starting to think about selling, and they would like to share some of the wealth they have generated needs to be carefully executed. with charity. A nonprofit may wish to liquidate the gifted stock His advice: Don’t wait to give. right away, to make immediate use of the value of “As tends to be the case, their basis in their the gift, or may choose to hold the stock own company is nominal. Sometimes until it is liquidated when the comvery close to zero or very small. pany is sold. Typically, there is People start businesses, so ofno market for private compaten, on very close to a shoeny shares, so if the nonprofit string and have grown the chooses to accept the gift, company to have very subit will likely have to hold the stantial value. If they were shares until a sale is comto sell the company in a few pleted. years, they would have a GREATER Thorough planning and capital gain equal to virtually understandings of IRS regthe entire value. ulations surrounding such “The thing that they have to IT H A transactions is critical in either consider is that it is not unusual TH RIT E NE HA case. W H A MP S HIRE C that when a closely held company Samuels worked with one client is sold, the value that the owners get whose carefully planned gift meant that is more than they anticipated.” So giving away some of that value to a nonprofit he was able to make a significant amount available before a sale will lessen that tax burden later — and for charitable giving. He stayed on with his company when it was sold ultimately make more money available for charitato a private equity firm. After that sale, he was ble purposes. Planning ahead is key to both. awarded profits interest (ownership units in an The value of the charitable contribution for tax LLC or partnership, similar to stock) as part of his purposes would be the appraised market value of compensation package. He gave the profits interest to an existing donor-advised fund at the New the shares. The most important thing: “You don’t want to Hampshire Charitable Foundation. If properly structured, the IRS values profits inwait until after the transaction” because while giving afterwards is an option and will be appreciated terests at zero at the time of a transaction, but the by nonprofits, gifts prior to transactions can have value appreciates over time. When the company both greater charitable impact and tax advantag- sold a second time 2 1/2 years later, that asset, now significantly appreciated, was liquidated — makes. Business owners may have concerns about giv- ing more than $200,000 available in the donoring what amounts to part ownership and control advised fund to support good work in New Hampof their company, in the form of stock. Samuels shire communities. A second gift of the same type said that the planning of such gifts — including not provided another $500,000 in charitable dollars. Grants from that fund have supported youth just timing, but also percentage of total holding — OU
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The planning of such gifts — including not just timing, but also percentage of total holding — needs to be carefully executed, says Richard Samuels of McLane Middleton.
sports, a recovery program for people with substance use disorders, adaptive sports programs for people with disabilities and more. Samuels has served on boards of many New Hampshire nonprofits, so he understands the potential — and the potential ramifications — of these kinds of gifts from both sides. From a nonprofit’s perspective, he said, there are also things to consider before accepting gifts of closely held stock. “With respect to all of their assets, the board and management [of a nonprofit] has a high degree of fiduciary duty that, in some cases, could put them at odds with the donor. You want to make sure it is a company that is well-run and run in an ethical manner so you don’t anticipate having to put yourself in an uncomfortable position with the very person who donated.” Overall, contributions of all types of stock to charity are growing nationwide. According to 2016 IRS data, gifts of stock accounted for 44.4% of the value of all donations that year, increasing 13.2% from the year before and totaling $32.7 billion in gifts to charity nationwide. Ultimately, Samuels said, when well-planned, gifts of closely held stock are another way that generous people can help the nonprofits that help their communities. “My view is that nobody donates to charity simply for financial reasons,” Samuels said. “There is always a charitable intent.” Greater Giving is a regular series produced by the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation in partnership with NH Business Review aimed at helping to promote a culture of giving in New Hampshire’s business community. To learn more, contact Richard Peck, vice president for philanthropy at the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, at 800-464-6641 ext. 265, or at richard.peck@nhcf.org.
(Photo by Cheryl Senter)
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Adjusting to a new reality
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We’re living in unprecedented, gamechanging times. The luxuries we take for granted and our seemingly important complaints are all insignificant compared to the current climate that has suddenly overtaken us all and are now slowly becoming accustomed to. It is a trait of human nature that people will feel the full range of emotions now and in the foreseeable future, and that minds will become bewildered and troubled as this crisis unfolds. Within this new reality we must support each other to develop a resilience that enables us to thrive, not only for the sake of our professional and business lives, but also to protect our general well-being, mental health, and to support our community and family life. Having worked at home, in an office, on the road, in hotel rooms and at a distance from the team I directly managed, here are a few simple suggestions on how both employees and leaders can build a proactive approach in the current climate. Build trust There’s no doubt working from home has challenges but it also provides a great degree of flexibility. To maintain productivity and avoid distractions, here are a few tips to build trust, which will long outlast this current crisis and afford you future flexibility: • Establish a routine to your day and agree this with your family members at home. Communicate this with your manager and agree on solutions to any conflicts. • Re-evaluate your goals and objectives on a regular basis. Agree to a set of flexible deliverables with your manager. Communicate your progress on a weekly basis with your manager. • As leaders, listen and discuss routines and tasks with team members and adjust calls to parts of the day which align to as many as possible. • Take the opportunity to cut some meetings. This will serve well in raising productivity long into the future. • Encourage community and family support activities and share them — it will make everyone feel more positive and involved. • It is important that people feel that they are adding value to the business, being valued by the business and, of course, able to feel happy in the business. Learn something Time for personal development often slips away in the day-to-day office envi-
ronment. Once your routines are in place, dedicate some time each week to learn something new that is of particular interest. A few ways to do that are: • Read. Pick a topic and ask colleagues and friends for advice on titles if you’re unsure. Use online networks to get suggestions too. • Identify something that has traditionally drained your time. Find a solution and bring that as a suggestion to your wider team call. It’s pretty likely others will feel the same way and your changes will impact business in the long term. • Find an online course. It’s great to see so many companies converting activities to free online opportunities covering a wide variety of topics. BY SIMON DAVENPORT
Remote Routines Believe in partnerships There are two ways for businesses to respond in the current climate. One is to look inward and purely look after your own business interest. The other is to build partnerships — partnerships where your expertise helps a business in need. Some thoughts on how to do this are: • Offer your expertise for free. This can be as simple as an online meeting, tutorial or course material to support learning or advise those in need. • Develop referral schemes to enable your free activities to reach as many people as possible and test new relationships that could be commercially beneficial at a later date. • Lend out your demonstration equipment. Identify how your products could help someone at this time and put them to good use. With so many events cancelled, having your product put to good use is much better than leaving it sat in storage gathering dust. • Have an open mind. While there may be little short-term commercial reward, the support you provide now will be remembered and outlast this challenge, helping to build your brand credibility. Simon Davenport, founder of United Kingdombased Tech Up & Go Ltd, can be reached at simon@techupandgo.com.
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What comes after the crisis? Questions about the future, when the coronavirus has passed
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What a difference a month makes! In February, notwithstanding distant rumbles about illness in China, the U.S. economy was humming, unemployment was at record lows, the stock market at record highs and politicians were bickering with each other in large numbers. Then, of course, the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S. Gradually, the economy shut down, people were told to settle in place and work remotely, the stock markets tanked, healthcare providers became worried and adjusted their priorities and searched for supplies, and the virus spread to every state. Americans watched President Trump and a group of government officials make daily reports, sometimes contradictory, about what was happening and what was to be done. Governors gradually issued orders basically shutting down their states, and Congress, in relative unity and amazing speed, passed a $2.2 trillion package to help individuals, businesses large and small, and state and local governments. In the middle of a crisis, it is impossible to reach conclusions about what it all means. However, there are some short-term observations many have made, and long-term questions which have to be considered after all this is over, and it will be. First, the immediate observations. One relative of mine, a naturalized U.S. citizen who has fought for his country and succeeded in business in his adopted land, observed early in the crisis, “Americans are resilient and inventive. They will deal with this and survive it, as they have all the other crises in the past.” That is great perspective, especially for young people who did not live through Vietnam, 2008, and for all of us who did not live through World War II or the Depression. Put another way, one writer said, “They asked our parents to go to war. They are asking us to stay home. We can do this.” Everyone has looked to leaders to lead in a crisis. Governor Sununu has given daily reports to the state as to what is going on, has issued executive orders shutting down all but essential services, making schools operate remotely and dealing with a record number of unemployment claims — not to mention much more detailed questions as notarization of documents and whether not-for-profit boards of directors do their work remotely. He deserves high marks. Of course, the main thing is to keep people from getting sick and dying. The progression of the pandemic is worsening every day and the unknown is when the peak will be reached and when the crisis will pass. Second are the long-term questions. Without presuming to know the answers,
or suggesting that the United States will not deal with this successfully, some of them are: • How will all this affect the economy long term? What businesses will not survive, how many jobs will be lost, and what will we look like afterwards, economically? • What institutions, schools, medical facilities and charities will disappear as a result of all this, if any, and what will take their place? • What effect will all this have on governmental operations, faced with less revenue? • How far will the American people go in following leaders who have told them to stay home, close their churches, sporting events and other gatherings? What if those leaders told them they had to cancel elections or political conventions, in the name of staying safe? • What would be the effect of having all elections done by mail, given that the
BY BRAD COOK
Cook on Concord national election is seven months away, and it has taken those states which already vote by mail about a decade to develop and implement their system? • If the federal government can appropriate $2.2 trillion (on top of a $1 trillion budget deficit already in place), how much more money can the Congress spend whenever someone proposes a program or perceives a crisis? (Congress undoubtedly took action this time in the face of a real crisis. The point is that this kind of tool should be available only when there is a real crisis, not part of regular budgeting.) • What has the crisis said about federalism? Is it out of date or rejuvenated because some states are handling this better than others? • How can government be ready next time, without looking for anyone to blame, and taking responsibility at all levels? • When the smoke has cleared, was everything that was done legal? (Think FDR and Japanese Americans or Harry Truman and steel mills.) Obviously, there are many questions and ramifications to debate, after this is over. Stay safe — and stay home. Brad Cook is a Manchester attorney. The views expressed in this column are his own. He can be reached at bradfordcook01@gmail.com.
APR I L 10 - 23, 2020
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New Hampshire nonprofits in a battle to survive skilled nursing facilities; and access to teletherapy for unin- Charitable Trust Unit of the Attorney General’s office resured individuals struggling with anxiety, stress and unex- garding nonprofit operations and meeting laws and what Nonprofits. the Families First Coronavirus Response Act means to nonIt’s clear the numbers for 2020 will be very different, es- pected life changes. The goal is to raise $250,000 for the Crisis Fund by April profits. pecially since the spring is traditionally a time many nonThe center is also hosting a webinar on April 8. profits hold their biggest fundraisers. Many have canceled 17. Initial contributions came from a $100,000 anonymous “We want to make it easy for nonprofit leaders to find or postponed events, while other organizations are trying donation and $10,000 grant from Catholic Charities USA. In the meantime, McDonough said, counselors have what they need,” Reardon said. online versions of their events. had to switch to providing telehealth services The Charitable Foundation’s immediate goals through its NH Center for Nonprofits Executive Direcor over the phone, and their nursing facili- Community Crisis Fund are to address pain and hardship tor Kathleen Reardon said the center conNASHUA REGION LAKES REGION NORTH COUNTRY ties have had to prohibit visitors. for the most vulnerable and to reduce stress on critical sysducted a survey the week of March 23 Meanwhile, such programs as Car- tems like healthcare, emergency response, child care, and about the impact Covid-19 was having ing Cupboard are continuing with food security. To address those needs, the foundation is ofon nonprofits. Of the more than 300 the help of volunteers who drop fering a variety of support, such as: respondents, 85% said they were off food to those unable to leave already experiencing or anticipate • Flexibility for existing grantees, such as waiving deadtheir homes, and the Caring experiencing financial hardships. In lines and granting blanket approval of extensions program is still operating, TOP ROW:50% BUSINESS TECH, ARCHITECTURE, ENGINEERING, HOSPITALS, BANKING, PERSONAL FINANCE,Rides ENERGY addition, of nonprofits report• Immediate unrestricted grants to those serving vulnersaid McDonough. SECOND ROW: FEATURE STORY AND JUMPS, IN BRIEF, FLOTSAM, LAW, OPINIONS, THE LATEST, ABOUT TOWN ed an increase in staff and/or volunable populations But Karen Catholic THIRD ROW: REAL + CONSTRUCTION, EDUCATION, HEALTHCARE, TOURISM, NEWS, CHARITABLE GIVING, MORE Moynihan, ONLINE teer absences andESTATE 67% have had to • Accelerated payments for current grantees Charities senior director of develFORTH ROW: AREA GRAPHICS, another TOURISM choice, CALENDAR, LAST WORD cancel or reduce services. • Strategic grants targeted to homeless service providers opment, said outside groups that “All kinds of revenue streams are and emergency child care typically host fundraisers to supbeing impacted,” said Reardon. “In our The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human port some of their programs, such as survey, 64% said they have canServices has partnered with the Charitable Foundation Liberty House, a substance-free tranceled major funding events, to provide $4 million in federal funding for an Emergency sitional housing community for homeless A survey conductand for some of those it Child Care Collaborative, which will provide emergency veterans in Manchester, have had to change to ed by the New Hampshire counts for more than 25% child care for parents providing essential services during Center for Nonprofits during an online format. of their annual revenue.” Covid-19 such as healthcare workers. the week of March 23 found 85% “We’re still very new into this,” Moynihan said of the Cross Roads House in of nonprofits said they were already “We have 900 child care centers in New Hampshire and changes caused by Covid-19. “We have to see how this Portsmouth, one of the experiencing or anticipate experiencing not all of them will stay open,” Merrow said. is all going to shake out.” state’s largest emergency financial hardships, said Executive Director Kathleen Reardon. shelters, opted to post‘Worst-case scenario’ Covid-19’s impact pone its largest fundraiser, (Photo by Cheryl Senter) The fallout from the disruption of employment and busiBenefit by the Sea, slated for Nonprofit revenue, Reardon said, comes May 2, until Aug. 29. ness operations is yet to be seen, said Rosemary from many sources, including donaHowever, the new event date falls into their Heard, executive director of Concord-based tions, grants and fundraising events, next fiscal year. CATCH Neighborhood Housing. but also program and service “This has been a huge economic hit for us,” said Execu- fees. “We are trying to plan for a worst-case tive Director Martha Stone. “We raise about $400,000 at For example, organizations scenario,” she said. “If 30% of our resithat event, and we were well underway in terms of getting reimbursed for services by dents are unable to pay … we could sponsorships committed.” schools won’t see that monbe looking at $100,000 to $125,000 a In the meantime, Stone and her staff continue to seek ey because the schools have month in lost revenue. So we are trying donations to keep the shelter, which houses an average of gone to remote learning. to determine how to mitigate that.” Merrow also noted that fed110 to 120 people a day, including families as well as single CATCH offers housing and educamen and women. They have a list of needed items on their erally qualified health centers, tion services in Merrimack County by for example, rely on patient website and their Amazon wish list. constructing new affordable housing “It’s a nice way for people who recognize our needs and copays as part of their revenue units and revitalizing existing housing in want to help,” Stone said, adding that financial assistance stream, but fewer patients are an area where affordable rental options are coming in for appointments. Child is their No. One need. limited. It owns and manages 325 rental “Three-fourths of our funding to run the shelter 24/7 care centers are seeing a drop in atapartments for more than 700 children, comes from donations,” she said. “This [pandemic] doesn’t tendance since many parents are workWith so many adults and seniors. Additionally, it ing from home, which is revenue they may not change that for us.” nonprofits struggling has 24 market-rate apartments in recover. while being called upon to downtown Concord. Nearly 40% of New Hampshire nonprofits prodo more, there has never been CATCH will apply for all the loans ‘A time of crisis’ vide health and human services — the folks that a better time to donate, says and relief funding it can, but Heard Catholic Charities NH, which has nearly 1,000 employees, are providing direct care and services on the front Katie Merrow, New Hampshire is concerned about how much her served more than 120,000 individuals last year and was for- line of the pandemic. So far, many organizations Charitable Foundation. organization could get considering tunate to have held its fundraisers before the emergency have seen an increase in the demand for services, (Photo by Cheryl how many others are doing the same declaration. It operates a range of programs, including sev- and thus an increase in expenses. Senter) thing. en skilled nursing facilities, the New Hampshire Food Bank, Reardon and Merrow pointed to Meals on Wheels, “Nonprofits are going to see a big hit,” a sober home, as well as counseling, education, adoption, which has seen an unanticipated increase in the demand she said. “We are going to take advantage of any funding volunteer and immigration services. for food delivery that has spurred greater packaging, food “Obviously in a time of crisis, our mission is really un- and transportation costs, while the number of volunteers that comes down the pike.” However, she is also concerned about her residents and breakable. This brings it to the forefront more than ever has gone down. before that our mission is to serve the poor, vulnerable and “Now they need to increase their financial requests,” others who have lost jobs and incomes. “I am worried about people who get so far behind they may never catch up.” needy across New Hampshire,” said Michael McDonough, Reardon said. With so many nonprofits struggling while being called executive director of marketing and communications. To assist organizations, the Center for Nonprofits has upon to do more, Merrow said there has never been a betCatholic Charities has created a Crisis Fund, which will been in communication with the congressional delegation ter time to donate. provide emergency financial assistance to individuals and and state officials to make sure nonprofits are included in “Give to your favorite nonprofit whether it’s an environfamilies in need; food assistance to disabled, homebound relief packages, said Reardon. The center also will be offering training and has created mental group or an arts group,” she said. “Give to United and isolated seniors in the Greater Manchester, Greater Nashua and the Monadnock Region; child care expenses a Covid-19 resource section on its website to serve as a Way. They have local crisis funds. There will be long-term for essential healthcare staff across Catholic Charities NH’s place for vetted information, including guidance from the effects of this.” FROM PAGE 1
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Tech experts see rewards and risks of remote working place adds extra layers of protection. Twinstate’s Devi Momot said execuUnprecedented risk tives should consider that by impleDuring this abrupt shift online — for menting good security they avoid givthose whose job functions lend them- ing employees the option to make a selves to work remotely — this is also a bad decision. time of increased risk from hackers and “Right now, on a VPN to my business, if I phishing scams. choose to click on a link that’s suspicious, “We had conversations last night with a we have a system in place that sandboxes REGION ratherNASHUA large insurance underwriter and an that in the cloud, executes the function individual I work with at the FBI — they and sends me an error message or it may both are anticipating a big wave of cy- be locked altogether if it’s a known bad bertheft and breaches as a result of ev- IP,” said Devi Momot. erybody just jumping on board and usSecurity considerations extend beyond ing a bunch of new tools to do important unfortunate malware incidents to conTOP ROW: BUSINESS TECH, ARCHITECTURE, ENGINEERING, HOSPITALS, BANKING, PERSONAL FINANCE, ENERGY cern the nature of business data when in SECOND ROW: FEATURE STORY AND JUMPS, IN BRIEF, FLOTSAM, LAW, OPINIONS, THE LATEST, ABOUT TOWN a remote state. THIRD ROW: REAL ESTATE + CONSTRUCTION, EDUCATION, HEALTHCARE, TOURISM, NEWS, CHARITABLE GIVING, MORE ONLINE “As people migrate to remote work, it’s FORTH ROW: AREA GRAPHICS, another TOURISM choice, CALENDAR, LAST WORD important to recognize the risk profile is increasing for the organization because you’re having all of these digital assets leave the organization and behaviors are changing, and at the same time we’re seeing an increase in hackers and remote work,” said Barton of Mainstay. “Not all remote access tolls are secure, we want to look for multi-factor authentication,” often a text message with a code sent to a mobile device to confirm the user as he or she logs in. But employees should not be using their personal devices to connect to the server.
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services firm that has an office in Manchester. To accommodate the extraordinary demand, Systems Engineering reallocated staff that usually handle more technical challenges to assist with simple setups. “User training was a real issue for some folks, because not everybody uses these LAKES REGION NORTH COUNTRY technologies everyday to do their job,” said Molloy, whose staff trained clients on remote meetings and delivering content remotely. While they certainly were not expecting a global pandemic, this is the type of situ-
good work-from-home routines.”
‘User training was a real issue,’ says Todd Molloy of Systems Engineering, as some companies that hadn’t done so before found themselves forced to allow employees to work remotely.
ation managed IT firms have long been preparing New Hampshire businesses for. “When we looked at Day One of starting to get calls from clients, panic-stricken as to what to do, the ones that already thought about business continuity plans and were already in that frame of mind are the ones that really ramped up and got functionality the quickest, if not immediately,” said Devi Momot, CEO of Twinstate Technologies, a New Yorkbased managed IT firm that has an office in Concord. Unprepared businesses and organizations quickly sought to set up individuals to access their virtual private network (VPN), purchased additional product licenses and, in some cases, companies bought laptops at the last minute. “Every role needs to be evaluated to understand the impact of working remotely — how will it impact clients, how do we make sure we have communication internally,” said Ryan Barton, CEO of Mainstay Technologies, based in Belmont and Manchester. “There are three aspects: the first is technical, what tools and methods you need; the second would be security and making sure you’re not taking on enormous risk in this transition; and the third would be culture and how do you support people and have team bonding when people are in this situation with working from home where they may not be practicing
business,” said Momot with Twinstate. Even if legitimate, employees need to be cautious when using “free” applications, she said. “If you look at the privacy statements, it will make your stomach churn — what they’re claiming rights to, what you’re communicating, who you’re communicating with — all sorts of personal stuff. When you look at the requirements of the different states from a privacy compliant perspective, it’s not compliant with that.” Businesses without security measures in place are also particularly susceptible at a time when people are anxious and adapting hastily to new work procedures, as they may be less on their guard when it comes to phishing scams. The World Health Organization has already warned of phishing emails with links to fake landing pages. “They’re actually taking legitimate links,” and redirecting to fake landing pages, said Alissa Momot, marketing coordinator at Twinstate. Especially before logging into a website, she recommends using “your mouse and hover over the link to make sure it’s pointing to where it says it’s bringing you.”
Security considerations With more than 50% of legitimate websites expected to be plagued with malware, having a security system in
Remote-enabling tools Despite the additional risk, “this is a great opportunity for some client businesses to reinvent how they do business,” said Devi Momot. “It’s a push to look outside the box and use new innovative concepts and tools, but go into it with our eyes wide open.” Many vendors, including Microsoft, are offering free trials, providing businesses with a chance to test out their cloud services. Momot reminded employers to set up protocol for where to archive information collected via any tool. “In many of the free tools, it’s tied to the individual with the free element … when companies are thinking about the organization of the tools, it’s not about the immediate impact of getting the job done, it’s about the bigger picture,” she said. “It’s especially critical for companies and organizations that have regulations about what they store, where they store it, when do they delete it and what proof do they have that they deleted it.” And cloud-based services have better enabled employees to work from afar. “By nature of their service delivery model, cloud-based SaaS [software as a service] tend to be more enabling for remote workforces,” said Molloy. It’s less
Cybersecurity should be a major concern of employers instituting remote working, says Devi Momot of Twinstate Technologies.
”There’s a real risk to letting people use home computers for the remote access. You don’t know how infected those are,” said Barton. On the other hand, a company device has layers of security in place as well as patches to close weak spots in the network. “At Systems Engineering, we have a policy — there is zero customer data or personal data on your device. It lives on our corporate network or secure cloud delivery models,” said Molloy. “Your employees are downloading stuff and using unauthorized apps to do their jobs. Without a policy about having authorized technologies used, you have risk there.”
about where the server lives. We’re really more enabled to define work as something you do, not a place you go to. Those cloud-based applications and connectivity and security lets you work where you need to work, not necessarily in a building somewhere that used to be the icon for work.” “I think what we’re seeing now is customers that were more resistant to looking at cloud solutions are starting to see the benefit of them,” said Joe Tibbetts, general manager of GSC IT Solutions in Manchester. “Especially where you need to quickly pivot to a remote workforce environment and make sure things are accessible.”
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He noted employees’ internet service can impact the usability experience, but largely found cloud-based applications to be a stronger security option as well. “When things are premise-based, the only way you’re getting to data is connecting back to that site, a point-to-point or VPN, whereas if you’re already using a cloud-based service, they already put the right security, those things are already baked into those services,” said Tibbetts.
Culture shift Working remotely for a lengthy amount of time will definitely have an impact on work culture. After all, once the applications have been set up, people will be more likely to utilize them. “We certainly are seeing a tremendous embrace of remote work, including organizations that were historically resistant to it, and it’s probably here to stay — the flexibility people are going to have after this,” said Barton with Mainstay. “I think business leaders will put less premium on in-person meetings,” forecasted Barton, who noted he’d recently had productive meetings with his employees via Microsoft Teams as well as introductions to new clients via video chat. “Normally it involves a lot of travel and food and a lot of time. Obviously, we value getting to-
While initially some employers were resistant to remote working, ‘we certainly are seeing a tremendous embrace’ of the practice, says Ryan Barton of Mainstay Technologies. gether for the relationships, but the needle will move toward remote more often.” “I think its inherent this has forced companies to think differently, to adopt different policies and see how they work,” said Tibbetts of GSC IT. “While a high percentage of businesses will go back to what they’re doing, it’s going to open their eyes to a more flexible work option because — forget about the day-to-day benefit — adopting those things allows you to quickly pivot when you need to. If you already adopted a work-from-home policy, this wasn’t a big change to your day-to-day operations. This is so foreign to a lot of companies that were unwilling
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or didn’t want to entertain people working from home. Some of it is pure culture, if you will.” Employers and managers may wonder if employees are working as productively at home as in the office. There’s a balance every employee needs to find when working from home. Momot notes employees should not skip lunch, tied to their desk to prove they are accessible during work hours, nor should they go one and a half hours without a response. Naturally, there are social and psychological challenges to working remotely every day.
Barton notes employees should remember to stick to their normal routine of showering and getting dressed out of PJs. “Turn on your web camera for meetings as much as possible, because it’s nice to see a face, otherwise we’re not seeing faces all day,” he says. “Watch the mental health. When you’re walking around the office, you can tell when someone’s having a bad day.” Molloy, however, was hesitant toward embracing a fully remote culture. “I like to manage by walking around, and I think what we’re also going to realize: culturally, work is part of community that sustains a lot of things in your life and, from a professional perspective, there is great value of what we call in the office, collision of conscience — having conversations in a meeting and somebody lingers and you have a dynamic engagement that might not happen if you’re all remote and alone. This will highlight both elements of productive culture.” By continuing to allow employees to work from home a few days a week, employers may be able to optimize employee productivity. A 2017 study by Stanford University of 16,000 workers at a Chinese travel agency found a few days working remotely boosted productivity as employees took shorter breaks, had fewer sick days and took less time off. Liisa Rajala can be reached at lrajala@nhbr.com.
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NH OPINIONS
‘In order to preserve our future’
Common Man’s Alex Ray explains steps taken to face challenge of coronavirus HOSPITALITY ● BY ALEX RAY
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n almost 50 years of providing hospitality in New Hampshire, we’ve never found ourselves facing the times we are today. The mandate for restaurants to close and move to takeout/delivery, paired with recommended social distancing due to the coronavirus, has had a tremendous impact on our entire Common Man family — our restaurants, inns, KING, PERSONAL ENERGY FlyingFINANCE, Monkey, The Barn on the Pemi, events, spa, store ONS, THE LATEST, ABOUT TOWN and all of our support teams. RISM, NEWS, CHARITABLE GIVING, MORE ONLINE The most painful for me has been the need to furlough ORD 650 of our staff, who we call our STARS, as we consolidated our operations to seven of our 16 restaurants across New Hampshire. In these unprecedented times, we’re making difficult decisions daily, so that we can emerge intact when we are on the other side of this global crisis. With every challenge comes the opportunity to be innovative, and we’re working every day to be creative
while continuing to support our staff, our guests and our communities. To support our staff members, we continue to offer family meals for all employees. Chefs at our open restaurants prepare a home-cooked, fresh meal daily, and our staff can call and order takeout for their household, at no charge. In the past week, we’ve provided more than 1,400 meals to our STARS. The Common Man has also donated $10,000 to our Employee Emergency Assistance Fund, and we continue to donate all gratuities left on takeout orders to that fund. We extended health benefits and we’re creating delivery positions to get takeout orders to guests while securing hours for staff. In partnership with the New Hampshire Lodging and Restaurant Association, and in support of fellow hospitality workers across the state, we’ve committed $10,000 to the newly created New Hampshire Hospitality Employee Relief Fund. This fund provides one-time grants to employees of the hospitality industry who have been
impacted by Covid-19. Our new initiative, Feed it Forward, gives our takeout guests the opportunity to make a donation that will be allocated to feeding those in need in our communities. For every $10 we collect, we will prepare and deliver two home-cooked meals, in coordination with local agencies, to ensure the meals are brought to those who need them most. We have no way of knowing how long this pandemic will last, nor how long it will affect our communities, our staff and our overall business. We’re taking things day by day, and trying the best we can to put measures in place now in order to preserve our future. Please take care of each other, your families and your communities, and focus on being safe and healthy. For 49 years we’ve done well by doing good. Let’s keep that going together. Alex Ray is owner of Ashland-based The Common Man Family of Restaurants.
Believing in the common good during a pandemic Let’s not use the CDC’s guidelines as an excuse for emotional distancing COMMUNITY BY PHIL WYZIK
T
he world finds itself with a public health emergency brought on by the mysterious and stealthy coronavirus. The unprecedented disruptions this pandemic has brought about are something out of a science fiction movie, but they are all too real.
One question to think about is this: Will this massive influence on all of us bring out the worst in us or the best? Neither the government nor the public health systems and front line healthcare workers valiantly stepping up to address the emergency will be able to predict the answer. I think that the determining factor will be found in something that nowadays is overlooked and fundamental to American democracy that’s closely linked, believe it or not, to mental health.
To understand what I mean, know that French aristocrat and scholar Alexis de Tocqueville observed in 1831 that the success of America’s experiment in a new way of government, something the world had never seen before, rested upon important ideals. One of them was whether or not people believed in the notion of the “common good,” that we’re all in this together. Without that, he said, we would not have a society — we’d only be a collection of isolated individuals ripe for any despot to prey upon. It seems that the way we cope with Covid-19 puts the question to us in a dramatic way: Will people do just what they themselves need to do during this trying time to stay healthy; or will they attend to the needs of others? Already, we can easily find examples of the first reaction. While we have heard about price gouging for things like hand sanitizer and panic buying of things like toilet paper, there’s another ugly side of people’s reaction to Covid-19, less noticed but, in my opinion, equally as threatening as the nasty virus that can make us sick. It’s called stigma. People like me who have connections to the field of mental health and recovery know a lot about stigma. It happens out of fear; it shows itself as discrimination, prejudice and avoidance of certain people deemed to be outcasts or outsiders. It can fall upon people of
a certain race, nationality, economic background or religious belief. People who face a health challenge can face stigma too. It looks like avoidance and rejection, covert denials of basic rights, and even physical violence. The CDC says that stigmatization is especially common in disease outbreaks. I suggest that we guard against that too. Sometimes, this social shunning even falls upon healthcare workers and first responders who put themselves at risk each day. Neighbors and friends can keep them at bay, but now is the time they need our emotional support too. As we follow recommendations for social distancing, let’s not use these guidelines as an excuse for emotional distancing. When someone we know gets quarantined or sick, we should remember to reach out by phone or email and see what we might do to help with things they might need. When stocking our own shelves, don’t forget about those who might not have the means to get food beyond tomorrow. Let’s remember that isolation can mean loneliness for some people which, as new research shows, is as dangerous to health as the consequence of nicotine. So do you believe that “we are all in this together”? We’ll all soon find out. Phil Wyzik is CEO of Monadnock Family Services in Keene.
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Homeless shelters face daunting challenges Stretched resources make their job that much harder SUPPORT SERVICES BY CATHY KUHN
R
ight now, New Hampshire’s approximately 40 homeless shelters report being at capacity with long waiting lists for entry. Given the sudden and unexpected challenges we all face as a state community, these shelters face uniquely precarious new challenges. Our homeless facilities are built to handle this population as a group, which means our participants share space for every service we provide, whether that’s meals, sleeping quarters, restroom facilities and so on. Conservative estimates suggest that each night almost 1,400 men, women and children sleep in one of our shelters, or they experience unsheltered homelessness sleeping on sidewalks, in tents, abandoned buildings or other places not meant for human habitation. Many more are precariously housed, sleeping on couches or on floors in the homes of friends or families. This is a transient population who are not only at increased risk of contracting
Covid-19, but are also at the greatest risk of experiencing severe health consequences as a result. The New Hampshire Coalition to End Homelessness is partnering with shelter directors, advocacy groups and local and state officials to seek solutions, best practices and ideas for how to navigate this pandemic and protect against the spread of this virus. Our immediate challenge is this: complying with CDC recommendations, such as social distancing, isolation and quarantine, is impossible for people experiencing homelessness. While some smaller shelters may have one or two spaces available for some sort of isolation, most shelters simply do not have the extra space availability to appropriately isolate those who may be highly vulnerable or symptomatic and awaiting test results. Shelters basically need at least four separated spaces to prevent Covid-19 from spreading quickly through our population of participants: • A space for those who have no signs of the virus • A space for those who are medically
vulnerable and need to be separated from others • A space for those showing symptoms and not feeling well but haven’t been tested • A space for those who have tested positive for the coronavirus. In addition, like so many other businesses and nonprofit service agencies, Covid-19 has created extreme staffing challenges in many of New Hampshire’s emergency shelters. We have some staff in quarantine, we have others who face child care issues that prevent them from being able to report to work in-person. We are struggling. Keeping the doors open to continue to serve those most vulnerable in this extreme time of need becomes harder by the day. At the local level, all of our state’s shelters have been partnering with municipal and state officials and nonprofit partners to identify isolation locations and develop plans for staffing these extra facilities. We celebrate the opening of a new overflow facility for patients at Southern New Hampshire University, which we hope to be able to utilize if any of our
Amid crisis, don’t forget the critical job done by recycling and waste industry workers BY JEFF WELD
I
f you spend any amount of time on social media these days, you’re likely familiar with the popular Fred Rogers meme that gets circulated during times of crisis in which he remembers his mother telling him to “look for the helpers.” Much like Mister Rogers’ mother’s intent at the time, the meme is intended to soothe fears and redirect our thinking toward positivity during times of upheaval and despair. Sometimes, it may even encourage people to become “helpers” themselves. As the country moves into uncharted territory thanks to Covid-19 quarantines, school closings and limited access to modern conveniences, we are noticing once again as “the helpers” come to the forefront of our daily lives. In this global pandemic we see our front-line healthcare workers, epidemi-
Cathy Kuhn, chief strategy officer of Families in Transition-New Horizons, is also the director of the New Hampshire Coalition to End Homelessness.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Here’s to the helpers ESSENTIAL WORKERS
participants test positive for Covid-19. We also thank the governor for organizing efforts to seek volunteers to help various nonprofits, like our shelters. For example, in Manchester, we have located spaces to separate our population, but we need volunteers for the 24/7 staffing requirements to make them a reality. Fortunately, none of this is permanent. We have the ideas, we just need the human resources, supplies and space. If we don’t act with purpose and clarity, our chief concern is the loss of life and the prolonged extension of social distancing. Our resources are stretched thin, but I believe in the collective heart of our citizens and our leaders. Please consider helping us care for those among us who have no other options for remaining safe.
ologists and infectious disease experts as the everyday heroes in the effort to limit the spread of the coronavirus and effectively treat those who have already contracted the disease. It’s very similar to when a natural disaster strikes — we see police officers, firefighters, first responders and organizations such as the Red Cross as the most obvious helpers to restore normalcy to affected areas. Rarely, if ever, do we think to look at the essential health and safety services provided by the front-line workers in the waste and recycling industry who are tasked with picking up and safely disposing of society’s least wanted items. These men and women do not have the option to work from home, and they are constantly interacting with a host of challenges and hazards that many of us never consider. They do so with pride, and they do so without requesting attention or thanks.
cycling sorters, plays an integral role in keeping society healthy and safe. Without their efforts, and the infrastructure provided by their employers, pandemic response would be an exercise in futility. As private citizens, we can also play a vital role to help their efforts and improve their safety — tie our trash bags and limit the amount of loose trash in our bins, keep our recycling free of nonrecyclable materials and hazards such as batteries, and be sure to watch out for workers when they are out of their trucks servicing our homes and businesses. So as you look for the helpers during this time of crisis to soothe your fears and find positivity in the chaos around you, don’t overlook the workers in the waste and recycling industry who show up every day regardless of the circumstances to provide key health and safety services and allow virtually every other service to exist.
Everyone in the industry, from drivers and helpers to landfill operators and re-
Jeff Weld is director of community engagement for Casella Waste Systems Inc.
Commitment to community TO THE EDITOR:
As a loyal and devoted beneficiary of your content for decades, you are to be thanked for the tireless work of your staff and editors during the most challenging circumstance of a generation. Your team’s effort to keep us informed and provide us with timely information, while many work remotely, is critical. It is testament to your professionalism and commitment to our community, and I am grateful. One famous tagline is “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” We appreciate you keeping the lights on. Thank you.
Tom Sedoric Rye
Have your own NH opinion? Send it to EDITOR@NHBR.COM
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THE LAW
SECURE Act’s significant retirement plan changes New law has key provisions affecting employers
isfied the age and service requirements, or six months after the date on which the indiThe Setting Every Community Up for Re- vidual satisfied these requirements. tirement Enhancement Act (the SECURE However, time worked before 2020 does Act) makes significant changes — well over not count toward the required three-year 35 — to the tax code rules impacting em- period and long-term, part-time employployer retirement plans. ees are not required to be eligible to receive NASHUA REGION As is often the case with new tax code employer contributions. provisions, the full scope and implications of In order to inform employees how their the provisions will not become completely retirement plan account balances will clear until clarifying regulations are issued translate into income at retirement, the act due to the limited statutory language. Here requires benefit statements to annually inare several of the key provisions impacting clude a lifetime income disclosure. This disRING, HOSPITALS, BANKING, PERSONAL FINANCE, ENERGY employers. closure will estimate the monthly payments FLOTSAM, LAW, OPINIONS, THE LATEST, ABOUT TOWN participant will receive at retirement if ON, HEALTHCARE, TOURISM, NEWS, CHARITABLE GIVING, MORE the ONLINE the plan account is annuitized to provide a e, CALENDAR, LAST WORD retirement Encouraging lifetime income stream. savings By Dec. 20, 2020, the U.S. Department of In order to help part-time employees Labor will issue a standardized disclosure save for retirement, the act mandates Sec- including the assumptions that employers tion 401(k) plan participation for part-time will use in converting participants’ account employees. If the employee has worked at balances to lifetime income streams. The act also includes provisions to facilileast 500 hours per year with the employer for at least three consecutive years and is tate, but not require, retirement plans to at least 21, he or she must be permitted to offer guaranteed lifetime income options make deferrals no later than the earlier of such as annuity products. It encourages the first day of the first plan year beginning employers to offer annuities through insurafter the date on which the employee sat- ance contracts by amending ERISA proviBY JOHN E. RICH JR.
sions that require fiduciaries to act prudently when selecting an annuity provider. The act also provides an optional ERISA safe harbor for plan fiduciaries responsible for reviewing the financial capabilities of insurers offering the lifetime income contracts. The act requires any plans taking advantage of a lifetime income product to include a portability feature, so participants will have the ability to roll the annuity investment into an IRA without penalty.
Multiple employer plans The act significantly changed the existing rules related to multiple employer retirement plans, or MEPs, to allow more employers to participate in them. MEPs which consist of two or more employers that participate in the same plan, are commonly maintained by employers in the same industry that satisfy a required close relationship test. They are used by professional employer organizations (PEOs) to provide qualified retirement plan benefits to employees working for PEO clients. The act’s new pooled employer plan rules permit financial services firms, insurance
companies and other qualified providers to offer unrelated employers a managed retirement plan option under which the sponsoring provider, rather than the employer, bears the compliance burden of operating the plan. These new rules are intended to encourage small employers to adopt retirement plans by lowering costs due to economies of scale and by reducing the compliance burden that employers would otherwise bear.
Other provisions The act increases the business tax credit for retirement plan startup costs to make setting up retirement plans more affordable for small businesses (fewer than 100 employees) and encourages small business owners to adopt automatic enrollment by providing additional tax credits. The act also amended several tax code provisions to simplify the administration of plans that provide employer safe harbor contributions that permit plans to automatically pass discrimination testing. Employers can now treat qualified re-
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tirement plans adopted after the close of a tax year, but before the due date of its tax return, as having been adopted as of the last day of the prior year. Before the act, a plan established after the close of the year could be effective only for the year adopted. This will allow employers to know the tax savings for the prior year before the adoption of a new plan. The act also substantially increases (by a factor of 10!) tax code penalties for late filing of retirement plan tax returns on Form 5500 and IRS Form 8955-SSA, used to report and disclose terminated participants’ benefits to the IRS and Social Security Administration. This article discusses only a few of the SECURE Act and Appropriations Act provisions. Employers and their advisors should review the entire SECURE Act and applicable provisions of the Appropriations Act to determine how they will be impacted. John E. Rich Jr., who chairs the Tax Department at McLane Middleton, can be reached at 603-6281438 or john.rich@mclane.com.
Brooks named new director of Webster Scholars Program Attorney and professor Courtney Q. Brooks has been named the new director of the Daniel Webster Scholar Honors Program at the UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law. She will succeed founding director John Garvey when he retires in May. Launched in partnership with the New Hampshire Supreme Court and the New Hampshire Bar in 2005, the nation’s only bar-alternative program has been hailed as a model for the future of legal education. “I have worked closely with DWS students through the legal residency program and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to further develop their talents,” said Brooks, who has been legal residency director and a longtime students mentor at UNH Law. “They have an innate sense of law because they learn it in real and simulated settings, honing their negotiating, writing, and oral argument skills. Because of the program’s rigorous training, DWS students are clientready, adaptable, and resilient, making them some of the most employable in the job market.” The program provides students with a combination of training and assessment over a two-year period. Assigned bar examiners evaluate students’ performance. Successful students are admitted to the New Hampshire Bar the day before graduation, without having to take the traditional two-day bar exam. This allows graduates to launch their careers immediately. The American Bar Association gave the program an award in 2015, calling it “an exemplary and extraordinarily innovative approach” to legal education.
Workplace Solutions for New Hampshire Employers There is simply no substitute for good judgment and getting things right the first time. That’s where Drummond Woodsum attorneys Mark Broth, Matt Upton and Anna Cole can help. A group of highly specialized attorneys focused on providing human resource professionals with the guidance they need in dealing with personnel matters. We practice law differently. Since 1965.
dwmlaw.com | 800.727.1941 Portsmouth, Manchester, Lebanon, NH
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REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION
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N H B R.C O M
SPONSOR E D BY
NH real estate market faces toughest test Covid-19 crisis brings turmoil, uncertainty to industry LAKES REGION
NORTH COUNTRY
NASHUA REGION
known period of uncertainty — for both buyers and sellers and the jobs of broker/ agents. In February, before the Covid-19 crisis “To nobody’s surprise, there’s a high had yet to be called a global pandemic, level of anxiety among our members, as it ROW: BUSINESS TECH, ARCHITECTURE, ENGINEERING, BANKING,whose PERSONAL FINANCE, ENERGY theTOP New Hampshire residential real estate would HOSPITALS, be with anyone livelihoods SECONDwas ROW:still FEATURE STORYsome AND JUMPS, OPINIONS, said THE LATEST, TOWN market showing signs INofBRIEF, areFLOTSAM, being LAW, disrupted,” DaveABOUT CumTHIRD ROW: REAL ESTATE + CONSTRUCTION, EDUCATION, HEALTHCARE, TOURISM, NEWS, CHARITABLE strength. According to the New Hamp- mings, director of communications forGIVING, MORE ONLINE FORTH ROW: AREA GRAPHICS, another TOURISM choice, CALENDAR, LAST WORD shire Association of Realtors (NHAR), the Realtors Association. “Our members there were 768 closed sales (down 7.2% are trying to get as much information as from February 2019) with an average sale possible and practicing an abundance of price of $289,000, which was up 7% from caution. They are concerned for their clithe same month in 2019. ents and their own well-being. They are Realtors also reported that there were proceeding with and leaning towards 1,350 pending sales, which was up 22.5% caution and putting health and safety first from 2019. which is very heartening.” March and the succeeding months will remotely from home. likely tell a much different story as headWhile some sales and showings are Market ‘on pause’ lines change rapidly and the full public taking place, the business has changed health and economic impact of the panCummings said Covid-19 disruption dramatically, and in ways much different demic plays out to great uncertainty. Though the real estate sector has been became pretty clear in the first couple from the financial meltdown and real esdeemed an essential business per Gov. of weeks of March, when the first posi- tate bottoming of 2007-08. “This is much more dramatic and immeChris Sununu’s statewide stay-at-home tive cases became known in New Hampdiate,” Cummings said. order in late March, like so many indus- shire. NHAR closed its office in mid-March “I wouldn’t call the market frozen right tries throughout the country it has been and canceled all in-person meetings and turned upside down and faces an un- events. NHAR’s seven employees work now,” said Adam Gaudet, president of the BY MICHAEL MCCORD
‘To nobody’s surprise, there’s a high level of anxiety among our members,’ says Dave Cummings, director of communications for the New Hampshire Association of Realtors.
Seacoast Board of Realtors. “It’s more like on pause.” Almost 900 members responded to an association survey sent out the week of March 23-27 to measure the extent of the disruption. (Cummings said typical surveys sent to the 14 real estate boards in the state usually only get 200 replies at most.) The responses provide a snapshot of economic uncertainty, with at best a
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Professional Services.
Exceptional Results.
COVID-19 impact on the New Hampshire real estate market
SurveyMonkey
Q2 How has the coronavirus impacted your business in the past seven days? (Check any answers that apply) Answered: 872
L AVALLEE B RENSINGER A RCHITECTS
CMC H OSPITAL EXPANSION
Skipped: 0
C UBE 3 S TUDIO
THE BOWMAN APARTMENTS
2020
Seller removing hom... Seller cancelling o... Postponing bringing new...
D E S TEFANO M AUGEL A RCHITECTS
Buyer deciding to delay hom...
MEMBERS FIRST CREDIT UNION
tfmoran.com
O PECHEE C ONSTRUCTION C ORPORATION
TRU
BY
HILTON - C ONCORD
Bedford, NH & Portsmouth, NH
Difficulties requesting o... Conducted business thi... 0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90% 100%
ANSWER CHOICES
RESPONSES
Seller removing home from market completely
11.70%
102
Seller cancelling open house
15.83%
138
Postponing bringing new listings to the market
51.38%
448
Buyer deciding to delay home search
63.42%
553
Difficulties requesting or receiving extensions on appraisal and/or financing contingencies
11.01%
96
Conducted business this past week with no coronavirus impact
22.25%
194
Total Respondents: 872
strong recession and high unemployment potential home viewers declaring they looming and a market transformed seem- haven’t traveled overseas in the previous two weeks, haven’t had contact with a ingly overnight. For example: • 63% of respondents said buyers have coronavirus-positive person or have any symptoms themselves. decided to delay a home search. “It’s become a lot more serious, and • 51% of sellers are delaying bringing we’re not sure what to expect,” he said. new listings to the market. 1/1 • 22% said the coronavirus has no impact on their business. Some optimism • 15% of sellers canceled an open house even before the state banned them. In the NHAR survey results for the Sea• 11% of sellers took their homes off the coast, 66% of buyers decided to delay a market. home search and 53% of sellers are deThe Seacoast market (13 towns, from laying listing their homes — both figures Portsmouth to Exeter) was already tight slightly above the state average. and becoming even pricier before the Nationally, the online real estate service disruption. In February, according to the Zillow has closed all of its operations in Seacoast Board of Realtors, single-family the 24 markets it served. And Lawrence home sale volume was the lowest in two Yun, chief economist for the National Asyears and the lack of inventory of homes sociation of Realtors, said strong Febfor sale was historically low. ruary pending sales figures nationally The good news for sellers, and continu- could be a good foundation for a future ing bad news for buyers, is that the three- rebound. month median sale price in 2019 increased “Many of the home sales that are likely more than $100,000 to $493,750. Sea- to be missed during the first part of 2020 coast condominium sales volume was the may simply be pushed into late sumlowest since 2014, but the median sale mer and autumn,” Yun said in a March price was a record-breaking $410,000 for 30 statement. “Numbers in the coming any month on record. weeks will show just how hard the housGaudet said the Seacoast market had ing market was hit, but I am optimistic been tight but strong. Going forward into that the upcoming stimulus package will so much unprecedented uncertainty is lessen the economic damage, and we another matter. While low interest rates may get a V-shaped robust recovery later remain attractive, job uncertainty will in the year.” have an impact on buyers. Cummings said the NHAR will continue Sununu’s order, for example, banned to conduct regular surveys during the real estate open houses so the technol- crisis. Though he doesn’t like making preogy of virtual home tours and other fast- dictions, Cummings said with the new entrack measures, such as online financing vironment, it’s likely that March sales figoptions, will come more into play. He ures would be mixed. Afterwards? “I think said brokers and agents are taking every in April you will see a precipitous drop.” safety precaution, including a form for
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> Brokerage > Property Management > Financial Services
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REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION
Executive orders ease landlords’ concerns As rent payments drop, Sununu explicitly allows some evictions NORTH COUNTRY
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New Hampshire Legal Assistance, though he about half of his 150 commercial tenants. Other landlords have been told a similar said that there has to be some give in this Landlords in New Hampshire are able to story, said Nick Norman, a landlord advo- public health emergency. “It’s a terrible time for most people, but the evict tenants who violate their lease by caus- cate with the Apartment Association of New poorer, you are the more terrible it is,” he said. ing damage to the premises, impacting the Hampshire. “Personally, I think most tenants are good “Every link is stressed. But we are sympathethealth and safety of their fellow tenants, or if TOPabandon ROW: BUSINESS TECH, ARCHITECTURE, ENGINEERING, HOSPITALS, BANKING, FINANCE, ic for what the landlords are experiencing tenants and will try to payPERSONAL something or workENERGY they the property. They and homeSECONDalso ROW: FEATURE STORY IN BRIEF,out FLOTSAM, LAW, OPINIONS, THE LATEST, ABOUT TOWN and would support any measure that will help payment plans, but there are going to be owners may be able to AND putJUMPS, off paying THIRD ROW: REAL ESTATE + CONSTRUCTION, EDUCATION, NEWS, CHARITABLE GIVING, MORE ONLINEhurting others more.” them without bad HEALTHCARE, players thatTOURISM, purposely won’t pay their their property taxes. FORTHChris ROW:Sununu AREA GRAPHICS, another TOURISM choice, LAST WORD rentCALENDAR, and attempt to live there for free. Not Gov. issued the two executive orders — Nos. 24 and 25 — in part in response across the board, but for landlords, there is a Closed courts to landlords concerned that their hands were strain,” he said. Norman said that the governor’s office tied by Sununu’s order on March 16 (order No. reached out to discuss their concerns and 4) that simply banned all evictions and fore- ‘A terrible time’ “we were pleased that they called us and lisclosures. In late March, the group sent an email to the tened to our solutions.” On March 16, Gov. Chris Sununu ordered a governor asking for help, perhaps to curtail He said the order addressed “some of our halt to all evictions, foreclosures and utility his order to help them when it comes to late top priorities” and while there are still many shutoffs, but made it clear that everyone was fees on their mortgage and tax payments. other concerns, “We pleased he took this first still obligated to pay. However, many tenants “Honestly, I think the governor had good step.” can’t pay, or think they don’t have to. Norman is also asking that evictions be al“The day he issued that order, I get 45 calls intentions,” said Mike Bunie, a Manchester landlord with 149 units who helped write the lowed to proceed, but that the writ of posthat they are not going to pay the rent beletter to Sununu. “He was just trying to presession — the last step of eviction that allows cause the governor said they didn’t have to. vent people getting booted out. But it was the sheriff to physically remove the tenants — It’s a total misinterpretation,” said Manchester done so quickly, it led to unintended conseto be halted instead. The reason is that before developer Dick Anagnost, who owns several quences. It could have a cascading effect on they get to the last step, state law requires residential and commercial buildings in New us and our debtors.” that landlords and tenants work out a payHampshire. After reaching out to his tenants, Some of those demands seem “reasonment plan, which if the tenant follows “would he learned that nearly 40% of his residential able,” said Elliot Berry, a tenant advocate with mean that the landlord got something.” tenants wouldn’t be paying their rent and
BY BOB SANDERS
Landlords also are asking for a grandfather clause, allowing evictions that were begun for nonpayment before the governor’s order, or before the pandemic crisis hit. “I have one tenant who hadn’t paid rent in three months,” said Bunie. “I can’t get this tenant out now, and we were on the one-yard line.” Berry said that such requests are fair, though may not be possible during this public health crisis. For one, the courts are not open for most proceedings, including landlord-tenant disputes. He also thought that even if the courts could proceed, some evictions shouldn’t, such as evicting tenants so you can sell the building. “That’s not going to cut it in this crisis,” Berry said.
Homelessness concerns Another thing that landlords are asking for, and tenant advocates support, is some help for tenants in paying their bills. Most tenants are already getting help — increased and extended unemployment benefits with expanded eligibility — for those who lost their jobs as well as a $1,200-per-adult fed-
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FROM PAGE 26 eral check (and $500 per child) for anyone who filed taxes. But it may take a little time for that money to get into tenants’ bank accounts, and besides, not everyone will put the cash toward rent, perhaps having more pressing expenses, especially considering they don’t have to worry about evictions. The state did create a $2 million fund to help tenants with emergency rent, said Elissa Margolin, director of Housing Action NH. It is similar to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, program for utility bills, with the money going directly to landlords. But the fund is not up and running yet. While some banks and mortgage companies are waiving some late fees, Norman would like to see them all waived. The federal government is considering such a program for federally backed mortgages, but Norman noted that most loans to multifamily landlords are private commercial loans. Landlords were pleased with the governor’s executive order that allows — but does not require — municipalities to waive interest charges during the state of the emergency, another measure that landlords were asking for. Berry supported these measures, but only if late fees are waived for tenants as well. All this is well and good, said Bunie, but landlords have other expenses, like insurance and maintenance. Indeed, said Anagnost, he has found that maintenance expenses are increasing in the coronavirus crisis. People used to be at work 10 hours a day. “With shelter in place, things are getting a lot more use, they are taking a beating, toilets overflowing and such. We seem to be getting calls every day,” said Anagnost.
Federal help Commercial tenants that are affected require less maintenance, but they are invoking a standard lease in their clause that allows them to get off the hook when it
comes to rent when their business is shut down because of a national emergency. Unfortunately, he said, insurers are denying landlord claims that the virus should be included in such claims. Anagnost said he is extending commercial tenants’ leases so that he can get paid on the back end, “but you still have to pay.” The federal government may provide some relief here too, said Rick Blais, a landlord advocate who also works with nonprofit housing organizations. The first wave of emergency federal help in the crisis created a maximum $2 million emergency Small Business Administration loan with a fixed rate of 3.76% that you don’t have to pay back for 30 years. The latest package from Congress offers forgivable loans, not just to employers that keep on or rehire staff but businesses that have unpaid rent and incur other expenses due to the crisis. The details and rules of that program have yet to be revealed. The important thing, Blais said, is to communicate and pay what you can until the aid starts flowing. “There is a big misnomer out there that you don’t have to pay rent,” Blais said. “You have to pay, but most landlords will be willing to work with you. If you don’t have enough for the mortgage, you need to talk about this.” Indeed, there is concern from both landlord and advocates of tenants who think they don’t have to pay and then find themselves with a large debt when the eviction order lifts. “We want to avoid a second homeless surge,” said Margolin. Norman said it would have helped if Sununu kept landlords more in the loop before issuing the eviction order. “What concerns us the most is that they are putting out these emergency orders without consulting people that it affects,” he said. “We are happy that the governor is changing the order suspending all evictions, and we believe there would be further orders that will address needs of landlords and tenants.” Bob Sanders can be reached at bsanders@nhbr.com.
NH contractors urged to donate personal protective equipment Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health has issued a request to contractors and others to donate any expendable personal protective equipment they may have to help address the local and national shortages faced by healthcare providers as they battle the coronavirus pandemic. D-HH, umbrella organization for several healthcare facilities around New Hampshire including Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, said it’s looking for masks, face shields, isolation gowns, gloves and hand sanitizer. “Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health facilities have already made strategic adjustments to best utilize our supplies but as this situation gains momentum we will need to address our depleting stock,” said Joanne M. Conroy, CEO and president of D-HH. “No donation is too small.” She said donations can be dropped off to the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Service Center building located at 52 LaBombard Road North, Lebanon. Drop-off items will be accepted 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Monday-Friday and 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday. If you would like to make donation arrangements for pickup or drop-off at an alternative location anywhere in New Hampshire or eastern and central Vermont, contact Dave Coombs, D-H supply chain manager, at 603-650-4217.
BOULOS IS HERE FOR YOU. We are all in this together and we are prepared to assist our clients and community. FOR REAL ESTATE INSIGHTS ACCESS OUR PODCAST AT BOULOS.COM/THE-BOULOS-BEAT
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REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION
The role of counties in NH’s property tax system Current system raises issue of equity and proportionality in assessments NORTH COUNTRY
LAKES REGION
NASHUA REGION
level. Determination of how the rate is cal- and each valid arm’s-length property sale culated is at the state level, where some is partitioned by subtracting the estimathave legislated split rates among proper- ed land value from that market sales price, Without a broad-based income tax or a ty classes. Others tax at a fraction of as- leaving a residual value to the improvesales Hampshire chooses to ENGINEERING, rely sessedHOSPITALS, value, employ exemptions, ments. The assessor then estimates the TOP tax, ROW:New BUSINESS TECH, ARCHITECTURE, BANKING,limits, PERSONAL FINANCE, ENERGY onSECOND property as the source circuit-breakers, currentTHE use, homestead ROW: tax FEATURE STORYprimary AND JUMPS, IN BRIEF, FLOTSAM, LAW, OPINIONS, LATEST, ABOUT TOWNnew cost of the same improvements. The toTHIRD fundROW: education, placing it in the top deductions and TOURISM, credits for engineering tax differential is an implied reductive ratio REAL ESTATE + CONSTRUCTION, EDUCATION, HEALTHCARE, NEWS, CHARITABLE GIVING, MORE ONLINE property taxAREA states in the another U.S. The state,choice, FORTH ROW: GRAPHICS, TOURISM CALENDAR, LAST WORD liability. between the two. through judicial and legislative effort, Applying this so-called market abstracworks diligently to achieve equity and proEach property tax jurisdiction is required tion method to the population of importionality in an ad valorem scheme. to maintain and report a current real prop- proved taxable parcels and adding back Ratio studies are employed to assure erty assessed value for each taxable and the estimated value of the site as if vacant, these goals are met. The process starts at non-taxable parcel using recognized ap- the assessor sets assessed value estimates the local level, where each municipality or proaches to value. This is segregated be- within prescribed ratios of market value. local governmental entity employs an as- tween land and improvements. sessor and/or an approved assessment State law requires that each parcel Methods used to test variability include company and applies valuation methods be valued as if vacant at its highest and price-related differential and coefficient of and techniques following New Hampshire best use. The assessor must inventory dispersion. Complete reassessment cycles Department of Revenue Administration all recent vacant land sales, and design every five years, or less, or some other rules. In New Hampshire, local control is a sales comparison matrix around the form of rolling reappraisal should result in jealously guarded as the beginning point elements of value and apply to each current assessments that are within close for assessment, with the state in the sup- taxable parcel, improved or vacant. Where tolerances of market value. Unfortunately, port role. There are states where the coun- there are improvements to the land, this is usually not the case. ty level is the initial oversight of assess- they are valued using a combination of A simple review of the previous year’s ment. sales comparison and cost approach to newly assessed values of property that When it comes to setting local tax rates, value. sells in subsequent months will show the the largest portion is at the town or city Improved property sales are researched, disparity. There are superior valuation BY STEPHEN WHEELOCK
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methods to achieve the equity taxpayers deserve. The property class of commercial, industrial, utility and telecommunication are a sought-after source of tax revenue. Using the cost and sales comparison approaches to value, the assessor seeks to employ the income approach to value. This method requires an understanding of how much operating income is attributable solely to the property. Estimates of the net operating income before tax and depreciation are capitalized into an indication of property value. Documented buyer calculus of these various properties, such as a hydroelectric facility, may include Federal Energy Regulatory Commission licenses and supply contracts. In commercial retail property, goodwill, going-concern, personal property, reservation systems and other intangibles are items that may be reported in the sales price record. As these intangibles are not included as taxable in real property tax law, errors in capitalization rates and operating income employed will result in over-valuation and disproportionate assessment. Given the increased complexity of valuation and application of court decisions, a case is postulated to modify some of the assessment and appeals processes now in place. The entity employing sophisticated geospatial techniques with statistical methods and large databases is best equipped to achieve equity and proportionality in the assessment process. The Property Tax Department in the Department of Revenue Administration should acquire, or be able to, the tools necessary to assist the 10 counties with the valuation process for each of the 221 towns and 13 cities, diminishing redundant systems and costs for each town or city. Local assessors are able to perform field data collection with the assistance of the county. Initial informal review would be with the local assessor limited to recording or amending factual property data. The first level of formal appeals would be at the county level. Appealed county decisions would be at the state level, either through the Board of Tax and Lane Appeals or the courts. Administrative methods of review between the state and the county/town level would be established. Data needed to assist local government in setting their tax rates would continue to come from local permitted construction data and county/state sources. Stephen Wheelock is CEO of Whelok Group Property Tax Surveyors LLC, a cohort of real estate and tax consultants specializing in commercial, institutional and industrial properties. He can be reached at taxsurveyors@gmail.com.
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QA &
INTERVIEW
BY JEFF FEINGOLD
‘This is a rapidly changing crisis, and I believe it’s really important that Congress not rest on its laurels,’ says U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of a potential fourth phase of coronavirus-related relief funding.
This agreement certainly isn’t perfect, and implementation will be a big challenge. I’m encouraging the Trump administration to quickly and thoroughly get this assistance out to small businesses, while keeping a watchful eye for waste,
U.S. Sen.
Jeanne Shaheen Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, New Hampshire’s senior U.S. senator, was among a bipartisan group of senators who negotiated the provisions that focus on the needs of small businesses in the recently enacted federal CARES Act. She recently discussed the measure with NH Business Review.
fraud and abuse. In the Senate, I’m calling for stringent oversight to help correct any unforeseen issues that come up.
n Q. What
n Q. What are the most essential things New Hampshire small businesses should know about what’s available to them in the CARES Act?
A. This is an incredibly challenging time for small business owners and I know many of them are staying awake at night wondering how they’re going to get through this. Here are the questions we tried to answer as we negotiated this bill: How can we provide relief that keeps businesses afloat and keeps employees on payrolls? And how can we do this in a way that doesn’t saddle businesses with overwhelming debt after this crisis is over? One of the most important pieces of it was the creation of a new program — the Paycheck Protection Program. It is a nearly $350 billion program that will provide eight weeks of cash flow assistance to small businesses through 100% federally guaranteed loans. If these small businesses maintain their payroll, the loans will be forgiven. This new law is also retroactive to Feb. 15, so that small business owners have an opportunity to bring back employees who have been recently let go because of the crisis.
A. Small businesses that are struggling should stay in touch with their financial institutions that are authorized to administer SBA loans, as well as their local Small Business Development Center, Women’s Business Centers and Minority Business Centers, which provide no-cost advising and education. We boosted funding in this new law for these centers so that they are equipped to offer additional counseling, training and related assistance to businesses impacted by Covid-19. The SBA recently issued the paperwork that needs to be filled out to apply for the Paycheck Protection Program — this can be found on the Small Business Administration Covid-19 website as well as information on other loans and grants that we bolstered in this new law. The economic response legislation also created a new emergency grant program made available through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program so small businesses can request grants of up to $10,000 in an emergency. The SBA created a portal on their website to access these new grants. That portal is
were the provisions you insisted on being in the CARES Act, and did they all get in?
available at covid19relief.sba.gov.
n Q. Some
of the hardest-hit businesses are restaurants and bars. Is there enough assistance for them, especially if stay-at-home and even social distancing warnings remain in place? If not, what would you like to see? A. Some businesses are being harder hit than others and the impact on the restaurant industry is devastating. A number of
the programs we included in this legislation — from small business assistance to expanding unemployment insurance benefits — will help restaurant and bar owners and their employees. But our work isn’t over, and we’re going to need to do more in the months ahead. In the Senate, I’m encouraging everyone to continue working across the aisle to ensure American workers have the resources they need to weather this storm. GO TO NHBR.COM TO READ MORE OF THIS INTERVIEW
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THE LATEST FINANCIAL SERVICES
Eulalie Paris has been
promoted to vice president, partner relations and customer service at MillRiver Wealth Management. Prior to joining MillRiver in ANCE, ENERGY OUT TOWN October 2019, Paris leadership roles at BLE GIVING,held MORE ONLINE Peoples’ United Wealth Management. Edward Roberts has
joined Clark & Lavey Benefits Solutions, a Merrimack-based corporate benefits advisor. He most recently worked at Colonial Life and before that at USI Insurance Services. St. Mary’s Bank closed
more loans and had a higher volume of loans than any other credit union in New Hampshire across multiple categories last year, according to The Registry Review, a leading New Hampshire real estate financial newspaper published by The Warren Group. The Manchester-based credit union took the top spot for dollar volume and number of loans the following loan categories: single-family purchases, condo purchases, residential refinancing and commercial real estate.
CONSTRUCTION Allen & Major’s New Hampshire Land Survey team recently
completed a survey of a large tract of land in Temple, NH. The property is owned by The Martin and Lynda Connolly Trust and
managed by Connolly Brothers Dairy Farm, LLC. The Connolly fam-
ily including Linda and Marty Connolly and their sons generously worked with the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service as part of the Wetlands Reserve Program, a voluntary program offering landowners the opportunity to protect, restore and enhance wetlands on their property.
Jewett Construction has added Myles Cambridge to its operations team as vice president of New Hampshire operations. Over the last 25 years, Cambridge has worked around the country, including in the greater Boston area.
efforts to fight housing discrimination, including work to enforce the Fair Housing Act through its Fair Housing Project. The funding is part of $40 million being awarded nationwide.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has
awarded $300,000 to New Hampshire Legal Assistance to help its
Curtis L. Thalken has been named the new CEO of environmental consulting firm Normandeau Associates Inc. of Bedford, succeeding Pam Hall, the company’s longtime chief executive and board chair. Thalken, who previously was senior vice president and chief operating officer of Normandeau, has over 35 years of management, environmental consulting, engineering and permitting expertise, including as commander of the New England District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, responsible for all aspects of the federal government’s engineering efforts and regulatory programs in the region.
HEALTHCARE Orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Joshua M. Philbrick
of Essex Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine, Salem, recently earned subspecialty certification in surgery of the hand by the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery. Philbrick, whose practice emphasis is hand and upper extremity surgery, is among 16 orthopaedic surgeons in New Hampshire to receive the subspecialty certification, including his colleague, Dr. Crawford C. Campbell.
NONPROFITS
LAW
Attorney Alexandra S. Cote has won McLane Middleton’s 15th annual Jack B. Middleton Pro Bono Legal Services Award for her commitment to serving citizens in need. The firm created the award in support of its efforts to help ensure that all New Hampshire citizens have access to the justice system. Cote is an associate in the firm’s litigation department.
Curt Thalken named new CEO of Normandeau Associates
The YMCA of Greater Nashua has announced that Kelli Wholey of Nashua has joined its board. She is the owner of Lumina Portraits, based in Nashua. Newburyport Bank has donated $1,500 to Exeter Hospital’s
Center for Cancer Care, serving as breakfast sponsor of the center’s “Together We Can” Golf Outing, scheduled for June 15 at the Breakfast Hill Golf Club in Greenland.
The nonprofit Kimball Jenkins Estate in Con-
cord has announced that it has raised threequarters of the funding needed for a museum-
quality restoration of the original slate and copper roof of the 1882 High Victorian Gothic brick house, also known as the “mansion.” As a result, the organization has launched the public phase of its fundraising campaign, seeking the last $100,000 for what will be a $400,000 capital project. For more information, visit kimballjenkins.com/ mansion-restoration.
Jim Foster, senior vice president/local market manager for Bank of America in Manchester, has been appointed to the board of directors of The Way Home, which helps lowerincome families and individuals obtain and keep safe, affordable housing.
The New Hampshire Jump$tart Coalition has announced that Goffstown High School
is the champion of its 2020 FinLit300 competition. Winnacunnet High School of Hamp-
ton placed second. The annual in-person event, scheduled for April 1, was canceled due to the Covid-19 crisis. The winner was selected using top scores from the online portion of the competition, which has been in place since October.
ACCOUNTING
CPA Ashley Guion of Nathan Wechsler & Company was recently named one of the 2020 Trendsetters of the Monadnock Region, a project of The Keene Sentinel, The Business Journal of Greater Keene, Brattleboro and Peterborough, and the Keene Young Professionals Network.
development of these programs shows New England College’s commitment to offering innovative academic programs,” said Lisa Conn, director of graduate enrollment in NEC’s School of Graduate and Professional Studies.
REAL ESTATE Prolman Realty Inc., Nashua, has announced the sale of 6 Columbia Drive, Unit 2 to LASQ LLC. The 15,200-square-foot building consists of 2,400 square feet of office space and 12,800 square feet of lab, clean room and warehouse space. The seller, Columbia US LLC, was represented by Prolman and the buyer was represented by Hirsch and Company, which said that the building will be occupied by Kinex Cappers LLC, which manufactures bottle capping machines.
EDUCATION New England College
has launched two new degree programs, an online bachelor of science in cybersecurity and a hybrid master of science in applied data analytics. “The
Please send items for possible publication in The Latest to
EDITOR@NHBR.COM Include a color photo if available.
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APR I L 10 - 23, 2020
FLOTSAM&JETSAM
“New Hampshire is my love, and I’m going to do anything I can to serve the state. I have the time and the ability to serve in the House.”
Fore-sight?
Video game pioneer Ralph Baer says: Be safe, be well and be smart!
Just keeping track of this, but Guv Sununu’s essentially shut down restaurants, bars, hair salons, barber shops – you name it — and has told hotels and other lodging facilities they’re out of luck if they thought they were gonna do business as usual. And hikers? Please stay away from the most popular trails — you’re not wanted there. Then there are golf courses. They’re shut too, but while hikers and people NASHUA REGION LAKES REGION in desperate need of a haircut haven’t done it, golfers are trying their best to get the guv to change his mind and reopen them. And, at last count, nearly 11,000 of them have signed a petition pleading with the guv to do HITECTURE, ENGINEERING, HOSPITALS, BANKING, PERSONAL FINANCE, ENERGYjust that. ND JUMPS, IN BRIEF, FLOTSAM, LAW, OPINIONS, THE LATEST, ABOUT TOWN While judging from recent decisions, STRUCTION, EDUCATION, HEALTHCARE, TOURISM, NEWS, CHARITABLE GIVING, MORE ONLINE the guv just might ignore the golfer’s nother TOURISM choice, CALENDAR, LAST WORD pleas. But if he were to change his mind … well, it is possible that more than a few of his major campaign donors might have their names on the petition, isn’t it?
– Bill O’Brien, the ex-House speaker, on his plans after quitting the NHGOP race of the US Senate nod. Isn’t NH lucky?
Regan: What the … ?
Over the top In case you missed it, Trish Regan, the former Miss New Hampshire (from Hampton) and self-styled “TV journalist,” got kicked off Fox Business, where she had her “Trish Regan Primetime” show. Why? Because on her 3/9 show, she accused Dems and the media for being behind a “Coronavirus Impeachment Scam” (words that were shown prominently on the screen next to her). “We’ve reached a tipping point. The
chorus of hate being leveled at the president is nearing a crescendo as Democrats blame him and only him for a virus that originated halfway around the world. This is yet another attempt to impeach the president,” Regan — without citing a shred of evidence, proclaimed. She added: “Many in the liberal media using, and I mean using, coronavirus in an attempt to demonize and destroy the president.” Interestingly, that was too much even for Fox, at least this time. On 3/27, Fox and TR announced they had “parted ways.”
Trump at SNHU Arena: There, all better
Viral comments Just for historical accuracy, let’s take the Wayback Machine to 2/10/20, the night before the NH prez primary, when one DJ Trump held yet another rally at the SNHU Arena in Manch. Before that night, reports were growing that the coronavirus was on its way to becoming a worldwide pandemic. The rally was being held more than a month after the CDC warned DJT about the dangers of the virus spreading. It was exactly three weeks after the first coronavirus case was found in the US. And by 2/10, more
than 1k people had already died from the virus. But, on 2/10, DJT told those thousands of adoring admirers at SNHU Arena not to worry. He told the crowd that would be gone by April (it’s April already, FYI, folks). He said that “they’re working hard. It looks like by April, in theory, once it gets a little warmer it miraculously goes away.” He added: “I spoke with President Xi, and they’re working very, very hard, and I think it’s gonna all work out … I think it’s gonna work out good.” As with so many things involving DJT, besides using “good” incorrectly in that last sentence, it was also used incorrectly in his prognostication.
MAKING THE ROUNDS NHGOP Chair Steve Stepanek better step in pretty soon in the budding war between the camps of US Senate wannabes Corky Messner and Don Bolduc, because it’s headed in a very dangerous (or interesting, to observers) direction as the bad blood between ‘em nears the boiling point.
Interestingly, when exHouse Speaker Bill O’Brien decided to call it quits from that race, he quickly backed Messner. That must mean something.
Speaking of BO’B: Just because he quit the US Senate race doesn’t mean it’s the last we’ve seen of him. The guy — who so often insists when he’s running for office that he’s not really a “politician” — he immediately told John DiStaso he would be running for the NH House from Nashua’s Ward 9 (where he moved a few years ago after living in Mont Vernon). Déjà vu, anyone?
If the 2020 guv race were a horse race, Guv Sununu’s about 10 lengths ahead after the first quarter-mile.
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Join NH Business Review Editor Jeff Feingold and staffers Bob Sanders and Liisa Rajala as they dig deeper into the top business stories of the week.
WHERE TO LISTEN
The insider's guide from NH's business news leaders. THIS WEEK'S EPISODE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE NEW HAMPSHIRE BUSINESS COMMITTEE FOR THE ARTS:
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