PORTSMOUTH The city expects to receive about $13.2 million in federal funds from the latest stimulus package, but it’s not yet clear how the millions can be spent.
City Manager Karen Conard said the federal government is still developing the guidelines that will direct New Hampshire municipalities how they can spend the money.
Despite not having the guidelines yet, city staff is preparing for when the “guidance does come,” Conard said Monday.
“It will behoove us to have a list of potential projects and uses,” Conard said.
The city is expected to receive about $13.2 million from the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations (CARES) Act of 2021.
PORTSMOUTH – PopUp NH’s request to use the city-owned Worth parking lot for the second season of its outdoor performance and food venue is headed to a city committee for review.
The City Council voted 6-3 to send the request to the newly formed Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Committee on Arts and Non-Profits.
PopUp NH operated last year in the nearby Bridge Street parking lot, offering food and other vendors and entertainment as a way to help businesses make more revenue during the coronavirus pandemic. This year, the group is seeking to hold a six-month second season in the Worth lot beginning on May 1.
PORTSMOUTH – The City Council rejected a controversial proposal to increase parking fines from $15 to $50, voting unanimously to send the issue back to two city committees for further study.
The council voted Monday night after receiving a litany of complaints from city residents and downtown workers about the proposed hike in parking fines.
The proposal was scheduled for first reading during Monday’s council meeting, but never got that far because of the vote to send it back to the Parking, Traffic and Safety Committee, along with the Fees Committee.
City Councilor Deaglan McEachern stated he spent part of Monday trying to “respond to about 100 emails I got on this today.”
PORTSMOUTH Moments before City Council members voted unanimously to extend the citywide face covering mandate, Mayor Rick Becksted said, “I don’t think any one of us would even question it.”
Portsmouth’s face-covering ordinance, initially enacted Sept. 14, was extended until at least early summer with a 9-0 vote Monday. The council agreed the ordinance will be reviewed by councilors the week of June 30.
The ordinance requires all individualsto wear face coverings inside public places, and outdoors when social distancing of 6 feet between people who are not members of the same household cannot be maintained.
Individuals with medical conditions or other conditions that may pose a health risk if a face covering is worn, children ages 6 or younger, and any person “who is actually engaged in the act of eating or drinking at a business establishment licensed by the city of Portsmouth for that purpose,” are excused from the city’s face-covering ordinance.