7-member committee has only 5 ‘possibles’

By JOHN KOZIOL

Staff Writer

LACONIA — Though established by the City Council more than three months ago, the municipal Motorcycle Week Committee has yet to get off the ground, a situation Mayor Mark Fraser hopes to remedy in coming weeks.

Last November, the council decided that the committee would have seven members — one from each of the city’s six wards, plus a seventh person who would be chosen at-large — who would be charged to look objectively "at the event and its impact on the city public relations and infrastructure."

The committee will also determine whether it is "in the city’s best interest" to assume responsibility for Bike Week and also whether its nine-day duration should be changed.

Further, the panel will find ways of creating a better relationship with businesses; and find alternative sources, other than the city, county and state, to pay for the costs of Bike Week.

It was expected that the Bike Week committee might get off to a running start, but to date, however, only five names have been tendered for possible appointment to it, Fraser said on Wednesday. While not dead, the committee has been "just kind of sitting there," he conceded.

Fraser encouraged anyone who may be interested in serving on the Motorcycle Week Committee to contact the City Manager’s office at 527-1270. Applicants will be interviewed by the City Council.

At the City Council’s March 10 meeting, Fraser said he will update members about the five applications that have been received and will also try to "identify the wards where we still need some people."

When it has its full complement of members, the Bike Week Committee will probably begin its work by focusing on next year’s Bike Week, said Fraser, and deal specifically with possible revenue sources that have been the subject of recent discussion between city officials and representatives of the Laconia Motorcycle Rally and Race Week Association.

"I don’t think the council expected that it (the Bike Week Committee) would have a lot of impact on the upcoming year. I think we were looking at the long term," said Fraser, and of "ensuring the long-term involvement of the city so the event remains and continues to be a good event for the area."