Special Board of Aldermen Page 4
September 14, 2016
Alderman Siegel
What timeframe...| assume since you are actively putting money into maintain the facility and bring it up to
snuff, what timeframe do you anticipate either migrating towards an acquitting or migrating away from that
building because you can’t come to some appropriate resolution with the existing creditor?
Mr. LeBlanc
Our license extends to the end of the year. It’s a license and not a lease because under advice of counsel a
lease could pull us into their bankruptcy proceedings. They can, with 30 days’ notice order us to vacate should
they be able to sell the property. We were willing to take that risk because most people feel like that’s an
unlikely scenario given the court proceedings. We are working furiously on a plan B just to make sure we have
that in our pocket should that occur. The classrooms are not so much an issue for us; it’s actually the housing
for students that would be a challenge.
Alderman Siegel
Is it within the realm of possibility that you could just take the note over? | would assume that would be their
best case scenario where they are not losing money but getting a different payee.
Mr. LeBlanc
Except that we think the value of the property today is far less than the note or at least that’s what we have
been able to discern thus far. We would be overpaying for it at this point. We have brought in experts in real
estate counsel and have done a pretty detailed analysis which we have shared with them so we will see.
Alderman Schoneman
| work at the airport and | appreciate what you and the school have done. Daniel Webster has been a fixture at
the airport and has done a lot for the aviation field. It’s been a very well-known school nationally and
internationally for the aviation purpose. Does SNHU have an aviation program?
Mr. LeBlanc
No and there’s points that we are not excited about in this process but what we are excited about is that we
have been moving towards stem fields and mechanical engineering. We have reached out to the engineering
faculty to see what our vision is. The state of their facilities is pretty dismal. Our expectation is to support,
grow and improve all of the stem programs; particularly the engineering and aviation programs. There is an
enormous projected need for air traffic controllers. There is a lot of interest but we just sort of haven’t had a
chance to really look at it yet. It could happen on-site with at least some of the buildings that are there.
Alderman Schoneman
There is a move at the airport to begin thinking about the airport’s strategic plan and how it fits in with the city.
Daniel Webster is an integral part of whatever that plan would be and we are hoping that there can be some
continuation of the aviation program. They used to have a flight training center there and that might not be
feasible to get going again but anything that can be done to keep students involved in that career path would
be good for everyone.
Mr. LeBlanc
We don’t need to be persuaded on that front. It makes sense to keep those programs there because there is
an airport there and we understand the importance of the college to the city. When we are at a place where
