Business View Civil and Municipal | March 2021

55 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL MARCH 2021 complex with 1,700-units to bring people in to support the businesses downtown. We are using the resources we have to get creative and see where it takes us. We’re also working with that developer to build an event plaza to hold festivals downtown to promote economic development.” This creative problem solving also applies to the city’s infrastructure. From September to November 2020, the city paved 10 miles of roadway. That’s more than been done since 1999, with an additional 26 miles of road repaving planned for 2021. Prior to any actual repaving, new water and sewer lines are first installed and new sidewalks are also constructed alongside every newly paved road. Integrating all these projects is an efficient way to keep the roads in good shape while also ensuring the safety of residents. There is also a lot happening in the area of sustainability and green initiatives. “All of our public buildings like City Hall and The Department of Police are run by solar power,” says Nicholson. “We have a solar field on city property with a net metering agreement with National Grid. Mount Wachusett Community College operates solely on two wind turbines. In the next 6 months, we’ll be adding 10 miles of bike trails connecting Mount Wachusett Community College, Heywood Hospital, downtown, and our green spaces. We’ve also installed new electric car charging stations, we are doing energy audits on all of our buildings, and we applied for the state’s Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) program. We just broke ground on a new elementary school two months ago, as well – the first new elementary school in 100 years! That is probably going to be the greenest building in the region because of different solar options and green roofs.” Looking ahead, Nicholson would like the city to make the most of its current development and GARDNER , MASSACHUSETTS Mayor Nicholson with the owner of Nails 2000, a local Gardner business Shawn Hayden giving Mayor Michael Nicholson a tour of the GAAMHA facility in Gardner.