By Sarah Palermo / Concord Monitor

December 15, 2011

After delaying their decision for two weeks, yesterday the Executive Council quickly, quietly and unanimously approved contracts for hundreds of thousands of dollars to nonprofit groups who work with refugees in New Hampshire.
 

They had asked for the extra time to allow Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas to send questions to the International Institute of New England and Lutheran Social Services about how they assist and track the refugees they bring to the state, and for the agencies to send their answers to Gatsas and the councilors.
 

The answers must have satisfied their curiosity, because despite the presence of half a dozen officials from the agencies and from the Department of Health and Human Services, the councilors didn't ask any questions before approving the funds.
 

District 4 Councilor Raymond Wieczorek, a former Manchester mayor, said before the vote that he hoped in the future, resettlements will be more evenly distributed across the state. Since 2000, nearly 4,000 refugees have been resettled in New Hampshire, with more than 1,800 of them in Manchester.
 

The contracts - $60,000 to the Manchester Health Department, $120,000 for the International Institute of New England and two contracts totaling $175,000 for Lutheran Social Services - are funded by the federal government to assist communities where refugees have resettled.
 

Lutheran Social Services primarily works in Concord, Laconia and Nashua, while the International Institute works mostly in Manchester.
 

These contracts are for preventative health care and work in schools with refugees who are already in New Hampshire, and those who will arrive during the coming year.
 

Gatsas had asked the councilors last month to vote against the contracts because the federal government refused his request for a two-year moratorium on new refugee resettlements in Manchester.
 

He was concerned that new refugees would strain city services that are having trouble accommodating current needs, and said he's still disappointed in the lack of communication from the International Institute, which resettles the majority of refugees brought to Manchester.
 

"I think the International Institute is still leaving a lot of accountability out of their communications," he said.

When further contracts appear before the council for the agencies' work, "if the councilors feel they are still doing their jobs, they can approve them, but if they feel the agencies aren't doing their jobs, they shouldn't," he said.
 

"I will work to see if we can't continue fighting for a moratorium for the city of Manchester, because I believe that's what's right for the city," he said.