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SPECIAL BOARD OF ALDERMEN
JANUARY 2, 2020

7:00 p.m. Aldermanic Chamber

PRESIDENT LORI WILSHIRE CALLS ASSEMBLY TO ORDER

PRAYER OFFERED BY CITY CLERK SUSAN K. LOVERING

PLEDGE TO THE FLAG LED BY ALDERMAN-AT-LARGE DAVID C. TENCZA

ROLL CALL

COMMUNICATIONS

From: Lori Wilshire, President, Board of Aldermen
Re: Special Board of Aldermen Meeting

From: Jim Donchess, Mayor
Re: Veto of R-18-102

UNFINISHED BUSINESS — RESOLUTIONS

R-18-102, Amended
Endorsers: Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire
Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr.
Alderman Richard A. Dowd
Alderman-at-Large Brandon Michael Laws
Alderman Jan Schmidt
Alderman Linda Harriott-Gathright
Alderman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja
APPROVING THE COST ITEMS OF A COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT
BETWEEN THE NASHUA BOARD OF POLICE COMMISSIONERS AND UFPO LOCAL
645 PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYEES OF THE NASHUA POLICE DEPARTMENT FROM
JULY 1, 2018 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2022 AND AUTHORIZING RELATED TRANSFERS
e Mayor Vetoed — 12/30/19

ADJOURNMENT

Board of Aldermen
City of Nashua
229 Main Street

Nashua, NH 03061-2019
(603) 589-3030

Lori Wilshire
President, Board of Aldermen

December 30, 2019

Susan K. Lovering, City Clerk
City of Nashua ;

229 Main Street

Nashua, NH 03061-2019

Dear Ms. Lovering:

CEES erry 3 Ce rece

RP ey te “=
vo SOLE pao

Please be advised | am hereby calling a Special Meeting of the Board of Aldermen for Thursday,
January 2, 2020, at 7:00 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chamber relative to a communication received from

Mayor Donchess vetoing R-18-102.

Thank you.
a, W.

Lori Wilshire

President

cc: Mayor Jim Donchess

Steven A. Bolton, Corporation Counsel

Police Chief Michael Carignan

VETO MESSAGE

I have vetoed R-18-102, which is a union contract covering about 16 civilian
employees submitted by the Police Commission to the Board of Aldermen. J will
call R-18-102 the “Civilian Contract”. It was approved by the Board of Aldermen
on December 23, 2019.

To begin, I want to emphasize that in the combined 11 years I have served as
Nashua’s Mayor I have previously vetoed only two actions by the Board of
Aldermen. When we have been in disagreement, my approach has always been to
discuss issues and to try to reach mutually acceptable compromise. My aim has
always been to work with the Board unless the action taken is not in my analysis in
the best interests of our taxpayers or our citizens.

I am issuing this veto to protect the citizens of Nashua from tax increase while I
am mindful and appreciative of the outstanding service that all employees of the
Nashua Police Department provide to our great City.

As I expressed to the Board of Aldermen, I also opposed R-19-194 covering police
supervisors, which IJ will call the “Supervisors Contract”. Both contracts include
multiple 3% raises - which exceed the 2% cost of living - at a time when City
health care costs are rising rapidly. In addition, agreeing to a series of 3% raises
for two unions creates a troublesome precedent for other City negotiations.
Increasing wages by 3% year after year will build budgets which are not
sustainable.

The Board of Aldermen passed both contracts on 15-0 votes.

I am vetoing the Civilian Contract because in my opinion it is the more
objectionable of the two contracts. First, the amended version of the Civilian
Contract has upped total raises to 11.25% over 4 years while the original version
submitted to the Board of Aldermen included raises of only 9.5%. Second, the
Civilian Contract expands the City’s unused sick leave obligation. Additionally,
the Police Department has said it is down uniformed police officers and has
suggested that pay may be part of the reason. I have let the Supervisors Contract
become law without my signature.

In vetoing only one of the two contracts, I hope the Board of Aldermen will
consider my rationale for vetoing the Civilian Contract.

Nashua’s Health Care Costs Are Rising 20%, or $6 Million Over Just 2 years

We are in a time when health care costs are a state of instability across the nation.
Nashua is not immune from this instability.

Nashua’s health care costs for City employees are rising 20% - or $6 million - over
just 2 years. The increase this year (Fiscal 2020) is a $3.3 million increase or 11%
for a total health care budget of $33 million. Our experts project that health care
costs for next year (Fiscal Year 2021) will rise another 8.6% which will amount to
an almost $2.9 budget million increase — raising the City’s total health care budget
to about $36 million.

As a result, I believe City government must take the rising costs of health care into
account in considering long-term union contracts in order to keep tax rate increases
to a level that Nashuans can afford. As approved by the Board of Aldermen, R-18-
102 is multi-year contract which commits the City to significant additional costs
before we know what will be happening with health care costs 2, 3, or 4 years from
now.

To put this in perspective, a $6 million increase in health care costs equates to a
3% increase in the City’s tax rate.

In Order to Keep Tax Increases to a Minimum, I Have Urged that
Annual Raises be Limited to the 2% Cost of Living

The Civilian Contract is a long-term 4-year agreement which grants a series of
above the cost of living 3% annual raises at the same time when health care costs
are rising rapidly. I asked the Board to consider under current conditions limiting
raises to the cost of living or 2% per year.

Under the Nashua City Charter the primary responsibility of the Mayor is to
propose an annual City budget. I take this responsibility to mean that I must strike
the right balance between spending on quality services for our citizens plus fair
wages for our city employees, on the one hand, and arriving at a tax rate that our
citizens can afford, on the other hand.

The Need for More Uniformed Police Officers
Does Not Justify Giving Big Raises to Civilians

If inadequate pay for uniformed police officers is a reason that the Police
Department is not at full complement, then providing above the cost of living
wages to civilian employees does not help, but hurts in solving this problem.

Under current conditions we should be careful about how new funds are spent by
the Police Department. Every dollar directed to big raises for civilian employees is
one less dollar that can be deployed to hire keep uniformed police officers.

Over the course of the 4 years of the contract with the civilian employees, the
Police Department will need to pay a total of about $325,000 for the increase
wages included in the contract. Some or all of those funds could better be directed
to hiring additional uniformed officers.

The Police Commission Did Not Act Responsibly in Upping
The Total Raises for Civilian Employees from 9.5% to 11.25%

The Civilian Contract covers lawyers, information technology staff, and others.
When the Police Commission first submitted this contract to the Board of
Aldermen the contract included wage increases of 9.5% over 4 years. The union
had agreed to this 9.5% increase.

The original version of the contract also expanded the City’s potential unfunded
obligation to pay cash for unused sick time to the civilian employees to about
$350,000. Second, for the first time it obligated the City to pay for unused sick
time upon resignation, rather than just retirement. I have made my opposition to
any expansion of this unfunded liability very clear for a long time.

When the Board of Aldermen first voted on the Civilian Contract just before the
November city election, I asked that the Board to reject the contract because it
included an expansion of the unfunded obligation to pay cash for unused sick time.
On a divided vote the Board did not approve the contract.

When the Police Commission resubmitted the contract to the Board of Aldermen a
few weeks ago, the Commission did not simply remove the unused sick time
buyout provisions as requested. Instead the Commission upped the total wage
package increase from 9.5% to 11.25% including 3% wage increases in years 2, 3,

and 4 of the agreement. This was not a reasonable response to the Board of
Aldermen’s decision to refuse to create more unfunded obligations for the City.

And in fact, the Commission has still included a provision obligating the City for
the first time to pay for unused sick time upon resignation, instead of just at
retirement.

Nashua is the Last Community in New Hampshire for Which the Leaders of the
Police Department are Appointed by the State of New Hampshire

In Nashua the Police Commission consists of three members appointed by New
Hampshire’s Governor. As such the Police Commission is not accountable to the
voters of Nashua. Nashua is the last municipality in New Hampshire in which the
leaders of the Police Department are not chosen by the voters or by the elected
officials of the city or town. Portsmouth was the only other community in which
the Governor appointed the members of the police commission until Portsmouth
opted to change a police commission elected by the people more than 10 years ago.

The Police Commission negotiated both contracts and submitted them directly to
the Board of Aldermen without talking with me about their impact on the budget or
the precedent they set with respect to the other union contracts which the City is
now or soon will be negotiating.

Statements Made by the Police Department that They Had Not Been Told about
the Problem of Health Care Costs Are Not Accurate

The statements made by the Police Department to the Board of Aldermen that they
“did not hear anything” about the City’s rising health care costs before the
Supervisors Contract was negotiated are not accurate.

The Supervisors Contract was not submitted to the Board of Aldermen until
December 19, 2019.

Since February, 2019, we have made it clear to the Police Commissioners and the
Police Department that rising health care costs are the biggest financial challenge
facing the City. We have made this clear in office meetings regarding the budget
starting in February, 2019, at the State of the City Address on February 19 and

again on February 20, 2019, at the public hearing on the budget on May 16, 2019,
and at various other meetings and presentations. In fact, the Police Department’s

own budget for FY 2020, submitted on March 12, 2019 shows a 19% increase in
the department’s own costs of health care.

PROPOSED AMENDMENTS MADE AT BUDGET CTE 12-16-19 AMENDED
R-18-102

RESOLUTION

APPROVING THE COST ITEMS OF A COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT
BETWEEN THE NASHUA BOARD OF POLICE COMMISSIONERS AND UFPO
LOCAL 645 PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYEES OF THE NASHUA POLICE DEPARTMENT
FROM JULY 1, 2018 THROUGH JUNE 30, 20232 AND AUTHORIZING RELATED
TRANSFERS

CITY OF NASHUA

In the Year Two Thousand and Eighteen

RESOLVED by the Board of Aldermen of the City of Nashua that the cost items of the
attached collective bargaining agreement between the Nashua Board of Police Commissioners and
UFPO Local 645 Professional Employees of the Nashua Police Department are approved. The
collective bargaining agreement covers the period from July 1, 2018 through June 30, 20232.

In addition, this resolution authorizes the transfer of $28,579 $53,732 from Department
194 “Contingency”, Account #70150 “ Contingency, Negotiations” into Department 150
“Police” and Department 157 “Citywide Communications”, Account #51900 “Budget
Adjustments” to fund the FY2020 base salary adjustments contained in the agreement.

TO:

CC:

FROM:

DATE:

OFFICE OF CORPORATION COUNSEL
CITY OF NASHUA

MEMORANDUM
Board of Aldermen
Mayor James Donchess
Dorothy Clarke, Deputy Corporation Counsel
November 21, 2019

Proposed amendments to R-18-102

Attached please find proposed amendments to pending R-18-102 that were provided by

the Police Department. This collective bargaining agreement was recently approved by the

Board of Police Commissioners and the UFPO Local 645 Professional Employees’ Union. The

attachments include an amended resolution, an amended costing, an amended redlined CBA, and

an amended final CBA. Also attached is a summary of amendments to the CBA prepared by the

Police Department.

POLICE DEPARTMENT PROPOSED AMENDMENTS 11/19/19 AMENDED
R-18-102

RESOLUTION

APPROVING THE COST ITEMS OF A COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT
BETWEEN THE NASHUA BOARD OF POLICE COMMISSIONERS AND UFPO
LOCAL 645 PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYEES OF THE NASHUA POLICE DEPARTMENT
FROM JULY 1, 2018 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2023 AND AUTHORIZING RELATED
TRANSFERS

CITY OF NASHUA

In the Year Two Thousand and Eighteen

RESOLVED by the Board of Aldermen of the City of Nashua that the cost items of the
attached collective bargaining agreement between the Nashua Board of Police Commissioners and
UFPO Local 645 Professional Employees of the Nashua Police Department are approved. The
collective bargaining agreement covers the period from July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2023.

In addition, this resolution authorizes the transfer of $53,732 from Department 194
“Contingency”, Account #70150 “ Contingency, Negotiations” into Department 150 “Police”
and Department 157 “Citywide Communications”, Account #51900 “Budget Adjustments” to
fund the FY2020 base salary adjustments contained in the agreement.