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R-21-134

RESOLUTION

RELATIVE TO THE SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATION OF $30,000 OF
UNANTICIPATED REVENUE INTO DEPARTMENT #160 “PUBLIC WORKS
ADMINISTRATION & ENGINEERING”

In the Year Two Thousand and Twenty-One

RESOLVED by the Board of Aldermen of the Citv of Nashua to appropriate $30,000 of
FY2021 unanticipated revenue from Department #160 “Public Works Administration &
Engineering”, Account #45999 “Miscellaneous Revenue” into Department #160 “Public Works
Administration & Engineering, Account #53107 “Architect and Engineering Services”.

LEGISLATIVE YEAR 2021
RESOLUTION: R-21-134
PURPOSE: Relative to the supplemental appropriation of $30,000 of

FY2021 unanticipated revenue into Department #160 “Public
Works Administration & Engineering”

SPONSOR(S): Mayor Jim Donchess
COMMITTEE
ASSIGNMENT: Budget Review Committee
FISCAL NOTE: This resolution will reduce FY2021 year-end General Fund
surplus.
ANALYSIS

This resolution appropriates $30,000 of FY2021 unanticipated revenue into the Public Works
Administration & Engineering operating budget. The unanticipated revenue was realized by the
Purchase and Sales agreement of 141 Burke Street, Nashua, between the City (‘‘Seller) and
Burke Street Nashua, LLC (“Buyer”). Whereas, the agreement states if the Buyer requests an
extension of a December 30, 2020 closing date, a monthly non-refundable payment of $10,000
shall be paid to the City. Funds will be used to contract engineering services for review of
development plans.

Charter Sec. 53 permits specific non-budget, supplementary appropriations. There should be
notice and a public hearing. A two-thirds vote is required under Charter Sec. 56-b for an item or
amount not in the mayor’s budget. A roll call is required under Charter Sec. 49.

Approved as to account Financial Services Division
structure, numbers, _
and amount: By: /s/ John Griffin

Approved as to form: Office of ae a
By: Co

Date: “4 fi —_ \

A regular meeting of the Board of Aldermen was held Tuesday, May 11, 2021, at 7:30 p.m. via teleconference.
President Lori Wilshire presided; City Clerk Susan Lovering recorded.

Prayer was offered by City Clerk Susan Lovering; Alderman Jan Schmidt led in the Pledge to the Flag.
President Wilshire

As President of the Board of Aldermen, | find that due to the State of Emergency declared by the
Governor as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and in accordance with the Governor's Emergency Order
#12 pursuant to Executive Order 2020-04, this public body is authorized to meet electronically.

Please note that there is no physical location to observe and listen contemporaneously to this meeting, which
was authorized pursuant to the Governor's Emergency Order. However, in accordance with the Emergency
Order, | am confirming that we are:

Providing public access to the meeting by telephone, with additional access possibilities by video or
other electronic means:

To access Zoom, please refer to the agenda or the City’s website for the meeting link.

To join by phone dial: 1-929-205-6099 - Meeting ID: 858 27219596 Passcode: 357332

The public may also view the meeting via Channel 16.

We previously gave notice to the public of the necessary information for accessing the meeting, through public
postings. Instructions have also been provided on the City of Nashua’s website at www.nashuanh.gov and
publicly noticed at City Hall and Nashua Public Library.

If anyone has a problem accessing the meeting via phone or Channel 16, please call 603-821-2049 and they will
help you connect.

In the event the public is unable to access the meeting via the methods mentioned above, the meeting will be
adjourned and rescheduled. Please note that all votes that are taken during this meeting shall be done by roll
call vote.

Let’s start the meeting by taking a roll call attendance. When each member states their presence, please also
state whether there is anyone in the room with you during this meeting, which is required under the Right-To-
Know Law.

The roll call was taken with 13 members of the Board of Aldermen present: Alderman Michael B. O’Brien, Sr.,
Alderwoman Shoshanna Kelly, Alderman Richard A. Dowd, Alderman June M. Caron, Alderman Thomas
Lopez, Alderman David C. Tencza, Alderwoman Elizabeth Lu, Alderman Emest Jette, Alderman Jan Schmidt,
Alderman Brandon Michael Laws, Alderman Skip Cleaver, Alderman Linda Harriott-Gathright, and Alderman
Wilshire.

Alderman Benjamin Clemons and Alderman Patricia Klee were recorded absent.
Mayor James W. Donchess, Corporation Counsel Steve Bolton, were also in attendance.

ROLL CALL

Board of Aldermen 05-11-2021
Alderman O’Brien

| am present, | can hear the proceedings and | am alone.
Susan Lovering, City Clerk

Alderman Klee?

President Wilshire

She won't be joining us this evening.

Alderwoman Kelly

| am here, | am alone and | can hear everyone.

Alderman Dowd

Yes, | am present, | can hear the proceedings and | am alone.

Alderman Caron

Yes | am here, | am alone and | can hear everyone.
Alderman Lopez

| am here, | am alone and | can hear and see everyone.
Alderman Tencza

| am present, | am alone and | can hear everyone.
Alderwoman Lu

| am here alone and | can hear you.

Alderman Jette

| am here alone and | can hear the proceedings.
Alderman Schmidt

| am present, alone and can hear everyone.
Alderman Laws

| am here, | am alone and | can hear everyone.
President Wilshire

You’re on mute, Skip.

Alderman Cleaver

| am here and | am joined by my daughter, sorry about that. | can hear the proceedings.

Page 2

Board of Aldermen 05-11-2021 Page 3
President Wilshire

Nice to see you.

Alderman Cleaver

Thank you.

Alderman Harriott-Gathright

| am present, | am in this room alone and | can hear everyone.
President Wilshire

| am present, | am alone and | can hear everyone.

City Clerk Lovering

You have 13 in attendance.

President Wilshire

Thank you. Also in attendance this evening is Mayor Donchess and Corporation Counsel Steve Bolton. Mayor, did
you wish to address the Board this evening?

REMARKS BY THE MAYOR

Mayor Donchess

Yes, thank you Madam President. On your desk tonight, you see the Fiscal ’22 Budget, Fiscal Year ’22 Budget that
| am proposing. It is a $290 million dollar General Fund Budget. Now Madam President, | would like to stress
something at the beginning which is if it were not for the actions that the State of New Hampshire has taken, which |
will mention in a minute, if it were not for what the State has done, the City tax rate, based on this budget, would be
flat or actually decline this coming fall. However, as we have discussed the State is slamming Nashua with $11.8
million dollars of increased costs and lower State aid. This translates to a 5 %2% tax increase imposed by the State
of New Hampshire. So | have been working hard with Departments to try to make up for the State’s approach of
using the cities and towns of New Hampshire as their cash register.

Although | am proposing that we offset these State actions by cutting many City Department budgets below the
level of the current year, the total City Budget | am proposing as a result of what the State has been doing, could
result in a tax increase of between 3% and 4%. Again, if the State were to neutralize its actions, the tax rate would
be flat or go down. Now as part of the Budget, | am assuming that $4.4 million dollars of the funds that the City will
receive from the Federal Government as part of the American Rescue Plan, can be applied to offset some of the
reduced school aid. Now the guidelines for the American Rescue Plan funds just came out yesterday, so everyone
across the country is studying those very carefully. But it appears that our estimate that we would be able to use
these funds to replace some of the lost revenue is accurate and therefore that will help us a little bit in offsetting
what the State has been doing.

Now we are still facing a number of major financial challenges. Of course the pandemic, COVID-19 and again the
State’s decision to increase the City’s pension costs by $4.4 million dollars to a total of $29 million. The State’s
decision to reduce school aid by $7.4 million and, of course, the rising healthcare costs for city employees not on
the City’s new HMO plan. In order to offset the State’s tax increase caused by these actions as much as possible, |
asked City Hall and the City Departments to send me budgets that were level funded from the current year, level
funded. | want to thank the Departments that worked hard to help our City taxpayers, our hard working taxpayers.
So the City Hall Budget is down, City Hall Budget as a whole is down 2.7% from the current year. Public Works is

Board of Aldermen 05-11-2021 Page 4

down about 1.8% from the current year. The Nashua Public Library has a budget which is down 1.9% from the
current year. Now that took a lot of discipline on behalf of our Departments and in part it is due to the fact that for
those employees the new HMO Plan is in effect and health care costs declined for those groups of employees. So |
want to thank those employees for agreeing to work with us and helping us to control costs with that HMO Plan that
| believe benefits everyone because their weekly contributions go down as well.

Now some of the Departments, well at the beginning, because of these financial challenges, | asked most
Departments to try to live with a zero per cent increase. Some of our independent departments have felt they
couldn’t do this. The Fire Department’s proposed budget is up 4% and the Police about 2.6%. | have been talking
for some years about building unsustainable budgets for these independent departments and | think we might be at
that point. Certainly | appreciate all of the work that our firefighters and police officers have done for the City but as
Mayor, it is my job to also consider the taxpayers of Nashua. Now if the budget requests are approved as
proposed, the budget will be up considerably over the last 6 years. And the numbers for that are in the Budget
Book on page 10. So | have proposed in the Budget that | have submitted to you, Madam President, compromises
with those two departments. Instead of the 0 per cent | asked for, instead of their request, | propose a cost of living
increase for both departments at 1.7%. So this is my effort to compromise and try to reach a reasonable Budget
and also a minimum, the lowest tax increase we can deliver.

In developing my Budget guidelines, | treated the School Department separately because of the learning loss which
resulted for a number of children, as a result of months of on-line learning. | want to make sure that we do
everything we can to keep all children, all of Nashua’s children reading and computing at grade level. So at the
beginning, | asked the School Department to submit a Budget including an increase of no more than 1 72%; other
Departments as | said | suggested zero excluding the cost of pensions and health care. Now the School
Department Budget that they submitted is up 1.7% when those two items are excluded. If the cost of health care
for school employees is included the Budget is up 2.6%. The issue of whether the new healthcare plan for the
School Department will be included, of course, is outstanding because there are ongoing negotiations. With the
School Department | split the difference between my guidance and their proposed budget and | reduced their
request by $119,000.00.

At the same time that we are trying to hold these budgets in line, trying to offset everything that the State has done,
we are still making a number of improvements for our residents including the continuation of our paving plan of
action, the implementation of the Nashua River Master Plan which will enhance the beauty of our river, Downtown
Performing Arts Center which will build a stronger downtown economy, our Middle School Improvement plan that
will result in three schools which are state of the art and all solar power. One new thing that | have proposed in the
Capital Improvement section of the Budget, Madam President, is the purchase of body cameras for the Police
Department, an improvement that was requested by the Police Department several months ago, we didn’t have the
money then but | think we can fund it in the Budget now.

Well this has not been an easy year, we know there are better days ahead and these ongoing projects signal a
strong and vibrant future for Nashua. Now also on the Agenda, Madam President, is Resolution 21-143 which
would place on the ballot the question which would give to the voters, if approved by the Board of Aldermen, would
allow the people to decide whether they want our local government to make appointments to the Nashua Police
Commission or whether they want to continue having the State make those appointments. | am joined by a number
of members of the Board of Aldermen and | am sure, Madam President, you will refer this to a Committee and we
can discuss that in detail in the months ahead or the weeks ahead.

The American Rescue Plan, | just wanted to mention that, again the guidelines are out. The US Conference of
Mayors is holding various meetings, we have talked about it with some of the other cities. Our CFO is examining
the interim regulations as what have been issued, so we will be reporting to you, Madam President, the Board of
Aldermen, regarding what we think can be done with those funds, making recommendations and, of course, those
funds could not be used or allocated without a vote of the Board of Aldermen.

Finally Madam President, | wanted to mention or discuss what | usually discuss at the beginning but | postponed to
the end because of all of these Budget issues that we have or the introduction of the City Budget which is COVID-
19. We continue to see progress with respect to the number of cases that we have. The number of active cases is

Board of Aldermen 05-11-2021 Page 5

now slightly over 100. A few weeks ago it was almost 250. In the late fall and in January that number went up into
the 600’s. So we are doing better but there’s been a bit of a plateau over the last couple of weeks. Right now, the
Nashua population, 27% as of May 3%, so these numbers are a week old and therefore the numbers are probably a
little higher, but 27% of the Nashua population is fully vaccinated. Our Health Department is continuing to work
hard to reach the vulnerable populations; people less likely to get vaccinated without the outreach by the Health
Department. Also, of course, the State is continuing to offer clinics. Right now, the City Health Department has
administered about 15,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine.

So, Madam President, we need to continue to exercise caution and urge all of our residents to get vaccinated. It is
a safe vaccine, a lot better than getting COVID-19. | and | know many of the members of the Board have gotten
vaccinated and here we are certainly the better for it. Also we need to continue to exercise caution until we get our
vaccination rates up a little higher with wearing masks indoors and also with social distancing. So we are optimistic
that as more and more people get vaccinated, the extent of the spread of the COVID-19 virus will decline further
but again, we need to continue to exercise vigilance. Madam President, that is all | have. | look forward to working
with you and the Board of Aldermen in terms of trying to come up with a Budget that works for both our citizens in
terms of quality of service and our taxpayers in the sense of the most reasonable tax rate we can arrive at. And,
again, | return to the beginning that the State of New Hampshire is not doing us any favors in terms of hitting us
with all these extra financial stresses right in the middle of a pandemic. Thank you, Madam President.

President Wilshire
Thank you Mayor. Any responses to the remarks of the Mayor? Alderman Lopez?

RESPONSE TO REMARKS OF THE MAYOR

Alderman Lopez

| have a quick question about the renovations to City Hall. | am not even actually certain when the Governor’s
Order expires that we use at the beginning of the meeting to clarify why we are meeting remotely. But if it
hasn’t expired yet, itis on its way. But the Aldermanic Chamber isn’t really ready for public use either. The last
time | went in there, there was a pretty impressive pile of chairs and furniture and stuff, so | am guessing it has
been pulled into the whole renovation scheme. Do we have a timeline on number 1) when those renovations
are going to be done and number 2) any guidance from Public Health over when and how we should manage
meetings publicly?

President Wilshire

| do have a meeting scheduled next week to meet with the Mayor and a few of City staff to talk about
reopening City Hall, but nothing definite. And all the stuff that was in the Aldermanic Chamber was there
temporarily but it is all gone now.

Alderman Lopez

OH OK, | haven’t been there this week.

Mayor Donchess

| can supplement that a little bit. So as you might have seen, I’m sure you have, the Motor Vehicle area has
been fully renovated and is now being used down on the first floor, still be appointment. The Tax Area has
been completed and substantial work has been done at the City Clerk’s area making it sort of a similar set up
as you see for the Motor Vehicles. Now we think that the work will be done by the end of June so | think our
tentative plan is to open City Hall corresponding when the work is done which means somewhere between
middle and late June. That is the most definite information we have.

Board of Aldermen 05-11-2021 Page 6
President Wilshire

Alderman Lopez?

Alderman Lopez

| just feel like it is worth pointing out to the public that | am sitting in front of a virtual background; see it is not
real. So this is not what the actual Aldermanic Chamber looks like. And that’s what we were talking about. |
just realized that bringing the topic up while doing this is probably confusing.

President Wilshire

All set Alderman Lopez?

Alderman Lopez

Yes, thank you.
President Wilshire
Alderman Dowd?
Alderman Dowd

Yes, now that we have the Budget in hand, Donna and | have been working diligently with the Mayor’s Office
and the Department Heads to formulate a Budget Review Schedule. All the members, everyone got a copy of
the schedule this evening, just before this meeting and I’d like you to review it. | have to give priority to the
members of the Budget Committee but | would like to have a final input no later than Friday since the first
Budget Review Meeting is the 20", Thursday, May 20" at 7:00 p.m. on Zoom and it is General Government,
Emergency Preparedness and Administrative Services. So if there is anybody on the Budget Committee that
has conflicts, please let me know. If we have a significant number of conflicts that would probably prompt a
change in the meeting but it was very difficult since we are starting the Budget process later than we normally
do and the entire Budget has to be fully passed by the end of June and we are already well into May. So the
dates are tight and the major departments have a night of their own and | am sure there will be a lot of
discussion so thank you.

President Wilshire
Anyone else? Response to the remarks of the Mayor? Alderwoman Lu?
Alderwoman Lu

Thank you Madam President. Mr. Mayor you brought up R-21-143 and | just wanted to ask the proposal that
the Police Commission be appointed other than it is now. Did that come out of the Master Planning process?

Mayor Donchess

Well certainly people have been thinking about this for a long time but the Master Plan is a land use document.
So what the Master Plan does is look at various areas of the City to determine how the City should try to guide
development basically in the future. So this isn’t a subject of discussion, you know, the way the Police
Commission is appointed is not a subject of discussion as part of Master Plan but instead that has to do with
the future growth of the community.

Board of Aldermen 05-11-2021 Page 7
Alderwoman Lu
| see. Because | know that a poll was done, so the City did a poll on this question?

Mayor Donchess

No. | sent out a survey to see what people thought regarding a couple of these questions related to the Police
Commission.

Alderwoman Lu

OH | see. Thank you.

President Wilshire

Anyone else? OK not seeing anyone.

RECOGNITION PERIOD - None

READING MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS

There being no objection, President Wilshire declared the minutes of the special and regular Board of
Aldermen meetings of April 26 and 27, 2021 accepted, placed on file, and the reading suspended.

COMMUNICATIONS REQUIRING ONLY PROCEDURAL ACTIONS AND WRITTEN REPORTS
FROM LIAISONS

From: Matt Sullivan, Planning Department Manager
Re: Referral from the Board of Aldermen on O-21-058 to Nashua Planning Board, amending the Floodplain
Management Land Use Ordinance

From: Matt Sullivan Planning Manager
Sherry Dutzy, Chair, Nashua Conservation Commission

Re: Referral from the Board of Aldermen to Conservation Commission on O-21-058, amending the
Floodplain Management Land Use Ordinance

From: Deb Chisholm, Waterways Manager
Re: Proposed modification to Land Use Code 190 Article VII Floodplain Management

From: Diane Thibodeau, Executive Assistant, Division of Public Works
Re: Board of Aldermen Referral — R-21-127 bond

From: Julie Chizmas, Transportation and Long-Range Planner
Re: Partnership with Bird Rides, Inc.

There being no objection, President Wilshire accepted the communications and placed them on file.

PERIOD FOR PUBLIC COMMENT RELATIVE TO ITEMS EXPECTED TO BE ACTED UPON THIS EVENING

President Wilshire
Ms. Colhoun, name and address and you have three minutes?

Laura Colquhoun My name is Laura Colquhoun, | live at 30 Greenwood Drive. | am speaking out tonight
against the amendment change to the City Charter relative to the matter of appointments to the Nashua Board

Board of Aldermen 05-11-2021 Page 8

of Police Commissioners. This amendment has been on the books since September 1913 and has worked
well for the City of Nashua. There’s an old saying that says, “If it is not broken, don’t fix it”. Currently there are
no politics within the selection. However, if the City of Nashua puts this amendment in the hands of the Mayor
and the President of the Board of Aldermen it will be a disaster. The Mayor has already shown that he is only
hiring likeminded people from his inner circle to boards and committees. This is apparent on the Public Works
Board where there are two people who are trying to do things for the benefit of the residents. However, the
male voting block seems to override the Board members that are actually representing the residents.

Another example is there has been an open spot on the Board of Assessors for over 2 years. While residents
have requested to take this spot to represent the Nashua residents, the Mayor is not willing to give this spot out
to anybody but from somebody from his inner circle. So the spot stays open and there’s nobody on the Board
of Assessors that actually represents the residents. We currently have one Alderman trying to change the
number of Board Members on the School Board. She is working with Attorney Bolton on the backdoor charter
change. Where is their transparency? Why the sneaky change? The problem here is that that Nashua
residents want people to go on the Board of Education that actually are concerned about our children not the
politics, political views.

The Police Commissioners should never be picked because the Mayor likes them or are friends with the
Mayor. They should not be selected because of their party affiliation or their likeminded viewpoints. It needs
to be a qualified person, female or male, with no personal ties to the Mayor or the President of the Board of
Aldermen. | am leery at the selection method for the Police Commission. | live in the City of Nashua, not the
kingdom of the mayor. Another thing | would like to bring up the fact that the Mayor has already wasted
$44,383.00 in taxpayer funds to get a study on a dog park in downtown Nashua.

President Wilshire
| don’t think we are taking that up this evening Ms. Colquhoun.

Ms. Colquhoun (speaking over President Wilshire) for a dog park. What is the Mayor thinking, if the Mayor has
extra money lying around, apply it to the ever increasing tax rate that the residents will be paying. The Mayor
should realize that the City of Nashua just gave back $3,320,000.00 in property tax ....

President Wilshire

Ms. Colquhoun your time is up.

Ms. Colquhoun (speaking over President Wilshire) commercial properties. The Mayor also realizes...
President Wilshire

Amber Logue?

Amber Logue Thank you. Amber Logue resident of 20 Locke Street. | am here to speak in favor of R-21-144
authorizing the purchase of property located at L Pine Street, Map 77, Lot 5. This parcel of land is considered
by many residents as a part of Mine Falls Park. On a beautiful day, you can find residents playing there with
their kids or their dogs. | have seen yoga classes here, I’ve seen picnics. This is the gateway to Mine Falls
from downtown.

A few years ago, | was surprised to learn that the Millyard Association actually owns this land and it is not, in
fact, a part of Mine Falls at all. So it is considered to be unusable land. The option before us is to either watch
it be paved over and become just another parking lot or use this land for what is already naturally used for
which is a public park. It would not only preserve this land for future generations but also meet the commitment
of wetland protection that the City aims to have. | encourage the Board of Aldermen to approve the passage of
R-21-144 and ensure that those gateway to Mine Falls Park is secure for our residents. Thank you.