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QO-22-004

ORDINANCE

PROHIBITING A RIGHT TURN ON RED FROM ADVENTURE WAY ONTO DANIEL
WEBSTER HIGHWAY

CITY OF NASHUA

In the Year Two Thousand and Twenty-Two

The City of Nashua ordains that Part Il “General Legislation”, Chapter 320 “Vehicles
and Traffic”, Article [V “Turning Movements”, Section 320-16 “Right turn on red prohibited”,
of the Nashua Revised Ordinances, as amended, be hereby further amended by adding the new

underlined language as shown:
Ҥ 320-16. Right turn on red prohibited.

It shall be unlawful for a vehicle to proceed to make a right turn on a red traffic light
indication at the following intersections, and authority is hereby granted for the erection
of signs so indicating:

Name of Street Hours Location

Adventure Way All Onto Daniel Webster Highway northbound”

All ordinances or parts of ordinances inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed.

This ordinance shall become effective at the time of removal and installation of the appropriate
sign(s).

LEGISLATIVE YEAR 2022

ORDINANCE: O-22-004

PURPOSE: Prohibiting a right turn on red from Adventure Way onto
Daniel Webster Highway

ENDORSERS: Alderman Derek Thibeault

COMMITTEE

ASSIGNMENT: Committee on Infrastructure

FISCAL NOTE: Materials, Labor and Vehicle Qverhead: $166

ANALYSIS

This legislation prohibits right turns on red for motorists turning from Adventure Way onto
Daniel Webster Highway northbound. The traffic engineer notes a lack of available sight
distance for safe entry, and the magnitude of u-turns from Daniel Webster Highway southbound
to Daniel Webster Highway northbound, which are in direct conflict with these right turns.

The erection, removal and maintenance of all traffic control devices must conform to applicable
state statutes and the latest edition of the manual on Uniforn Traffic Control Devices. RSA
47:17 VIL (a). The Board should consult with the City Traffic Engineer to determine if this
ordinance is in compliance.

Approved as to form: Office of Corporation Counsel

By: ee CYo.He
Date: 72.

O-22-005

ORDINANCE

UPDATING THE FINANCIAL STANDARDS FOR THE CITY’S WELFARE
GUIDELINES

CITY OF NASHUA

In the Year Two Thousand and Twenty-Two

WHEREAS the City of Nashua’s General Assistance Guidelines, NRO § A400-9, E (11)
states that “the Mayor and Board of Aldermen shall approve payment levels determined by the
Welfare Officer for various allowable expenses per standard of need defined in § A400-9. The
maximum payment level for any particular allowable expense shall be based on actual local
market conditions and costs. The payment levels shall be reviewed by the Welfare Officer, and,
if warranted, will be updated to current market conditions”; and

WHEREAS the Welfare Officer has determined appropriate current financial standards
for various categories of general assistance from the following sources: shelter allowances based
on current HUD and NH Housing Finance Authority fair market rents, food allowances based on
U.S. Department of Agriculture and Health & Human Services food allotment standards; and
maintenance allowances based on Consumer Price Index general cost of living adjustments.

NOW THEREFORE, the City of Nashua ordains that Appendix A400 “General
Assistance Guidelines”, Attachment | “City of Nashua Welfare Department Financial
Standards” of the Nashua Revised Ordinances, as amended, be hereby further amended by
replacing the current Attachment | with the following updated Attachment “City of Nashua
Welfare Department General Assistance Financial Standards, Effective Date: Upon Passage by
the City of Nashua Board of Aldermen”.

LEGISLATIVE YEAR 2022

ORDINANCE: O-22-005

PURPOSE: Updating the financial standards for the City’s Welfare
Guidelines

SPONSOR(S): Mayor Jim Donchess

COMMITTEE

ASSIGNMENT: Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee

FISCAL NOTE: This increase has been considered in calculating the FY2023

General Assistance budget figures.

ANALYSIS

NRO § A400-9, E (11) requires the Mayor and Board of Aldermen to approve payment levels
determined by the Welfare Officer for various allowable expenses. This resolution 1s to approve
an updated financial standards schedule, effective upon passage by the Board of Aldermen.

Approved as to form: Office of Corporation Counsel

ty Dieta CT

Date: | Ws 909.

City of Nashua Welfare Department
General Assistance Financial Standards
Effective Upon Passage by City of Nashua Board of Aldermen

RENTAL COST STANDARDS
Based on 2021 NHHFA Residential Rental Cost Trends data
# of Bedrooms All util. included One util. included No util. included

0 / Studio $1,244.00 $1,132.04 $1030.16 Monthly
$287.30 $261.44 $237.91 Weekly
I $1,402.00 $1,275.82 $1,161.00 Monthly
$323.79 $294.65 $268.13 Weekly
2 $1,742.00 $1,585.22 $1,442.55 Monthly
$402.31 $366.10 $333.15 Weekly
3 $1,877.00 $1,708.07 $1,554.34 Monthly
$433.49 $394.47 $358.97 Weekly
4+ $1,789.00 $1,627.99 $1,481.47 Monthly
$413.16 $375.98 $342.14 Weekly

*Shared household allowance with landlord consent: $100.00/week until alternative shelter
can be acquired.

FOOD ALLOTMENT STANDARD
Based on FY2022 USDA Food Stamps Allotment figures

Household size Daily Weekly Monthly
1 $8.33 $58.33 $250
2 $15.30 $107.10 $459
3 $21.93 $153.53 $658
4 $27.83 $194.83 $835
5 $33.07 $231.47 $992
6 $39.67 $277.67 $1,190
7 $43.87 $307.07 $1,316
8 $50.13 $350.93 $1,504
Add $188 per month for each additional household member beyond 8 persons.

MAINTENANCE ALLOTEMENT STANDARD
Based on cost of living increase of 7% from previous standard
based on 2027 CPI caiculator

Household size Weekly Monthly
1 $15.31 $66.29
2 $18.94 $82.01
3 $22.45 $97.2]
4 $25.98 $112.49
5 $29.50 $127.74
6 $34.33 $148.65
7 $37.84 $163.85
8 $41.38 $179.18

Add $3.50 per week for each additional household member beyond
& persons.

UTILITY and OTHER ALLOWANCES

Nashua City Welfare will consider the actual cost of current monthly utility expenses and
payment arrangements with utility companies to the extent the applicant is making
payments. Nashua City Welfare will consider out-of-pocket medical expenses and non-
reimbursed childcare expenses. Diaper allowance will be equal to maintenance allowance
for the corresponding number of children. Travel allowance will be calculated at $83.34/mo.
or $19.38/wk. and may be adjusted accordingly to individual case circumstances. All
expenses considered when determining Standard of Need shall be done so in accordance
with the current City of Nashua Welfare Department General Assistance Guidelines.

A regular meeting of the Board of Aldermen was held Tuesday, January 25, 2022, at 7:30 p.m. in the aldermanic chamber
and via Zoom teleconference which meeting link can be found on the agenda and on the City’s website calendar.

President Lori Wilshire presided; City Clerk Susan Lovering recorded.

Prayer was offered by City Clerk Susan Lovering; Alderwoman-at-Large Gloria Timmons led in the Pledge to the Flag.

Let’s start the meeting by taking a roll call attendance.

The roll call was taken with 15 members of the Board of Aldermen present: Alderman O’Brien, Alderman Sullivan,
Alderman Klee, Alderman Moran, Alderman Lopez, Alderman Jette, Alderman Clemons, Alderwoman Kelly, Alderman
Comeau, Alderman Dowd, Alderman Gouveia, Alderman Cathey, Alderman Thibeault, Alderwoman Timmons, Alderman
Wilshire.

Mayor James W. Donchess, Corporation Counsel Steve Bolton, were also in attendance.

President Wilshire

I'd just like to take a second to send my condolences and I’m sure that of the Board to Donna Graham who lost her father
this past week. Donna’s really done a terrific job for us. She’s a great person and my condolences to her and her family.

REMARKS BY THE MAYOR

Mayor Donchess

First | wanted to update you, again, on the COVID situation. Currently there are two basic measurements that are used to
determine the amount of transmission within the community. First, the number of new cases that have arisen per
100,000...

President Wilshire

Mayor can | interject. Gentlemen in the back you need to keep your masks on or leave the chamber please. Thank you.
Sorry Mayor.

Mayor Donchess

So the measurements 1) the number of new cases per 100,000 people over the last 14 days — for Nashua that number is
3,237. Significantly higher than we met two weeks ago. The (inaudible) cases right now is 1,092 and the positivity rate
that is the number of people who test who come up with the virus. It’s actually gone down a little bit since the last time we
met. It’s now 24.8 percent but still that is a very high number. Again, the projections seem to be bearing out. The
projections from the University of Washington where a lot of expertise of the projections come from said that we would be
rising in January and we'd each a peak in February. The good news is hopefully they're correct in projecting that the
number of cases would rapidly decline sometime after February by spring time. | know that the Board of Health and | see
members here tonight have recommended we continue the mask requirement in public places that was adopted for one
month. The Board of Heath has recommended for one more month. | believe that’s necessary given the public health,
problems, crisis that we face although there is some talk that the Omicron is not as serious. Ten people have died in
Nashua since the last time we met for a total of 130 people. As of yesterday, there were 60 people in the two hospitals
with COVID. Still they are very stressed in terms of their ability to meet the health needs of those with COVID and all their
other patients with the typical serious health conditions — heart, cancer, strokes, and all the other things that hospitals see
on a routine basis.

| wanted to turn to something else Madam President. There are two projects that | hope you will drive by and take a look
at that have gotten a good start. The School Street housing 150 units on School Street between School and High has
begun in earnest now. That represents about a $40 million investment of private capital. The first time that we’ve had
from the ground up construction of apartments in the downtown in more than a century. So that is a very significant
investment. The Monahan Manor — the redevelopment of Bronstein which will transform 48 units of affordable housing
into over 200. That has also begun in earnest. | just wanted to stress that on that project the Housing Authority has
worked with the tenants to ensure that all tenants who wish to return to that location — they've all been placed elsewhere
but if they wish to return, they will be guaranteed an apartment of equal or better size. It seems that the Housing Authority
did a very good job of making sure that everybody was taken care of. So that was an important step in terms of trying to
make sure that we treat the people, the tenants properly, fairly, and in a way that we would hope to be treated ourselves.

Board of Aldermen 01-25-2022 Page 2

Finally, | wanted to mention a couple of ceremonies that were annual but very nice. The two Martin Luther King Day
celebrations that take place annual, again, occurred this year but virtually rather than in person. The First Baptist Church
for decades now has held a Martin Luther King ceremony on Saturday night of the Martin Luther King Day weekend. |
have been participating for a long time. That went very well. They had a lot of music. It was really good and | just want to
thank the First Baptist Church for doing that every year. OBU held their annual Martin Luther King Day celebration on
Monday morning which is what they do annually. Again, they've been doing this for decades. That was virtual as well. A
lot of music, some good speakers, a youth speaker or a young man from Nashua South who is the School Board Rep. He
did a very good job. So | just wanted to thank them and congratulate them on again holding those very important
ceremonies. With that Madam President, | will conclude.

RESPONSE TO REMARKS OF THE MAYOR

Alderman Comeau

Thank you Madam President. Mr. Mayor | just a quick question if you could clarify on the COVID numbers. You
mentioned that there are 60 people in the two hospitals. Do your numbers break down how many of those people are in
there because of COVID versus just with it along with something else? Also on the positivity rate and the new cases, do
we know how many of those people are A symptomatic?

Mayor Donchess

The first question, we get this information from the hospital and | think the report to us the people who are there with a
primary diagnosis of COVID. So that would be 60.

Also in terms of your second question was the number that are a symptomatic. We do not have that breakdown but
typically people test when they are symptomatic. | don’t have a breakdown as symptomatic versus non-symptomatic.

President Wilshire

| understand they’re not hospitalized if they're not symptomatic. Anyone else? Seeing none.

RECOGNITION PERIOD — None

READING MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS

There being no objection, President Wilshire declared the minutes of the special, organizational, and regular
Board of Aldermen meetings of December 28, 2021, January 9 and January 11, 2022 be accepted, placed on file,
and the reading suspended.

COMMUNICATIONS REQUIRING ONLY PROCEDURAL ACTIONS AND WRITTEN REPORTS
FROM LIAISONS

From: Donna Graham, Legislative Affairs Manager
Re: Communications Received from the Public

There being no objection, President Wilshire accepted the communication and placed it on file.

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

President Wilshire

| will let the public Know that we do expect to be acting on the mask mandate this evening. So we will allow public
comment on that. What I'd like to ask is that we don’t repeat everything the first person, second, third, fourth, fifth person
has said. If someone gets up and ten people have spoken and you're just going to get up and repeat the same thing, |
would ask that you just come to the microphone and say | agree with so and so said. |’m for it or against it. We could be
here four hours taking testimony. If you don’t have to be redundant, please don’t.

Lou Juris

Good evening. Lou Juris, 56 Haines Street. The mandate should be extended for at least a month. You talked earlier
about the cases in the hospitals and the very least this is going to help protect those who've done quite a great job for us

Board of Aldermen 01-25-2022 Page 3

in the healthcare system here in Nashua for the past two years. This includes the hospitals, long-term care facilities, and
nursing facilities. We've got staff that’s — this is like a (inaudible) and they're getting sick from it and even if we can just
stop one or two cases — one or two people from going into the hospital over the next month is going to give them the relief
and the respite that they need to keep moving forward and hopefully not leave the healthcare field. Right now we’ve had
ten people pass away the past week. I’m sure by tomorrow or the next day there will be a couple more from this. Again if
we can stem the virus from circulating in the area whether you're inside or wherever you are inside, again, save one, or
two, or just a few people from going in to relieve some of the pressure from the system, that’s important and it could also
help somebody from getting ill as well. Thank you for your time this evening. I’m glad this is being brought up for
consideration.

Laurie Ortolano

Laurie Ortolano, 41 Berkeley Street. Please end this mask mandate on January 31°. First of all, I’d like to know can you
provide the legal authority the Board is relying on that permits New Hampshire cities and towns to require face coverings.
Does the City of Nashua need to require or mandate face coverings because of grant money you're receiving by the
federal government. Given the way these ordinance are written, they’re call out as an emergency act. Can you identify
the emergency you're relying on for these face covering ordinances and State law Chapter 31, Section 5, requires that
cities and towns obtain permission from the courts to spend money in a city emergency and have we done that?

| take objection to the Mayor’s comments. His information to Alderman Comeau was not correct. The hospitals do not
break out incidental cases. They're reporting incidental and COVID admissions and they are admitted. People go to the
hospital to have their gall bladder out. They get there, they get COVID tested and their positive. They're admitted.
They’re counted as COVID but they're there to have their gall bladder removed. Two weeks ago | checked on those
numbers. There were 30 something cases in the hospital. Twelve were incidental. Massachusetts has requested that
hospitals break out all incidental cases. We're not doing that in New Hampshire. The doctors who came to the Board of
Health meeting last week and spoke to the Board of Health, they were surprised visitors who were given public comment
and the few members of the public were there were not given public comment. That is not correct. They were not on the
agenda. It was a very disingenuous meeting for those of us in the public that wanted information. Those doctors came
with one data point.

| had written a letter to the Board of Health and asked them to gather data and show us the whole pictures and in come
doctors with one day’s data point. Southern had 46 patients. A record high on Wednesday. Sunday it was 14. They
changed dramatically and we need running data. I’d like to know when the first ordinance where you came up with all the
statistics that our local hospitals are reporting 60 to 80 percent of the patients are unvaccinated and ill. If you’re following
the data now, more of these patients going into the hospital are vaccinated. In fact, the Board of Heath doctors who came
- the two hospital doctors said that Director Bagley asked them if more of the patients in the hospital are unvaccinated,
she said no it’s 50/50. They both said that.

Alderman O’Brien

30 seconds.
Laurie Ortolano

And they both said the booster makes no difference. So | do not think we need this legislation. The Mayor said a 14 day
average data he gave me, that’s bad data. Get the seven day data, that’s what’s posted on the New Hampshire
dashboard. Look at the fall. It has come down dramatically and this is yesterday. Today it’s down another — | just
checked it. It just clicked in and it’s down another five percent. Please go another week, lift the mask, peel them off
everyone and be done (inaudible) this mask forever and it’s time to take it off. Thank you.

Laura Colquhoun

Laura Colquhoun at 30 Greenwood Drive. I’m requesting that the Board vote against the extended mask ordinance for
the City of Nashua. The real science is now telling citizens’ masks are useless however, the City of Nashua Board of
Health still wants the residents to wear masks. All of the City of Nashua is doing is hurting both the residents and the
small businesses within Nashua. It is unbelievable that within the City of Nashua you can go to a bar, restaurant, or a
casino and not wear a mask. However, if you go to any other store you need a mask. Can anybody tell me the science
that states that the virus does not enter the bars, restaurants, or casinos because I’ve been researching it and | cannot
find anything the science of this? If the Board of Aldermen will have — get the Nashua residents have had enough and
they now want to live their lives. I’m asking the Board of Aldermen not to extend the mask ordinance within the City of
Nashua. Thank you.

Board of Aldermen 01-25-2022 Page 4

Matthew Gouthru

Matthew Gouthru, 104 Fawn Lane. Good evening Mayor, Madam President, and Aldermen. My comments this evening
are concerning the extension of city-wide mandate on your agenda this evening. If you recall, | brought up at a previous
meeting my disappointment on how this mandate was passed in the first place without any public comment and | told the
Board of Health meeting or with this body. Emergency powers were used to get this legislation passed with a first and
second reading within minutes of each other without any public input and it’s almost unheard of the comments that you did
hear came from members of the Board of Health who opined about how necessary this was. One member of that body
said that a child died of COVID in New Hampshire that week and boldly stated that one child was too many. Later that
evening, Dr. Chan our own State’s epidemiologist on WMUR stated that the rumor of the child’s death here in New
Hampshire due to COVID was untrue.

| think the same size that you’re looking for occurs right here in Nashua in our public schools where everyone has been
masked since the school year starting in August of 2021. During that time the level of public spread which never dipped
below substantial according to Ms. Bagley’s dashboards. With all of that masking, have we seen a decrease in cases in
our public schools? No. In fact, we had to close our schools for two days because of staff and teachers were out sick
with COVID-19. This was during the time in which you implemented a city-wide mask mandate. Fortunately this variant is
not as deadly as the one we first experienced two years ago and people can recover from its mild symptoms. The
science tells us that cloth masks do not work against the Omicron variant. The CDC Director who is from New England
describes cloth masks as facial decorations and compares their effectiveness as keeping out mosquitos with a chain link
fence. So why are we going out of our way to mandate that everyone wears them.

In conclusion, why are decisions made with false or misleading information and no public input? If this were a true public
health emergency, why isn’t Bobbie Bagley and her team handing out N95 masks to protect the public health like they do
with needles and syringes to recreational drug users in this city. Stop the insanity, vote no on extending the mask
mandate on this agenda this evening and trust in the...

Alderman O’Brien

30 seconds

Matthew Gouthru

...together we can get through this without any unnecessary and get through this tumultuous time without unnecessary
ambiguous mandates. Thank you.

Sonia Prince

Hi. Sonia Prince, 49 Tufts Drive. This is about the spread. Over 200 new cases in our schools, there were 400 the week
before, 400 the week before that, it’s ridiculous. For a perspective example of the Province of New Brunswick is in a two
week shutdown because of 400 new cases and they have 700,070 people. So yes we need the mask order and yes even
cloth masks are better than nothing. What’s better is if we don’t gather indoors in groups. That would be the best thing
especially if you can’t open windows but really cloth masks is better than nothing. You might gain a foot but whatever.
Yes the N95s are much better especially for teachers who are stuck in these classrooms are for herding 100 to 300 kids in
agym or a library at school, which my son has experienced and I’ve kept him home after that. So really | do hope you
vote for the mask order. It’s a no brainer. It’s protecting our community and our health workers. Thank you.

Beth Scaer

Hi. Beth Scaer, 111 East Hobart Street. Yeah I’m talking here about the mask ordinance. | think it should be not
extended because nearby towns don’t have mask mandates. It’s very easy for people to drive out of town and show
somewhere else and because of that, our small businesses are suffering. | think it’s especially cruel to force parents to
put masks on their 2 year olds, 3 year olds. | think it’s completely inhumane.

| wanted to thank Alderman Comeau for surveying public input on Facebook. | think there’s way too little inquiry as to
what the public thinks in Nashua and way too much ancillary discussion. Thanks. That's it.

Julie Smith

Thank you. Julie Smith, 19 Bangor Street. | want you to end this egregious government overreach now. | agree with
everything that Laurie, Laura, Matthew, and Beth have said and | have nothing more to add. Thank you.