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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 4/12/2022 - P1

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:44
Document Date
Tue, 04/12/2022 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 04/12/2022 - 00:00
Page Number
1
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__041220…

A regular meeting of the Board of Aldermen was held Tuesday, April 12, 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; Alderman Derek Thibeault led in the Pledge to the Flag.
Let’s start the meeting by taking a roll call attendance. If you are participating via Zoom, please state your presence, reason

for not attending the meeting in person, and 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 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.

REMARKS BY THE MAYOR

Mayor Donchess

Thank you Madam President. First | wanted to mention a couple of the items that are on the agenda tonight for action.
The teachers’ contract comes up pretty quickly. | wanted to say and thank the Budget Committee for their unanimous
endorsement of this proposed contract. It accomplishes a number of things for the city given that education is offering an
excellent education for every child is vital to us. For that, we need excellent teachers which we have but to attract and
retain teachers, we need to have competitive pay. Right now, the teachers are in terms of average pay Nashua is 77* of
about 150 districts in New Hampshire. This will provide the teachers with a raise and help to equalize starting salaries,
salaries for those at the end of their career, and more than anything else, more than even the two ends, the middle level
teachers because Nashua is losing teachers who are trained, seasoned here in Nashua to districts close by that pay a
higher for those trained teachers. So | hope you will follow the recommendation of the Budget Committee and endorse
this very important step forward in terms of education here in Nashua.

One thing that is important is the city sought a change in the HMO plan, which is offered city employees. As you know,
we've gotten that agreement from a number of other employee groups. The teachers agreed to that plan and as a result
of that, the projection of our healthcare experts is that we will save $2.3 million in healthcare costs per year starting in year
two of the contract, which begins next July 1. We are in an environment of rising healthcare costs but this agreement
means that for a period of about three years, we will lower or constant city contributions for teacher healthcare. Before |
conclude on that, | want to thank the teachers for the extraordinary efforts that they have put in over the last two years
during very difficult conditions. I’m glad we’re back to normal now and hope we can make sure that the kids do not suffer
any lasting, long term deficits as a result of the disruption.

Another item on the agenda which has received considerable discussion over the long period of time is the outdoor dining
— the extended outdoor dining. First, we have to congratulate and thank all of the people that served on the Task Force
consisting of the Infrastructure Committee, the Planning Committee, as well as our citizen members. The number of
meetings, the length of those meetings — 11 o’clock at night, 1 o’clock in the morning. In my experience is really
extraordinary and it shows how dedicated everyone regardless of their opinion on this issue how dedicated people are to
trying to improve and support downtown Nashua. It is vital to the city and | think all of the effort put in by everyone
certainly is a recognition of that.

At the beginning, we proposed a compromise from the configuration of the outdoor dining that occurred in the last two
years. The proposal scaled back the outdoor dining in order to improve traffic flow and reduce to about 40 sum the net
loss in parking spaces out of 3,500. The Task Force looked over these recommendations very carefully — block by block
and even finer than that and adopted some changes/amendments which are before you and, of course, worked very hard
in doing that. One change that did come forward is that in addition to the city, building owners have to agree to have the
outdoor dining in front of the property. | think everyone involved agrees that bringing more people downtown is something
that we need to — is an important objective. Outdoor dining clearly does that. Three to four thousand people a day was
the count last year. It brings a lot more life to downtown. Many people commented on that. If we think about the
economic aspect — 3,000 or 4,000 people over a number of months is many, many hundreds of thousands of visitors. If
you think that every person spent $10, that’s millions of extra revenue coming into our downtown. Some people have
pointed out that we should come forward with a proposal to charge restaurants a reasonable fee for this and I’m sure we

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 4/12/2022 - P1

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 4/12/2022 - P2

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:44
Document Date
Tue, 04/12/2022 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 04/12/2022 - 00:00
Page Number
2
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__041220…

Board of Aldermen 04-12-2022 Page 2

can come up with that over the course of the next few months. Certainly | agree with that objective. Overall, | think the
Task Force did a great job in making the recommendations they have and | hope that you also endorse their
recommendations.

Madam President one thing | wanted to touch on briefly is COVID — just because of course we’re all concerned about that.
The State has begun to de-emphasize some of these metrics that they’ve focused on over the course of the first two years
like the positivity rate because there are many people who are testing outside of the data collection by the State of New
Hampshire. Home test, pharmacies, all that data is not collected so they question whether the positivity rate really is a full
or accurate report. So they want to focus on hospitalizations more than anything else. So on that score, we spoke with
the hospitals Friday. AS of that date, there were seven people hospitalized in Nashua. More than we want but far, far
less than some months ago. Those people all were being treated. Some had been in the hospital for other reasons and
turned up with COVID. Those have been released though and the people they were talking about were being treated for
COVID but still between the two hospitals, seven patients. Again, that is far better than it was some months ago.

Finally | wanted to congratulate and thank Alderman O’Brien for his work up at the legislature. As you know, the State did
away with its own legal obligation to pay us — all cities and towns — 40 percent of the pension costs for municipal
employees. That was the 40 then 35 percent. That it was what persuaded cities and towns to join the pension fund. That
was done away with by an action of the legislature a few years back. That has cost the city so far that broken promise
$74 million. So Alderman O’Brien proposed a Bill to at least return part of that money — 7 /% percent rather than 35. The
obstacles to that were very considerable. A lot of opposition in the legislature but there was a back and forth, back and
forth, and finally after two or so floor fights, Alderman O’Brien persuaded the House, the House, to pass his Bill. That
would mean $2 million to the City of Nashua. Now it still has to go through the Senate. Alderman O’Brien and others tell
me that’s a pretty tough road but at least for the first time ever we go the Bill through the House and that was due to
Alderman O’Brien and his efforts so | wanted to thank him for that. That is all | have Madam President.

RESPONSE TO REMARKS OF THE MAYOR

Alderman Klee

Thank you Madam President and | want to echo the words of the Mayor to Alderman O’Brien or State Rep. O’Brien. | had
a front row seat just about to watch him do his magic. He turned a kill the Bill into a pass the Bill. It wasn’t easy but he
did it in his fashion and | appreciate it. So thank you very much.

RECOGNITION PERIOD — None

READING MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS

There being no objection, President Wilshire declared the minutes of the Board of Aldermen meeting of March 8,
2022 be accepted, placed on file, and the reading suspended.

COMMUNICATIONS REQUIRING ONLY PROCEDURAL ACTIONS AND WRITTEN REPORTS
FROM LIAISONS

From: Lisa M. Fauteux, Director of Public Works

Re: Referrals from Board of Aldermen — R-22-13

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

From: Tim Cummings, Economic Development Director
Re: Updated Plan Based On Taskforce Recommendations

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

Adam Marcoux

Adam Marcoux — | live at 4 Jolori Lane. I’m President of the Nashua Teachers’ Union. | have two children — one at South,
1 at Main Dunstable, and 1 two daycare payments away from Kindergarten.

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 4/12/2022 - P2

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 4/12/2022 - P3

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:44
Document Date
Tue, 04/12/2022 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 04/12/2022 - 00:00
Page Number
3
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__041220…

Board of Aldermen 04-12-2022 Page 3

I’m here to speak on behalf of the contract. This contact as | mentioned to all of you that were hear to listen to me last
night, we started preparations for this contract in 2019 and then COVID hit and derailed everything as we tried to settle
this contract prior to its expiration, which we have not had any of our contracts settled prior to expiration since 2011.

This contract did a lot of things. We had a step scheduled that was not sustainable. We moved a lot of people around to
their correct places on that schedule. Last contact, which was expensive to do, and this time we worked very hard to
spread out and have equitable movement across that scheduled which makes it much easier to plan and budget when
you're expecting the same kind of raises from step zero through step 24. Step 24 will be the top of the end of this contract
which is a problem in itself that we'll have to address next time.

I’m going to tell you | was very concerned about whether or not this contract would pass the membership when we were
given the healthcare proposal. It took a lot of education, a lot of time, a lot of understanding, help from Kim Kleiner’s office
and getting this through the membership and I’m happy to report that it passed our membership with a 98 percent
approval rating. Health insurance is scary when you make changes like we are and you hear high deductibles, especially
in our field where we have a lot of people who are families and have children and spouses. It’s a scary kind of thing. I’m
happy to say the cooperation between the city, the Union, and the District to educate our members on the health
insurance changes has been phenomenal and there’s even a lot more interest in the high deductible health plan with
health savings account because it’s not so scary anymore when you hear a $4,000 deductible for a family.

Donna Graham, Legislative Affairs Manager

30 seconds
Adam Marcoux

So in want to thank the Budget Committee for their unanimous support last night. | would pre-emptively thank you for
your support this evening and look forward to signing that contract into effect tomorrow. I’m hoping for those votes.
Thank you.

Fred Ordway

Good evening ladies and gentlemen. My name is Fred Ordway, 12 Mason Drive. Thank you for this opportunity to
address you this tonight about the extended outdoor eating. Specifically when we’re looking at the address of 133 Main
Street, which is also known as San Francisco Kitchen. The Task Force in the past unprecedented job of COVID, and
trying to work with business, and trying to remain them relevant during that time period had an amazing breakthrough with
the outdoor seating. At that time, they were allocated two spots in front of the restaurant. It is my understanding that
under this new ruling, they might be only down to one. San Francisco Kitchen is owned by a friend and a fellow Veteran
of mine - Ruben Gomez. He served multiple tours in the Middle East and still serves with the United States Air Force and
can be deployed in the near future also. | hope you take this time to keep the downtown vibrant. With the upcoming
performing arts center coming in, | think where everything is coming in to the right downtown to bring it back to keep it
vibrant. | remember back in the days when Nashua was Money Magazine’s number one city in the year. I’ve been
delivering mail for 36 years in the downtown area with the Postal Service. I’ve seen it come. I’ve seen it change
throughout the time. Right now, we're in the right way. We're doing the right outlook and | would hope that we continue to
keep the downtown vibrant and keep bringing people down and bringing in the income. Thank you and once again,
please vote for two spots out in front of 1383 Main Street. Thank you for your time and have a good evening.

Lina Gomez

Line Gomez, 262 Lake Street. I’m here for San Francisco Kitchen. This is like my third time speaking and it doesn’t get
any better every time I’m up here. First of all, you all know I’m in favor of the barriers. | wish we just had it again like | had
it the first two years but | know there has to be somewhat modifications, some changes to it. So | just hope that | can
keep two spaces in order to accommodate the same tables I’ve had the previous years, keep my employees, and be able
to continue offering the community — serving the community like it has been.

Second, I’m going to make this short, | do want to — like | said before in my e-mails, | want to thank each and every one of
you. | know this is not an easy job dealing with happy and angry residents. It must be very hard on a daily basis and |
know you all have personal lives. Being here long hours, doesn’t make it any easier. | do want to thank you all.

Third, | want to welcome you. Please visit SFK personally or a work meeting but come by and have a nice dinner. Thank
you.

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 4/12/2022 - P4

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:44
Document Date
Tue, 04/12/2022 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 04/12/2022 - 00:00
Page Number
4
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__041220…

Board of Aldermen 04-12-2022 Page 4

Matthew Gouthro

Matthew Gouthro, 104 Fawn Lane. Good evening Madam President, Mayor, Aldermen, and staff. I’m here to speak on
the proposed legislation that would unfortunately create traffic gridlock, reduce parking, and a potential safety hazard in
our historic downtown district. Also, more taxpayers can provide expanded outdoor dining for our restaurant community in
downtown Nashua. I’ve watched and spoken at every one of the Board of Aldermen and joint Task Force meetings held
on this subject. | say | enjoy outdoor dining and our expanded sidewalks on Main Street in downtown provide ample
space for those activities but to block off areas of Main Street is absolutely ridiculous. Not once during this process do we
hear of an economic viability study, a traffic study, a land use study for outdoor seating, or any kind of metric to support
the need for this expenditure for one year and certainly not three years.

What we did see is that in 2021 there was a 6 percent utilization rate of expanded outdoor restaurant seating in downtown
Nashua — 6 percent to have those ugly, clunky barriers in place 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for months. Think of it this
way if you received only 6 percent of the vote in your Ward or citywide, you probably wouldn’t be sitting in this chamber
right now. What we were provided was an unusual parking study consisting of only two day in mid-October to justify
moving over 40 parking spaces from our downtown district during the height of our summer season. Our residents are not
going to park and walk blocks to get their haircut, pick up prescriptions, visit the dentist, have their garments tailored, do
their banking, or shop with other retailers. During the Task Force meetings, we heard that the legislation was going to
turn downtown Nashua into a dining destination for out of towners and those out of State leaf peepers heading north. We
heard no plans on how we were going to promote downtown Nashua as a destination whatsoever. So ask yourself this
questions, what fuel is Tim Cummings using to drive our economic engine because so far the proposed legislation in front
of you essentially states the City of Nashua’s plan is to spend thousands of our tax dollars is if we build it, they will come.
That’s not good enough for me and countless residents and business owners who have either spoken or written to this
body overwhelming in opposition to this legislation. Ladies and gentlemen, you were tasked with the purse strings of the
city.

Donna Graham, Legislative Affairs Manager

30 seconds

Matthew Gouthro

In this case, | certainly hope you’re making decisions on how to spend our tax dollars on data driven initiatives and not
dreams. | employ you to vote down the recommendations from the Joint Task Force on this proposed legislation that’s
essentially nothing but a pie in the sky economic boondoggle. Thank you.

Ken Bois

Good evening. Ken Bois, 19 Woodbury Drive, Nashua. | would like to thank all of the members of the Task Force, and
teams, and Aldermen, and business owners that contributed all of their hard work and time to support this initiative. |
really firmly believe having been a born and raised in Nashua for over 70 years with numerous friends that thoroughly
enjoy being downtown again for the last two to three years to see filled storefronts. Besides way beyond the dining
experience, those storefronts, people walking, chatting, being together, being viable, being active. | really feel this is a
positive step for Nashua to get these barriers going and find a better way of barriers in the next three years but obviously
we are about 3 to 4 weeks behind other cities who are already opening their outside dining with great success. | sincerely
urge a very positive outcome. Thank you very much.

Laura Colquhoun

Laura Colquhoun, 30 Greenwood Drive. First, it is the job of the Mayor to appoint three members to the Board of
Registers not two as this Board is currently doing tonight. Just because the Mayor does not like the other political party
does not accept and accept their applications does not make this situation very democratic. | would ask the Mayor
forward the applications to the Board of Aldermen and have them review the applications. By doing this, Nashua could
actually have fair elections.

Secondly, a lot of Nashua residents do not want the barriers. However, the Mayor, and the restaurants, and the bars want
them so Nashua will get them. The Nashua Mayor keeps saying that the restaurant and bars downtown made millions
and millions of dollars last year. The owner of Stella Blu is very vocal about wanting these barriers and how they have
increased his profit. My idea was to let Stella Blu pay for the barriers. In doing this, the Nashua peasants would get a
break and | don't live in the north end or am | a member of country club.

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 4/12/2022 - P5

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:44
Document Date
Tue, 04/12/2022 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 04/12/2022 - 00:00
Page Number
5
Image URL
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Board of Aldermen 04-12-2022 Page 5

Now the Board of Aldermen want to make a Nashua arts and cultural plan. However as a taxpayer, I'm saying no. With
the current Performing Arts Center being shoved down the taxpayers’ throat, | do not think any more money should be
going to the arts. Last night the Budget Committee voted to make a trust for the Court Street. Bottom line is that the
taxpayers will continue to foot all the expenses on this building plus and all the while getting in very little funds from the
two tenants in return.

Alderman Kelly stated last night that right now we, the Board of Aldermen, are putting our money where our values are.
Well Alderman maybe you should start thinking about the values of the Nashua taxpayers, which is to put food on their
tables, pay their mortgages, and pay their property taxes. This Board of Aldermen better start thinking about the
taxpayers instead of special projects for downtown. Thank you.

Karen Bill

Karen Bill, 95 Parnell Place. Please reject the recommendations made by the Joint Task Force in downtown
Infrastructure Committee for the following reasons. It is unfair to have taxpayers bear the burden for a third year for
barriers that benefit a minority of businesses on Main Street. Residents have made it abundantly clear - they want outside
dining but not at the expense of safety and reducing Main Street to two lanes. Keep four lanes open.

Another committee has been formed to study the cost of the barriers. How ridiculous that this did not happen before
making recommendation of not charging anybody for the barriers. The barrier costs should have been tracked from day
one and shared publicly with all citizens certainly as a part of this process but it was never divulged. Via a Right to Know
request, | have ascertained the costs, and costs per barrier, and e-mail them to everybody - all the Aldermen earlier
tonight. By the way, the cost of a barrier in 2020 was $617.57. One barrier. The cost per barrier in 2021 went up and
that was $688.45. The second year, it doesn't include the cost of the barriers which was in the first year. So together,
costs for the barriers for the past two years - 218 barriers; 1) now it's up to having cost us $1,374.46. | have the
spreadsheet. You have this spreadsheet. If anybody in the public wants a spreadsheet, you can e-mail me.

Outside dining has existed for the past 20 years and there was never a call to arms from any restaurants indicating with
the sidewalk amount that they had was inadequate. As many things go in life, it's a first come first serve basis. If for any
reason there are any barriers installed in the downtown area for any business, they should pay per barrier and the return
on investment in anywhere in the city. Say you need 15 barriers at $700 per barrier, parking spots 20 by 8 - that would
encompass six parking spots, 12 barriers. Your cost as a restaurant $10,500. Not bad when your return is $500,000 or
$750,000. | did the math and you have the numbers from the restaurants.

Donna Graham, Legislative Affairs Manager

30 seconds
Karen Bill

These are all provided by John Griffin by the way. Let's solve it right now and say no to the barriers but yes to outside
dining on the sidewalks at no additional cost to the restaurants. Have the moral courage to listen to the constituents to
vote no. It's not a done deal and if you have so many concerns, send it back to committee because the costs should have
been discussed and analyzed. I'm happy to provide them to all of you. Thank you.

Tim Sennott

Thank you. Tim Sennott, 62 Underhill Street, Nashua. It feels strange to be not speaking about downtown first, but I'm
actually here to speak in support of the teachers’ contract. |, like many people in this room, have what | believe to be the
ultimate stake in our public schools. | have a son in the public school system. |, myself, was also educated in Nashua
schools at least since the fourth grade. Since that time because | was the cool nine year old who read the newspaper, |
have seen contract season after contract season come up and play out very similarly to how we've seen this contract
season play out, and the one before it, and the one before it. We need to start treating teachers like they're smart, like
they're members of any other industry. People in any other industry whether you're a teacher, or you work in accounting
like me you look for a job where you're going to get the best bang for your buck. Nashua can't continue to kick it down the
road in regard to teachers’ contracts and expect to retain the best teachers that we can offer our students. | personally
want the best teachers that we can offer my students. | hope that anybody here with a student in the public schools would
want the same for their kid as well.

And since I'm at this lectern and it would be remiss to not mention downtown, here we are. We have the proposal before
us. We have spent many long nights in this chamber. Many of you longer nights than I've spent in this chamber because

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 4/12/2022 - P6

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:44
Document Date
Tue, 04/12/2022 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 04/12/2022 - 00:00
Page Number
6
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__041220…

Board of Aldermen 04-12-2022 Page 6

you've got more in it than | do right now. Let's go for it. It comes back to kicking things down the road. We've kicked
things down the road in this city for far too long. We kicked the performance center down the road since | moved here in
the early 90s. We've talked about projects that I've only seen to come to fruition in my adult life that were starting to
formulate when | was a child. Please support the proposal from the Task Force and the recommendation from the
Committee. | hope to be dining downtown this summer outside. Thank you.

Craig Hermle

My name is Craig Hermle, 12 Brittany Way, Nashua. | think the prior speakers have summarized my position ultimately.
I'm not in objection to downtown dining all. | am 100% against anyone getting something for nothing. I've been in
previous meetings where the statements have been made that the restaurants have been suffering through COVID and
barely getting by. Well the entire town, the entire State, the entire country has suffered through it. As a gig worker, | can
tell you that | too have suffered and | didn't get a financial reimbursement from the government as I'm sure some of the
restaurants have this past year. I'm not at all opposed to downtown dining. | think it's a great thing to do get people
outside. However, it should be paid for especially if you're expanding your footprint to the extent it was last year impeding
the traffic in the roads. If you want if you want the space, pay for it. Thank you very much.

Rich Lannan

Hi. Rich Lannan, 11 McGrath Road Pelham with offices in Nashua. | do own two buildings on Main Street. They're
mixed use buildings. | have retailers. | have restaurants, residents, offices, and so forth. But I'm speaking for myself. |
not speaking for or against my tenants there as | think I've spoken many of the meetings in the past. | am very much in
favor of the expanded dining, but a little different. Lately, I've been thinking about some of the opposition and some of the
reasons why some people are against it. One of them is obviously is the traffic and the fact that the traffic is slowed down.
It bottlenecks. Others including (inaudible) talked about it's all about the restaurants and it's all about downtown. It's not
about the residents of the city.

m

| agree with all of that, except that downtown is just that downtown Nashua but downtown's everywhere is not supposed to
be a thoroughfare. It's not supposed to be Amherst Street, Daniel Webster Highway, or Everett Turnpike. Its downtown.
The traffic is too fast. Downtown is not a 30 or 40 mile an hour zone and | think it's proven that the traffic has slowed. |
guess heaven forbid that it takes two, or three, or four minutes longer to go an extra mile from north/south or south/north
on Main Street and downtown has become much more vibrant. There's no question that the restaurants probably have the
most direct benefit in their pocketbook. This is not just about the restaurants. This is about the restaurants as retail but
it's about people coming downtown. It is no question that the expanded outside dining but really the barriers by slowing
the traffic down has been talked about as far as parking spaces, there's so much parking in the downtown area. | mean,
again, if you don't park right in front of a store that seems to be a problem and | don't know why. If you park in a mall
parking lot, you're gonna walk a lot further than walking from one of the garages. So | think making Main Street two lanes,
slowing the traffic down, and if you're looking just to go north/south, there's plenty of other ways to go.

And really this is about downtown recess the vibe for the whole city, which is all the residents of Nashua and beyond. |
just think what we saw in the last couple of years. It was because of COVID it was happening, but there's not a lot of
good things that come out of COVID but | think this was one of them that shows what can happen...

Donna Graham, Legislative Affairs Manager

30 seconds
Rich Lannan

...and what could make downtown more vibrant. If a downtown thrives and it shows by all the new stores and new
restaurants that have come into downtown just over the last couple of years, a thriving downtown makes the whole city
better. So | urge the Board to please vote this. This new plan, compromised plan, and vote for that this evening in a
positive way. Thank you for your time.

Lou Juris

Good evening. Lou Juris here. You’ve got an opportunity this evening to approve resolutions that include improving our
sewer system. Monies for a situation with Pennichuck - the water company. The police (inaudible) a police issue police
contract for the cops. You know, of course, the teachers, our associated professionals who've worked through this
pandemic whether it was remote, hybrid, caring, instructing our students during this time, checking on their emotional well-
being, and going through the start and stops and everything that it's affecting their personal life, and certainly their health

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 4/12/2022 - P7

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:44
Document Date
Tue, 04/12/2022 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 04/12/2022 - 00:00
Page Number
7
Image URL
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Board of Aldermen 04-12-2022 Page 7

and having to try to avoid pandemic. This is a big night to really do something civic and something almost profound for the
City of Nashua with the of course a lot of the talk of a lot of discussion this evening on downtown the heart of the city like it
is in many towns and cities across the country. You're seeing a lot of effort trying to be put into these downtown's and one
of the ways to do it is to make them as was said before more pedestrian friendly, more walkable, more livable, more
commerce, and for a variety of commercial endeavors, as well as for a variety of living situations, and people's personal
enjoyment. Let’s not take people's fun away, please. You've got a few short months during these times in the good
weather and people seem to enjoy it. Just think, with the new teachers’ contract, we may have a few more instructors
going down there during the evenings or whenever they want to blow off a little steam after a long couple of years and
certainly in a safe way being outside.

So there's a lot on the docket tonight and we can really, we can really, you Know, make this happen, make this happen for
the city, and for the region around us, and to keep in mind that we are in a competitive situation with the other towns and
cities. This is going to keep us at least in the game or ahead of the game so we can come out of here as winners. So
please do please do the effort tonight and let's approve these matters and let's move on to the next chapter.

Donna Graham, Legislative Affairs Manger

Mr. Juris can | have your address, please?
Lou Juris
If you don’t know it by - yeah, it’s 56 Haines Street.

Donna Graham, Legislative Affairs Manger

Thank you.
Lou Juris
Thank you.
Sonia Prince

Thank you for having me - 49. Tufts, Drive. Sonia Prince. I'm excited. That was one of the positive things if you can
count many positive things out of the COVID is the downtown. | thoroughly enjoyed it. I've been living here for 25 years
and my husband and | and my friends have met up downtown more than ever before. | enjoy Peddlers, Tostados,
Martha’s, JaJa Belles, San Francisco Kitchen. | can go on and on of how wonderful it was. | do agree some of them - the
barriers don't look that great so maybe there's some kind of decorative thing we could put a barrier and then maybe a little
metal gate, or a flowerpot, or something to make it look a little more appealing. Overall, it was enjoyable. | didn’t have to
think about each restaurant probably employs anywhere from 5 to 10 people. So we need to keep those people working
and they're taxpayers so we want to keep them here.

Also, |am concerned because of COVID. Another reason why we should keep it in place. There's another wave right
now - 172% jump in new cases within one month in New Hampshire. So yeah, we may not have as many deaths but we
still have long haulers, sick people, and teachers out and right now I'm talking to a lot of teachers and they're telling me a
lot of their students are out. So it's just a matter of time before the teachers become sick and they have to stay out until
they test negative. That would be a nightmare like we had this winter. A lot of kids were left unsupervised. There was
more bullying. We had a locker room awful event that happened at one of the high schools. It was absolutely terrifying.
So | hope that that doesn't happen and if it be that you will consider putting the masks back on for indoors, maybe in
public buildings or schools.

And finally for the contract for the teachers, | spoke about that last night - 1.5 years. | know COVID had a little to do with
the timeline, but really compared to the firefighters who didn't make any concessions of $2.5 million a year on the health
plan. You know treating teachers like that is just embarrassing for a city sexist. I'm sorry. It is what itis. The Fire
Department or Police Department never get treated that way. So | hope that this all goes smoothly and we do get repairs
for our storage and everything else that we need. | think you guys are doing a great job.

Donna Graham, Legislative Affairs Manager

30 seconds

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Sonia Prince

| thank you all because | know your job isn't easy and you're doing a great job. You know rolling with the punches as they
come. So | hope we keep doing that with reasonable expectations. Thank you.

Charlene Saleski

Thank you all for taking the time to listen to all the objectives, and positives, and negatives represented to you. Charlene
Saleski, 9 Hill Street, Nashua, New Hampshire.

I'm going to start out first by just wanting to say that I'm a little disappointed that the compromises that were suggested
weren't considered. One being that the dates for outdoor dining go from the end of May to the beginning of September
instead of from the beginning of May until the middle of October. | think that was reasonable and considerable. There
was no consideration for the compromise on the amount of hours that outdoor dining could take place, which | had
thought that 5 to 10 evenings, Thursday, Friday, Saturday that would not tie up the whole downtown seven days a week
24/7.

The handicap needs that everyone keeps referring to that every single space as a handicap space but if they don't need
to be marked. Well if they're not marked, anybody can park there. Someone handicap comes along, they have nowhere
to go. | just wondered did the ADA come down and recommend this or how did this come to fruition?

The third thing was the head in parking that used to be downtown. They took away the head in parking to make four
lanes but now we're shrinking down to two lanes and we're supposed to think that that can accommodate traffic. | think
we should go back to the head in parking and make more space for parking for all the other businesses besides
restaurants. | work in a restaurant. I'm for outdoor dining. I'm not against that, I'm against the barriers.

| understand now that the sidewalks are considered a right away. So | don't refer to them as a sidewalk anymore but on
the definition of that, it means that you cannot obstruct a right of way. And I've also asked the question, where in the
middle of the road does a city owned to? Is it 50 feet in from the middle of the road to either side each way because |
know in my neighborhood, it's 25 feet into the center that the city owns and doesn't maintain but owns. Downtown is
being maintained by the city and that's my dollars. So | question whether the people that live on the side streets should
have that detriment of a longer time for a response for police, for safety, for any of that third story people trying to get
where they need to go. | don't | don't think this has been thought through thoroughly. | would like to say that if it needs
more time, | don't think pushing this out to the end of May would be a problem.

Donna Graham, Legislative Affairs Manager

30 seconds

Charlene Saleski

And | also would like it to be on the ballot next year. | would like for the cost to go to the restaurants spread it out for
anybody that wants to use downtown space. | want to be able to navigate my time on the Main Street walking. | don't
want to have to say excuse me every two minutes, or can | get this wheelchair through for you, can | help you get
through? | just don't think that the thoughts been put into everybody but only the people that benefit from having that and
I'm not against dining. I'm not against that at all. | would just like to see a few other things taken into consideration.
Maybe a little more time. Thank you.

Cheryl Roy

Cheryl Roy, 11 Hill Street, Nashua. I'm here once again against the extended dining - the barriers. I'm not against dining
outside. | think that's great, but | am against the barriers completely. What I've heard at these meetings all these
meetings I've come to hasn't changed my idea about it. My feeling is once emergency, fire, and police mentioned there
was going to be delayed times, | think all conversations should have stopped. | don't understand why the safety of the
citizens isn't a priority.

| also think this should be hit should have been put on a ballot vote. The taxpayers should be the ones that are making
the decision here. We're the ones that are going to have to foot this bill and |, for one, don't want to pay for it.

Another concern | have is about ADA compliance. | quickly went online and looked up a compliance checklist. | can't see
where this drawing that you have for these barriers as of right now even is in compliance. Van accessibility - where you're

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 4/12/2022 - P9

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Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
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Board of Aldermen 04-12-2022 Page 9

going to come up with 11 feet for a handicap van and also have - it has to be 11 feet wide and you need a five foot access
route. Plus, they have to not have a step. That handicap person has to not have to step up. Well, if they go on onto a
sidewalk, they have to step up. | don't understand how this is compliant. | don't get it. I'd like to hear somebody explain
that to me. | think that this is just being pushed through. | don't think it's being thought out thoroughly. You're just in a
hurry to get it done and | think it's wrong. | think us taxpayers - | think there should be more work done on this. The
taxpayer should have a big stake because we're paying. Thank you.

Scott

49 Congress Street, Apartment 6. I'd like to speak on behalf of the teachers’ contract. Please support the teachers’
contract and I'm agreeing with others about the barricades. If we can make it where it's safe for the Fire Department to
get by only maybe make it more interesting like make it better. It’s just a suggestion. | would like to see them think about
the barricades, but making them smaller. Maybe they'll put like towns like Manchester or other towns.

Please when the thing comes up at the Finance Committee about Access Nashua, please, Lori, please don't let
somebody take Access Nashua away from us. We need Access Nashua for access channel. Please when that comes
up at the Finance Committee, please have it in your heart to support Access Nashua because I'm a producer of Special
Talk and | need that channel. I've had our show on for 10 years and now they want to snatch it away.

President Wilshire

Scott, that's not on our agenda this evening, Scott.
scott

No just letting you know when the Finance Committee comes up and you - please have it in your guys hearts
to listen to both sides. Thank you for your time.

Representative Linda Harriott-Gathright

Good evening Madam President, and to the Board of Aldermen, and to our Mayor Donchess. | am calling in support of
the teachers’ contract. We have some of the best teachers that there is in the United States and | know that for a fact,
and | think that they deserve all that they're asking for. This has been a very difficult time particularly in the last three
years for our teachers as well as for our students. But they've done their best to keep our children afloat. So | appreciate
the work that Nashua teachers have done for our children that are here. I'm kind of grateful right now that | brought a few
children through the school system and several grandchildren, but right now | have no one school system in Nashua but |
still appreciate the work that has been done through the years and what's happening right now.

And secondly, | just want to all hats off to Alderman O’Brien for the excellent work that he did at the State House to bring
some funds back to the city. | appreciate that. | knew the hard work that he put through. We're actually going to have
this in the permanent journal for the State so that's something that the City of Nashua can always look back and hear and
understand his speech that day on the floor. One thing | can say, we were all very, very proud.

Last but not least in terms of a barrier, | support what's come back from committee in terms of the barrier. So I'm going to
make that short and just say hello to everyone there because | know you guys have a long night.

President Wilshire

Thank you. Okay, that is the end of our public comment period.

Elizabeth Lu

Elizabeth Lu, 17 Roby Street. | arrived late, so | wasn't able to get onto that list.

| think that the hopes of expanded dining downtown are a little bit could be incorrect. The way | see it, Nashua was one of
the few communities in southern New Hampshire that expanded their downtown right away when the COVID came. You
know | think it got a reputation for being a great outside space but after COVID when, you know, people can do more

close to their home, you're not going to - you may not see the same traffic through. | just want to point that out.

| get really troubled when people want to say that downtown is not a thoroughfare and that 40 miles per hour is just too
fast. People - | live close to downtown and | see people driving 25 miles per hour. If we have a problem with speeding,

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 4/12/2022 - P10

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:44
Document Date
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Board of Aldermen 04-12-2022 Page 10

we have a Police Department for that. We don't need to expand. We don't need to shut off lanes of travel because we
can't control traffic and speed.

| live close to Hayward farms and | do business near the Riverwalk Cafe. The only reasonable way to do that is by going
through downtown and | find it very childish for the downtown merchants and property owners to feel that it's wrong that |
travel through their space and don't stop and spend some money. A lot of us are in this position where there was a main
street between our home, and where we're going, and we are used to using the roads and it's very, very problematic for
me to see these lanes shut down. Oh my god.

There exists privately, privately owned vacant lots behind the restaurants on downtown Main Street. These lots are
mainly used as leased parking that generate revenues for the property owners and these property owners mostly...

Donna Graham, Legislative Affairs Manager

30 seconds
Elizabeth Lu

...are the business owners also or they rent to the business owners. What attention was given to the option of using
those areas for expanded dining? This would have been - this would have increased our parking revenue.

Lastly, | asked to speak - | wrote to all of you, asked to speak with my at-larges and not one of you contacted me. | know |
could call you but | know that I'll probably get a message.

Joanne St. John

Good evening, everyone. My name is Joanne St. John. | live at 25 Beauview Ave. in Nashua, New Hampshire. Just
quickly | want to give a history of Main Street - Main Street USA, Main Street Nashua, Main Street anywhere. Main
Streets evolve over the years and we have to evolve with changes. So when | first moved here in 1977, | remember Main
Street and it was very different than it was then. | remember Martha's had this big orange and turquoise, lovely little sign
but you know, everything was sort of like | came from Massachusetts. | came from the North Shore so it was like Michael
what did you get me into moving up here? So that was my late husband. Anyway, but he loved it here in Nashua. He
was a teacher for many, many years and I'm very proud that we ended up making this our city and loving it as much as we
did.

So just quickly, | want to say that | remember - so | don't know how many years everybody has lived here but I've lived
here a long, long time and I've seen too many changes. | remember when Main Street was not what it was today. It went
many, many years. It looked pretty desolate and pretty sad. | have to say that myself, | think that Michael Timothy started
the change for our city and from Main Street. I'm sure that he took quite a risk because there was nothing down there.
But anyway, | just want to give credit to all the people that have listened to everybody this evening. My opinion is, of
course, that we keep the barriers up. It is an evolving thing of now we are used to being like France or having outdoor
dining when we didn't used to do that. So thank you all for your consideration. | do hope that that is the way that you will
vote tonight. | know the many people that | have talked to, we love it and are looking forward to it.

Also in addition to the teachers’ contract, I'm very much in favor of giving - making the teachers’ contract absolute
ascertain. | really, really feel that they really were treated badly this past year.

Donna Graham, Legislative Affairs Manager

30 seconds

Joanne St. John

| went to almost every School Board meeting and they will not treated nicely. So I'm so sorry to say that but, again, thank
you all for your attention and thank you for letting me speak.

President Wilshire

Come on up, sir. Give us your name and address for the record.

Albert Mueller

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