A regular meeting of the Board of Aldermen was held Tuesday, October 26, 2021, 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; Deputy City Clerk Allison Waite recorded.
Prayer was offered by Deputy City Clerk Allison Waite; Alderman Richard A. Dowd 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 14 members of the Board of Aldermen present: Alderman Michael B. O’Brien, Sr., Alderman
Patricia Klee, Alderman Richard A. Dowd, Alderman June M. Caron, Alderman Benjamin Clemons (via Zoom), Alderman
Thomas Lopez, Alderman David C. Tencza, Alderwoman Elizabeth Lu, Alderman Ernest Jette, Alderman Jan Schmidt (via
Zoom), Alderman Brandon Michael Laws (via Zoom), Alderman Skip Cleaver (via Zoom), Alderman Linda Harriott-
Gathright, Alderman Wilshire.
Alderwoman Shoshanna Kelly was recorded absent.
Mayor James W. Donchess, Corporation Counsel Steve Bolton, were also in attendance.
REMARKS BY THE MAYOR
President Wilshire
Mayor did you wish to address the Board this evening?
Mayor Donchess
Yes. Thank you, Madam President. A few things that | wanted to mention. First, just an update on the COVID situation.
The numbers indicate of course we're still in substantial transmission and they continue to rise, although gradually. But
the positivity rate, in other words, the percentage of people who get tested who test positive or the have COVID is 6.9%.
That's up a little bit from a week ago and certainly higher than it was a couple of months ago. Another metric another
measurement is the number of new cases that arise in a period of 14 days per 100,000 population. That number for us
now is slightly over 400 - about 404. Previously that had been in the 300s. So numbers are going up. Again, we need to
continue to exercise caution, look out for the large groups especially without masks, vaccines, and vaccinations of course
are a way to prevent the spread of the disease and to protect yourself, your family, and your friends.
Now there will be coming to you a proposed policy regarding the use of sick leave. This will be accompanied by a memo
from Bobby Bagley, Director of Community Health. What's being proposed is that for people who are fully vaccinated and
who need to be out as a result of a COVID infection, they would not be required to use their sick leave during the period of
their absence. The policy though would provide that for someone who is not vaccinated and who contracts COVID and
needs to be out, they would use need to use their sick time. The purpose of this policy would be, of course, to encourage
people to become fully vaccinated. Now this will be coming to you with a memo from Bobby Bagley and we would be
looking for you to approve this probably at your next meeting with that will be coming.
Also at the State level, you might have noticed that on the issue of vaccines that the State Executive Council turned down
$27 million of vaccine money. Public Health was looking forward to receiving some of that money and using it to reach
out and get more people vaccinated here in Nashua. New Hampshire is the only State in the union to have turned down
that money. So, of course, that is unfortunate.
Other issues Madam President that | wanted to mention, some questions came up last night at the Budget Committee
regarding R-21-178 having to do with the reallocation of some of the Master Plan money into the purpose of preparing the
changes to the Land Use Code that would incorporate the concepts that were adopted in the Master Plan. Matt Sullivan
is here - Planning Director - to answer any questions but there were questions asked by Committee members last night, |
know. This was contemplated from the beginning that part of this money would be used to make the land use draft and
propose the land use changes that would be necessary to implement the Master Plan. The reason this is going out to an
RFP and to an outside contractor is that it is a massive amount of work, that it is much more than the Legal Department
could do in the course of its normal duties or the Planning Department, and it was always contemplated that an outside
contractor would be needed to do this. Youtile who was the consultant who helped us work through the Master Plan and
engage with the community doesn't really do this kind of thing or doesn't care to. | mean, they're more into the
