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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 3/8/2022 - P25

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:48
Document Date
Tue, 03/08/2022 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 03/08/2022 - 00:00
Page Number
25
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__030820…

Board of Aldermen 03-08-2022 Page 25

Elizabeth Lu
| hope you'll all consider whether this makes sense, if this is a way to...

President Wilshire

We passed legislation for the time period. If you can’t be respectful of that, I’m sorry. There’s nothing | can do about it.
Elizabeth Lu
No I'm respectful. | just thought | could finish a sentence. Thank you.

Laura Colquhoun

Laura Colquhoun, 30 Greenwocd Drive. | wish you Miss Wilshire would be more respectful to the residents. I’d like to go on
the record I’ve never asked to have the money to be taken away from Court Street. What | do want is | want the residents to
be able to see that it is a losing proposition. We may in 10 years decide to make it a museum, which would be fine. The
problem is I'd like more transparency with the City of Nashua and obviously that is something that you, and a lot of the other
Board members, and the Mayor.

I'm also very upset with the Mayor’s e-mail going out because when you say “oh, let’s have outside dining”, well Nashua has
outside dining but it has nothing to do. You have to mention the barriers because most people are against the barriers.
That's all | have to say. | think it’s very petty that number one the last chamber had cushions on those chairs, and now there
is none, and now you've taken away the table. Shame on you all.

Scott McCullough

Yes, I'd like to comment on you guys are doing a fantastic job. Thank you to Mayor Jim Donchess and | would like to know if
Lori and everybody would be willing to make a team for the Best Buddies Friendship Walk coming up June 11 in Concord.
I'd like to know Mayor are you willing to donate some money or make a team for the Best Buddies Friendship Walk coming
up in Concord, NH? It’s for Best Buddies New Hampshire. | was just wondering if — oh | forgot to state my name. My name
is Scott McCullough, Congress Street, Building 49, Apt. 6. Sorry | forgot to do that. Sorry | forgot to do that Ms. Chair.

Sorry, | totally forgot to do that. I’d like to see if you guys could maybe make up a team for the Best Buddies Friendship Walk
or donate or Mike O’Brien and you guys could make a team.

Mayor Donchess

Well Scott, I’d be glad to donate. No Problem. I’m sure some of the Board will too.

Scott McCullough

If you guys would like to donate, you can go to www.bestbuddies.org. Look up Bangor Buddies on the Loose. Hopefully |
didn’t go too fast for you. Thank you and | greatly appreciate.

Keep up the good work and thank you for us having the mask mandate rid of because you don’t know how much that meant
to me when | went into work and they told me | didn’t have to wear a mask at my hotel no more. | love it, freedom!

President Wilshire

Thank you so much.

Matthew Gouthro

Thank you Madam Chair. I'll start over once again from my earlier comments. Matthew Gouthro, 104 Fawn Lane, here in
Nashua. Today in your meeting materials you received a proposal of a strategic plan for our public library by Jennifer
McCormick. Changes and enhancements for our library here in Nashua are long overdue. While | applaud the efforts to
make our library a more engaging and inclusive environment, as a Nashua resident I’m really disappointed in the state of the
physical building and its’ grounds. Not to take away from Alderman O’Brien’s previous comments on another item, but the
public grounds that surround this building is also tired. I’m astounded at how this City could let this public property get to this
point. | remember speaking with Jennifer McCormick last year during our Nashua City Academy and sharing with her how
this is not a really welcoming environment. Actually for my 4 year old who is an avid reader, she finds this place pretty scary.

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 3/8/2022 - P25

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 3/8/2022 - P26

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:48
Document Date
Tue, 03/08/2022 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 03/08/2022 - 00:00
Page Number
26
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__030820…

Board of Aldermen 03-08-2022 Page 26

You see this dark overgrown littered mess that seems to welcome only vagrants these days. Instead of creating an
unneeded pedestrian mall by closing off traffic lanes on our historic Main Street, maybe our Mayor or this Board of Alderman
can focus your efforts on cleaning up the dilapidated grounds around our Public Library and restoring the publics’ interest in
the grand institution of its own very public library. Thank you very much.

President Wilshire

Thank you.
REMARKS BY THE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN

Alderman Thibeault

Yes, | have afew. I’m going to start with the comments that were made in the public session. For Mrs. Ortolano, | was
shaking my head and she can speak right through that, | didn’t interrupt her. The reason that | was shaking my head was
because of what she said about surveys, and data, and then the Mayor’s letter. On the data and surveys, the Telegraph
took a survey of 3,000 people out of 90,000 and came up with an 80% against barriers. What was it based on? Was it
based on the new proposal? Who is the segment? I’m hoping to hear all this tomorrow. Who is the segment? Was it north,
south, Main Street, was it business owners? Say the Paul Shea’s survey, right, so people may think | support Paul Shea’s
survey because | like Paul Shea. But it’s the same thing. | don’t know where that data is coming from. | don’t know where
Facebook poll data is coming from, but | tell you right now, the amount of e-mails we got and everybody here we’re all getting
the same emails. We're getting more for expanded dining and you can say that’s the Mayor’s e-mail, but I'll tell you these
Aldermen here, and | guarantee you there’s Aldermen here, that are posting their own stuff to their Facebook to their groups
or sending e-mail letters. | mean | sent one to my group, but | didn’t say | was for or again it. | said “here is what’s going to
happen next week whether you are for it or against it come out. If you’re a business owner on Main Street come out, if you
work on Main Street come out, if you live in the north and you hate the going down Main Street come out. If love going out
and having dinner on a beautiful summer night, come out. | don’t care what your opinion is | want you here to tell us your
opinion and then I'll think about it and make a decision.” But to say the Mayor’s letter influenced more of the City, or to come
up with a 3,000 survey, or a petition that was done on the old proposal, or to say the police or fire are against it on the old
proposal is nonsense. That’s why | was shaking my head. | want to hear from the police, and fire, and AMR now on the new
proposal that we will hear tomorrow night from Director Cummings. That’s what | want to hear and that is how I'll make my
decision and I'll listen to all the people that come tomorrow night that’s how | make decisions. | don’t make decisions on
faulty nonsense and | don’t care what political party the poll is done on. If you can’t tell me where the data is coming from,
I’m not going to believe it I’m sorry.

So as far as Miss Bill, if you’re in my Ward I'll respond to you but | expect wherever you live that person will respond to you.
I’m not going to respond to you unless you’re in my Ward or unless you talk to me directly.

Two other things — Miss Saige thank you for coming. This is why | got into this. She was maligned at that meeting and | did
speak out at that meeting. | don’t Know if anyone else did, there wasn’t many of us. That was uncalled for and what has
been happening to her is uncalled for. It’s just not cool and she sounds like she’s smarter than most adults and maybe
smarter than some of us. Probably certainly smarter than me and it takes a lot of courage to come here after that and speak
in front of us all. | applaud her and thank you. Even some of the Aldermen who spoke to what she said last week called her
“Saige”. Her last name is Saige. Miss Saige, right? Let’s get this right and | thought we did a bad job there.

And the last thing is we referred the Court Street to the Budget Committee after the first reading. So | hear people saying
well | want to know more about it. It went to the Budget Committee. Why didn’t we have more information then? Why didn’t
we ask the questions then? What has come up now that we didn’t know about then? So that’s why | was going to say let’s
vote for it now, let’s not refer it back to Committee to go through it all again. It doesn’t make sense. If we’re not prepared
when we come to this, then why are we doing this? That's it.

Alderman Cathey

I'll start off by responding to Alderman Thibeault since | was on the Budget Committee. | did recommend it primarily
because | thought, full disclosure that we still have to put money into the account anyway. If | felt like that account was
useless, | could vote “no”. Now granted that gives a chance for money to go into the account because the trust exists.
However after that meeting like we stated (I’m sure you guys have the email from Director Kleiner about revenues and
expenses) that was something that | didn’t know. | didn’t Know about the original resolution. | didn’t know about the roof
going under capital improvements. There were a lot of things that revolve around Court Street that were not immediately
known and | don’t even know if | would have been able to know to look them up like the original resolution. So knowing
that now, | don’t think further discussion really harms anyone when we're trying to talk about how to spend money and

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 3/8/2022 - P26

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 3/8/2022 - P27

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:48
Document Date
Tue, 03/08/2022 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 03/08/2022 - 00:00
Page Number
27
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__030820…

Board of Aldermen 03-08-2022 Page 27

how to take care of the City, especially if there is no time limit. So that’s how | personally thought it through and that’s why
| ultimately put it back down to Budget so we can talk about it again.

To Mr. Gouthro’s comments about the library. At the Budget Review Committee meeting, | asked Director Kleiner about
grants for historic buildings for Court Street and she said that they are looking to get a grant right now for that particular
area outside the library, the courtyard area. You guys call it the “Library Mall”. | don’t know if that will get approved, |
don’t know if we'll get the grants, but they are looking at getting grants to take care of that part of the library. | Know there
are other things that need to be fixed, but we’re doing what we can | guess and trying to make improvements that we
need.

And lastly the things that | care about the most and I’ll try to make this brief. | grew up in New Jersey. | don’t know if a lot
of people know that. There is a strong, strong Ukrainian community in South Jersey and | know a lot of people with a lot
of family members in Ukraine. | was very close to a Ukrainian family in New Jersey and | am very happy that the Mayor is
hosting this event for our solidarity with Ukraine. | think what is happening over there is nothing short of evil and someone
who is just trying to take away the rights of people to do what we do in the horseshoe and talk about how they want their
Country to be. So what little we can do, let’s do that because honestly I'll tell you right now call me on my word if | can go
over to Ukraine and put on a military uniform, I'd be there now because they need it and they deserve it. So if this little bit
we can do, I’m for it. I’m for supporting Ukraine, and their freedom, and independence. Thank you.

Alderman Gouveia

Thank you Madam President. | just want to thank everybody for coming out tonight on Zoom for talking and being part of
the process and look forward to tomorrow night where I’m sure we’re going to hear a lot of passionate testimony both for
and against the expanded dining. | look forward to hearing that from anybody who will be attendance on tomorrow night’s
meeting as well. Thank you.

Alderman Dowd

Hopefully some good news. | just want to let everyone know that we have received the Alteration of Terrain Permit from
the State for the new middle school and construction will start next Monday. It will be moving along and the new school
will open up hopefully in 2024.

Also this evening there was a new ordinance for a bond for Franklin Street. There was a very detailed, extensive briefing
that was done at the Joint Special School Building Committee on Franklin Street which lays out all the reasons for the
costs and I’m going to send that to everybody on the Board. Some of you people have already seen it.

Steve Bolton, Corporation Counsel

No please don’t. Bring it to a meeting, pass it out at a meeting.
Alderman Dowd
It has already been at the Joint Special.

Steve Bolton, Corporation Counsel

Pass it out at a meeting of this Board please.
Alderman Dowd
Did | refer to the fact that it’s in the minutes of the Joint Special already. It was made part of the minutes.

Steve Bolton, Corporation Counsel

You've already said that’s - don’t send out an e-mail about it please.

Alderman Comeau

Thank you Madam President. I'll be brief. So the last time we met two weeks ago in this period for comments from
Alderman before | talk about civility and | agree with all that. | agree that when members of the public are speaking they
deserve to be treated with respect, but | do agree that goes for also the ones that we don’t particularly like or agree with.

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 3/8/2022 - P27

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 3/8/2022 - P28

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:48
Document Date
Tue, 03/08/2022 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 03/08/2022 - 00:00
Page Number
28
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__030820…

Board of Aldermen 03-08-2022 Page 28

They deserve our respect also and that respect should be extended to everybody whether that’s the public respecting us
or us respecting the public. It should be between everybody and not just the people that we like. Thank you.

Alderwoman Kelly

Thank you. | will go quickly. | first wanted to start by thanking the Mayor for putting together an event for Ukraine and I’m
looking forward to seeing the flag flown and getting together with community members to reflect on what’s going on there
and how we are all feeling about that. Thank you, | will be there.

| wanted to also take a moment to thank you, Madam President, for recognizing Renny who was a giant in New
Hampshire politics and will be greatly missed.

On a similar note, | wanted to thank the members who support me while | was out for a death in my family.

| also was encouraged to see the library come forward. It does need some real hard looks in terms of what we can do to
improve it. It’s a building that gets a lot of use and it’s really an important part of the community here in Nashua. The
Energy and Environment Committee has been talking a bit about it as well and we see that there can be some energy
efficient changes as we make these changes that could also help save taxpayers save money in the long run. So looking
forward to that project overall.

Just a little fun democracy is alive and well. Today is Town Meeting day for towns smaller than us. Quite a few people
have come out and used their right to vote to get their voice out. I’ve heard anecdotally that there’s just been a lot of
people out there. Thank you everyone for participating in the democracy. We do it here, but the vote is really important
as well. Thank you.

Alderman Jette

Thank you Madam President. | hope you'll extend me this personal privilege. | remember when | first became a member
of this Board. | remember President McCarthy telling us that we should work on legislation in committees and that is
where ordinances and resolutions should be vetted, questions asked. Just because you have a committee meeting
doesn’t mean the committee has to act on that ordinance or resolution at that meeting. If they have questions and the
people to answer them aren't there, it’s perfectly okay to hold it in committee until you can get the right people there to
answer the questions. So that when the committee makes a decision, a recommendation to the full Board, the full Board
can rely upon the committees having done its homework, vetted the issues, and come up with a recommendation as to
what the committee thinks is the best thing.

Now we re-referred a matter to a committee this evening and somebody mentioned that the committee met, and dealt with
this, and that we shouldn’t send it back to the committee. Well in that particular case, the prime sponsor of that legislation
was not able to be there. We find out tonight that he has requested that it be held and that we not move ahead on it. Well
we didn’t know that at the time, but | fully expect when you sponsor a piece of legislation whether it’s you as an endorser,
or the Mayor, or the Administration that somebody is there to present the ordinance or resolution to us and why they’re
asking us to adopt this. On this particular matter at that meeting there wasn’t anybody there. The Chairman looked
around and saw Ms. Kleiner and said Director Kleiner can you help us with this? She said “well I’m not here for that, but
yes | think I can talk about it”. So she was caught by surprise. John Griffin was here. He wasn’t expecting to talk about
this. | had a lot of questions and Ms. Kleiner did the best she could to answer all the questions, but she couldn’t answer a
lot of them and neither could Director Griffin. So we recommended final passage, but after that we found out more
information, we had more questions, and when you come to a meeting when legislation is proposed sometimes there is a
time schedule - a deadline we have to meet but usually not. It’s not like it gets put on a turntable and it’s got to go around
once and get off one way or the other. We have time to think about things to give it the proper vetting. We ought to take
that time.

When the prime sponsor of the legislation says “yeah | have no problem with it going back to committee so we can
discuss these things”. He was never given a chance to explain why he sponsored it in the first place. So this is the
second time within two meetings where the prime sponsor of legislation has asked for it to be held because they were not
able to come to the meeting and in one case the majority of us denied that, and went ahead, and then tonight a majority of
us said “okay we'll let it go back to the committee”, but a lot of us didn’t. So | would just like to ask us, we’re a group. We
all have the same goal doing what’s best for the City. We are a collegial group. We should be cooperating to try to do the
best we can and if someone asks out of courtesy to delay something, especially if there’s no deadline involved, to be able
to ask more questions, get more information. We ought to accommodate that. So in the future, | hope that when a
situation like that arises again, that we think about that and allow us to properly - | mean when the motion was first made

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 3/8/2022 - P28

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 3/8/2022 - P29

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:48
Document Date
Tue, 03/08/2022 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 03/08/2022 - 00:00
Page Number
29
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__030820…

Board of Aldermen 03-08-2022 Page 29

to re-refer, | thought okay good well it will go back to committee and we'll be able to discuss all these things and avoid
what happened tonight, you know.

Everybody was talking about this ordinance and I’m not sure a lot of you have read it because this ordinance doesn’t
allocate one dime to the Court Street building. All it does is establishes an account., in this case an expendable trust
account to which money can be, in the future, allocated. When | asked questions at the committee meeting, every time |
ask about how does this work, how does this trust fund work, | kept being told we support the arts. The arts are important.
Well I’m all for the arts. That’s not the issue here. The issue is what is the purpose of this expendable trust fund. Is it a
good way to manage this thing or is there another way of doing it better and that’s what the questions are all about. How
do we best accomplish supporting this building? When | hear somebody say a tenant wants to make sure their money is
being used for the building. These tenants are paying $100 a month, $250 a month. We just spent over $600,000 on that
building. Since I’ve been an Alderman, that’s how much they’re spent on that building. So if they’re questioning if we are
using their money to support that building, the evidence is pretty obvious | think, but thank you for indulging me. Thank
you Madam President.

Alderman Lopez

| have notes. So my first one is that | just want to clarify for June 11 the Best Buddies Friendship Walk. | can walk. As
everybody knows, | like to Zoom around on my Segway, but | can do a little analog walking every now and then for a good
cause. So if anyone is interested in doing that, I’m definitely interested in participating.

| believe it was Alderman Comeau, | think, somebody from that side who mentioned that there was already some action
being taken or intended to be taken with regards to the library grounds. The Court Street grounds and the Library
grounds abut each other. That little terrace area - there is a plan to renovate it. There was a plan except 2020 got in the
way and the Library decided that maybe during the time it was literally shut down and there wasn’t a lot going on in terms
of like security in what our revenue would be coming back from COVID. It might not be a good idea to start a big
development venture. So their dreams kind of got crushed with that, but they have a very good looking proposal in plan
and all that kind of stuff that I'd love to see them pull the money together to do it. That’s what the Library Trustees do.

Additionally, the Court Street Theater is eligible for a lot of different art supports and a lot of art grants. We've already
started getting some of those or at least started to get grants not specifically for 14 Court Street, but ARPA arts funding.
So renovating the building is definitely a concern and as | said something that has been on the radar at least as long as
the Performing Arts Center if not before that. | can only speak to the year | started as Alderman, but | think it’s very
important to renovate that building to update it and upgrade it because while it may seem on the outside that the City is
well you pay your rent and the City is investing $700,000 and all that. A lot of these companies haven't actually seen that
fully realized because they haven’t been able to do shows and they haven't been able to rebuild their own programs.
There has been some publicity criticizing the Performing Arts Center. | don’t know if anyone else has seen it, but there is
concern among the performers there that there is anti-art sentiment and that half of Nashua that is art enthusiast is so
focused on the Performing Arts Centers that they're not paying attention to community arts and the other half doesn’t want
community arts or of the same mindset that we don’t need art in schools or that type of thing. So just because from our
perspective in looking at the budget and the money we put in, we feel that we are investing in that building. That doesn’t
mean its meeting the building’s needs. It doesn’t mean that the constituents and non-profits organizations operating out
of there agree with us. They may feel like a lot more needs to be done. We may agree that a lot more needs to be done
but have to make budgetary decisions. We can’t just say “okay well this is how much renovation has to happen”. Let’s
just pull it out of the escrow, or let’s bond it, or whatever.

Using the process, using Community Development, trying to apply for grants and find other funding sources for that is part
of the picture. Capturing the funds that are generated by that, you know, the new Liquid Therapy rentals and things like
that and making sure that they are supporting the building and don’t get pulled away for a rainy day project or some other
situation. That's part of the sustainability plan. | know that Director Kleiner has been very involved overseeing that.
Before her, Director Cummings was working on it. | think presentation is probably long overdue as to what’s more
immediately happening on that. Definitely would have been a good thing to have in the Budget Review Committee, but a
lot of my comments earlier tonight were made specifically because of public comment that was made which attributed in
my opinion our motivations for doing something at Court Street to a detail | was not aware of even really being relevant.
So | was interested in clarifying the value of the building and the importance of it, as much as establishing a vehicle in
which to fund it and create sustainability. | don’t think that’s the total plan, | don’t think that’s going to solve every problem
as was pointed out - maybe a third of just the operating expenses but it is a step toward actual sustainability for that site
which is long overdue. | hope we have further discussions on that, | hope it gets vetted more thoroughly in Committee
and we’re able to make progress on that, and | hope we are reassuring to the tenants that are there that our engaging
families, and organizing children to pursue their dreams, and all that kind of stuff they’re not going to be ignored,
neglected, or marginalized.

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 3/8/2022 - P30

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:48
Document Date
Tue, 03/08/2022 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 03/08/2022 - 00:00
Page Number
30
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__030820…

Board of Aldermen 03-08-2022 Page 30

| also agree with what Alderman Jette said with regard to doing the work of the committee and not necessarily rushing to a
decision to the committee. Tomorrow is probably going to be a pretty big meeting so trying to just resolve it in one
meeting in a way that satisfies everyone is in my opinion is impossible. So | hope we are able to come up with a starting
point and are able to really follow the issue and find solutions for what Nashua needs downtown because we are leaders.
We shouldn’t be engaging in any kind of tribalism when it comes to both parties need to occupy the same space. | think if
we lead and if we come up with solutions that maybe don’t make everybody joyful, but at least satisfy their needs, we’re
making a compromise, but we’re making a functional compromise that will help everybody.

And then lastly, | just wanted to comment on Julie Saige and her Dad Daniel Saige who should be very proud of her. She
made some references that may seem a little outlandish to people. If you don’t read New Hampshire Magazine or weren’t
aware of her, but she did patent a water filtration system which got major national attention. She has had multiple projects
that NASA has sent into space. It sounds unbelievable, but it’s true. So us not necessarily knowing right away that we
have an accomplished 16-year old scientist in our midst who is sharing extremely complex and sophisticated information,
and that we should be listening to it, and that we should be impressed by it, and proud of it as a City is something we
should pay attention to. | would ask the Mayor to consider recognizing her for her accomplishments formally so that
Nashua knows that it has young scientists, and young inventors, and people who are qualified. She referenced some of
her social media accounts and | know | can start a YouTube. | can start a Twitter. Nobody is going to follow it though.
She has a pretty big following and she is very successful and it’s because the information that she is giving out is sourced,
is qualified, and is recognized by some very accomplished people in their own right as well. | think we should encourage
that kind of innovation and insight and be cautious about what kind of conclusion we might lead to when having it
presented to us. Thank you.

Alderman Moran

Thank you Madam President. One - I'd just want to thank all the public speakers and especially Miss Saige for being so
courageous. You know she came out and stood up for herself. | wish my daughters will do the same thing when they
grow up and stand their ground. It is unfortunate the harassment that she has experienced in the community. | can tell
you that my wife has had some issues in the community with pictures of our new born child being photographed and the
police saying “oh there is nothing we can do”. This is not a recommendation for anyone, but in our case, my wife is now
armed because if there is nothing she can with the law, she'll protect our child. | think sometimes that when you have
encountered folks who are hostile toward you, you have to stand up for yourself and that even means coming down here
and using your words and hope it’s not advocating violence, but there are times when you have to take action into your
own hands and | really do hope that my children are as strong as her when they become her age.

Second to Alderman Comeau’s statements earlier. | do agree that we have to respect everyone who speaks here
whether we agree with them or not. I’m new. I’m probably not as worn down as others, but people deserve to be heard
no matter what their opinion is right/wrong, in the middle, gray. Everyone up there talking believes themselves to be right
and it’s up to us to filter through and find as much middle ground as possible.

Outside dining, barriers, whatever you call it - Alderman O’Brien and | will be co-chairing tomorrow night and | welcome
everyone to come out and speak to it. It is very important that, again, you all heard and you may make our job feel
uncomfortable, but that’s part of what we signed up for and | look forward to hearing both sides of the argument.

Ukraine, again, | mentioned this earlier last week. For Lent, I’m praying and fasting for the people of Ukraine freedom
fighters. | might not be former military like Mr. Cathey — oh you're not either. | may not be willing to be throwing arms on
or army shield, but I’d be definitely willing to go over and provide mental-health care. | think what they’re doing is standing
up to an autocrat. They are standing up to anti-democracy invasion and that’s American values. We are the shining
beacon on the hill of democracy and those folks are fighting for it. | join them in fighting against an autocrat.

E-mails — | do my best to respond to all of them. I’ve got quite a bit on the barriers. | probably responded to 90% of them.
I’ve read every single one. There was one day | got maybe 120 and maybe not hit all of them to respond, but if there are
e-mails that | get that are related to a legal matter, I’m not putting city taxpayers’ money at risk by responding with the
wrong answer. | think that’s something for Corporation Counsel. If you mention a lawsuit or anything like that, that’s not
me. That’s Corporation Counsel. I’m not putting city taxpayer’s money at risk based on something | have a seat-of-my-
pants feeling to. I'll do my best to get an answer for you whether it might be forwarding it off to the right city department. |
think that’s it.

Alderman Klee

Thank you Madam President. As meetings go on, | tend to put notes down and | do 1, 2, 3, 4, just so that | can keep track
of my thoughts as I’m going along. When Miss Saige stood up, she was my #4, but she’s actually #1. First thing | have to

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say that | wrote down here is “wow”. She is quite impressive and her Dad was amazing by saying that he wasn’t going to
speak for her. | absolutely loved that, but | have to address the shameful behavior.

One of the things | noticed right off the fact was when Miss Saige was told her time was up, she didn’t finish her sentence.
She stopped speaking unlike many of the adults in this room. Chief Rourke did the same thing. He stopped talking
because he was being respectful. We talk about being respectful. Respect works both ways and | know my colleague
here beside me said he’s not worn down. | don’t feel like I’m worn down, but I’ve experienced it. I’ve experienced the
yelling, the screaming, and sometimes foul language. It doesn't wear you down, but it kind of says you want respect, you
have to give respect and | mean that from the bottom of my heart. | tell all my constituents | will do anything | can for you,
but you need to respect me. You need to treat me, you need to ask me questions, and not yell questions to me.

Now to the barriers. Comments were made about the Mayor’s letter being kind of deceitful. | didn’t read it. | can’t answer
to it, but if he did put what was said down there how is that any different than people on the horseshoe here or any other
elected officials that are putting out surveys, questions in a way that elicits the answers they want. I’ve asked that
question, what’s the difference? Why don’t we call them out? Just putting it out there on the table.

As far as replying to questions, e-mails - | reply to a lot of them. Each one | asked the same question didn’t matter what
side they were on - “have you seen the new proposal?” The majority of them on both sides said “no”. So my feeling is
that | appreciate everybody’s answers. | appreciated everybody's response. | appreciate every single person who has
come out here. | appreciate every e-mail and we’ve gotten probably close to 400 e-mails. | commend you for having read
every single one. We have gotten a lot which | referred to as “for me notes” that state | am so and so and you look at it
and we probably got 30 or 40 that are exactly the same. | suggest strongly to my constituents they write their own letters.
They write for what they mean and not because someone asked them to do it or because there is a survey. | think if we’re
going to attack these issues, we need to do it really from our own heart. I’m sorry I’m getting a little overheated here. |
think my radiation treatments are starting to get to me so.

| want to talk about the Ukraine issue. | think everybody here has said the same thing. It’s horrible what’s happening over
there. | am impressed when men and women are standing in front of tanks and saying they are not going to go any
further. I’m impressed with the President who’s not 57 feet underground and he’s standing there and he’s speaking to his
people. I’m impressed with the countries that have opened their borders and | hope we do the same thing here in this
country. I’ve spoken to people who have said they want to work to get home families that are willing to share. |
mentioned to Alderwoman Timmons that | suggested that they go to the Cultural Connection to see if maybe they can get
some support there and so on.

| wanted to also circle back to Miss Saige. You are an extraordinarily, impressive woman and | believe that Alderman
Thibeault said that you're probably smarter than he is. | can tell you that you are definitely smarter than | am by leaps and
bounds. | hope someday that you’re not sitting in this horseshoe, but | hope someday you are sitting in Washington, D.C.
in one of those seats. You may be too smart for that seat too, | don’t know.

But putting all of that aside, | also want to thank President Wilshire as well as Alderwoman Kelly for taking the time to
have a moment of silence for our dear friend. I’m going to try to get through this, so | apologize. I’ve been a State Rep.
for 6 years. Renny has been by my side for those 6 years. Last term | was the Chair. Two years in and | become a Chair
of a committee with a very contentious member. Renny taught me to remember the words that my mother said “you learn
more from the people who disagree with you, than people who agree with you”. | took that to heart and my mother used
to say it all the time and Renny used it all the time. He said if you talk to the people on the other side, and | did, | got more
respect from my committee on both sides of the aisle. They treated me with respect. They were kind and even the
person who was contentious at the beginning, he taught me a lot.

The day he died was the anniversary of the day that we had passed the revoking of the death penalty. Renny had been
fighting for that for 26+ years. He finally got it through. He died on that anniversary. After that vote, and it was an
emotional vote, | was walking down from the State House to the LOB. | was walking in the tunnel and at the top of the
stairs was Renny. | walked over to Renny and | said to him “you’re an amazing man”. He talked about how his father had
been murdered point blank shot. There is a book about it. He talked about a few years after that his brother-in-law shot
much in the same style and yet he still didn’t feel for the death penalty. He actually fought for kindness for the man who
had taken his father’s life. | was blown away and then | told them about my husband’s sister who was shot multiple times
- eighteen year old outside a Boston nursing college. He was at the time 7 years old and it turned his life upside down.
My husband, too, is against the death penalty even though this affected his life. | shared that story with Renny and | could
barely get the words out. He hugged me, and he told me, and he said another thing that will always stay with me “when
you work and talk with your heart and kindness you will find love all around you and that positive energy will bring you to
the best possible”. | hope we can all do that. Thank you.

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 3/8/2022 - P31

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 3/8/2022 - P32

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:48
Document Date
Tue, 03/08/2022 - 00:00
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Board of Aldermen 03-08-2022 Page 32

Alderman Sullivan

Thank you Madam President. Congratulations Matt Sullivan on the promotion, well done! | got to know you when | was
an Alderman Elect and came in wide-eyed and not understanding what’s going on and now | have constituents asking me
how come there isn’t a fire hydrant on my street and you allowed me to ask those questions and not make fun of me. So|
appreciate that. So Congratulations!

To the ordinance going back to committee, | think that we have to remember that legislation is not like an automobile on
an assembly line because sometimes you have to if you pass a known defect down the line, it can screw up things for
years to come. | think to sometimes halt the assembly line to make sure that all the parts and pieces fit well together is
okay to do occasionally. | just want you to Know the Alderman you got for the next 2 years, I’m not afraid to raise my
hand. I’m not afraid to ask dumb questions. | will make mistakes. | will admit when I’m wrong and sometimes I’ll ask for
a timeout and a pause to make sure we got it right, especially when it comes to the budget. It’s the peoples’ money. We
have to make sure that we do the right things with it. So | appreciate us taking an extra pause on that and definitely we'll
do our due diligence on that. Thank you.

Alderman O’Brien

Thank you Madam President. | have a couple of things so please bear with me, but the first thing will start off on a sad
note and then will crescendo onto something really spectacular but anyway. Unfortunately on this date March 8, 1971,
Captain Honre Raymond of Nashua Fire Department made a supreme sacrifice and was killed in the line of duty at a 2"?
alarm fire on 23 Damon Ave. Captain Honre joined the Nashua Fire Department in 1938 until his death tragically in 1971.
Thirty three years of service. When he died, he was 60 years old. Although his death was 51 years ago on this date
today, | did not know him but being a firefighter for 35 years, we never forget those that have made the supreme sacrifice
and particularly for our City. His name is on the plaque up on the wall on Manchester Street with 15 other firefighters who
made the supreme sacrifice in the protection of the community of this city. So on this day, | and Nashua Fire Rescue will
remember. We never forget our own. May he rest in peace and may God's eternal light shine upon him.

Second thing sadly equally Chicken & Chips burnt down yesterday. Probably to the chagrin of my primary care physician,
but | did enjoy the treat of chicken & chips. It was popular. | wish them the best of luck and hopefully maybe something
else can come out because they were a nice treat and | did enjoy them.

Moving up to something a little bit better - to all my women colleagues on the Board and to all the women out there,
Happy National Women’s Day! None of you girls mentioned it. So | recognize you and it’s good to serve with you.

The other thing that | have is maybe recommendation to Alderman Dowd what was brought up is the cabling. If that’s
what moving that cable - | don’t think you’re going to move it. They would have moved it when they built Lake Street.
They would have moved the fire alarm from that location to Lake Street. You may think it’s a good idea. Bring an open
wallet. You got to look at it that some of that cabling is part of the telegraph system. Those little fire boxes, they all run
into that hub and then from there is retransferred back to Lake Street. So it’s a big project and I’m sure W1, or Jeremy
Audette can explain it, or Chief Buxton.

The other thing is there is tree cutting going on at the landfill. That’s our project in Infrastructure with Public Works. So
it's not a bunch of beavers or anything so, it’s part of the replacement of that project.

| did check my phone and Draft Kings did say that R-22-008 which has been referred back to committee will be coming
back with a positive recommendation, | believe. I'll take those odds.

But | just want to say something, | do agree with Alderman Thibeault. Representative Klee knows the way we deal with
things up in the State. We put a lot of faith into each individual committee. We have to and my Committee alone was 58
Bills. We were joined this week by Alderman Jette who did come up on another matter was at our committee meeting and
hopefully he got to see some of the efficiencies. But 58 Bills in one committee if we kept re-referring things, it would be
tragic. | understand that doing diligence and understand, but keep in mind | just say as part of our procedures if you do
have questions, watch the calendar, show up to the committee meetings. Please keep that in mind because I'll list that
into a segway when we get into Infrastructure tomorrow night, but I'll wait to committee assignments.

The final thing that | have - two final things - is wish me luck tomorrow, I’m going up to Concord to discuss with the
Finance Committee. I’m glad you recognized Representative Renny Cushing. He’s the one that wrote that Bill that is
going to put 7.5% back into the pension system. He and | worked on that and it gives me an honor to carry that forward.
We got it off the floor of the House like we said earlier and now it’s going to Finance. I'll go up and present it to Finance.
I'll get into some arm wrestling with them up there and hopefully that we can go from there. So again, wish me luck.

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 3/8/2022 - P32

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 3/8/2022 - P33

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:48
Document Date
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Board of Aldermen 03-08-2022 Page 33

I’d like to congratulate Alderman Lopez for volunteering with our resident Scott McCullough for Best Buddies and if you
want to handle that will be outstanding and count me in as one of the donators. Thank you Madam President.

Alderman Clemons

Sorry. | wasn’t going to speak, but | didn’t want to debate the legislation that was referred back to the committee tonight.
There’s a lot of things that need to be said about it. There’s a lot of reasons why | brought it forward. | think the
committee is the best place to look at it. | was on vacation. Had | been able to be at the committee meeting | would have.
| communicated to the Chair and maybe he forgot that | was on vacation and that | would not be there. | asked as a
courtesy to table that legislation, so | don’t know why it came out or why it ended up here. It should have been in the
committee. We really should respect one another when it comes to legislation like that. Alderman Kelly at the previous
meeting wanted legislation tabled here so that she could speak to it and we chose not to do that. It’s disrespectful. If
somebody asks for legislation to be tabled and it’s their legislation, respect them. If somebody wants it re-referred back to
committee and it’s their legislation, respect it. Thank you.

Committee announcements:

Alderwoman Timmons

The Department of Health has their bi-weekly meeting tomorrow at 12:30. Anyone that wants to Zoom in can do that. |
think we have the JSSBC meeting on Thursday is that right? This Thursday at Nashua North.

President Wilshire

Is Joint Special this Thursday Alderman Dowd?
Alderman Dowd
No.

Alderman Lopez

| believe we are having Human Affairs Committee on Pie Day, March 14".

Alderman O’Brien

| was wondering how you could forget me. Just to remind everybody in case you forgot, tomorrow night is Joint
Committee of Infrastructure and PEDC and we will be discussing the barriers. | would just like to put out the ground rules.
We are going to follow a little bit different format. Of course, | as Chairman will go by the wishes of the Committee, but at
the meeting in particular the agenda has been changed. First thing needs to be presented is a presentation — let’s put
food on the plate. There has been a lot of innuendos and not so much in the factual department. So the presentation will
be made by Director Cummings so that the committee members will be there and able to digest it and in the time make
the proper decision. After the presentation, we'll go into a public format to allow the public to come forward. There will be
a3 minute time limit to come forward and to express their point of view. After that, we will convene and | think what we'll
probably do at that particular time is work within the subcommittee and make a full recommendation to the full Board on
what the subcommittee will be. So even though we will come into the procedure as we traditionally do, I'll ask for the
motion of final passage. That doesn’t mean that we’re going to vote on it, but allows us to debate it with a positive
recommendation that can be changed. And so that’s going to be the format. So to go on | strongly encourage so we
don’t end up repeating and going through again, this is a very important subject. If you can be there, that’s where all the
cool people are going to be hanging out. Come on down, you’re more than welcome. It’s 7:00; it’s right here. I'll reserve
a seat for you. So looking forward to seeing you all then. Thank you.

ADJOURNMENT

MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS THAT THE MARCH 8, 2022, MEETING OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN BE
ADJOURNED

MOTION CARRIED

The meeting was declared adjourned at 10:14 p.m.

Attest: Susan K. Lovering, City Clerk

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 3/8/2022 - P33

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 2/22/2022 - P1

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:48
Document Date
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A regular meeting of the Board of Aldermen was held Tuesday, February 22, 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; Deputy City Clerk Allison Waite recorded.

Prayer was offered by Deputy City Clerk Allison Waite; Alderman-at-Large Melbourne Moran, Jr. 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 O’Brien,

Alderman Sullivan, Alderman Klee, Alderman Moran, Alderman Lopez, Alderman Jette, Alderman Clemons, Alderman
Comeau, Alderman Dowd, Alderman Gouveia, Alderman Cathey, Alderman Thibeault, Alderwoman Timmons, Alderman
Wilshire.

Alderwoman Kelly was recorded absent.

President Wilshire

Alderwoman Kelly is still out of town due to a death in the family. So we don’t have to do roll call votes tonight.
Mayor James W. Donchess, Corporation Counsel Steve Bolton, were also in attendance.

REMARKS BY THE MAYOR

Mayor Donchess

Yes, Madam President. First, | wanted to just give you my periodic update on COVID. In terms of the Nashua statistics,
the State has not updated things since Friday. So this was Friday. | expect the numbers are better now than they were
but they certainly have improved. The numbers for Nashua are 403 new cases per 100,000 over the last 14 days. That's
one of the metrics. The other is a 14% positivity rate. Most importantly maybe, the hospitals report a significant decline in
hospitalizations. As of today there were 12 people hospitalized for COVID between the two hospitals. That number
during the peak of a month or six weeks ago was in the 60s and even at 70. So now it's down to 12. So that's a
considerable improvement. It seems there's another variant but things seem to be getting better and we expect that they
will for the next several weeks.

Madam President, | wanted to mention and give my condolences to the family of Bill Marcoux who some of you I'm sure
knew. He passed away recently. His history in Nashua was very long and deep. He was a good friend of mine. He
retired and moved to Florida but he was on the Board of Aldermen Ward 6. Alderman Comeau he lived in your
neighborhood. He represented Ward 6 for quite a while. He was a County Commissioner. He was also an expert in
antiques and in glass particularly. Interestingly, he was recognized as a Fellow of the Corning Museum of Glass because
of his very extensive knowledge regarding Tiffany glass and other antique objects. His sister Nancy survives in here in
Nashua. She lives up on Chester Street and | just find his passing very, very sad.

| went Madam President to an opening of a Montessori School at St. Philip's Church - Upstone Montessori School, which
will be opening this coming fall It’s founded by a guy named Austin Matte and he gave me and others a tour and there
were a number of families that went there. So that will be another preschool option for kids. | think they take children
beginning at age three.

If anyone wishes to join me, there will be the raising of the Dominican flag at 10 a.m. on Saturday to celebrate Dominican
independence. A number of our citizens of Dominican origin will be there and this is something we've tried to do in the
past usually annually. It is always at least nice to see those people as they come back usually every year.

Finally, | wanted to mention the accomplishment of Aldermen O'Brien and our legislative delegation in the legislature. So
as you've heard many times, the State in law committed to paying 35% of city pension costs that went on for decades.
Then they changed the law and stop paying. That's how they got Nashua and all the other cities and towns into the
pension system. Now 35 percent is a lot of money. For us, it's like $10 million a year that the State was supposed to
provide us and is not. So Alderman O'Brien for a number of sessions now has been seeking to promote a Bill that it would

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 2/22/2022 - P1

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