Search

A regular meeting of the Board of Aldermen was held Tuesday, January 26, 2016, at 7:30 p.m. in the
Aldermanic Chamber.

President Brian S. McCarthy presided; City Clerk Patricia D. Piecuch recorded.

Prayer was offered by City Clerk Patricia D. Piecuch; Alderman-at-Large Mark S. Cookson led in the
Pledge to the Flag.

The roll call was taken with 15 members of the Board of Aldermen present
Mayor James W. Donchess and Corporation Counsel Stephen M. Bennett were also present.

REMARKS BY THE MAYOR

Mayor Donchess

First | wanted to point out the report we put on your desk regarding what we are calling the Opioid Task
Force meeting that we held last week. We called together people from prevention, treatment, recovery,
and law enforcement and we’ve given you a list of the people who attended in order to try to improve
communications a health crisis in our community. The meeting went very well. | think we did identify
communication gaps that exist. We talked about additional things that we can do in the city. | think that
people are working so hard in their various areas that often they don’t meet each other and have an
opportunity to talk with each other. Specifically | think we can do more with the outreach effort of working
with the Nashua Prevention Coalition. Also, trying to stimulate the greater availability of treatment beds
in our region and recovery support for people who have emerged from treatment after 28 or 90 days or
even longer and need support in their daily lives as time goes on. In any event, it is a very important
issue and | wrote this up for you so you could get a sense, if you wish to read it, what the kind of things
that were discussed and just let you know that | think it went well and we will be holding future meetings.

Number two is that we’ve gone through five Ward input meetings in Wards 9, 1, 6, 7 and 4 in that order.
I’ve only fallen once going into the meetings and so only one torn pair of pants so far. | think things are
going very well. We've had a number of members of the Board who have come. Alderman McCarthy
and Alderman Wilshire have been to all of them. Alderman O’Brien has been to nearly all of them and
the Ward Alderman have come from each of the Wards where we’ve held the meeting. A lot of people
have come and they have given us some very positive input and very interesting thoughts about what
their hopes are and what they think is important to the city as well as some neighborhood problems that
we want to try to address going forward. We have the Ward 3 meeting tomorrow night, the Ward 5
meeting on Thursday and then subsequent Wards 8 and 2. | hope anyone who can attend will and |
think you will learn something.

Finally | wanted to update you on the building we purchased on Burke Street. Of course we want to
move forward with that project as soon as we can. | asked the Director of Public Works, Lisa Fauteux to
put together a group of people to define the project for us and so Alderman Deane and Paul Bergeron
from the Board of Public Works are working with Lisa and some other staff members to define the project
and will begin with making a recommendation to this Board, to the Finance Committee regarding what
architect should be chosen to proceed with that project. There was an issue that came up this past week
or so regarding the building. As you probably know the building that we acquired includes a very large
garage along with a 50,000 square foot office building. At this point while we are waiting to decide
exactly how to proceed and what to do to renovate this facility, the office building is heated and
sprinkered but the main garage is not. The issue came up if the garage should be heated and
sprinklered and the information we came up with was first of all that we can increase the insurance on
the entire facility to $12 million which gives us good coverage. We bought it for $4.2 million. In addition
the cost of heating the garage so that we could sprinkler it would be $100,000 in addition to regular utility
cost between now and the spring and furthermore the heating system is not very good at this point so
that if we were to sprinkler it the pipes might freeze causing water damage and thirdly if there were a fire

Board of Aldermen — 1/26/16 Page 2

in the garage area it’s not that vulnerable to fire; if there were a fire we would probably have a partial loss
and we could recover that through insurance. The joint decision that we made involving the people that |
mentioned and the Risk Manager and a couple of other people was that the best course was to simply
leave the garage as it is and up the insurance and not spend $100,000. In any event | think we are
getting a good start on that project and | think we can accomplish a number of things by undertaking it
which we have discussed before and I’m sure we will discuss again but | wanted to update you on what
had happened. With that, Mr. President, | will conclude.

RESPONSE TO REMARKS OF THE MAYOR

Alderman McCarthy

| will comment that while | have tried to make all of the Ward meetings, | will not unfortunately be able to
make the one for Ward 5 which is the Ward | live in, of course, because it conflicts with the JSSBC
meeting.

Alderman Lopez

I'd like to make a comment on the task force for the opioid epidemic. |’m really glad that you are taking
the initiative to really move this forward and address such an important need in our city and I’m also
impressed with the inclusion of somebody who is experiencing or working their way through a recovery
program through one of the stakeholders that you are looking for the task force. | think that will give you
some real insight into the current state of recovery services and act as a necessary party to the table.
I’m just curious if you have thought of coordinating with the drug court program to identify somebody who
might be able to do that who is going through that at this time?

Mayor Donchess

| don’t know if we put on our list that the drug court was there represented by one of the attorney’s.
Maybe it’s not on the list but yes, that’s a good avenue we want to use. | would just say for those who
want to learn more, because | learned quite a bit by watching it, there is a HBO documentary out called
Heroin Cape Cod USA and it’s about heroin addiction on Cape Cod and the focus of it is a series of
interviews with families and mostly younger people who are addicted to heroin and it’s very chilling. It’s
filmed over about six months and there are people who have overdosed and died and one woman
disappeared. It gives you some insight as to what we are really up against. It’s a very worthwhile
learning experience.

RECOGNITION PERIOD — None

READING MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS

MOTION BY ALDERMAN WILSHIRE THAT THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN
MEETINGS OF JANUARY 10, 2016, AND JANUARY 12, 2016, BE ACCEPTED, PLACED ON FILE
AND THE READINGS SUSPENDED

MOTION CARRIED

COMMUNICATIONS

MOTION BY ALDERMAN WILSHIRE THAT THE RULES BE SO FAR SUSPENDED AS TO ALLOW
FOR THE READING OF A COMMUNICATION RECEIVED AFTER THE AGENDA WAS PREPARED BY
TITLE ONLY

MOTION CARRIED

Board of Aldermen — 1/26/16 Page 3

From: Brian S. McCarthy, President, Board of Aldermen
Re: Liaisons Appointments to the Nashua City Planning Board

MOTION BY ALDERMAN WILSHIRE TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND THAT THE BOARD OF
ALDERMEN WAIVE THE PROVISIONS OF NRO 5-9 B(4)(G), AND CONCUR WITH THE PRESIDENT’S
APPOINTMENT OF ALDERMAN MCGUINNESS AS PRIMARY AND ALDERMAN LOPEZ AS
ALTERNATE MEMBERS OF THE NASHUA CITY PLANNING BOARD

MOTION CARRIED

PERIOD FOR PUBLIC COMMENT RELATIVE TO ITEMS EXPECTED TO BE ACTED UPON THIS
EVENING - None

PETITIONS — None

NOMINATIONS, APPOINTMENTS AND ELECTIONS

Appointments by the Mayor

The following appointment by the mayor was read into the record:

Business & Industrial Development Authority

Lydia J. Foley (New Appointment) Term to Expire: September 13, 2017
2 Bruce Street

Nashua, NH 03064

MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO ACCEPT THE APPOINTMENT SA READ AND REFER IT
TO THE PERSONNEL/ADMINISTRATIVE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

MOTION CARRIED

REPORTS OF COMMITTEE

Finance Committee. 2.0.0... cecccecccecceecceeeeececeeeeeeeeaeeraeereeeeeereeereeereees 01/20/16

There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the January 20, 2016
Finance Committee accepted and placed on file.

Substandard Living Conditions Special Committee... ee 01/19/16

There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the January 19, 2016
Substandard Living Conditions Special Committee accepted and placed on file.

WRITTEN REPORTS FROM LIAISONS - None

CONFIRMATION OF MAYOR'S APPOINTMENTS - None

UNFINISHED BUSINESS — RESOLUTIONS — None

UNFINISHED BUSINESS — ORDINANCES — None

Board of Aldermen — 1/26/16 Page 4
NEW BUSINESS — RESOLUTIONS

R-16-001
Endorser: Alderman Benjamin M. Clemons
Alderman-at-Large Brian S. McCarthy
ESTABLISHING AN EXPENDABLE TRUST FUND FOR APPROPRIATIONS FOR DOWNTOWN
IMPROVEMENTS AND TRANSFERRING UP TO $170,439.20 INTO THE EXPENDABLE TRUST
FUND
Given its first reading; assigned to the BUDGET REVIEW COMMITTEE by President McCarthy

R-16-002
Endorser: Alderman Richard A. Dowd
Alderman Benjamin M. Clemons
Alderwoman Maryann Melizzi-Golja
Alderman Thomas Lopez
APPROVING THE COST ITEMS OF A COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT BETWEEN
THE NASHUA BOARD OF EDUCATION AND THE NASHUA TEACHERS’ UNION, LOCAL 1044,
AFT, AFL-CIO, UNIT B PARA-EDUCATORS FROM JULY 1, 2015, THROUGH JUNE 30, 2017,
AND AUTHORIZING RELATED TRANSFERS
Given its first reading; assigned to the BUDGET REVIEW COMMITTEE by President McCarthy

R-16-003
Endorsers: Alderman Richard A. Dowd
Alderman Benjamin M. Clemons
Alderwoman Maryann Melizzi-Golja
Alderman Thomas Lopez
APPROVING THE COST ITEMS OF A COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT BETWEEN
THE NASHUA BOARD OF EDUCATION AND THE NASHUA TEACHERS’ UNION, LOCAL 1044,
AFT, AFL-CIO, UNIT D, FOOD SERVICE WORKERS FROM SEPTEMBER 1, 2015, THROUGH
AUGUST 31, 2018
Given its first reading; assigned to the BUDGET REVIEW COMMITTEE by President McCarthy

R-16-004
Endorser: Mayor Jim Donchess
Alderman Richard A. Dowd
Alderwoman Maryann Melizzi-Golja
Alderman June M. Caron
Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr.
RELATIVE TO THE APPROPRIATION OF $9,282 FROM ACCOUNT #107-51 “CITY CLERK —
SALARIES & WAGES” INTO NEW ACCOUNT #107-71 “CITY CLERK — EQUIPMENT” FOR
THE PURCHASE OF A COLOR LASER PRINTER
Given its first reading; assigned to the BUDGET REVIEW COMMITTEE by President McCarthy

R-16-005
Endorsers: Mayor Jim Donchess
Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire
Alderwoman Maryann Melizzi-Golja
Alderman June M. Caron
Alderman Benjamin M. Clemons
Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr.
Alderman Thomas Lopez
RELATIVE TO THE ACCEPTANCE AND APPROPRIATION OF $25,000 FROM THE STATE
OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, DEPARTMENT OF SAFETY “STATE HOMELAND SECURITY GRANT
PROGRAM” INTO EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT GRANT ACTIVITY “2015 HOMELAND
SECURITY GRANT PROGRAM”
Given its first reading; assigned to the HUMAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE by President McCarthy

Board of Aldermen — 1/26/16 Page 5

R-16-006
Endorser: Mayor Jim Donchess
Alderman Richard A. Dowd
Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr.
RELATIVE TO THE TRANSFER OF $200,000 FROM DEPARTMENT 194 “CONTINGENCY”,
ACCOUNT #70100 “GENERAL CONTINGENCY” INTO VARIOUS ACCOUNTS FOR
RETIREMENT AND UTILITY COSTS
Given its first reading; assigned to the BUDGET REVIEW COMMITTEE by President McCarthy

NEW BUSINESS — ORDINANCES — None
PERIOD FOR GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT
Ms. Mary Elizabeth Carroll, 9 % Chandler Street

I’d like to talk about the environment. | was here last year. There was a chemical spill in November of
2013 and | reported it to four or five people but they didn’t do anything. I’ve been in the hospital six times
because of this in the last two years. | went to my mother’s again in 2015 and her chairs were
contaminated in her kitchen and | got an electric shock. There were three houses in Lowell that were
pretty bad with the airborne chemicals. | am going to go to the Lowell Board of Health and report it when
| find out where it is. | went to the Marblehead Board of Health in January because my mother’s clothes
at Christmas were really bad. | thought | was going into cardiac arrest; | doubled up in pain and had an
itchy contamination feeling. | saw the chemicals on my mother’s jacket; six pieces on her arm and six on
her back. | told her and she didn’t believe me because she couldn’t feel it. It is an allergy like the bed
bugs. Body lice is an allergy too and my whole family thinks I’m crazy over that. People have a right to
know what is in their skin. The environmental health lady in Nashua is keeping her mouth shut and that’s
not right. The President of the United States told us all about the Ebola Virus because he cares. It’s
winter now so we can’t see anything now but in April | want some help.

Mr. Bernie Cody, 22 Greenley Street

| have a question on R-15-001. What exactly are they going to improve downtown?

President McCarthy

We can’t really respond to questions during the public comment period but I’m sure Alderman Clemons
would be willing to respond during Remarks by Members of the Board.

Mr. Cody

When is the city going to start cleaning sidewalks when it snows? It’s not being done because on East
Hollis Street, they are not clean at all. People in electric wheelchairs have to ride on the street.

REMARKS BY THE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN

Alderman Wilshire

The Nashua Police Department has been notified by the U.S. Department of Justice that the drug
forfeiture funds that they have been receiving have been put on hold. Apparently it’s to balance the
federal budget. | reached out to the delegation; Ayotte, Shaheen and Kuster to see what information
they could give us because it’s big money for the Nashua Police Department. It funds their narcotics unit
and in a time when we are having such an opioid crisis. There were 350 deaths in New Hampshire last
year so it’s not a good time to cut money. If you are interested in this please feel free to reach out to
your delegation.

Board of Aldermen — 1/26/16 Page 6
Alderman Clemons
| just want to remind everyone to vote on February 9"" for whoever might become our next President.

In regards to the gentleman who had a question regarding the legislation, R-16-001; that intends to
create a trust fund for monies that have already been designated for downtown so all it does is move
money that has already been allocated for improvements for downtown into a designated account.

Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja

Signs Café on February 17": their topic is going to be Opioids and Addiction. They have two speakers at
a minimum and there is a presentation and then a question and answer.

President McCarthy

| would encourage everyone to go out and vote on the 9" and as a result of that the next meeting of this
Board will be on the 10".

| would remind members of the public, because I’ve received three calls in the last couple of days, that
there is no Windows Technical Department that will call you about problems with your computer. It is a
scam.

Alderman Lopez

| wanted to remind the Board of Aldermen that tomorrow is the Homeless Connect Event at Harbor
Homes from 11:30 a.m. — 3:00 p.m. It’s an opportunity for the public to meet support or non-profit
organizations. A lot of the work has been done by Bob Mack from the Health Department and | wanted
to recognize him for that leadership. If there is anybody in the public who is in that situation or needs
help with that you are definitely welcome to come as well. There should be haircuts, lunch and a lot of
organizations that are ready to help you.

Committee announcements:

Alderman Dowd

This Thursday is the JSSB and CPC starting at 6:30 p.m. with the organizational meeting with the five
members of the Board of Education as well. Budget will be on Thursday, February 18"" and following
that we will have Budget meetings on the fourth Monday of every month for now.

Alderman Clemons

Personnel & Administrative Affairs Committee will be on Monday, February 1* at 7:00 p.m. here in the
Chamber and moving forward we will have those meetings monthly on the first Monday of every month
as needed.

Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja

Planning and Economic Development Committee will be meeting on Tuesday, February 2™ at 7:00 p.m.
and we will continue meeting on the first and third Tuesday’s of the month unless there is no business at

that time.

Alderman Wilshire

Human Affairs will meet here at 7:00 p.m. on February 8".

Board of Aldermen — 1/26/16 Page 7
Alderman Dowd

The two union contracts that are on here; | would ask that the members on the Budget Review
Committee to review those and if you have any questions to please send them to me and I'll get the
answers from the school department and forward them on to all of the Aldermen. It would be real helpful
to have reviewed the two packages and have your questions answered beforehand so we can have a
shortened discussion when we discuss it at the Budget meeting.

Alderman Siegel

The Substandard Living Conditions Committee will meet next on February 11'". We've reached out to
the landlords of some of the properties that we have talked to and we will see what happens, hopefully
we will get some responses and see what they have to say.

ADJOURNMENT

MOTION BY ALDERMAN WILSHIRE THAT THE JANUARY 26, 2016, MEETING OF THE BOARD OF
ALDERMEN BE ADJOURNED

MOTION CARRIED

The meeting was declared adjourned at 7:59 p.m.

Attest: Patricia D. Piecuch, City Clerk

MAYOR’S REPORT ON OPIOID TASK FORCE MEETING OF JANUARY 21, 2016

It is imperative that we streamline and improve communication regarding our efforts to combat
the opioid epidemic plaguing our community.

In Nashua we are an important part of the state-wide effort to combat substance use. Going
forward, we must exhibit community leadership that sets a strong example for communities
across New Hampshire.

On January 21, 2016, I hosted a meeting of the Opioid Task Force which is committed to two
major goals:

e Improving communications between groups that deal directly and indirectly with the
issue of substance abuse

e Identifying the strengths and limitations of our current system and making suggestions
regarding what successes can be built upon and what anti-opioid efforts can be improved

Overall Conclusions of the First Opioid Task Force Meeting

© There was widespread mutual respect amongst the organizations represented at the Task
Force meeting. Organizations were up front about the contributions they could bring, and
open to suggestions about what else they could offer. Additionally, all parties agreed that
there was a need for better communication, and they left with a commitment to that
communication.

o Social services organizations and public entities are not the only groups or individuals
ready to take on this issue. The group identified that there was an “army” of family
members, people in recovery, and those that have lost loved ones who would make an
incredible volunteer corps in these efforts.

o The group recognized that not every pathway to recovery is the same, or requires the
same resources. Some people need sixth month treatment, others may need intensive
outpatient services, and others may simply need a recovery group. A comprehensive plan
responds to all of these pathways.

Participants

Representatives from all of the following organizations participated in the first meeting of the
Opioid Task Force:

NH State Legislator American Medical Response

Harbor Homes & the Partnership for Nashua Police Department
Successful Living/Keystone Hall

Nashua Division of Public Health and
Community Services

Greater Nashua Mental Health Center
Rivier University

Lamprey Health Care H.E.A.R.T.S. Peer Support

Southern New Hampshire Health Systems, United Way of Greater Nashua

Behavioral Health Hillsborough County Drug Court

Nashua Fire Rescue Nashua Prevention Coalition

Nashua School District Parent of Young Opioid User Currently in

T
NH Youth Council reatment

‘Nashua against Heroin” Facebook page

In the future, we hope to expand the discussion by including other people on the front lines of the
anti-opioid struggle. Those in attendance at the first meeting suggested that a representatives
from St. Joseph’s Hospital and Dartmouth Hitchcock, a member of the Nashua Interfaith
Council, a “sober house” organization, the Chamber of Commerce, and an experienced
community outreach counselor should also be involved in the discussion. There is also a great
need for a person in recovery from substance use to be present at these meetings, as we cannot
possibly aim to reduce the opioid crisis in our city without having the survivors of this crises
share their experiences.

Prevention

The Task Force participants discussed the following issues concerning prevention of further
cases of opioid addition:

e The Nashua Prevention Coalition led by Janet Valuk is an organization that works on
youth substance abuse prevention in Nashua. They meet every first Wednesday of the
month at the United Way of Greater Nashua. Many of the organizations present at this
meeting, as well as many youth organizations, are a part of the coalition.

e The Nashua Public Health and Community Services Division has developed a strategic
plan for prevention through Substance Misuse Prevention Coordinator, Lisa Vasquez.
This plan will be disseminated to those in attendance at the meeting and discussed
moving forward.

e Outreach needs to be a key part of our prevention plan as a community. Nashua
Prevention Coalition offers excellent resources, and we can all help in distributing those
resources through outreach. There were many creative ideas put forth in the area of
outreach, particularly by Bobbie Bagley, of Rivier College and formerly on the Nashua
Public Health Department:

o holding small house gatherings to teach community members about prevention in
a comfortable environment

o Distributing literature to faith leaders, in barbershops, through the Boys and Girls
Club

o Using the human capacity of organizations like Rivier University, college
students seeking experiential learning can provide prevention education to schools
and community organizations

e Betsy Houde of the Nashua Youth Council has compiled a “What’s Your Message?”
Quiz for parents to learn about the example they set for their children. She can send
anyone the PDF file and they can print it to distribute to their organization.

Treatment

Treatment for people with a substance abuse disorder was a major topic of discussion at the
meeting. The following issues were discussed by the Task Force:

Narcan is administered for overdose cases throughout the city. Nashua Fire Rescue alone
administered Narcan 169 times last year, and NFR administered14 doses of Narcan
during the first several weeks of 2016. AMR also is responding to overdose cases on a
regular basis - AMR responded to X OD’s in 2015.

The NH treatment system does not have enough capacity for the number of people who
need treatment.

There is a high demand for more beds for treatment in Nashua.

o Keystone Hall currently provides 52 treatment beds for those seeking treatment
across the state. Top priority is given to pregnant women or those who have
received Narcan in the past two weeks. There are tiers of priorities, but the
system only really has capacity for these top priority cases.

o There are funding allies in Nashua interested in investing in facilities for
treatment, and providing more beds. However, the staffing and licensing of these
facilities may be outside the capacity of our Nashua-based organizations right
now.

Not only is there a demand for more treatment beds, there is a demand for longer stay
during treatment. There must be a way for people to have the options of 28-day, 90-day,
and 6 month recovery. At the present time there is no 6-month treatment option
available.

The Nashua Public Health department will be hiring a Substance Misuse Treatment &
Recovery Coordinator. This coordinator will be putting together a “Gap Analysis” of
where the system in Nashua needs work.

The Nashua Drug Court Program provides a nontraditional pathway through the criminal
justice system. Forty high risk offenders go through the program at a time, and a team of
professionals meets each week to talk about the progress of each program participant.
Run in conjunction with Nashua Police Department and Greater Nashua Mental Health
Center. Drug Court refers people to treatment & case management through Greater
Nashua Mental Health Center and allows those convicted to develop a more positive
relationship with police.

Recovery

Recovery is the stage of treatment which occurs after release from a treatment program such as
the program at Keystone Hall. The discussion at the Task Force meeting raised the following

points:

Nashua does not have a community center for those in recovery and their families.
H.E.A.R.T.S. Peer Support Center, an adult education and wellness center in Nashua,
holds many meetings relating to substance use.

o “Considering Recovery” group once a week

o Alcoholics Anonymous and Heroin Anonymous meet at the center
Hope for NH Recovery in Manchester has a strong program. We could become an
affiliate of their program and use them as a model. Director Holly Cekala is willing to be
a resource.

Next Steps
The Task Force participants laid out the following next steps:

3