Skip to main content

Main navigation

  • Documents
  • Search

User account menu

  • Log in
Home
Nashua City Data

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. Search

Search

Displaying 3411 - 3420 of 38765

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/23/2019 - P7

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:30
Document Date
Mon, 12/23/2019 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Mon, 12/23/2019 - 00:00
Page Number
7
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__122320…

Board of Aldermen 12-23-2019 Page 7

You know, beyond the wear and tear of the building, the health of the building and it is our most precious
students and the educators, it is important to move forward with the project and maybe put the existing site
to some use for affordable housing or workforce housing or emergency shelter. It was good education to
hear the contracts tonight for the cops, there is a lot of back and forth, I’m sure this has been a long
process and it is probably important to take a serious vote on that tonight. The front line people are very
important and there is a lot of competition to get Police; to get qualified cops. To have them not leave, like
the Deputy Chief just said. You may want to look into maybe, with the healthcare costs going up, you can
always try to maybe open existing contracts to try to talk about some increases if possible to employees, a
little bit to help with those costs, they are going around, it’s a nationwide thing. Just a few thoughts on that.
So again the school being important, | think it is vital and it’s been a long time coming and there has been a
lot of hard work at the School Board on that matter over the past year or couple of years. Good evening
and thank you.

COMMUNICATIONS REQUIRING FINAL APPROVAL

From: Mayor Jim Donchess
Re: Contract Extension of Essex Power Services Inc. Jackson Mills and Mine Falls Operations
and Maintenance Agreement

MOTION BY ALDERMAN O’BRIEN TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE, AND AUTHORIZE THE
EXTENSION OF CONTRACT FOR THE JACSKSON MILLS AND MINE FALLS OPERATIONS
AND MAINTENANCE WITH ESSEX POWER SERVICES IN THE AMOUNT OF $404,605 PLUS
REVENUE SHARING BY ROLL CALL

ON THE QUESTION
Alderman Jette

Could we just have an explanation of what this is all about?

Mayor Donchess

The damns are managed by Essex Power which they run the day-to-day operations. We own the
damns we get income from the sale of power, but the damns still have to be operated. We
contract with Essex Power to do that and this is a contract extension of our current contract with
Essex Power.

Alderman Jette

Thank you.
A viva voce roll call was taken which resulted as follows:
Yea: Ald. O’Brien, Ald. Gidge, Ald. Harriott-Gathright, Ald. Dowd

Ald. Klee, Ald. Laws, Ald. Lopez, Ald. Caron, Ald. Kelly,

Ald. Jette, Ald. Melizzi-Golja, Ald. Tencza, Ald. Schmidt, Ald. Clemons

Ald. Wilshire 15
Nay: 0
MOTION CARRIED

PETITIONS - None

Page Image
Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/23/2019 - P7

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/23/2019 - P8

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:30
Document Date
Mon, 12/23/2019 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Mon, 12/23/2019 - 00:00
Page Number
8
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__122320…

Board of Aldermen 12-23-2019 Page 8

NOMINATIONS, APPOINTMENTS AND ELECTIONS - None

REPORTS OF COMMITTEE

Human Affairs Committee 20.0.0... cee ccc cee ce cee eee seserevaversereterererrarserererereese 12/09/2019

There being no objection, President Wilshire declared the report of the December 9, 2019, Human Affairs
Committee accepted and placed on file.

Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee 2.00.00... 0. ccc ccc ec eee cee eee vee cereneereranees 12/09/2019

There being no objection, President Wilshire declared the report of the December 9, 2019,
Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee accepted and placed on file.

Substandard Living Conditions Special Committee ...... 2.0... cee ceeeeeeetteeeeeeee 12/12/2019

There being no objection, President Wilshire declared the report of the December 12, 2019, Substandard
Living Conditions Special Committee accepted and placed on file.

Budget Review Committee «0.0.0.0... cece cee cee cee cee cee cece tenes teteeetieeeetteeeeseeeeeees 12/16/2019

There being no objection, President Wilshire declared the report of the December 16, 2019, Budget Review
Committee accepted and placed on file.

Finance Committee .2. 00... ceccce cee cece cee eee ete teseee terete terteratetteetetertersee 12/18/2019

There being no objection, President Wilshire declared the report of the December 18, 2019, Finance
Committee accepted and placed on file.

CONFIRMATION OF MAYOR'S APPOINTMENTS

Auditorium Commission

There being no objection, President Wilshire confirmed the appointment of Paul LaFlamme,
28 Lutheran Drive, Nashua, to the Auditorium Commission with a term to expire December 31, 2021.

Board of Registrars

There being no objection, President Wilshire confirmed the appointment of Adriana Lopera,

137 Chestnut Street, Apt. 2, Nashua, to the Board of Registrars with a term to expire December 31,
2021.

Oath of Office administered by Corporation Counsel.

Conservation Commission

There being no objection, President Wilshire confirmed the appointment of Joshua T. Hauser,
9 Cobble Hill Road, Nashua, to the Conservation Commission with a term to expire December 371,
2020.

Page Image
Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/23/2019 - P8

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/23/2019 - P9

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:30
Document Date
Mon, 12/23/2019 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Mon, 12/23/2019 - 00:00
Page Number
9
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__122320…

Board of Aldermen 12-23-2019 Page 9

Hunt Memorial Building Board of Trustees

There being no objection, President Wilshire confirmed the reappointments of the following
individuals to the Hunt Memorial Building Board of Trustees: Tammy Crisp, 12 Mountain Laurels
Drive, Apt. 101, Nashua, with a term to expire December 31, 2020; Rosalie McQuaid, 17 Reservoir
Street, Nashua, with a term to expire December 31, 2021; Charles Matthews, 17 Shelburne Road,
Nashua, with a term to expire December 31, 2023; and Stacy Baxter, 38 Berkeley Street, Nashua,
with a term to expire December 31, 2024.

Zoning Board

There being no objection, President Wilshire confirmed the reappointments of the following
individuals to the Zoning Board: Jean-Paul G. Boucher, 8 Foxmeadow Road, Nashua, Mariellen
MacKay, 9 Webster Street, Nashua; and Rob Shaw, 14 Sweet William Circle, Nashua, with terms to
expire September 11, 2021; Efstathia Booras, 44 Balcom Street, Nashua, with a term to expire
October 1, 2021; Jonathan Currier, 6 New Searles Road, Nashua, with a term to expire:
September 11, 2022; and Steve Lionel, 19 Cabot Drive, Nashua, with a term to expire

September 30, 2022.

Oath of Office administered by Corporation Counsel.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS — RESOLUTIONS

R-18-102, Amended
Endorsers: Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire
Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr.
Alderman Richard A. Dowd
Alderman-at-Large Brandon Michael Laws
Alderman Jan Schmidt
Alderman Linda Harriott-Gathright
Alderman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja
APPROVING THE COST ITEMS OF A COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT BETWEEN
THE NASHUA BOARD OF POLICE COMMISSIONERS AND UFPO LOCAL 645 PROFESSIONAL
EMPLOYEES OF THE NASHUA POLICE DEPARTMENT FROM JULY 1, 2018 THROUGH JUNE 30,
2022 AND AUTHORIZING RELATED TRANSFERS
Given its third reading;

MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO AMEND R-18-102 IN ITS ENTIRETY BY REPLACING IT
WITH THE PROPOSED AMENDMENTS MADE BY THE BUDGET REVIEW COMMITTEE BY ROLL
CALL

ON THE QUESTION

Alderman Jette

Can we hear the summary of what the amendments are?

Page Image
Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/23/2019 - P9

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/23/2019 - P10

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:30
Document Date
Mon, 12/23/2019 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Mon, 12/23/2019 - 00:00
Page Number
10
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__122320…

Board of Aldermen 12-23-2019 Page 10

Steve Bolton Corporation Counsel

A Memo was prepared by Dorothy Clarke, Deputy Corporation Counsel of my office a few weeks ago.
Essentially it was, as the Police Chief described, in further negotiations there was the tradeoff of an earlier
position regarding sick leave buy outs in return for higher wages; the 3% per year from years 2 through 4 in
the contract. Initially it was going for a 5" year also at 3%; that change was also made reducing it back to 4
years. So those changes were what the amendments were in the Budget Committee of a week ago.

Alderman Jette
Thank you.
A viva voce roll call was taken which resulted as follows:

Yea: Ald. O’Brien, Ald. Gidge, Ald. Harriott-Gathright, Ald. Dowd
Ald. Klee, Ald. Laws, Ald. Lopez, Ald. Caron, Ald. Kelly,
Ald. Jette, Ald. Melizzi-Golja, Ald. Tencza, Ald. Schmidt, Ald. Clemons
Ald. Wilshire 15

Nay: 0
MOTION CARRIED

MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-18-102 AS AMENDED BY ROLL
CALL

A viva voce roll call was taken which resulted as follows:

Yea: Ald. O’Brien, Ald. Gidge, Ald. Harriott-Gathright, Ald. Dowd
Ald. Klee, Ald. Laws, Ald. Lopez, Ald. Caron, Ald. Kelly,
Ald. Jette, Ald. Melizzi-Golja, Ald. Tencza, Ald. Schmidt, Ald. Clemons
Ald. Wilshire 15

Nay: 0

MOTION CARRIED
Resolution R-18-102 declared duly adopted as amended.

R-19-186
Endorsers: Mayor Jim Donchess
Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr.
Alderman Linda Alderman Harriott-Gathright
Alderman Richard A. Dowd
Alderman Patricia Klee
Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja
Alderman-at-Large David C. Tencza
Alderman Jan Schmidt
AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND CITY TREASURER TO ISSUE BONDS NOT TO EXCEED THE
AMOUNT OF ONE MILLION FOUR HUNDRED NINETY-FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS
($1,495,000) FOR VARIOUS IMPROVEMENTS AT THE SOLID WASTE DEPARTMENT FOUR
HILLS LANDFILL AND THE PURCHASE OF TWO REFUSE TRUCKS
Given its second reading;

MOTION BY ALDERMAN JETTE FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-19-186 BY ROLL CALL

Page Image
Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/23/2019 - P10

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/23/2019 - P11

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:30
Document Date
Mon, 12/23/2019 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Mon, 12/23/2019 - 00:00
Page Number
11
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__122320…

Board of Aldermen 12-23-2019 Page 11

A viva voce roll call was taken which resulted as follows:

Yea: Ald. O’Brien, Ald. Gidge, Ald. Harriott-Gathright, Ald. Dowd
Ald. Klee, Ald. Laws, Ald. Lopez, Ald. Caron, Ald. Kelly,
Ald. Jette, Ald. Melizzi-Golja, Ald. Tencza, Ald. Schmidt, Ald. Clemons
Ald. Wilshire 15

Nay: 0
MOTION CARRIED
Resolution R-19-186 declared duly adopted.

R-19-187
Endorsers: Mayor Jim Donchess
Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire
Alderman Richard A. Dowd
Alderman-at-Large Michel B. O’Brien, Sr.
Alderman Linda Harriott-Gathright
Alderman Patricia Klee
Alderman-at-Large Brandon Michael Laws
Alderman Thomas Lopez
Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja
Alderman-at-Large David C. Tencza
Alderman Jan Schmidt
AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND CITY TREASURER TO ISSUE BONDS NOT TO EXCEED THE
AMOUNT OF SIX MILLION DOLLARS ($6,000,000) FOR THE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF
A DIVISION OF PUBLIC WORKS OFFICE FACILITY
Given its second reading;

MOTION BY ALDERMAN O’BRIEN FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-19-187 BY ROLL CALL
Alderman Tencza

Thank you Madam Chair. | appreciate the comments that were made at the Public Hearing and comments
that were made here tonight about the bond. One of the things that the City and the Public needs to
remember; it has been brought up a number of times at other hearings is that part of this bond is going to
utilize the money from the Burke Street property which makes it somewhat time sensitive. | appreciate
Commissioner Pappas in the comments she had made about the other employees. But! don’t think that by
passing this bond tonight we are necessarily foreclosing on correcting other issues or going forward with
other projects in the future.

Alderman Jette

| appreciate Commissioner Pappas’ comments and | have been the liaison to the Board of Public Works so
| have heard the discussion. From the time that | was elected two years ago, | was taken on a tour of the
Public Works Facilities and | saw that the buildings are in poor shape as has been described many times. |
agree with Commissioner Pappas that the ideal solution would be to fix everything where we are taking a
step, | was concerned, since | am the Ward 5 Alderman, | was concerned about this plan to consolidate
everything at the landfill because | was concerned about how that would affect the neighborhood and the
neighbors.

Page Image
Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/23/2019 - P11

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/23/2019 - P12

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:30
Document Date
Mon, 12/23/2019 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Mon, 12/23/2019 - 00:00
Page Number
12
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__122320…

Board of Aldermen 12-23-2019 Page 12

Frankly not many people have said anything, in fact just the opposite, some of the people in the
neighborhood say they are not opposed to this project. We gave them, thanks to the Board and largely
thanks to whoever controls snow, which caused a delay in the Public Hearing so the informational meeting
could occur prior to the Public Hearing. So people had an opportunity to hear about this and ask questions
and the presentation was made available on-line. Evidently, people are not opposed to it: at least they
haven't expressed any opposition.

So the idea of moving the Administrative Building, building this new building, | think is a necessary project,
but | think it’s only part of the solution. | think that that the long-range plan as the Director and Commission
Teas said during the Public Hearing, the long range plan is to move the garage that is currently located on
stadium drive and the garages that house the Park Recreation vehicles, to the landfill site.

| think they would do it now but It’s a much more expensive project and | think the Board of Public Works
recognized that the City just cannot afford to that right now. It is going to be, you know, this is the first step
in that. So | support this, the alternative would be much too expensive | feel. If we had the money, | think
that’s what we would want to do. But we’ve heard the Mayor talk about the healthcare costs and other
pressures on the budget. So | think this is the most we can do at the current time. | think it’s very much
needed so | will support this and vote for this.

Alderman Lopez

| just want to say this is a long overdue investment. | mean the City will become a disaster in two weeks if
we don’t have garbage pickup. If we don’t have clean water, our roads plowed, Public Works does a lot of
works. They don’t always get a lot of thanks for it. | mean sometimes people are focused on what is going
on at the end of their driveway and they don’t really have the whole City perspective in mind. | think the
Administrative Staff that oversees all that activity and helps organize it does a very good job overall for the
amount of work that they do compared to their size.

So | just think this is a long overdue investment. As Alderman Jette pointed out and Alderman Tencza, it
certainly doesn’t foreclose us on pursuing additional needs. This is an incremental approach, we have the
opportunity to do it and it makes sense to do it now.
A viva voce roll call was taken which resulted as follows:
Yea: Ald. O’Brien, Ald. Gidge, Ald. Harriott-Gathright, Ald. Dowd
Ald. Klee, Ald. Laws, Ald. Lopez, Ald. Caron, Ald. Kelly,
Ald. Jette, Ald. Melizzi-Golja, Ald. Tencza, Ald. Schmidt, Ald. Clemons
Ald. Wilshire 15
Nay: 0
MOTION CARRIED

Resolution R-19-187 declared duly adopted.

Page Image
Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/23/2019 - P12

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/23/2019 - P13

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:30
Document Date
Mon, 12/23/2019 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Mon, 12/23/2019 - 00:00
Page Number
13
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__122320…

Board of Aldermen 12-23-2019 Page 13

R-19-191
Endorsers: Alderman Richard A. Dowd
Alderman-at-Large Michel B. O’Brien, Sr.
Alderman Ken Gidge
Alderman Linda Harriott-Gathright
Alderman Patricia Klee
Alderman-at-Large Brandon Michael Laws
Alderman Thomas Lopez
Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja
Alderman Jan Schmidt
Alderman-at-Large Ben Clemons
Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire
AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND CITY TREASURER TO ISSUE BONDS NOT TO EXCEED THE
AMOUNT OF ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTEEN MILLION DOLLARS ($118,000,000) TO FUND
THE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW MIDDLE SCHOOL AND RENOVATIONS AND
EXPANSION OF THE EXISTING TWO MIDDLE SCHOOLS (PENNICHUCK AND FAIRGROUNDS)
INCLUDING THE PAYMENT OF COSTS INCIDENTAL OR RELATED THERETO
Given its second reading;

MOTION BY ALDERMAN DOWD FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-19-191 BY ROLL CALL
ON THE QUESTION
Alderman Clemons

Thank you. | am very pleased to support this this evening. The reason being is that this is actual ... we
have to recognize the fact and as was previously explained in public comment that Elm Street is no longer
a viable option for us. We did the studies, it is actually going to cost more if we were to renovate Elm
Street. So you know some of the comments that | have heard | just wanted to kind of address. There have
been studies that have been with the population that was explained at the Budget Committee. Each one of
these schools after the renovation, the new one and the two existing middle schools, Pennichuck and
Fairgrounds, are going to have relatively equal population. Right now it is imbalanced because | think Elm
Street is the larger one. So that population is going to shift a little bit to the other two schools.

The other thing that | had asked the City Treasurer to provide and was included with the Agenda this
evening was the amount of bond debt service that the City has projected in the next few years. It is actually
going down. So even with all of the bonding that we are doing this evening or that has proposed to be
done and has been done; the debt service is actually going down. It goes up a little bit like $2,000.00 next
year and then the year after that it is down $2 million; it is down $1.5 million; $530,000.00. You can see
these trends all the way through — we have it projected out to 2041 of paying less money per year than we
are paying now in overall bond debt.

The reason we are able to accomplish this is because the high schools are being paid off after now that
they are coming to the end of their years. It’s like any other loan, you pay less in the beginning, more in the
end. The high schools are at the end, we are paying a lot more towards them. We have a very good
Treasurer, he knows how to first of all float these bonds in a way that they are at the least cost to the
taxpayer, we have a Triple AAA Bond Rating in Nashua. In addition to al of that, you have to remember
that the City anticipates some of these costs. | don’t think that anybody didn’t know five or ten years ago
that something was going to have be done with Elm Street.

The question is absolutely timing, that was mentioned this evening and timing is absolutely right. And the
time to do this is right now because for the very reason that our bond debt service is going down to a point
where we can let a bond that will allow us to do a big project like this and it won’t cost anything extra to the
taxpayer. That’s the point.

Page Image
Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/23/2019 - P13

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/23/2019 - P14

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:30
Document Date
Mon, 12/23/2019 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Mon, 12/23/2019 - 00:00
Page Number
14
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__122320…

Board of Aldermen 12-23-2019 Page 14

So | think this has been planned out from a financial perspective, it's been planned out from a strategy
perspective as far as what the student population is going to be. Quite frankly that spot has been called for
a school for a very long time, since that development was created back in 1999.

With all of that said, | think this is the right move for Nashua and | am happy to support it for all of those
reasons.

Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja

| would agree with Alderman Clemons and from 2004 when Alderman Clemons’ father and | were on the
School Board together, we were discussing Elm Street and portables and space that was not conducive to
the type of educational programming our students needed. So | think this is the time and we need to do it
across all of the middle schools so that everyone has an environment that supports the learning. If
members of the public have gone back and looked at all of the presentations around this project, there is
certainly a lot about the structure and the land. But underlying everything that is being addressed here, is
what is the educational opportunity to be like and kids aren’t sitting in desks anymore. We are looking at
opportunities for students to work in groups and interact in different ways than probably the ways we were
all encouraged to interact in middle school.

So it is great and | am sure Alderman Clemons’ father is thrilled to know that we are getting rid of portables
and we are upgrading structures for teachers and students, Thank you.

Alderman Jette

So | was on the Joint Special School Building Committee and we heard and the presentation that was
made by the architects and the construction manager was available to all of you and the public as well.
They made a compelling argument, well | think everybody acknowledged that Elm Street needed help and
has been pointed out, Pennichuck has those portables that are not appropriate. So there’s no question that
we have to do something. They looked at the cost of renovating Elm Street and determined that it would
cost more to do that. After we were done we would still have a school that was originally built in the ‘30’s
and we wouldn’t have any playing fields and it just would not be an ideal situation.

We can build a new school up to the standards of today with playing fields and so that all 3 schools will be
somewhat equitable for less money than it would cost to try to renovate Elm Street. | am in favor of this.
But | think that the people who spoke asked some legitimate questions about the cost and how it was going
to affect them. Alderman Clemons explained very well that the Committee asked Treasurer Fredette to
answer those questions. He did come up with an analysis that Alderman Clemons has explained. The
question he did not answer was how will this affect someone who owns a $300,000.00 house that was a
question that came up several times. | was out of town, so | couldn’t get back to Treasurer Fredette to ask
him. So | did my own calculation, this may be completely wrong, but | think it’s fairly accurate.

Given the cost that Treasurer Fredette told us it would cost us each year for this bond, if you divide that by
the valuation of all the property in town, | calculated that for a $300,000.00 house, depending on as
Treasurer Fredette explained, it depends on the interest rate. His analysis that was included in the
Resolution that we received started out at an interest rate of 3.5% but the last time we issued a bond it was
at 2.2% | believe. The financial people that | Know say that the rates for municipal bonds are at historic
lows. Nashua’s bonds are extremely attractive; so the chances are when these bonds are sold they are
probably going to be a lot less than 3.5, probably going to be closer to the 2.2 But if it is anything under 3%
my calculation says that if you own a $300,000.00 house, your share of this each year is going to be less
than $200.00.

That, as Alderman Clemons explained, because of the way we manage our bonds, it’s really not going to
cause an increase in the tax rate, but to be fair, if we paid off the current high school bonds and we didn’t
borrow this additional money, the tax burden would go down. So it is not going to go up, but assuming we
didn’t bond something else, like the Public Works Garage, so the chance of that happening are pretty slim.

Page Image
Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/23/2019 - P14

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/23/2019 - P15

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:30
Document Date
Mon, 12/23/2019 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Mon, 12/23/2019 - 00:00
Page Number
15
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__122320…

Board of Aldermen 12-23-2019 Page 15

But for people who asked the question, what is my share if | own a $300,000.00 house what is my share of
this going to be? It is going to be less than $200.00. | hope that answers their questions and allays their
fears. But | support this.

Alderman Lopez

| just want to speak to Elm Street; the neighborhoods around it have outgrown it. There is a lot of
encroachment on people who are living there versus the teachers that are working there. | frequently field
the questions you know from landlords in the area, is there more parking available, can we work with on-
street parking? | mean nowhere, we can’t just produce surface area. So it is getting very crowded in that
area, it is a traffic problem. One of the most common issues that we hear are people coming in and out of
that street around school hours, either a danger to the kids that are crossing the street and walking to and
from their homes or they are full of kids and their parents picking them up. Then there is the whole
unsolvable issue for some reason kids are just drawn like magnets across Main Street to that Burger King.

So | think it was sooner or later going to have to just, from a neighborhood perspective be addressed.
Looking at the building structure and the building design, every year when we have the Veteran’s Day
Parade or the Memorial Day Parade, | have lunch with the veterans right after — and by the way, all of you
are invited to that. But every year they walk in and they’re like “OH | went to school here, it hasn’t changed
a bit”. That’s very nostalgic but like they went to school there awhile ago. So | think that building really has
outlived its usefulness. It definitely has done a great amount of service to Nashua but we need to start
thinking about how we can best have our students move forward with more modern education realities.
One of those realities is security; we need to update and upgrade the way we approach security in a way
that we can train for practical management in an emergency situation without terrifying kids and we have to
teach them what to do in an emergency. That is part of what is going into this building as well.

We have to address new realities with more and more kids presenting behavioral exceptions and different
learning needs. We need to acknowledge that and we need to start making sure that our kids that are
growing up here in Nashua have the same opportunities to succeed in education with the supports that they
need. | think the planning that has been done laboriously under Alderman Dowd’s leadership has been
very extensive, it has been public knowledge, it has been engaging. | do agree with Alderman Jette that a
lot of very good questions were asked at the Public Comment, but | think at the end of the day, as
Aldermen we were elected to address this issue so | support it as well.

Alderman Klee

Yes thank you. | Know there was a comment that our homework hadn’t been done. | am on, like Alderman
Jette and Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja, yourself, President Wilshire and Alderman Dowd on this Committee
and there’s been a lot of homework that has been done. Actually this is the result of all the homework that
is sitting on the web site that any person can get to. This has been talked about since | became Alderman
2 years ago. It is a need; | think that everyone did their homework, asked the appropriate questions in the
Committees. We went through all of the contracts, who would be the best person for architect; who would
be the best person for contractor. We listened to their ideas. We listened to whether or not it was good to
keep Elm Street.

| also want to address the fact that this is not a junior high, it is a Middle School and as such we had three
Middle Schools. This project will equalize the Middle Schools across the City; one in the North, one in mid-
section and one in the South. My hope is that yes it will eliminate some of the bussing and our kids won’t
get home at 5:30 at night, that they will be home at a decent hour rather than being bused from Elm Street.
The other issues that were talked about was the tax rate.

| appreciate Alderman Jette’s expectation or at least a stab at it. | thank you very much for it. | know that
Mr. Fredette had said that it was something that was very difficult to calculate but that at least gives us
some concrete information. The truth is that there never a good time to spend money. | think as far as
anybody is concerned they would always want their taxes to go down and never to spend money.

Page Image
Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/23/2019 - P15

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/23/2019 - P16

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:30
Document Date
Mon, 12/23/2019 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Mon, 12/23/2019 - 00:00
Page Number
16
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__122320…

Board of Aldermen 12-23-2019 Page 16

One other question that keeps getting talked about is that we have a lower enrollment. | think with better
schools, this is not really going to be a State of the Art School but a better School System, it will bring
younger families in. | can tell you that from my family that have looked at places to live, States to live, they
look at the School Systems first. So if we have a School System for Middle Schools, for fifth graders and
so on, that is a good school, we will attract younger families here and | think that is one of the things that
we want to do. | am for it, I’ve been on it for 2 years, I’ve listened to all of it. Oftentimes, the public doesn’t
react until they start hearing those big numbers and then they come out and react. | think the public has
been asking some incredible questions, | think the public especially those in the areas have brought up
some good concerns. | also think each of those concerns have been looked at. | know Alderman Dowd has
worked with the architects to try to answer these people and we have done our best | think. Nobody’s
questions have been ignored. So thank you.

Alderman Dowd

| have some familiarity with this project. It has been well over a year going through all the studies, | am not
going reiterate anything that was said. On the bonding | have met no less than five times with the
Treasurer and there are a number of things involved in bonding. There is no set payment per year; if it
looks like the bond payment for a year is going to be high and affect the tax rate the wrong way there are
ways around that. Also there are things like we sell bonds and they are so much in demand that we get a
fee from some of the companies, they pay us to actually buy our bonds. I’m not exactly sure how that
works but that’s what | was told. Also, we can move the payments around and we can buy the bonds for 20
years, we can buy them for 25 years. There are many ways to manipulate that and the idea is to keep that
bonding level fairly level so to try to impact to say what it is on a personal home of $300,000.00; you can’t
say that. | was with Treasurer Fredette this afternoon and he says, “You can’t possibly say that because |
can change that payment as need be and City Services could change”. That impacts more than probably
this will.

When we approve a bond, any one of these bonds, he does not go out that next day and buy a bond. He
won't buy a bond until he needs to. We have ways of covering early expenses, especially in this instance
where we already have $2 million dollars to spend. So that payment is not really going to impact anybody’s
home as far as property taxes are concerned; it is going to stay level just like it has for many years.

The other thing is that all of the questions that were asked have either been answered or tried to be
answered that five inch study is over a year’s work by two of the best professional firms involved and they
are here tonight; Harriman is our architect and Harvey is our construction manager. They are truly
professionals and they have a ton of experience and when they are doing the pricing analysis and they are
doing the educational analysis and the design analysis; it is really outstanding. So | urge everyone to vote
for this.

Alderman Tencza

May | just ask a question through the Chairman to you, regarding some of the questions with the design of
the project. If the Chairman could just briefly touch on whether any final decisions have been made in
particular with the issue of access to this piece of land and what the process will be like going forward to
finalize the project in case anyone in the public has questions or concerns about it moving forward.
Alderman Dowd

I’m not sure what the question was?

Alderman Tencza

Access and the process moving forward to finalize design for the school, location and everything.

Page Image
Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/23/2019 - P16

Pagination

  • First page « First
  • Previous page ‹‹
  • …
  • Page 338
  • Page 339
  • Page 340
  • Page 341
  • Current page 342
  • Page 343
  • Page 344
  • Page 345
  • Page 346
  • …
  • Next page ››
  • Last page Last »

Search

Meeting Date
Document Date

Footer menu

  • Contact