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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/14/2019 - P6

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:39
Document Date
Tue, 05/14/2019 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 05/14/2019 - 00:00
Page Number
6
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__051420…

To put this in perspective, during last November's midterm election, we processed 442 ballots in
the first hour! And registered 35 new voters that same hour. And even with an extremely busy
election day last November, our turnout was just over 50%.

For both elections, we did this with the same nine (9) Ward election officials and two (2) Ward
Deputy Registrars. In November, our Ward needed additional staff, For the March special
election, we only needed that level of staff as we needed to fill all of roles required by State and
City law.

In my letter to the editor, I spoke against the current system, and I am still opposed to it.

I proposed at that time what I consider to be a more effective approach. That being that the
Mayor appoint an interim replacement to fill any vacancy on the various elective Boards and that
the Aldermen confirm that selection. And further that a replacement to fill any unexpired part of
the term be elected at the next November election, as Nashua holds a general election every
November.

Mr. Teeboom, in a comment to my letter, objected to that proposal on the grounds of cronyism. I
agree with his concern which was why I proposed that any interim appointment be confirmed by
the Board of Aldermen to mitigate cronyism concerns.

The Proposal R-18-073 Amended is cronyism on steroids by reverting Nashua to a previous
process that was replaced as it invited serious cronyism. To revert is to take a step backwards.
The City needs a process that is timely, cost effective, and rejects cronyism.

Let me share an extreme example.

Based on R-18-073 Amended, if a new member of the Board of Education were to quit
immediately after being sworn in, the remaining 8 members of the BoE (assuming the BoE, now
evenly numbered, could reach a timely consensus...) could appoint a Member who would serve
until the next Municipal election, almost 2 years in the future.

Clearly, that should be unacceptable to all of you.

My proposal is this:

1. Within 30 days of a vacancy on any subject Board, the Mayor would nominate a
candidate to fill the position. The subject Board with a vacancy may forward to the Mayor
within 2 weeks of such vacancy the name(s) of their proposed candidate(s) to fill the

vacancy. The Mayor would not be bound to nominate a candidate proposed by the Board.

2. The Board of Aldermen will vote to confirm the Nominee of the Mayor within 30 days of
the nomination.

3. The Nominee will serve until a permanent replacement, elected at the next November

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/14/2019 - P6

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/14/2019 - P7

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:39
Document Date
Tue, 05/14/2019 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 05/14/2019 - 00:00
Page Number
7
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__051420…

election, whether Municipal or State, is sworn in.

4. If the Mayor's Nominee is not confirmed, a new vacancy is declared, and the process will
be repeated until a Nominee is confirmed by the Board of Aldermen.

This process solves all of the concerns about the current process of Special Election, expresses
the urgency to have the Boards fully staffed, and minimizes the concern about cronyism. There is
no cost to the city for a special election; a replacement on the City Board could be in place in 30-
60 days, and duly elected representatives of the City are affirming any appointment being made
by the specific Board or the Mayor.

Other Important Local Election Considerations.

That said, if the city is going to make a change to the City Charter involving elections, please
combine it with other needed changes.

Election Closing Time.

Nashua is, I believe, the only city in New Hampshire that closes the polls at 8 p.m. The time that
WMUR and other state media "advertise" as the time of the poll closing is 7 p.m. Further, on
Election Day, WMUR and other media begin reporting election results while Nashua's polls
continue to be open. Nashua needs to get in line with the rest of the cities in the State and close
out polls at 7 p.m.

As Moderator for almost 6 years, | have been documenting the hour by hour traffic in my Ward.
I have observed that over the past 4 years, the traffic between 7 and 8 pm has dwindled
considerably. In last November's midterm election, the number of voters in the last hour fell from
an all day average of just over 200 an hour to about 50 voters in the last hour. (Getting the exact
number from the midterm are difficult because the election involved 2 ballots for each voter and
100s of absentee voters.)

At last week's election, we fell from an hourly average of just over 33 voters an hour to just 13
voters. I have been observing this trend since at least the Presidential Primary in 2016.

The City Clerk has informed me that the Election times are set by the Board of Aldermen, not
in the Charter. Therefore, I recommend the closing time should be changed to 7 p.m.

Nomination of Ward Election Officers.

I would like the City to re-consider a previous Charter Amendment I proposed concerning the
Ward Election Officers that was narrowly rejected by voters after an editorial in the Telegraph
that misrepresented the proposal.

As the City is organized, the Moderators, Clerks, and Selectmen in each Ward are, in realty,
nothing but contract employees of the City Clerk's office. They have no role or authority other
that being "elected" officials of the city authorized to run the polling places on election days.

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/14/2019 - P7

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/14/2019 - P8

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:39
Document Date
Tue, 05/14/2019 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 05/14/2019 - 00:00
Page Number
8
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__051420…

A City Ward is different from a Town in New Hampshire, although both appear to be similarly
organized. The Ward Moderators, Clerks, and Selectmen only have responsibility to run the
polling places for elections. The City Clerk sets the policies and procedures so that all Wards are
doing it the same. This is important to protect the integrity of our elections. The Ward

Moderator is in charge of their polling location in their Ward on Election Day, but must follow
the lead of the City Clerk.

From my experience, I know it is brutal work that the team does out of love for the city and a
desire to serve.

The reality is that too many of the 45 positions do not even have a candidate, and all too often
the "elected" official wins by a write-in of 1-3 votes. I was chosen to serve in my first term by
the City Clerk because the person elected by write-in vote, resigned, and I had volunteered.

The City Clerk shall attest that making sure each Ward has a full complement of election
officials and Ballot Inspectors for each election is difficult.

The current process is, in my opinion, demeaning to people who just want to volunteer their time
to serve the city. They have to find at least 15 people to sign and witness nominating petitions.
Then the City Clerk's office has to spend time to then certify each of those petitions, and then, if
the candidate falls short, they are not on the ballot. The number for these petitions required is the
same as the number of nominating petitions required to run for Ward Alderman which is a much
more powerful and responsible position.

I know that for the 2017 election, I worked hard to get candidates city-wide to run for these
election offices and too many of them gave up because of the requirement to submit so many
nominating petitions.

In contrast, if a candidate wishes to run as a State Representative, the candidate can either pay $2
or submit 5 nominating petitions.

My request is that we make it easier for someone to run for these Ward election offices and make
the requirement be the same as the requirement for becoming a State Representative.

I propose that the charter change for this be to simply say that the requirement to get on
the ballot be the same as the requirement to get on the ballot as a State Representative.

Improvements for Running Elections in Nashua.

I would like to ask you to consider these realities involving election officials. I believe all of
these suggestions can be implemented by the Board of Aldermen alone.

1. The number of ballot inspectors that the city allows assumes the election laws of long ago. We
now have a requirement to have election staff to photograph voters who do not present a photo
ID. At all partisan primaries, we have to have at least one, usually two, members of the election

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/14/2019 - P8

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/14/2019 - P9

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:39
Document Date
Tue, 05/14/2019 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 05/14/2019 - 00:00
Page Number
9
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__051420…

staff to process voters who wish to return to Undeclared.

2. The current requirements for marking the checklist during an election require serious
concentration by the people checking in voters. This requires giving the staff breaks, especially
during busy elections.

3. In my six years as Moderator, the number of checklist books has increased from two (2) in all
elections to a minimum of three (3) and often up to as many as eight (8) for Presidential primary
and general elections. Each checklist book requires a Ballot Inspector or Selectman., all day.

4, The pay for election officials seems to suggest that they are just working on Election Day. The
Selectmen and Ballot Inspectors are currently expected to go through up to 2 hours of training,
up to 2 hours of pre-election ballot counting, about 2 hours of polling place setup, another hour
of pre-election setup on the morning of the election, 14 hours of election, and several hours of
work after the election to process the election. The Clerk and Moderator also have other pre- and
post-election duties. The police officer that now is a constant fixture of the city polling places is
paid much more for his or her time than any of the election officials.

I request you consider that:

* The pay for election officials be increased to recognize value of their service and the actual
time they have to spend.

* The number of allowed ballot inspectors be increased by at least two (2) for all partisan
primaries.

* The City Clerk be authorized to increase the number of ballot inspectors for any election based
on the historical turnout projections to keep the waiting times to check-in as short as possible. In
last year's mid-term election. we had to operate with only 4 books, and the a staff member from
the AG's office inspecting our polling place was strongly critical of the long lines.

* The city add an additional tabulator in each ward so that at high turnout elections, we keep the
lines short for voters waiting to cast their ballot. This is a problem in those elections when a
machine jams or when we need to empty a full box.

* The City recognize that, if the State authorizes, as is expected, more early voting, even "no
cause" absentee voting, that this will mean additional resources needed to process any election.

Thank you for considering,

John B. Lisle, Moderator, Ward 8

68 Bluestone Drive, Nashua, New Hampshire 03060
603-888-3333

603-324-9110 (cell)

jlisle@gmail.com

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/14/2019 - P9

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/14/2019 - P10

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:39
Document Date
Tue, 05/14/2019 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 05/14/2019 - 00:00
Page Number
10
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__051420…

Board of Aldermen 05-14-2019 Page 10

She is an accountant. She’s been an accountant for 22 years before she came to Nashua; she’s been
a Chief of Staff, and a good one to the Mayor, basically taking notes and things, I’ve been to meetings
with the Mayor, taking notes and answering the mail. But has she got the experience to deal with 7
complex departments? Human Resources? Information Technology? GIS? Purchasing?
Insurance? Risk Management? City Buildings? Assessing? $53 million dollars of fund management.
$7 million dollars of operational budget, she has none. So Mayor | don’t understand why you would
appoint her. The real problem, there is no problem in the IT Department that | know of. There’s no
problem in Human Resources. There’s no problem in GIS. There’s no problem in Purchasing.
There’s no problem in Insurance. There’s no problem in Risk Management that | Know of. There’s no
problem in Maintenance & City Buildings. There is a problem in Assessing. And you are not replacing
the Chief Assessor.

Now the guy that was there, | dealt with him, he was incompetent. | knew that right away. | didn’t
complain about it. A private citizen at her own substantial expense brought forth the problem in the
Assessing Department; none of you did. The Mayor didn’t, none of the City staff did, the attorney
didn’t. A private citizen who spent $8,000.00 just on the private investigator. The problem is in the
Assessing Department. Now we hear that there is an assessor who about 10 years ago was dealing in
pornography. That’s what | read and he admitted it. Sleeping on the job; got a PI report. There’s the
problem. A lot of people are complaining about the Assessing; they are not complaining about GIS, IT,
Purchasing, Insurance, Risk Management, City Buildings, they are complaining about Assessing. So |
don’t understand what you are trying to do.

| recommend that you drop this insanity of creating a new division, that'll accomplish nothing but
conflict in fact between the CFO position and a new position. If you look at the Ordinance there are all
kinds of building conflict. And | should say Marcoux, who you keep mentioning was really the CFO. |
was an Alderman. He was a CFO. Carol Anderson who is the budget director, worked for Marcoux.
Now they called him an Administrative Servicer but he was really the Chief Financial Officer, there was
no position called the Chief Financial Officer back in those days. So my recommendation is drop this
charade. Don’t enforce Administrative Services, Ms. Kleiner very well, very nice person, qualified as
an accountant, keep her on the job, she’s doing a nice job for you and get that Assessment
Department under control. Thank you.

Jim Tollner Good evening, Jim Tollner, 1 Sequoia Circle, |’ll be brief. | want to take a second to weigh
in on this appointment. | think it’s worth mentioning that it has always been at the discretion of the
Mayor to recruit and appoint his or her choice. | seems fundamentally unfair to speak against this
particular person because the folks didn’t like how this department was run in other administrations.
Personally | have had a chance to work with Mrs. Kleiner and | have found her to be professional. She
is someone who has worked within City Government and someone who understands City
Government. | have to say when there were questions, we heard back from Kim. And if she didn’t
have the answers, she’d work hard to get you that answer. Thank you very much.

Laurie Ortolano 41 Berkeley Street, I’m here to speak to the Administrative Services Position. | think I'd
like to ask you to just put it on hold and consider bringing back the Chief position. | want you all to think
about whether there is enough money in the budget right now to fund both positions. | would hope
that as Aldermen and Alderwomen, you all recognize at this point the need for a Chief. And | am so
compelled to tell you from the bottom of my heart | think we need that Chief. Assessing is a complex
function and Ms. Kleiner just doesn’t have that background. And when the Mayor points out that she’s
going to be a Director or a Manager, she’s managing all other departments that have directors except
for Assessing. And Paula Johnson was correct when she said the other Administrative Services
Directors, we had a manager down there, we had a Chief. We don’t anymore. And the day-to-day
functions and the issues that Alderwoman Kelly asked are a serious issue.

If you are going to just vote this position in tonight and say she is going to take over Assessing, as a
bare minimum, please move her office down into Assessing, into John Duhamel’s office. Let her work
on the culture and the environment down there day-to-day right now. That’s a 40 hour a week job.

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/14/2019 - P10

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/14/2019 - P11

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:39
Document Date
Tue, 05/14/2019 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 05/14/2019 - 00:00
Page Number
11
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__051420…

Board of Aldermen 05-14-2019 Page 11

She’s got the other 25 to do the other 5 or 6 functions and that’s going to make up the 65 hours. But |
really believe you need that. I’ve been taking the State’s Statutes class this week with Ms. Kleiner up
in Concord. It has been super interesting. But you meet people up there and speakers who are Chiefs
and Managers from other Towns that are so intelligent and passionate about their work. And it leaves
me feeling a little broken that we can’t find anyone like that for Nashua. Why can’t we find anyone who
is a numbers person who is passionate about equity. Why does that allude Nashua? You know what
it is about the culture here that doesn’t allow that to happen. And if what the Mayor keeps telling you,
that we can’t find candidates, then | beg you to please look at outsourcing, because it isn’t fair to us as
residents to have such a weak department where the bar is so low that you can’t get answers to
questions. Raising that bar is going to be enormously difficult; | think it will be more than 40 hours a
week.

And the last gentleman who spoke has had a wonderful experience getting questions answered. It is
far more difficult for us with Assessing questions because we are dealing with somebody who has no
background for something so technical. Those questions require her to call the State every time and
she can’t even rely on her people internally to go down there and get the answers and she told me she
doesn’t, which | am thankful for. We should not be taking any information from within at this point, not
a good idea. So you know | think it is vitally important that we bring back that Chief position. And |
don’t want to wait until Ms. Kleiner says its important, we will just wait until she decides we need it. Or
we wait until you decide we need it. How does that happen. What does it take to decide you need it?
You know what do we have to do? | for myself can tell you there’s no amount of data that | can put on
the table that would convince there’s a problem that hasn’t worked.

| will tell you Friday | had a meeting and Steve Bolton acknowledged that some of the numbers | was
pointing out were too low. | honestly believe that in 8 % months that is the first time an administrator or
somebody in City Hall said “yeah those numbers are too low’. I’ve never had anyone confirm
anything. | mean it has taken 8 1/ 2 months to get the confirmation on a number. And | think I’ve gone
way too long waiting for answers, just way too long. You know the problems are deep and what you
have happening now, | am sensing the complaints that you are getting hit with a lot of RTK letters,
property files, you are. I’m generating a good bit of it. I’m going to dump another 1,000 pages on you
pretty quickly here for RTK. You know why? Because | am conducting your external audit because
none of you did it. It was your job to do an external audit and the internal one really didn’t work. |
prefer not to do that, | have to pay a lot of money for those copies — Ben | am hoping you write that
letter and waive those for me. But that’s what needs to be done.

And | object to an Alderman like Ben Clemons sending out an e-mail telling me this weekend that |
need to prove myself more, get all the reimbursements, get all the travel cards, get all of the
information out of City Hall to prove that we have mismanagement. When do you step up and look at
the data? When do you go get it? Because | have to RTK all that. | have to put staff through a lot of
work to get that. I’d rather let you do your investigation and really get the information. Do it, get it, look
at the reports, just let me know you're doing it. | won’t ask for it. But | don’t know how anyone thinks
here that they can really run this place without having a Chief down there.

You know | sat in a class yesterday and the Chief Assessor who taught for the afternoon ran a Tri-
Town up by Lake Sunapee, Sunapee, New London and Newbury | think. He was so impressive. He
was aman of numbers and you could tell he really loved his job. And the one comment he said is “I
love a really intelligent property owner who comes in and challenges me with questions; it makes me a
better assessor’. We haven’t had any one like that in our assessing office in a long time. You can’t go
in there with a question, there’s nobody to answer. So please, | don’t mind that you want to bring the
position back but boat them together and bring back your Chief Assessor. If you really don’t think you
can get one, get serious about out-sourcing that Department so we can get some equity in this town.
Thank you.

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/14/2019 - P11

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/14/2019 - P12

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:39
Document Date
Tue, 05/14/2019 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 05/14/2019 - 00:00
Page Number
12
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__051420…

Board of Aldermen 05-14-2019 Page 12

Mike Apfelberg Good evening Mike Apfelberg, 7 Edson Street. | was going to speak initially about the
tobacco legislation and then | decided I’d like to speak a little bit about Mrs. Kleiner and her
appointment. | think you’ve heard enough about the tobacco legislation over the last how many
hearings now to know | am in favor of this legislation and I’m in favor of it in the original form that
includes possession and purchase and consumption of tobacco products. My beliefs are based in the
science of the mind and the science of addiction and even though we don’t have legislation State-Wide
yet, | think this is an opportunity for us to send a strong message to the State that the time has come
for us to protect our youth now and into the future. Enough said on that.

So regarding the appointment of Kim Kleiner to the Administrative Services position, just a personal
perspective. I’ve had the opportunity over the past couple of years to work directly with Ms. Kleiner in
a couple of different areas both as a constituent and also as an organization which occasionally has
needs from the City to navigate various types of services and departments. What I’ve found is as a
constituent Kim, I’m just going to call her Kim, is a person who does in fact respond to your e-mails at
10:00 on Saturday night and | think that’s not because she’s here in the office or perhaps she has the
ability to do that from home, but she’s absolutely one of the most responsive people particularly in City
Government who I’ve ever come across. She goes out of her way to provide detailed answers and if
she doesn’t know the answer, and | think in terms of managing a large division with a large number of
divisions underneath her, one of her great strengths is if she doesn’t know the answer, she will tell you
that and she will go get you the answer. So | have a lot of faith in her as a constituent.

As an organization, we’ve had the opportunity to have a number of projects that we’ve put through the
City and what I’ve found with working with Kim is that she is a person who works well across
constituencies ; she is a person who collaborates by nature. So she’s going to bring in people into the
room who have various disciplines and various opinions and various points of view and try to work
towards a common solution. | think that is extraordinarily important in a role like this which is
managing a large number of departments. | can appreciate what Mr. Teeboom said about, yes she
might not have experience in all of those various disciplines, but let’s be honest, nobody ever is going
to have experience, real deep experience in more than one or two disciplines. What you need in a
leader is somebody who can bring people together to get work done. So | have every faith in Ms.
Kleiner and hope that you do appoint her. As a constituent and both as an organization | appreciate
that, thank you.

Janet Valuk Good evening, my name is Janet Valuk | live at 41 Roy Street here in Nashua, Ward 6.
First of all I’d like to support the nomination of Kim Kleiner for the new position. Enough said of that
one. Most of you realize and I’ve talked with you before, spoken with you before, that my life has pretty
much been dedicated to protecting the health of our young people. | started out in Connecticut where |
grew up and it has been carried here into Nashua. I’ve worked in prevention for 48 years. | am going
to talk about a few statistics that we acquired from an academic survey given at the high schools, just
to give you an idea of what some of the issues are. 61.5% of the youth who reported current use get
their vaping devices from someone legal other than a parent. 35.9% of youth who reported current
use buy their devices from someone legal, I’m sorry, buy their devices themselves at a vape store ora
convenient store. I'll just preface this by saying all of the participants in this survey were under the age
of 18. And lastly almost 38% of youth reported vaping devices are very easy to obtain.

Now | know this isn’t an ordinance specific to vaping and | realize that vaping is a major problem with
youth right now. But the statistics show that 33% of youth who are vaping now, within one year will go
on to use traditional cigarettes. So that’s a concern of tobacco use. Some of the other information we
have 480,000 deaths annually from tobacco related diseases. If the current smoking rates continue,
5.6 million Americans who are currently younger than 18 will die prematurely from a smoking related
disease. Now this does not only effect an individual’s health, but it also has economic costs as well.
As experts estimate that the annual societal costs attributed to smoking in the United States were
between $289 and $332 billion dollars. This includes $132 to $175 billion for direct medical care costs
of adults and $151 billion for lost productivity due to premature deaths. Lost productivity due to

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/14/2019 - P12

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/14/2019 - P13

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:39
Document Date
Tue, 05/14/2019 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 05/14/2019 - 00:00
Page Number
13
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__051420…

Board of Aldermen 05-14-2019 Page 13

exposure to second-hand smoke costs the country $5.6 billion dollars and about 70% of current
smoker's excess medical care costs could be prevented by quitting.

Cigarette smoking, the use of tobacco products is the single most preventable cause of death. By
potentially stopping a group of young people from starting, we could be saving a lot of lives. Let’s be
the example for other towns and cities in New Hampshire and potentially the entire State. States
around us that have raised the tobacco age, have shown a reduction in under-age tobacco usage.
Nicotine is the original gateway drug, it sets up the brain for future addiction. All of the other things
that are allowed at 18 do not cause changes in the way the brain functions. And | have a request and
you can deny this, Madam President, one of our youth arrived a few minutes late due to parking issues
and | was wondering if you would allow her to say a few words?

President Wilshire
| will add her name to the bottom of the list. | have people who signed up before her.

Ms. Valuk_ And I’m not even going to attempt her name because | know | can’t pronounce it properly.
What is your name? Advika.

President Wilshire
Ok.

Nancy Vaughn Good evening my name is Nancy Vaughn and | work for the American Heart
Association. | am Government Relations Director for the State of New Hampshire and our organization
is in support of a State Law as well as local ordinances for raising the minimum legal sales age for
tobacco products. | am going to try and not repeat what was just said and mess up the microphone,
sorry. As you just heard, tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death. So the key word
there is prevention and that’s what tobacco 21 ordinances and laws really do is help prevent the
initiation of a life-long addiction to a product that when used as directed is intended or the end result is
to kill you, cause disease and lead to your death. So tobacco does cause heart disease; we are one of
the most expensive medical ailments to have. So there are large costs to our economy for tobacco-
related diseases.

Beyond the health consequences though | just want to leave you with some economic information to
consider as well. The annual health care costs for tobacco related diseases in New Hampshire is
$729 million dollars. Of that amount $139 million is borne by the Medicaid program. Many of these
costs are borne by households whether they use tobacco products or not in the form of taxes to cover
the Medicaid program of almost $1,000.00 a year, $875.00 is the dollar amount I’ve heard recently.
Tobacco-related diseases are felt and experienced by the most vulnerable populations. Most of our
tobacco users are amongst low income families, so low income youth, individuals who suffer from
mental illnesses, about 33% are tobacco users.

Those on the Medicaid program use tobacco products at a much higher rate than even the average
adult population. As | mentioned tobacco related diseases themselves cause a burden on low income
families. The American Heart Association actually supports not having possession penalties in place
on laws and ordinances, we find these are ineffective and inequitable penalties on, again, low income
youth and minority youth, African-Americans and Hispanic youth have reported that they are more
likely to receive citations from law enforcement for these products than their counterparts regardless of
tobacco use differences. So | urge you to consider passing this ordinance and really help to prevent
young people from starting this life-long addictive habit. So thank you very much for listening tonight.

June Lemon June Lemon | live at 18 Manchester Street here in Nashua. It has been really interesting
listening to what everybody has to say and | don’t repeat anything. | am here to support the
nomination of Kim Kleiner. | have heard some interesting thoughts about maybe we need both a

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/14/2019 - P13

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/14/2019 - P14

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:39
Document Date
Tue, 05/14/2019 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 05/14/2019 - 00:00
Page Number
14
Image URL
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Board of Aldermen 05-14-2019 Page 14

Director of Administrative Services and a Chief Assessor. But Laurie Ortolano brought up equity and
that is one thing that | Know that Kim Kleiner cares very much about. I’ve seen her work tirelessly for
the children in this district wnen she was on the Board of Education. And | have seen her listen
carefully to every constituent that asks her a question and if she can’t answer it, she’ll get back to you.
| have been to City Academy, Police Academy, all of the academies that the City has to offer. The first
person there is usually Kim Kleiner, the person who greets everyone is Kim Kleiner and the person
who answers questions that all the other people can’t answer or takes the notes to get back to you is
Kim Kleiner.

So | think she would be an asset as Director of Administrative Services. | will admit that | don’t have
the technical background to talk about what we need in a Chief Assessor. But | don’t think that
knowledge is something that cannot be acquired. And when Mr. Teeboom brings up you know she
doesn’t know all these departments, well she doesn’t need to know all of the details of the departments
to be effective in the role as manager. So | support Kim Kleiner for the position of Director of
Administrative Services. Thank you.

Helen Honorow Good evening, I’m Helen Honorow | live at 46 Raymond Street. I’m here to endorse
for the position of Administrative Services Kim Kleiner. | originally met Kim, | am on the State Board
of Education, | am not here speaking for the State Board of Education. But when | needed to get some
information from the City of Nashua and the School District, Kim was incredibly helpful and thorough
and knowledgeable and if she didn’t know an answer she would make sure she found it. | think that’s
incredibly important for any public service, but certainly in looking at the position of Administrative
Services the Director will require someone who is never going to know all the answers, but will know
what to do to find out.

In her role as Chief of Staff, Kim has been not only a quick study but also very successful in being able
to understand Government operations, understand how this City works and understand how to
collaborate. She’s the liaison to the Police Department, to Fire & Rescue. She’s not a Fire & Rescue
person, she is not a Police Officer but she certainly knows what to do and how to make things work.
We have had this audit, 700 pages and we need to do something with it. | think Kim is the perfect
person and has shown her ability to get things done and to understand how to move forward.

| have the privilege of being in Rotary with Kim. | was actually her sponsor in Rotary. Rotarians recite
a four way test at every meeting. It’s the 4-way test of the things we think, say and do and it’s meant
worldwide to apply as a moral code for both our personal and our business relationships. We are
intended to apply that in almost every aspect of our life. That testis: Is it the truth? It is fair to all
concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendships? Wvill it be beneficial to all concerned? Well
that defines how Kim operates in both her personal and professional life and | feel very confident that
she will be very good at this next job that | hope the Aldermen will approve and she will make sure that
our City works even better. If it is determined that a Chief Assessor is necessary, | don’t think Kim
would hesitate. She would make sure that the appropriate analysis is done, that there is money in the
budget to be able to go forward. | don’t see these as mutually exclusive, but | think Kim being in the
position will help us sort out whatever we need to make sure we can move forward. Thank you.

Stephanie Wolf-Rosenblum Madam Chairman, Aldermen, my name is Stephanie Wolf-Rosenblum of
47 Berkeley Street and before | speak to endorse Mrs. Kleiner | think my colleagues in the healthcare
field would find me remiss if | did not repeat my endorsement of the tobacco legislation, | support
passage. But! am here tonight to speak to Mrs. Kleiner’s appointment and | will say without repeating
what has already been said that | firmly endorse all of the positive things that have been said about
Mrs. Kleiner. AS someone who has served in our leadership position in Nashua in a complex
organization for many years, | have had the personal experience and the observation that you do not
need to possess all the skills of all the people that work with you and for you. But you need to be able
to listen, to study and to collaborate. And has been said, these are things that define Mrs. Kleiner; |
know her both as a Rotarian and also for her work in trying to support solutions for the opioid crisis.

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/14/2019 - P14

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/14/2019 - P15

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:39
Document Date
Tue, 05/14/2019 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 05/14/2019 - 00:00
Page Number
15
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__051420…

Board of Aldermen 05-14-2019 Page 15

This is a very complex situation for which she would not necessarily have intimate knowledge from an
educational standpoint but was a very quick study and was instrumental in the things that we have
been able to do. | would also say that one of the things that has not been mentioned about her
resume is that she has experience in techniques of promoting thoughtful and not reactive change in
things Lean Six Sigma. You study a problem and you make sure that you do things not more of things,
but to do things better. This is something that will be a critical factor in bringing some clarity and
improvements in the Assessor’s Office and in these services.

As someone who also works with people who in general and repeatedly and over many years work 60,
80 and 100 hour work weeks, it’s not about the number of hours or the age, it’s about the person and
the passion. And | have not only received e-mails from Kim at all hours and on all days but I’ve
personally observed her to bring her passion to her work and she is tireless and | expect she would
apply that as well. | have the utmost of admiration for Mr. Teeboom and for my neighbor Mrs.
Ortolano, but after listening to the concerns about the culture of the Assessing Office, | feel even more
convinced that the correct thing to do is to put someone in there that will take a hard look at what is
needed and then make those recommendations and make those things happen. Thank you.

Joanne St. John Good evening, my name is Joanne St. John, | live at 25 Beauview Ave here in
Nashua. | have lived here since 1977. Throughout my many years in Nashua | have been a
community activist and | have met many, many wonderful people. One of the women that | have met
in the past 15 years was Kim Kleiner. | am going to try not to repeat all of the wonderful things that
have been said about this amazing woman who | admire and respect so very much. | just want to say
that | do trust the Mayor’s judgement; | trust the Board of Aldermen that they are going to do their
homework. | appreciate all that has been said, if there is anyone who is up to this challenge, | know
that it’s Kim Kleiner. | trust her judgement, her integrity is unbelievable. | don’t know how she gets
everything done. | just want to say that | think that she has a wonderful analytical mind, she’s a great
team player. She is always up for a challenge and whatever she does, she does, she puts her whole
heart into it and has been very successful on many things that | have worked on with her. Most
recently, in the recent past, | have worked with her on a Committee to form the Arlington Street
Community Center and once again she just delves right into it, she looks at every aspect, whether it is
finances, building codes, police, you know, whatever she needs to do, she gets it done. | just want to
say | hope that you will support her and | know that going forward as Stephanie Wolf-Rosenblum said,
if she makes an assessment that there needs to be more help going into this, there is no one better to
listen to than Kim Kleiner. So thank you so much.

Ed Santamaria Good evening, Ed Santamaria, 15 Spit Brook Road, Vice President of Operations for
Two Guys Smoke Shop. | heard some interesting statistics tonight and the stunning numbers about
where kids get their vape products and their cigarettes, 65% from here and 35% from there. But for
me the most important number is that 100% of those kids have not been fined, penalized or charged. |
think we need to Police this in our high schools if we are worried about high school kids and not take
this out on the adults, the responsible adults over 18 in Nashua. All this does is hurt businesses in the
area and we should concentrate on enforcing the laws at that level where we need to enforce them, at
the high schools and under 18. Thank you.

Brandon Pierotti Good evening, Brandon Pierotti, 14 Lochmere Lane. | was invited her tonight by
Susan Lovering regarding my reappointment to the Nashua Conservation Commission. | was
appointed in 2015 to my term by Mayor Donnalee Lozeau and | hope to continue for another 3 year
term. | thank you Mayor Donchess for reappointing me. | hope to be sworn in tonight. If you confirm
the reappointment; I’d be happy to answer any questions you have for me. | have very much enjoyed
serving on the Commission and | hope to continue to. Thank you.

Adhvika_ Hi, hello my name is Adhvika_| live at 19 Preserve Drive in Londonderry. | have come here
today to represent the youth of New Hampshire in support of the Tobacco 21 Ordinance. So as
previously stated, many people have been stating economic effects of the ordinance. | completely
understand those. However, as I’ve looked up statistics when | was researching this past week,

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