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Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc.

B 2.3.2 Seasonal Variation

The New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) “Policy Relating to
Driveways and Access to the State Highway System” requires that traffic studies
consider traffic operations based on “peak month” conditions. This methodology
provides a conservative approach to traffic forecasting for situations where studies
can ultimately result in the design of roadway or intersection improvements. For this
reason, the traffic volume data used for this evaluation were adjusted to reflect a
peak month. Historical traffic data from nearby NHDOT permanent count stations
were reviewed to determine seasonal traffic variations throughout the City of
Nashua. The data indicates that June typically represents the peak month condition.
Therefore, the weekday peak hour traffic volumes collected in January were
increased by 15 percent to reflect June conditions. Historical traffic data was
adjusted to reflect June conditions as necessary.

Base condition traffic volume networks were developed for the 2017 weekday
morning and weekday evening peak hours using the traffic volumes counts
conducted for the study, historical traffic data, and the completion of the Broad Street
Parkway. Worst case morning and evening peak hour networks were developed
using the individual location peak hours to provide a conservative analysis. Figures
8 and 9 depict the 2017 traffic volume networks for the weekday morning and
evening peak hours, respectively. The 2017 volumes are considered the existing or
No Build conditions for the purpose of this report.

B 2.3.3 No Action Traffic Operations

\whb\proBedlon\52700.00 Nashua
CGroulation Studireports\Final Report Final
Rapor. dock

15

Measuring the volume of traffic throughout the study area roadways and
intersections quantifies the vehicular traffic demand, but does not give an indication
of the quality of traffic flow. To assess the quality of traffic flow, capacity analyses
were conducted to determine how well the intersections serve the traffic demands
placed upon them during peak hours. The evaluation criteria used in the operational
analyses is based on the methodology presented in the 2000 Highway Capacity
Manual’.

The primary result of an intersection capacity analysis is the assignment of level of
service (LOS), which is a qualitative measure describing operational conditions. The
capacity analysis utilizes factors such as speed and travel time, density or freedom to
maneuver, traffic interruptions, comfort, and convenience to provide an index to
quality of traffic flaw. Six levels of service are defined ranging in letter designation
from LOS A to LOS F, with LOS A representing the best operating conditions and
LOS F representing the worst.

v

t
2000 Highway Capacity Manual, Transportation Research Board, Washington, 0.C.

Existing Conditions

Board of Aldermen 6-23-2020 Page 37

President Wilshire

Anyone else? Alderman Lopez?

Alderman Lopez

| had my hand up. So | had a question for CFO Griffin if he’s still here. | was just wondering, | am getting a
little bit confused by the 1% raise versus the 14% raise, versus the based on the individuals who are going
to individually receive more but collectively it is 1%. So | just wanted to ask CFO Griffin, the impact to the
overall budget of the firefighters. We are looking at an overall firefighters compensation increase of 14% on
paper but 17% in live reality. Am | getting even close to this right?

Mr. Griffin

Maybe | can help out. The way we have done cost historically is a year. | Know when my predecessor
Mike Gilbar was here in ’08, ’09, 10, they toyed with cumulative impacts. But if you look at the bottom of
the cost sheet, you have that and you take the compensation per fire fighter and it is an average. It takes
all of the fire fighters in the bargaining unit and divides into total compensation you get a number, that’s the
base year. You look down to the fourth year and that number you subtract the base number and divide by a
base that’s where you get the 17%.

Now as far as the numbers in the unit, they get step increases based on years of service. They get other
things. But predominantly there’s the base costs and then there’s other salary cost and then there’s
retirement which is predominantly NH Retirement System and then there’s the benefits.

Alderman Lopez

| just have one other question too if you don’t mind because you might happen to know. Before it was
referenced, Alderman Jette did some research on comparing the firefighter’s fee or compensation rates to
other ones in New Hampshire, | don’t really have anything to doubt him. But is the goal that they are trying
to reach equality with the Police Department and how does their compensation levels compare? Are the
Police compensated more?

Mr. Griffin

| mean if you take, the range of difference that | see is the Police Department has two uniform officer
bargaining units. The Fire Department, on the other hand, all the members are in the same bargaining unit.
But I’ve never done an analysis dividing salaries by headcount and comparing that to Manchester or
Portsmouth. I’m not sure of the analysis that Alderman Jette had performed. But | had never done an
analysis like that.

Alderman Lopez

Ok it was worth a try.

Mr. Griffin

You have different ranks, on the Fire Department you have new hires; Police Department you have new

hires and there are different ranks and so forth. The bargaining has taken place over decades and it’s hard
to compare.

Board of Aldermen 6-23-2020 Page 38

Alderman Lopez

| guess my last question is the step improvements they get for being here longer, are those competitive do
you happen to know, for New Hampshire?

Mr. Griffin

| wouldn’t know if they are competitive, but in the particular Collective Bargaining Agreement they are laid
out pretty effectively. Folks on the meeting here know a lot more about it than! do. I’m not sure if they are
the same as other firefighting units in New Hampshire.

Alderman Lopez

My fault for not looking it up first. | guess for my own comments all | can say is that this isn’t any easier. |
am acutely aware of the irony right now that our number one disaster preparedness plan is coming into
conflict with our anticipation of economic disaster. So | really don’t have any idea where to go from here.
Thank you, President Wilshire,

President Wilshire
Alderman Lu, did you have your hand raised?
Alderwoman Lu

Yes, | did. It’s been so long though, thank you, Madam President. | just wanted to emphasize that the one
really logical way of looking at this to me is just to look at apples to apples. | do see, it does look to me that
over the last 10 years, this contract would put the increases over time at parity, pretty much parity with the
Police Department. But | really don’t think that’s an appropriate way to look, | mean | think you have to look
at what the actual salaries are. And | think that Alderman Jette did us a great favor by looking into, | mean |
think that’s the only way to assess this, is what do other Fire Departments pay? And | think that’s an
important question but | think that determines my feelings on this.

And | also just wanted to point out that in this Fiscal situation that we are in, | don’t want anyone to feel, it’s
the first contract we have come upon this year since COVID-19. So it is very contentious, | mean, | would
love to vote in favor of this contract. But as some point we have to exercise our Fiscal restraint, | feel. |
wish it was a shorter contract, because then there would be less risk there. But it is not a punishment, ok?
Whatever we decide, if we were to vote against it, | just want to emphasize that there’s no punishment
here at all. For me, it’s looking at cost of living increases and are you asking for more than that. And if you
are, then we have to weigh that against the people who are paying these salaries. And if they are not
getting a comparable cost of living increase in their salary, which we pretty much know no one is, then why
should we fund this? Thank you.

Alderman O’Brien

Thank you, Madam President. | speak on using compatibility but | am going to choose not to. | will reserve
my comments of comparing to the end because | really do have an issue with apples and oranges. | know
the difference. Thank you.

Alderman Tencza

Thank you, Madam President. Just to clarify a few comments and questions that were asked before. First,
this would not bring parity between the Police Department and Fire Department. Over the years, the Board
of Aldermen have raised the salaries for the Police Department for the Police Patrolmen’s’ Union at a
greater rate than they have for the Fire Department. So a second-year officer in the City of Nashua right
now is going to make more than someone who has been on the Fire Department for 4 years.

Board of Aldermen 6-23-2020 Page 39

And even if we pass this, that is still going to be the case. The Fire Fighters are not looking to compare
apples to oranges but they are, | think they are pointing that out in a way so that we can understand why
they feel that this is a fair deal for them.

The other thing | would say is that in response to Alderwoman Lu’s comments, you know, | don’t think we
can look and think and compare what everyone else’s cost of living increase is going to be. But! think if we
look at the level of service that the Fire Department has provided for the City, and the increased number of
calls and extra responsibilities that they have taken on over the last 5 years without asking for anything
more and with just agreeing to just a cost of living increase. | have no doubt that they will continue to do
that going forward regardless, because they are professional and that’s who they are. But | just wanted to
clarify that this will not bring parity, it may move pay rates a little bit closer, but the Police Department would
still be paid more than firefighters with comparable years of experience.

Alderman Clemons

Thank you, Madam President. In regards to a comment that was made earlier about throwing fiscal
responsibility to the wind, | just want to state for the record that this is the opposite of that. VWWe know what
the costs are going to be because the contract states them. With the Fire Department, we know how many
employees they have at one given time because there’s a minimum number of employees that they need to
have in order to maintain a fire company. So we can fairly accurately budget this for year to year. The
other thing is the other Departments in the City have a lot of flexibility and a lot of different demands and
needs, so a lot of times they can balance their budgets on the back of vacancies and things like that. It’s
much harder to do with the Fire Department.

| think that it is important that we all understand that we have the cost in front of us. And the fact is, that
this is a retroactive contract if it were to be passed. So it would take care of 2020, we just passed the
Budget for 2021 so we know that those two years would be taken care of. So really the question is, can we
afford it for the outlying years and my thought of that is, yes we can. We have done it before in the past
and we can certainly do it in the future. | would encourage my colleagues to vote yes.

Alderman Klee

Thank you, Madam President. | think a lot has been said about parity and so on and I’ve never been one to
want to compare one person to another so | am going to leave that conversation to others. | do want to
make a comment, please anybody correct me if | am wrong, but in my homework that I’ve been doing, one
of the things that I’ve found which was quite surprising to me was that the firefighters don’t get overtime
until they hit 52 hours, unlike other employees when they hit 40 hours they will get overtime. But for the
firefighters, it’s not until they hit 52 hours.

The other thing is that steps don’t happen every year, they happen every 5 years, and where this is a 4
year contract, there may actually be some people that aren’t going to be getting steps during this time. |
understand where Mr. Griffin is coming with the 17% because he’s very good at his job and I’m sure he’s
calculated that based on the employees that will be getting steps. So | am not to disagree with that; but |
just want that to be known to the public that these are some of the information that we don’t see as part of
the contract that is there.

| also don’t disagree with anything that Alderman Jette said about the other —- Concord, Portsmouth and so
on and that we are above those. | did a superficial and | apologize for not getting more detail when | went to
Concord and talked there, | want to say the Fire Commission but | don’t think that’s what it is. But | asked
them to kind of give me a general feeling as to where Nashua’s payroll was, the equity of pay and so on.
They told us for New Hampshire, we were right down the middle. So | know that’s probably comparing us to
some towns and so on. But | looked at us as being one of the best Fire Departments in the State as far as |
was concermed and yet our pay fell more towards mid-line. They may be higher than what Portsmouth or
Manchester and so on but Manchester is a much bigger — | don’t know the size of Portsmouth or even
Concord. That’s all | wanted to say | think.

Board of Aldermen 6-23-2020 Page 40

Alderman Jette

Yes, thank you Madam President. | just want to clarify where | got my information. So all of these
Collective Bargaining Agreements are available on-line. So you can go to | think the State has all of the
Collective Bargaining Agreements through all the cities and towns in New Hampshire. And each City has
available on its web site. So that’s where | got my information. | looked at the proposed Collective
Bargaining Agreement that’s before us. There’s a —| don’t remember what the appendix number is — but
there’s a schedule showing what the range of pay is. And for firefighters in Nashua the range is from
$52,460.00 to $69,757.00. And in Manchester it’s $44,650.00 to $63,661.00. So they are a lot lower than
us. In Portsmouth the range is $43,899.00 to $57,362.00. In Nashua, Lieutenants their range goes from
$82,000.00 to $90,000.00. In Manchester, it’s $55,000.00 to $78,000.00. In Nashua, Captains earn from
$91,000.00 to $99,000.00 and in Manchester it’s $67,000.00 to $95,000.00.

So | don’t pretend to be an expert on labor statistics, but that’s where | got my information and | said this at
the Budget Review Committee and no one contacted me since then and said, “hey you screwed up, you
got your numbers wrong” or “you interpreted them wrongly”. No one has said that. That may be true,
maybe | am way off base here, but based upon the numbers that | reviewed, | came to the conclusion that
our firefighters are being paid fairly and certainly not being paid unfairly. And when you look at how our
Fire Department is rated in the State, | think everybody agrees it is the top Fire Department in the State if
not New England.

Now when you look at our schools, our schools don’t fare so well. How we rate Statewide, in a Statewide
comparison we are nowhere near the top. What we spend per pupil is way less than the average, not only
less than other comparable cities and towns, we don’t even spend the average statewide, the average
amount So if there’s an area that needs help in this City, to achieve more parity, | would suggest it is the
schools not the Fire Department. Thank you.

President Wilshire

Alderman Kelly did you want to weigh in again?

Alderwoman Kelly

No | just never lowered my hand, thank you.
President Wilshire

Ok. Alderman Klee?

Alderman Klee

Thank you, Madam President. Alderman Jette if you thought that | was stating that your numbers weren’t
correct, please understand | will say this to the public, | was not disputing your numbers under any
circumstances. | was just saying that | didn’t do as well of homework as you had done. And | just had a
general comment about throughout the entire State that we were paid more in the middle than being at the
highest rate. So my apologies to you if you felt that | was being critical of your comments; | absolutely was
not.

But | did want to make one more comment about something that | forgot about the steps and that is while
they are contract wise, they don’t have a contract sort to speak no one is getting steps either. So that is
something that we should be keeping in mind is while they are not, while they don’t have a signed contract
there are members that aren’t getting steps that were due steps this past year.

Board of Aldermen 6-23-2020 Page 41
President Wilshire
Anyone else? Seeing none, the motion is for Final Passage of Resolution 20-041 by roll call?
Attorney Bolton
Madam President, | think it is worth pointing out that this measure requires a 2/3 majority to pass.
President Wilshire
Thank you. Ok, would the Clerk call the roll?
A viva voce roll call was taken which resulted as follows:
Yea: Alderman Klee, Alderman Clemons, Alderman Tencza,
Alderman Schmidt, Alderman Cleaver,
Alderwoman Harriott-Gathright, 6
Nay: Alderwoman Kelly, Alderman Dowd, Alderman Lopez,
Alderwoman Lu, Alderman Jette, Alderman Caron,
Alderman Wilshire 7
Present: Alderman O’Brien 1
MOTION FAILED
Alderman Clemons
Madam President?
President Wilshire
Alderman Clemons.
Alderman Clemons
That’s out of order. We haven’t disposed of the Fire Fighter’s contract.
President Wilshire
Ok, you’re right. What is the Committee’s pleasure, the Board’s pleasure?
Alderman Tencza
Madam President, just a point of order. Well maybe Corporation Counsel can advise us on what is the next

necessary step because my understanding is that now the contract has to go back to the Board of Fire
Commissioners for reconsideration.

Alderwoman Kelly
Madam President?
President Wilshire

Alderman Kelly.

Board of Aldermen 6-23-2020 Page 42

Alderwoman Kelly

Please correct me if I’m wrong, but | think we either have the chance to indefinitely postpone or table in
order for them to go back, we would need to table. Is that correct?

President Wilshire
I’m going to let Corporation Counsel weigh in here.

Attorney Bolton

If you table it remains within your authority, you have not fully resolved it. But what you will do is you will go
past the 30 day time limit for your consideration, which theoretically could result in an unfair labor practice
complaint being brought that we would lose because you are supposed to dispose of it one way or the
other in 30 days. So typically what would be done in a case like this is someone would move to indefinitely
postpone and if the vote follows what the previous vote, follows the same path, it will be indefinitely
postponed and essentially its back to the Union on one side and the Board of Fire Commissioners on the
other side to negotiate a different proposal.

President Wilshire

Do | have a Motion?

MOTION BY ALDERWOMAN KELLY FOR INDEFINITE POSTPONEMENT OF R-20-041

ON THE QUESTION

President Wilshire

Discussion on that motion? Alderman Klee?

Alderman Klee

Thank you, so the indefinite postponement allows it to go back for them to negotiate it if we tabled it then
that’s not allowed to go back?

President Wilshire
That’s right.
Alderman Klee
Thank you.
Alderman Lopez

| have a question.
President Wilshire

Alderman Lopez?

Board of Aldermen 6-23-2020 Page 43

Alderman Lopez

Just for Attorney Bolton, you frequently say we can do whatever we want, can’t we just send it to the Fire
Commissioners, vote to refer it back to them?

Attorney Bolton

Well you can do that but it would be illegal.

Alderman Schmidt

No, we don’t want to do that.

Alderman Dowd

Chief Carignan is on-line, he can take care of you Tom.

Alderman Lopez

Can we refer it to Attorney Bolton and then he does whatever must be done. I’m sorry | just didn’t want to
indefinitely postpone it because it is not my intention, but apparently the lawyers use language that isn’t
exactly what we want.

President Wilshire

The motion is for indefinite postponement. Further discussion on that motion. Would the Clerk call the roll?
A viva voce roll call was taken which resulted as follows:

Yea: Alderman Klee, Alderwoman Kelly, Alderman Dowd,

Alderman Lopez, Alderman Tencza,
Alderwoman Lu, Alderman Jette, Alderman Schmidt,

Alderwoman Harriott-Gathright, Alderman Wilshire 10
Nay: Alderman Clemons, Alderman Cleaver 2
Present: Alderman O’Brien 1

MOTION CARRIED
Resolution R-20-041 is indefinitely postponed.

R-20-043
Endorsers: Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire
Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr.
Alderman Richard A. Dowd
Alderman Patricia Klee
Alderman-at-Large David C. Tencza
Alderman Linda Harriott-Gathright
Alderman Thomas Lopez
Alderman Brandon Michael Laws
AUTHORIZING PENNICHUCK CORPORATION AND PENNICHUCK EAST UTILITY, INC. TO
ENTER INTO A TERM LOAN AND RENEW A FIXED ASSET LINE OF CREDIT WITH COBAMK,
ACB
Given its second reading;

Board of Aldermen 6-23-2020 Page 44

MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEAVER FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-20-043, BY ROLL CALL
A viva voce roll call was taken which resulted as follows:
Yea: Alderman O’Brien, Alderman Klee, Alderwoman Kelly, Alderman Dowd,
Alderman Caron, Alderman Clemons, Alderman Lopez, Alderman Tencza,
Alderwoman Lu, Alderman Jette, Alderman Schmidt, Alderman Cleaver,
Alderman Harriott-Gathright, Alderman Wilshire 14
Nay: 0
Resolution R-20-043 declared duly adopted.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS — ORDINANCES

O-20-017
Endorsers: Alderwoman-at-Large Shoshanna Kelly
AUTHORIZING FREE PARKING AT METERS AND PAY STATION SPACES THROUGH
NOVEMBER 15, 2020
(Tabled at May 21, 2020 BOA mtg)

NEW BUSINESS — RESOLUTIONS - None

NEW BUSINESS — ORDINANCES - None

PERIOD FOR GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT

REMARKS BY THE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN
Alderman O’Brien

Thank you. What | alluded to earlier, | think comparing one Fire Department to another and | am speaking
from 35 years’ experience in firefighting. The comparison kind of made me chuckle. | have a cousin that
was Battalion Chief in the 12 Battalion on FDNY in New York City and he served in Harlem. | think he
would laugh to see the comparison to somebody say, “well in another part of New York, Staten Island that
the fire is affected by some other physical vortex that they are hotter in Staten Island than they are in
Harlem”. They are not, fires occur and they occur in every single community. So when you start
comparing, what Alderman Jette brought up, and that’s true, you can go on-line and you can look. But |
wonder if Alderman Jette looked at Manchester.

Now Manchester is a community probably us and Manchester a population, they might have 20,000 people
more than we do. They also have, probably square mileage, possibly may two square than we do. Yet,
Manchester covers their City with 11 engine companies and 4 ladder companies. In comparison, the City
of Nashua minus the 20,000 people and the square mileage, covers that duty with only 6 engine companies
and 3 ladder companies. The workload in the City of Nashua is much greater for our Firefighters than they
are in Manchester. Yet, those facts were never really brought up and that’s the danger, in my opinion, of
the comparison. Each community puts a value on what they want to pay in fire protection. And 32 years
ago, the City of Nashua spent taxpayers money on a Fire Report that said we needed 2 more additional
engine companies.

Board of Aldermen 6-23-2020 Page 45

We had a meeting, come up with a development in the northern part of the City in the Tinker Road area;
granted they are covering that area now. But the more that you build, and let’s look what we built, we built
down on Marshall Street, Loft 34 down on Franklin Street. All these buildings that we have now, and living
spaces put up, create more traffic so there’s car accidents. More people are going to have heart attacks so
there is medical emergencies and there’s also those calls with a type of building fire. So it is kind of
dangerous when you compare.

And then also was not brought up with the contract agreement, what is the life of the Manchester
agreement? It seemed pretty much pretty close; is it up this year? Would they get more money when they
go into their negotiations? So it is kind of really challenging to really compare the fire departments. |
encourage everybody on this Board to look at that original Five Pro Report and weigh the balance. | think
previous Boards and Mayors have not really treated this Fire Department fairly and | can speak from my
experience. Where are the two additional engine companies that were suggested in the early 80’s? They
are nothere. Yet the Fire Department still answers the call volume. We've got engine companies that are
doing 3,000 runs a year and on top of that, this City asked them to step to the plate to do the Safe Stations.
And they did it. And then also too, when COVID came in, there was not enough masks to put the face
covering on the firefighters, what they wore were bandanas in the beginning and saved the masks for the
patients. And yes, they went into the homes were the people actually had COVID. Everybody that got
transported to the hospital, the first person that they saw was a member of an engine or a ladder company
of the Nashua Fire & Rescue that came in to assist them.

Taken all of that into account, it is apples and oranges and it goes back to what | said earlier. It is what you
or |, the value of each of us in the community and what you want to put on your fire department, what it is
worth. It is the same with the schools, same with the police department. | am disappointed that this Board
took a duly, fairly negotiated contract that was with the City of Nashua and with Local 789 of the Fire
Fighters, it was agreed by both parties. | am very disappointed that this evening we sent it, cast the ropes
off, and cast the contract to drift. Yes it has a procedure, it will go back and it depends on what the level of
comfort is going to be and what you’re going to pay or what you feel is paid.

| think Alderman Tencza did bring up a very good point in the discussion and | thank him for doing so. |
don’t think the Firefighters are looking for parity, and | know that they are not looking for parity with the
Police Department. But there is many discrepancies and | think if you look at what the Police Officers are
paid, | think Alderman Klee brought up a very good point. It refers back to the Garcia Decision. What the
Garcia Decision said that a municipality does not have to pay overtime until 56 hours. The Fire Department
did negotiate it down from 56 to 52. If you own a business in the City of Nashua, Federal Law says you’ve
got to pay overtime after 40 hours, but for some reason in the Garcia Decision, it said that — well it said 56
hours and the Firefighters like | say negotiated it down to 52.

As we look over to our very well qualified and great Police Department, they are on the clock at 40 hours,
they get time and a half. If you look at Manchester and | wish Alderman Jette would look at that. | think
Manchester also gets paid shift overtime at time and a half. If you ever wonder why the firefighters do not
call extra shift duty overtime, it’s because they don’t get overtime pay. They call it shift coverage and that’s
reflecting on the amount of pay that we are paying them. So there’s many different things, | think now
when it goes back to negotiation, | kind of hope that the parties will come to an agreement and bring up
some of the disparities and hopefully get to correct some of the misinformation that was not entirely put out
there.

And like | say, | hope in the future that when we look at things, there is a difference in the Fire Service and
the Police Department, | think as we see in the troubles that are out there today. | think we have a very
good Police Department. | have seen other communities that have done very bad things, cops that have
done bad things. To say that they are all same is wrong. And | would agree with that completely. In
comparing the two Fire Departments together, it is up to us to decide what we want to do.