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Board of Aldermen 3-31-2020 Page 30

Alderwoman Lu
Thank you.

Kim Kleiner, Admin. Services Director

You’re welcome.
Alderwoman Lu

Sorry that makes sense, | just wasn’t clear. Thank you very much for having this meeting. | think there were
so many questions; we all had so many questions and certainly we needed a meeting. And | hope that in the
future, that we could consider, | think a lot of our questions could have been answered if some of us had the
time, we might have been willing to go to the employee meeting and we would have been, you know, so
much more well informed to even take a vote in the first meeting. But I’m all set, | have no more questions,
thank you.

President Wilshire
Thank you. Anyone else have any questions. Can we take that slide down? Anyone else have questions?

Alderman Harriott-Gathright

Yes. Can you hear me?
President Wilshire
Alderman Gathright.

Alderman Harriott-Gathright

OK lastly, of the roughly 3,000 employees, approximately how many have signed up or could it be a
percentage of it today as of today.

Kim Kleiner, Admin. Services Director

| apologize Alderwoman Gathright broke up a little. Was the question the difference between the HSA the
HMO?

Alderman Harriott-Gathright

No. Well | should have said how many have signed up for the newer program, not the HMO...
President Wilshire
The high deductible plan?

Alderman Harriott-Gathright

Yeah, the high deductible, that one.

Kim Kleiner, Admin. Services Director

So currently out of all of our subscribers, we have 581 on the High Deductible Plan with the HSA.

Board of Aldermen 3-31-2020 Page 31

Alderman Harriott-Gathright

Follow up? And the timeline for this, let’s say 581, did this start back last July, this this plan the high-density
plan? Started 2 years ago?

Larry Budreau, Human Resources Director
Madam President? | believe it was 2013 and it has been a slow growth since.

Alderman Harriott-Gathright

OH | had thought this was something that last year, for myself, | heard for the first time | think in an
Aldermanic Meeting and it was brought up that this was something that we were looking at. So | apologize, |
didn’t know this was something that has been going on for a very long time.

President Wilshire

Anyone else? Sorry Alderman Gathright | thought you were done.

Alderman Harriott-Gathright

| am, thank you I’m all set.
President Wilshire

Yes you are welcome. Anyone else have any questions? Seeing none, Alderman O’Brien, do | have a
motion?

DISCUSSION

MOTION BY ALDERMAN O’BRIEN TO TAKE FROM THE TABLE ORDINANCE O-20-011 BY ROLL
CALL

Yea: Alderman O’Brien, Alderman Klee, Alderwoman Kelly, Alderman Dowd,
Alderman Caron, Alderman Clemons, Alderman Lopez, Alderman Tencza,
Alderwoman Lu, Alderman Schmidt, Alderman Laws,
Alderman Cleaver, Alderman Harriott-Gathright, Alderman Wilshire 13

Nay: Alderman Jette, Alderman Harriot-Gathright 2
MOTION CARRIED

O-20-011
Endorser: Mayor Jim Donchess

Alderman-at-Large Michael O’Brien

Alderman Patricia Klee

Alderman-at-Large Shoshanna Kelly

Alderman Richard Dowd
REVISIONS TO THE HEALTH PLAN SECTION OF THE UNAFFILIATED EMPLOYEES PERSONNEL
POLICIES
Given its third reading;

MOTION BY ALDERMAN O’BRIEN TO RECOMMEND FINAL PASSAGE OF 0-20-011 BY ROLL CALL

Board of Aldermen 3-31-2020 Page 32

ON THE QUESTION

President Wilshire

Is there discussion? Alderman Jette?
Alderman Jette

So | appreciate the presentation that we have received this evening and | especially appreciated getting the
PowerPoint Presentation ahead of time that was really helpful. It gave us a chance to review that before
tonight’s meeting so that we could be better able to ask intelligent questions. But the truth of the matter is
that we’ve just received the presentation in great detail, all of our questions have been answered, but the
Agenda called for just a discussion on this Ordinance and in fact | asked you Madam President whether
there would be any vote on this and you said “No it was just for discussion”. So | don’t see that there is an
emergency that requires that we vote on this tonight. We are having a meeting coming up that would give
us, that was the original plan and that would give us time to implement this if we so choose in time for the
sign up which may, in fact, be extended. There was a lot of information given to us tonight, | would like the
opportunity to digest that and | would like the opportunity to hear from anybody who is going to be affected
by this to weigh in with me or any of the other Aldermen before we vote on its final passage. So | am
opposed to voting on this and | would move to table this until our next regularly scheduled meeting.

MOTION BY ALDERMAN JETTE TO TABLE 0-20-011 UNTIL THE NEXT BOARD OF ALDERMEN
MEETING

Yea: Alderman Jette, Alderwoman Kelly, Alderwoman Lu 4
Alderman Harriott-Gathright,

Nay: Alderman O’Brien, Alderman Klee, Alderman Dowd,
Alderman Caron, Alderman Clemons, Alderman Lopez,
Alderman Tencza, Alderman Schmidt, Alderman Laws,
Alderman Cleaver, Alderman Wilshire 11
MOTION FAILED
President Wilshire
Alderman O’Brien do you have amendment to your motion? It is not to recommend it is for final passage.
Alderman O’Brien
Right | would like to amend my original motion to amend it for final passage, it’s not recommended.
MOTION BY ALDERMAN O’BRIEN FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF 0-20-011
ON THE QUESTION
President Wilshire

So the motion before us is for final passage of Ordinance 20-011. Further discussion on that motion?
Alderman O’Brien.

Alderman O’Brien

Thank you, Madam President. | think we sat in these Chambers and we did hear from the Mayor that there

Board of Aldermen 3-31-2020 Page 33

is someone of some critical need of this. He did have like a timeline that he was dealing with and he kind of
encouraged this but some of my brethren on the Board of Aldermen brought up the good point that they
wanted some information so we delayed it. Well | think the information has been adequately brought
forward and | think that because of the time constraints that are involved, | would recommend to move my
motion forward for final passage.

President Wilshire

Further discussion? Alderman Lopez.

Alderman Lopez

As it is the apocalypse, | thought | should agree with Alderman O’Brien. | think we have reviewed this pretty
thoroughly tonight. We had an opportunity to approach City Employees if we thought there were concerns.
The previous Board of Aldermen meeting was public and the Legislation was posted. So last week | was
concerned that we need to make sure that we are doing our due diligence and engaging in public
discussion so that the public knows we are not just making decisions on a limb but this is two hour’s in.
There’s no way anybody can think we are doing that. So | think we’ve done plenty of vetting of this. |
understand that there may be additional questions that other Aldermen have and | respect that but for
myself | think we can make a decision that is pretty well informed.

President Wilshire

Thank you, Alderman Lopez. Alderwoman Kelly?

Alderwoman Kelly

Yeah thank you. | understand that we have taken the time to vet this as Aldermen and | appreciate that.
The reason that | voted to put it back on the table is that we did say that and | understand that the City has
done a great job of engaging people and getting the information to them. But if something has come up int
this meeting that anyone wants to speak to, | feel uncomfortable not allowing them at least a week. And |
think we did say that next week’s meeting was fine to pass this. So if that is not the case, can someone
respond to me in terms of the timing because | thought that was how we left it, we were going to table it and
bring it back and next week’s meeting.

President Wilshire

We were going to bring it back at next week’s meeting until we had this meeting. | mean it was just being
put off until the next meeting and this happened to be the next meeting.

Alderwoman Kelly

OK.

President Wilshire

Anyone else? Alderwoman Lu.

Alderwoman Lu

Comment please? Yes. Thank you, Madam President. Well my feeling is that we have spent 2 % hours
discussing this. We did receive information five hours before we met but not all of us had the time to look

at it with much advance time before the meeting. So my expectation, | mean | would have hoped that this
information is available to inform us that we can be availed of it sooner than the day of the vote. My

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Board of Aldermen 3-31-2020 Page 34

understanding that this is not something that is needed to be voted today and | know two of my colleagues
have just gathered the information and they feel that they would be better prepared with time to reflect and
maybe do some further whatever they need to do. And out of respect for them, | feel why do we feel that
we have to rush a vote when some of our colleagues want to go by the originally proposed schedule for a
vote at our regularly scheduled meeting? Thank you.

President Wilshire

Anyone else? Alderman Jette?

Alderman Jette

Could | ask through you, could | ask the Mayor whether the original plan to vote on this at our next regularly
scheduled meeting would give him enough time to implement this or does he feel that we have to vote on
this tonight?

President Wilshire

Mayor Donchess? Mayor Donchess you are muted we can’t hear you.

Mayor Donchess

Oh sorry, sorry, sorry.

President Wilshire

OK you’re good.

Mayor Donchess

Can you hear me now?

President Wilshire

Yes.

Mayor Donchess

| would defer to some extent to Ms. Kleiner and Mr. Budreau on timing. We do have an open enrollment
period coming up quickly and as somebody has already pointed out, we need to be creative about how we
engage employees who are now working remotely in terms of trying to get them involved or get them
informed so that if they wish to make a change they can do it. And they realize that the time is up and they
can have their questions answered. | mean | would say the sooner the better but beyond that | will refer to
Ms. Kleiner and Mr. Budreau.

Kim Kleiner, Admin. Services Director

Thank you, President Wilshire. It is going to be a challenge now with the fact that we have to reach out to
all of our employees who are working, most of whom are working remotely. Having said that, we wanted to
allow WBS some time to incorporate some of these new changes into our Annual Enrollment Documents.
To be honest it would be better if we could have a decision this evening but we would make next Tuesday
work as well. It’s just all about having that extra time for employee education.

Board of Aldermen 3-31-2020 Page 35

President Wilshire
Thank you Director Kleiner and | know education is really an important piece of this Ordinance so | would
agree that the sooner we can get this done, the more time we have to educate employees and get the
Open Enrollment going. So thank you. Anyone else?
Alderman Caron
Me. Hello?
President Wilshire
Who is me?
Alderman Caron
Alderman Caron. Hi.
President Wilshire
Alderman Caron.
Alderman Caron
OK so we are talking about taking a vote today for an enrollment that is supposed to take place the
beginning of April for about a month or so. We don’t meet at the Board again for 2 more weeks. It is not
next Tuesday because that’s only the first Tuesday of the month and we usually meet the second. So this
is really going to make it difficult for HR to notify employees of these changes. So | think it is important that
we move forward with the vote. | have been looking at this all day and | have listened to the questions and
the answers and | think that it is important for the Board of Aldermen to do this vote tonight so that staff has
the time to get this ready for all its employees.
The other thing is that changes in benefits or deductibles happen all the time. That doesn’t preclude the
employees from staying in their HMO or moving to the high deductible insurance plan. I’ve seen it over the
years being an employee of the City. So | think it is important at this time that we look at what is good for
our employees and | will be voting “yes” on this particular piece of legislation. Thank you.
President Wilshire
Thank you, Alderman Caron. Anyone else? Seeing none, would the Clerk please call the roll?
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 Laws,

Alderman Cleaver, Alderman Harriott-Gathright, Alderman Wilshire 15
Nay: 0
MOTION CARRIED
President Wilshire

And that motion carries. Ordinance 20-011 is duly adopted. | think that’s all the business we have before
us this evening. Alderman Dowd?

Board of Aldermen 3-31-2020 Page 36

Alderman Dowd

Yes | just want to address that given the guidance that we are getting from the Governor of the State of
New Hampshire of not wanting to have more than 10 people gathered at any one spot, | think that we
probably should be considering not allowing public comments at our meetings until after the epidemic is
over. It has nothing to do with R-20-009. We have access that people can watch it on TV, a lot of the other
State meetings and City meetings are being done that way. And it is not that we are precluding them from
coming to the meeting, but in lieu of having a larger group than we should have by State guidance during
the epidemic, we should probably eliminate public comment to minimize the public that might want to come.

President Wilshire

Well | think that’s worthy of a discussion. | guess | feel kind of mixed about it. | think you know; | understand
that there haven’t been people here for public comment at the last couple of meetings, but | am concerned
for the public coming in and maybe gathering and maybe not following the social distancing
recommendations. The public does have the opportunity to watch this on TV; they have an opportunity to
e-mail us or to send us in writing something. So I'd like to throw it out there and see how other people on
the Board feel about it? Alderman O’Brien?

Alderman O’Brien

Thank you. | would generally support Alderman Dowd’s proposal and the reason is, is like you said Madam
President, there are many ways | think that people can get ahold of us. So e-mail, phone numbers, our
contact number has been published. So people can feel free that they can get ahold of us. | know if I’m not
around, you hit my answering machine, | do try to get back to you and everything else. So coming to the
meetings in this type of environment that we are currently going around right now, does cause a hazard
and even we are trying to take the precaution. People can see it on TV, we are more than 6 feet away from
each other, many did not show up here in person. They are exercising their virtual rights in doing so. And
also, | take solace in the notion that | don’t think there is a State Law that requires the public to speak at an
Aldermanic Meeting. | can refer it to maybe Corporate Counsel to put us into that mud pile, but | may stand
corrected. But | have watched the Aldermanic Meetings over the years and this seems to have been
something that was invented by previous Boards that was brought in and not necessarily required by City
Statute or order.

President Wilshire
Is that a question to the Corporation Counsel? Attorney Bolton.

Steve Bolton, Corporation Counsel

Yes in a few instances State Law requires Public Hearings. So if we were to authorize a bond issue,
zoning ordinance, the budget resolution every year, you have to have a public hearing and the essence of
that is the public gets a chance to come in and speak and provide an opinion. But other than those
instances where it is particularly required by statute, there is no requirement for public participation or
public comment at an ordinary meeting of this Board or most City Boards.

Alderman O’Brien

Follow up? | just want to clarify to anybody in the public that thinks that | am trying to stifle your voice, that
is not the case. What | am talking about is the pandemic that is going through right now and everybody’s
safety, you know, it is extreme measures | understand that. | am kind of uncomfortable with limiting the
input from the public as | am a public service and have been for a long time. But we’ve got to take some
precautions at this time, liming how, you know, close some parks, that our children traditionally go to and
enjoy. This may just have to be one for everybody, regrettably | agree.

Board of Aldermen 3-31-2020 Page 37

Alderman Klee

Thank you and | agree to doing this all virtual would be the best thing, but I’d like to hear from Attorney
Bolton as far as do we set ourselves up for any kind of litigation that says that anything that we do here can
be undone? Do you know what | am saying? If we don’t do certain types of things like allow the people
there, they say “the Right to Know”. | just want to make sure that nothing that we do during this timeframe
can be undone because they said we didn’t follow the rules? | mean I’ve seen, | thought | saw something
that stated how our meetings had to go, like public comment at the beginning. As long as we are not
violating anything.

Attorney Bolton

You have your own rules and procedures which as they are now, provides for public comment at the
beginning of the meeting and issues expected to be dealt with at the meeting and at the end of the meeting
on general issues. But that is your rule, that is not imposed on you. You can change that at any time you
wish to change and you can ignore them when you wish to ignore them frankly. Were you proceeding in
violation of your own rules, that’s the equivalent of a unanimous vote to dispense for that purpose? As |
said, there are certain things in your power that would require to hear from the public first at a public
hearing, so you have to follow the State Laws. You have to follow the State Laws about open meetings
and public’s right to observe what you do. Under current circumstances the Governor has made some
orders to be waived, sometimes waived with conditions, some of those open meeting requirements. But as
long as we adhere to those conditions, where they’ve been made, but the statutes that have not been
made, you should be alright as far as the proceedings overruled or undone or what have you. So when in
doubt follow the law, when in doubt on the law.

Alderman Klee

Thank you. You and | have had discussion about meetings that if we did this that the public has to have
the right to say, “I can’t see this meeting and therefore the meeting has to be ended”. Is that follow through
with this?

Attorney Bolton

Now one of those orders that | was referring to about the Governor was that the portion of RSA 91-A that
requires that meetings be physically open to the public, that is they take place at a location, that location is
identified in the Notice of the Meeting and the public cannot be physically excluded from coming to that
place and observing the meeting; seeing and hearing the meeting. The Governor waived that requirement,
you can close the meeting to the physical presence of the public if you make the audio available by
telephone simultaneous through the actual time of the meeting and you provide a separate means of
communication, another telephone number that would be monitored during the meeting and that other
telephone number would provide a way for a member of the public to call in and let it be known that that
audio was not in fact being made available, that that person was not able to hear it when he called into the
number to hear the telephone broadcast of the meeting. That requires telephone, television doesn’t count,
computer video doesn’t count. You can do that too, but if you are going to exclude physical presence of the
public, you have to have a telephone audio simultaneous presentation available with a separate means of
communication by the public if that audio presentation fails. (inaudible) presentation by telephone fails, you
have to discontinue the meeting. (inaudible) Tonight happens to be no one here, but we did not exclude
anyone from coming.

Alderwoman Lu

Could | please just ...

Board of Aldermen 3-31-2020 Page 38

President Wilshire

In a moment, I'll call on you. I’ve just recognized Alderman Klee.

Alderwoman Lu

| know | am just asking that the City microphones be turned off.

Alderman Klee

They are getting echo. Ok so just to follow up on it, if we do what we say what we are going to do and

everybody is in a remote area, all of us, all 15 of us are in a remote area, do we still have to leave this room
open for the public?

Attorney Bolton

If we are not going to take advantage of this telephonic procedure with the phone in potential, all 15
Aldermen would be elsewhere and you could notice that the meeting would be available here or whatever
room you chose and you set up the video computer monitor and everyone from the public who came in can
see and hear everyone of the 15 Aldermen participating in the meeting, that’s fine. You’ve got a physical
location and you’ve got the public being able to observe it, hear it at that location, that’s fine.

President Wilshire
If City Hall is closed to the public that would still stand?

Attorney Bolton

You have to have the room open to the public, so if you lock the outside doors that would be in violation of
the rules.

President Wilshire
Oh boy, anyone else want to weigh in on this? Alderwoman Kelly?

Alderman Harriott-Gathright

Linda?

Alderwoman Kelly

Yep so | have some questions and then comments. So my question is from a technology standpoint if we
were to do the telephonic dial in, is that a fairly easy thing for us to implement. | don’t know who answers
it?

President Wilshire

Yeah, | don’t either. We do have Director Codagnone here from the IT Department. Would you care to
weigh in?

Bruce Codagnone, IT Director

Yes you could actually just set up a separate conference bridge, like a conference call type of thing where