Search

Board of Aldermen 04-13-2021

ROLL CALL

Alderman O’Brien

| am present, | can hear the proceedings and | am alone.
Alderman Klee

| am here, | can hear the proceedings, | am alone in this room at the moment.
Alderwoman Kelly

| am here, | am alone and | can hear everyone.

Alderman Dowd

Yes, | am present, | can hear the proceedings and | am alone.
Alderman Caron

Yes, | am here, | am alone and | can hear everyone.
Alderman Clemons

| am here, | am by myself and | can hear everyone.

Alderman Lopez

Present, | am by myself, | can hear and see everyone.
Alderman Tencza

| am present, | am by myself and | can hear everyone.

Alderwoman Lu

| am present, | am here with a couple of family members and | can hear everyone.

Alderman Jette

| am here alone and | can hear the proceedings.
Alderman Schmidt

| am present, alone and can hear everyone.
Alderman Laws

| am here, | am alone and | can hear everyone.

Alderman Harriott-Gathright

| am present, | am in this room alone and | can hear everyone.

Page 2

Board of Aldermen 04-13-2021 Page 3
President Wilshire

| am here, | am alone and | can hear everyone. Alderman Cleaver did let us know that he was unable to join us this
evening.

Susan Lovering, City Clerk

You have 14 in attendance.
President Wilshire

Thank you. Also in attendance is Mayor Donchess and Corporation Counsel Steve Bolton. Mayor, did you wish to
address the Board this evening?

REMARKS BY THE MAYOR

Yes, thank you Madam President. First | wanted to say how sorry | am about the passing, the death of one our
young students in an automobile accident recently. | know that his family is grieving, and of course, no one who has
not gone through that really can, I’m sure, imagine what it is like for a parent. But as a Mayor of the City and | know
all of the Board of Aldermen, | mean | extend the community’s deepest condolences. It is just a very, very tragic
loss when a young person like this passes away. So | am very sorry about that.

Another issue, Madam President, the COVID-19 situation remains similar to where it has been the last few weeks.
The number of cases is up from a month ago but now a few less cases than last week. Right now we have about
235 active cases; a week ago that was over 300. But we saw 198 new cases arise last week, that was up 10 from
the week before. The positivity rate in Nashua remains at 8.5% which is much higher than we’d like. So we still
need to be careful about the pandemic, it is still dangerous. | was just talking with someone tonight whose 20 some
year old son has gotten COVID and is really sick from it. So this idea that young people can’t contract a positive or
a serious case, a serious positive case of COVID-19 is not really true. Yes, many people do OK with the disease
but others do not. So this is still a dangerous situation and people should continue to exercise caution with the
mask, social distancing and all the cautionary measures.

| wanted to mention that City Hall you will get a report, | think Madam President, after | am through from Ms. Kleiner
and Ms. Deshaies regarding the improvements to the automobile registration area. Those are about complete. |
think you'll see a significant transformation making the area much more COVID pandemic resistant, resistant to the
next pandemic and also a real upgrade in terms of just the look of the whole place. We expect that the automobile
registration will be able to move downstairs from the third floor next Monday. We will continue to operate by
appointments, that seems to be going very well. But people will be going to the first floor to register their cars.

And, of course, City Clerk Sue Lovering and her staff will move up to the third floor and then the renovations of the
City Clerk’s area will begin. The renovations to the Assessing are about complete and those should be open soon
as well.

Madam President, | wanted to mention one of the issues on the Agenda tonight which is the Affordable Housing
Trust Fund, that is R-21-118. This is the creation of a Trust Fund to hold Affordable Housing Contributions. This is
just the beginning. We know that affordable housing is a serious, significant problem for us here in Nashua, a
vacancy rate of less than 1%. Of course houses have also gone up significantly in value. So we need to begin to
do everything we can and we will be proposing other steps as well but the initial contribution into this Trust Fund is
$30,000.00 which is the last 3 years of $10,000.00 a year contributions that we receive from Clock Tower as part of
the HUD HODAG Grant that was given to the City, earned by the City, won by the City back in the late 80’s when |
was Mayor before that established Clock Tower at that time. | am sure you all have indicated your support for that
and | Know you understand the seriousness of this issue but | wanted to mention it because | think it is an important
step forward.

Board of Aldermen 04-13-2021 Page 4

| wanted to report to the Board of Aldermen, Madam President, regarding a fraud issue that has occurred with
respect to one of the contracts that the City is a party to. It involves the contract for the moving of the Health
Department from their building on Mulberry Street over to Main Street at the Odd Fellow’s Building. It appears, and
we are still investigating so we will give you more information later, but what it appears is what happened is that
someone hacked into the vendor, the vendor is from Massachusetts, computer hacking into their system. It appears
that this is what happened at least so far and determined as a result of that hacking that there was a contract,
determined the name of the person at the vendor that was dealing with the City and determined her email address,
then altered the email address by one character, adding an “S” to the email address and began approaching
Accounts Payable payment and changing the bank to which they were seeking to have a so-called ACH transfer.

Eventually Accounts Payable made that transfer to the fraudulent vendor and the amount is $41,000.00
approximately. Now the City is not out the money at this point because, again, we are still investigating. The Legal
Department, of course, is involved and there is some case law suggesting that if the first cause is the hacking of a
party because of insufficient security that they may be the one that suffers the loss. But this is not a final
determination or a final report. But | just wanted to let you know, | called you Madam President, the day after |
learned about this and that was a week or 10 days ago but | wanted to tell the Board of Aldermen as well. Again,
we will update and give you more complete information when we get it.

Another item, Madam President, the City’s equalization ratio is out, 83% is the City’s Equalization Ratio given by
the State DRA. This means that on average, the average property in Nashua is assessed at 83% of Fair Market
Value. This is, of course, as a result of the appreciation that has occurred in real estate values over the last several
years. And as you know, we are in the middle of a revaluation. Our plan here is to — all houses have been viewed,
all properties have been viewed from the exterior only because of COVID.

But now that people are beginning to get vaccinated, now that we have masks, we think it is important to offer
people the opportunity, if they wish, no one has to do it, offer people the opportunity of an interior inspection. So
that should be beginning next month. Now it will circulate in the same way that the exterior visits did, first with Ward
1 working through the Wards from the north end to the south end. Again, if anybody does not feel comfortable for
any reason, COVID-19 or anything else, they certainly don’t have to agree to a visit. But if they do feel comfortable
and think it'll help in terms of their assessment, that opportunity will be available. We think, given that we haven't
done a Full Measure & List since 1991 that we really don’t want to do this or finish this revaluation without those in-
person visits.

Finally the barriers as you see have been painted by our artists, by Positive Street Art and Beyond Walls. They did
a great job | think and now the expanded outdoor dining is being put in place and that should be a great season. |
know that we were down there last weekend and there was a 2 % hour wait at one of the restaurants for the
outdoor seating. So | think that will go well this season and | want to thank the artists for their efforts. Unless there
are questions, Madam President, that concludes my remarks.

President Wilshire

At this point, | think | will call on Director Kleiner to give her update on the building renovations.

Kim Kleiner, Director of Administrative Services

Good Evening and thank you Madam President, Members of the Board. So tonight | am joined by Jennifer
Deshaies, the Risk Manager. Ms. Deshaies and | have worked on this on this project with a team of individuals
since last June. It has certainly had its share of complex challenges; everything from structural changes when you
are dealing with a building of this age to material challenges due to COVID-19. But in June, the building was
assessed by the Emergency Operation Center and we realized that in order to comply with CDC Social Distancing
Protocols, significant building modifications were required in Motor Vehicle, Tax, Assessing and the City Clerk’s
Office.

Board of Aldermen 04-13-2021 Page 5

Dennis Myers was hired as the architect, designed the big set drawings and the specifications for the modifications.
Following an RFP process the Finance Committee did approve a contract with DL King & Associates back on
September 16". So as this point, we’d like Ms. Deshaies to take you through a little bit of a short virtual tour of the
area.

Jennifer Deshaies, Risk Management

The first area we are going to take a tour of is the Assessing Department. What you are looking at is the Assessing
Kiosk. The Kiosk consists of 3 transaction windows. One of the windows is ADA accessible and also serves for
transferring bulk information back and forth from employee to citizen. We are now moving into the Conference
Room which has direct access from the hallway to allow staff to meet with residents. This is the staff area of the
Department and you are currently viewing the staff side of the kiosks. The new area allows for a better layout of
work stations, as well as a better, overall use of this space.

This next area that we are going to visit is the motor vehicle department. This is the citizen’s side where we have 8
transaction windows with one of them being ADA accessible. Each transaction area is separated by glass and
meets social distancing and security protocols. The employee side includes individual work stations separated by
glass and again meeting social distancing and security protocols. The layout provides not only a secure area but a
better use of the available space.

Director Kleiner

So as part of this project, you’ve had a number of modifications. We have widened the Rotunda Door leading to
the Motor Vehicle area. We have new sprinkler systems within the Motor Vehicle area. They have new work
stations within the Motor Vehicle area to provide our staff with a much more productive work space. Presently, DL
King, our contractors, are in the Tax Area which we expect to be finished by the end of the month. As the Mayor
noted, we will be moving the Motor Vehicle Staff from the City Hall Auditorium starting this Friday and we expect
them to open Monday morning in their new space. At that time, we will be working with the City Clerk and her staff
to relocate them to the City Hall Auditorium and we will begin the final phase of the construction. Despite the talent
of our videographers, | have to say a video can’t do the area justice. | have to thank Dennis Myers our architects,
the area is not only secure, providing social distancing but it is really breathtaking when you take a look at it and we
hope that it will serve our residents well.

President Wilshire
So that concludes your update? Thank you so much. Thank you Jen appreciate your effort on this too. Did
anyone have any questions for the Mayor or any response to the Remarks of the Mayor? Seeing none,

Recognition Period.

RESPONSE TO REMARKS OF THE MAYOR - None

RECOGNITION PERIOD - None

READING MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS

There being no objection, President Wilshire declared the minutes of the Board of Aldermen regular
and special meetings of March 23, 2021 and April 8, 2021 accepted, placed on file, and the readings
suspended.

Board of Aldermen 04-13-2021 Page 6

COMMUNICATIONS REQUIRING ONLY PROCEDURAL ACTIONS AND WRITTEN REPORTS
FROM LIAISONS

From: Kimberly Kleiner, Administrative Services Director
Re: Board of Aldermen Meeting — March 23, 2021

From: Donna Graham, Legislative Affairs Manager
Re: Communication Received from the Public

There being no objection, President Wilshire accepted the communications and placed them
on file.

From: Larry D. Goodhue, Chief Executive Officer of Pennichuck Corporation
Re: | Pennichuck Corporation Quarterly Report to the Sole Shareholder for the Quarter Ended
September 30, 2020

From: Larry D. Goodhue, Chief Executive Officer of Pennichuck Corporation
Re: Annual Meeting of Sole Shareholder

There being no objection, President Wilshire assigned to the communications to the PENNICHUCK
SPECIAL WATER COMMITTEE, by President Wilshire

PERIOD FOR PUBLIC COMMENT RELATIVE TO ITEMS EXPECTED TO BE ACTED UPON THIS EVENING
President Wilshire

If anyone wishes to speak, you have a three minute limit and please try to not repeat what someone else has
said. Who do we have? Mr. Keating?

Bob Keating Yes, Bob Keating from 5 Colburn Woods and a member of Granite State Organizing Project. |
want to speak on two items. The first is | spoke at the Special Meeting of the Aldermen last week. | was very
appreciative of this important step forward as the Mayor has said about the Housing Trust. | appreciate the
sponsorship of Alderwoman Kelly and 14 Alderpersons that have endorsed it. | think in the metaphor for this
season, | think it is an important seeding and that | look forward to working with other groups to help nurture
this along for every new house that we bring on board for people of low to moderate income | think it is a
benefit. So, again, | appreciate what has happened with this and | look forward to the future.

The second item is that I’d like to speak in support of the Resolution in regards to the support of the non-
partisan fair re-districting. | appreciate Alderman Schmidt for bringing this forward. Again the endorsements of
many of the Alderpersons, | think that this Resolution which has been endorsed | believe by 40+ now
communities within the State will provide a more fair, open and transparent way rather than being swayed by
re-districting depending upon what the wins of the Statehouse might be a particular moment in time. And | think
it's a good step toward democracy so | ask your consideration for that. So thank you.

President Wilshire
Thank you. Anyone else wishing to give public comment?

Laurie Ortolano My hand is up.

Board of Aldermen 04-13-2021 Page 7

President Wilshire
I’m sorry | didn’t see you, go ahead Ms. Ortolano.

Ms. Ortolano Laurie Ortolano, 41 Berkeley Street. Just commenting on the Communications for the Assessing
Office update. | am a proponent of allowing people access to the office with appointments the same day if
information is available. It was a walk-in office and | think that’s pretty helpful and | am also supportive of
appointments longer than 15 minutes if that time is available and these slots aren’t booked, there is openings
for people to have more than 15 minutes. | am disappointed in the Customer Service area because you took
away all the counterspace for people to come in there to set up their notebooks or do some research. If they
collected some property record files and they wanted to go through them there’s so much less counterspace
than there was in the old office that it is pretty disappointing that that’s been eliminated. Other Assessing
Offices | have been in maintain a lot of counterspace for people to be able to spread out a little bit and do some
research. So | wish we hadn't lost all that space. | am not certain where we are supposed to go if we did get a
manual or files to look at, you know? What are we supposed to do? Can you not go in and do that anymore.
Do you have to be booked into a conference room? It just seems really unfortunate that that was the layout
and | really had no idea that was the way it was going to work. Thank you.

President Wilshire
Anyone else wishing to give Public Comment? Seeing none — Communications requiring final approval.

COMMUNICATIONS REQUIRING FINAL APPROVAL

From: Mayor Jim Donchess
Re: Multi-Year Contract Award — Backup Internet Line

MOTION BY ALDERMAN LAWS TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE, AND AWARD THE CONTRACT FOR
BACKUP INTERNET LINE TO CONSOLIDATED COMMUNICATIONS, INC. (CCI) IN THE AMOUNT OF
$12,635.64. FUNDING WILL BE THROUGH DEPARTMENT: 120 TELECOM; FUND: 55109
TELECOMMUNICATIONS TELEPHONE: VOICE, BY ROLL CALL.
A viva voce roll call was taken to adjourn the Board of Aldermen meeting 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 Laws,

Alderwoman Harriott-Gathright, Alderman Wilshire 14
Nay: 0
MOTION CARRIED
PETITIONS - None

NOMINATIONS, APPOINTMENTS AND ELECTIONS

The following appointments by the Mayor were read into the record:

Cultural Connections Committee

Margaret Loret (reappointment) Term to Expire: February 1, 2024
4 Cimmarron Drive
Nashua, NH 03062

Board of Aldermen 04-13-2021 Page 8

Paul Shea (new appointment) Term to Expire: April 1, 2024
102 Tolles Street
Nashua, NH 03064

Nashua Arts Commission

Lindsay Rinaldi (reappointment) Term to Expire: April 1, 2024
705 Belmont Street
Belmont, MA 02478

There being no objection, President Wilshire accepted the Appointments by the Mayor as read and
referred them to the Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee.

REPORTS OF COMMITTEE

Budget Review Committee... 0.0.0.0... cece eee cee te tee ee tttstetttttettsteeeesee 03/22/2021

There being no objection, President Wilshire declared the report of the March 22, 2021 Budget Review
Committee accepted and placed on file.

Committee on Infrastructure... 0.0... cee cee cee ese cee eeevartereretererertvertererereee 03/24/2021

There being no objection, President Wilshire declared the report of the March 24, 2021 Committee on
Infrastructure accepted and placed on file.

Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee... 20.0.0... 0.0... cce cece eee eeeeeeeeeeeeeres 04/05/2021

There being no objection, President Wilshire declared the report of the April 5, 2021 Personnel/Administrative
Affairs Committee accepted and placed on file.

Finance Committee...... 0... cece cee cee eee eee eee eseseeetetersttetttratsttitetsrerersse 04/07/2021

There being no objection, President Wilshire declared the report of the April 7, 2021 Finance Committee
accepted and placed on file.
Budget Review Committee... 0.0.0.0... eect tee titer tttttettsseeeeeee 04/08/2021

There being no objection, President Wilshire declared the report of the April 8, 2021 Budget Review Committee
accepted and placed on file.

There being no objection, President Wilshire suspended the rules to allow for the oral report of the
Human Affairs Committee meeting held Monday, April 12, 2021, regarding proposed Resolution
R-21-122.

Alderwoman Kelly

Thank you President Wilshire. Yes, so our Committee met last night, | can’t believe that was last night. And we
had Assistant Chief Buxton come and speak to this Legislation. We unanimously passed it, but it is $1.5 million
to help the Firefighters continue to ramp up in our vaccinations for COVID-19. And so obviously everyone here
can understand the urgency of that and we appreciate them pitching in as we get through the end of this
pandemic.

President Wilshire

Thank you Alderwoman Kelly.

Board of Aldermen 04-13-2021 Page 9

CONFIRMATION OF MAYOR’S APPOINTMENTS

Cable Television Advisory Board

There being no objection, President Wilshire confirmed the new appointment of Cole Morgan, 20 Lock
Street, Nashua, to the Cable Television Advisory Board with a term to expire March 31, 2024.

Oath of Office administered by Corporation Counsel.

Citizens Advisory Commission

There being no objection, President Wilshire confirmed the reappointment of Lisa Tourangeau,
11 Berkeley Street, Nashua, to the Citizens Advisory Commission with a term to expire October 1, 2023.

Oath of Office to be administered by Corporation Counsel at a later date.

Energy and Environment Committee

There being no objection, President Wilshire confirmed the new appointments of Taylor Barry,
33 Wellman Avenue, Nashua, and Dante Castellano, 4 Bicentennial Drive, Nashua, to the Energy and
Environment Committee with terms to expire April 30, 2022.

Oath of Office administered by Corporation Counsel.

Historic District Commission

There being no objection, President Wilshire confirmed the following reappointments to the Historic
District Commission: William Slivinski, 46 Berkeley Street, Nashua, with a term to expire

June 30, 2022; Mariellen Mackay, 9 Webster Street, Nashua, and Robert Vorbach, 58 Manchester Street,
Nashua, both with terms to expire December 31, 2023; and Christopher Barrett, 44 Abbott Street,
Nashua, with a term to expire January 31, 2024.

Oath of Office to be administered by Corporation Counsel at a later date.

Zoning Board of Adjustment

There being no objection, President Wilshire confirmed the reappointment of Nicholas Kanakis,
159 Main Street, Nashua, to the Zoning Board of Adjustment with a term to expire September 11, 2023.

Oath of Office to be administered by Corporation Counsel at a later date.

23.

24.

25,

26.

completed on the date indicated in the notice or provide Independent Contractor with a written
list of work not completed. With respect to work listed by the City of Nashua as incomplete,
Independent Contractor shall promptly complete the work and the final acceptance procedure
shail be repeated. The date of final acceptance of a project by the City of Nashua shall be the date
upon which the Board of Police Commissioners or other designated official accepts and approves
the notice of completion.

TAXES Independent Contractor shall pay all taxes, levies, duties, and assessments of every
nature due in connection with any work performed under the contract and make any and all
payroll deductions required by law. The contract sum and agreed variations to it shall include all
taxes imposed by law. Independent Contractor hereby indemnifies and holds harmless the City of
Nashua from any liability on account of any and all such taxes, levies, duties, assessments, and
deductions.

NON-WAIVER GF TERMS AND CONDITIONS None of the terms and conditions of this contract
shall be considered waived by the City of Nashua. There shall be no waiver of any past or future
default, breach, or modification of any of the terms and conditions of the contract unless
expressly stipulated to by the City of Nashua in a written waiver.

RIGHTS AND REMEDIES The duties and obligations imposed by the contract and the rights and
remedies available under the contract shall be in addition to and not a limitation of any duties,
obligations, rights, and remedies otherwise imposed or available by law.

PROHIBITED INTERESTS Independent Contractor shall not allow any officer or employee of the
City of Nashua to have any indirect or direct interest in this contract or the proceeds of this
contract. Independent Contractor warrants that no officer or employee of the City of Nashua has
any direct or indirect interest, whether contractual, no contractual, financial or otherwise, in this
contract or in the business of Independent Contractor. If any such interest comes to the attention
of Independent Contractor at any time, a full and complete disclosure of the interest shall be
immediately made in writing to the City of Nashua. Independent Contractor also warrants that it
presently has no interest and that it will not acquire any interest, direct or indirect, which would
conflict in any manner or degree with the performance of services required to be performed under
this contract. Independent Contractor further warrants that no person having such an interest shall
be employed in the performance of this contract. If City of Nashua determines that a conflict
exists and was not disclosed to the City of Nashua, it may terminate the contract at will or for
cause in accordance with paragraph 8.

In the event Independent Contractor (or any of its officers, partners, principals, or employees
acting with its authority) is convicted of a crime involving a public official arising out or in
connection with the procurement of work to be done or payments to be made under this contract,
City of Nashua may terminate the contract at will or for cause in accordance with paragraph 8.
Upon termination, Independent Contractor shall refund to the City of Nashua any profits realized
under this contract, and Independent Contractor shall be liable to the City of Nashua for any costs
incurred by the City of Nashua in completing the work described in this contract. At the
discretion of the City of Nashua, these sanctions shall also be applicable to any such conviction
obtained after the expiration or completion of the contract.

Independent Contractor warrants that no gratuities (including, but not limited to, entertainment or
gifts) were offered or given by Independent Contractor to any officer or employee of the City of
Nashua with a view toward securing a contract or securing favorable treatment with respect to the
awarding or amending or making of any determinations with respect to the performance of this
contract. If City of Nashua determines that such gratuities were or offered or given, it may
terminate the contract at will or for cause in accordance with paragraph 8.

GC 10 of 12

Board of Aldermen 04-13-2021 Page 10

UNFINISHED BUSINESS — RESOLUTIONS

R-21-118
Endorsers: Mayor Jim Donchess
Alderwoman-at-Large Shoshanna Kelly
Alderman Richard A. Dowd
Alderman June M. Caron
Alderman Linda Harriott-Gathright
Alderman Jan Schmidt
Alderman-at-Large David C. Tencza
Alderman Thomas Lopez
Alderman Patricia Klee
Alderman-at-Large Ben Clemons
Alderman Skip Cleaver
Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr.
Alderman-at-Large Brandon Michael Laws
Alderwoman Elizabeth Lu
Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire
ESTABLISHING A HOUSING EXPENDABLE TRUST FUND FUNDED BY APPROPRIATIONS AND
MAKING A SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATION OF $30,000 INTO THE EXPENDABLE TRUST FUND
Given its second reading;

MOTION BY ALDERWOMAN KELLY FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-21-118, BY ROLL CALL

ON THE QUESTION

Alderwoman Kelly

And I'd like to speak to it please.
President Wilshire

Alderwoman Kelly.

Alderwoman Kelly

Thank you. | know the Mayor mentioned this piece of Legislation. We had a good conversation around it at
Committee. | have been very passionate about this and as everyone spoke about it at the Committee level, this
is Step 1, just to get it open and have the conversations and then continue to build affordable housing. As we
saw with the Housing Report that we got earlier this year, this is a critical need for Nashua. | am thankful for
everyone’s support on this and looking forward to continuing the good work here.

President Wilshire

The Motion before us is for final passage. Is there discussion on that motion? Alderman Klee?

Alderman Klee

Thank you, Madam President. | want to add my voice to how excited | am about this. Myself, Alderman
Schmidt and Alderman Cleaver had met with a community group and they were very interested in this type of
Trust Fund and so on to kind of get us started. We keep talking about this as the “baby” this is the seedling

that we are starting this Trust Fund from. The group that we met with, | think they want more and | think we will
get there, but we are going to have to take baby steps.