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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 9/8/2021 - P2

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:09
Document Date
Wed, 09/08/2021 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Wed, 09/08/2021 - 00:00
Page Number
2
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__090820…

Special Board of Aldermen 09-08-2021 Page 2

last year and a half and/or for the last budget year. We could maybe now or later get into the details of why that could
help us in addition to filling that $1.2 million gap. Again, that’s not some kind of mismanagement by the School
Department. It’s simply that they were not allowed to charge for the lunches and of course they’re still feeding kids. The
normal revenue did not come in.

So with those ideas, we also are going to suggest an outreach to Nashua citizens through several avenues — virtual and
if we can do it, in person to get people’s input regarding kind of the basic approaches that we think could be used. First
we wanted to show you what we might present and maybe then together with input from citizens, we could decide how
the money should best be allocated for the benefit of Nashua. So with that, I’m going to give you Mr. Cummings and Ms.
Lindner who are going to present you with the details or the different approaches that we think might be possible.

Tim Cummings, Economic Development Director
If | may Madam President.

President Wilshire

Certainly. I’m sorry. Director Cummings.

Tim Cummings, Economic Development Director

Yes thank you. So for the record, Tim Cummings, Director of Economic Development. I’m here this evening with Cheryl
Lindner the Chief of Staff, and not with us this evening John Griffin, Chief Financial Officer. He would have been part of
this presentation if he wasn’t on vacation. It should be noted from the onset that really John and Cheryl have taken the
lead in becoming the local experts on ARPA funding. | recently joined the team to just help facilitate the community
outreach effort that we'll be looking to undertake.

With that being said, my goal this evening is to hopefully develop some sort of consensus on our approach and make
sure we have an understanding of the framework or the guiding principles as we start this evening the conversation on
how to use the ARPA funds. My memo to you of August 26 speaks to this in more detail and the PowerPoint
presentation you’re about to receive will also recap what I’m about to say. What I’m hoping that we do this evening as |
said a second ago is start the conversation. By no means are we looking to conclude it but it would be good to develop
agreed upon approach and framework. With that being said, I’m going to hand it off to Cheryl and | will click through the
Slides.

Cheryl Lindner, Chief of Staff

Thank you everyone. So we’re going to start with a little bit of background and history on ARPA. On March 11, the
American Rescue Plan Act was signed into law. It’s a historic $1.9 trillion economic stimulus bill and the aide for the
State of New Hampshire totals just over $994 million. The Treasury announced that Nashua will receive $16.1 million in
federal funds. As the Mayor said, $1.2 million is needed for Fiscal Year 2022 revenue replacement, which leaves us
with a balance of approximately $14,483,777 available to plan and spend. In addition to our amount, Hillsborough
County is set to receive approximately $81 million in funding and we are beginning talks with the County to see what
the plans are for their amount of funding.

There's four eligible uses for the funding with the Treasury interim guidance. So some of the areas for funding are
responding to acute pandemic response needs, filling revenue shortfalls, supporting communities and populations
hardest hit by COVID-19. And we're going to talk a little bit about that as we go through the presentation. These are
some of the links. If you go to the US Treasury site, the FAQs are very helpful as well as the Interim Final Rule.
There is an executive section for the Interim Final Rule. So you should start there if you want some light reading.
Then the Interim Final Rule is several hundred pages. So the links are US Treasury and you can type in “ARPA” and
it will fill in for you.

Some key dates for ARPA - March 3" is going to be the beginning of the recovery fund period. So expenses after
March 3" in those four areas will be covered and then we also have to spend the money or designate the money by
December 31, 2024. All funds must be spent and all work performed by December 31, 2026. So there's a little bit of
time they give you to finish your projects. They give you two additional years to finish the projects.

We're going to talk a little bit about the eligible uses and as | said, they fall into four buckets. One is the replacement of
public sector revenue loss. The second is to support public health response to the pandemic. The third is to address
the negative economic impacts and this is specific to workers, families, small businesses, impacted industries and the

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 9/8/2021 - P2

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 9/8/2021 - P3

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:09
Document Date
Wed, 09/08/2021 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Wed, 09/08/2021 - 00:00
Page Number
3
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__090820…

Special Board of Aldermen 09-08-2021 Page 3
public sector, and then water, sewer and broadband infrastructure projects.

The revenue replacement is to replace any reduction in revenue experienced due to the pandemics such as revenue
from taxes or miscellaneous general revenue. Cities are permitted to calculate the extent of reduction in revenue as a
four points in time and those are December 31* of 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. So we were able to project our
revenue loss for the period December 31, 2020 already.

The next eligible use is the public health response. These expenses can include vaccination programs, testing,
contact tracing, access to health services, public communication efforts, purchases of personal protection, equipment,
and capital investments in public facilities used to meet the pandemic needs. So physical plant improvements to
public hospitals and health clinics are some of the uses there.

The third bucket is going to be addressing the negative economic impacts and as | said, these are two workers,
families, small businesses, impacted industries in the public sector. So this type of assistance can include but not be
limited to food assistance, rent, mortgage, utility assistance, internet access, and job training. Also to small
businesses and nonprofits, you can you can sub out loans or grants to mitigate financial hardships or you can you can
give those to the nonprofits and small businesses that were hurt during the pandemic. They saw declines in revenues
or impacts. You can also offer in-kind assistance to implement COVID-19 prevention or mitigation. There's also a line
for premium pay for essential workers and aid can also be provided to tourism, travel, and hospitality industries that
were all negatively impacted by the pandemic.

The last bucket is the water sewer and broadband infrastructure category. This is to improve access to clean drinking
water, invest in wastewater and storm water infrastructure, and expand broadband access. Eligible costs are for
water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure projects and those costs must be obligated by December 31, 2024 and
the period of performance will run until December 31, 2026, which will provide time to complete projects funded using
these ARPA funds.

In the broadband category. Broadband improvements designed to serve underserved, unserved, or underserved
households and businesses defined as those that are not currently served by a wireline connection are also eligible.

Now we're going to move on to the ineligible uses. So pension funds are ineligible, rainy day funds or financial
reserves. We're not able to replenish any of those. General infrastructure which is spending above the amount
allocated under the revenue loss is not an eligible expense. Also debt service and legal settlements is ineligible.

So now | want to pass it back to Director Cummings. Thank you for your time. He's going to continue with the
presentation. He's going to talk about guiding principles and the community outreach we're planning to do.

Tim Cummings, Economic Development Director

Thank you Cheryl. So the main thrust of why we're here this evening is to start the conversation on whether we can
develop a framework based upon some guiding principles. What I'm suggesting to this body is that we look at projects
with the lens of, you Know, how the funds should be used in a manner where there is a meaningful and lasting impact.
So what do | mean by that, | would like to suggest that when a project is brought before us that it have significant
meaning and we can stand the test of time. | think we should be strategic while deciding how these funds should be
used to improve the community and most importantly, | think we need to be mindful that this is a one-time infusion of
funds and that you should look at this as providing money for once and once only and if there's a reoccurring cost, |
wouldn't necessarily want you to be taking that on unless you knew that you were obligating yourself to future costs
moving forward. So I'm suggesting that these types of guiding principles be the lens that we use while judging the
various projects and the conversation as we as we move forward.

But as | said from the onset, this is the start of the conversation and really it's what do we think, and what does the
community think, and we want to make sure people feel valued and encouraged to participate. So in the memo |
presented to you all, there was some key outreach elements that were developed. One being we put up a webpage
already on the city's website. At the end of this presentation, I'll go to it and I'll show it to you. But there there's a form
where the public can fill out the form and it will be sent into Cheryl and myself and john Griffin basically giving people's
feedback on this draft presentation but then ultimately, the priorities that we’re suggesting.

There is some outreach events, both in person and virtual. So we have to set virtually for September 21° and
September 23". We have an in-person forum set for September 29'". We have a dedicated business forum set up for
September 22"4. That one would be virtual.

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 9/8/2021 - P3

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 9/8/2021 - P4

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:09
Document Date
Wed, 09/08/2021 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Wed, 09/08/2021 - 00:00
Page Number
4
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__090820…

Special Board of Aldermen 09-08-2021 Page 4

The timeline. So ideally we will do this outreach. We will continue to massage and craft a plan. I'd like to have some
data and you know, some sort of conclusion arrived at in mid-October. Ideally around your October 12" meeting and
hopefully the work we do will inform the subcommittee that will hear the resolution that is going to be presented to you
on September 14". So ultimately, the ideal would be to have some sort of finalized plan by mid to end the fall.

So some ideas for discussion purposes only and | want to note that the numbers being discussed right now are really
for illustrative purposes is the idea of maybe we use the money to replace future revenue. And so out of the $16
million, maybe we take 13 of that million and you put it into the operational budget for the city. And why are we doing
that? So we know we need to close a gap in the budget, and we also know that there is a revaluation going on, and
with the revaluation going on, you Know, we anticipate that the tax rate may go up over the coming years. You could
massage in this $13 million to help stabilize the tax rate and it's something that, you know, this body may want to think
about in the coming weeks.

Another idea, again, wanting to make a big impact is we take and put $10 million into affordable housing and in
particularly Affordable Housing Trust Fund. Strategies and how we were to use that $10 million, we would need to
develop but it might be a way to make a significant dent in what | believe is the number one issue that we hear about
over and over again in the community. So, again, offering that up as maybe Plan B and ultimately Plan C, look at
maybe reconfiguring Main Street and some of the ancillary side streets around Main Street with about $12 million.
That would be to basically redesign Main Street to accommodate for the outdoor dining and the permanent
infrastructure that would be necessary so he didn't necessarily have the barriers up that we have up right now which
we know is a semi-permanent or temporary measure that we can only do for a few years.

Now ultimately if you note, we're only spending, you know, in these suggestions between $13, $10 and $12 million.
We know we're going to need to use about $1.7 in other ways and that would still leave us with depending on the
numbers between a million to $2 million to spend in various ways on projects that may arise. We did outreach to the
various directors in city leadership here to start to ask for their projects that may be of interest that may qualify that we
could, you know, obviously recalibrate this plan as we go forward. But ultimately what | think we want to try to do is
avoid the kitchen sink approach which is, you know, let's put a plan together where it's everything but the kitchen sink
gets into it. So we really water down the impact. $200,000 for, you know, XYZ business or, you know, $300,000 for
maybe a roof replacement for a very understanding nonprofit that may need it. | would suggest wouldn't make the
community impact that you're going to be able to make if you really focus this one-time infusion of revenue. If we
could prioritize where we think that those monies should go, | think this community could really benefit from it in the
long run.

So really what I'm hoping to do now is turn this over to more of a discussion to hear people's thoughts. I'm going to
see if | can pull up the website that we recently put together as well so folks can see it. I'm not sure if my screen is still
being shared or no.

So that's interesting.

Alderman Lopez

You trying to trick us into investing into more infrastructure.
Tim Cummings Economic Development Director

Donna do you know why this isn't...

Donna Graham, Legislative Affairs Manager

You double click on the edge right after the zoom meeting. Right before that. Double click on that, because you're
not bringing the internet up.

Tim Cummings Economic Development Director
Double click on which one?
Donna Graham, Legislative Affairs Manager

You do either do Google or the Edge.

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 9/8/2021 - P4

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 9/8/2021 - P5

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:09
Document Date
Wed, 09/08/2021 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Wed, 09/08/2021 - 00:00
Page Number
5
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__090820…

Special Board of Aldermen 09-08-2021 Page 5

Tim Cummings Economic Development Director

But | don't - it's not coming up. See.

Donna Graham, Legislative Affairs Manager

That's because they’re not zooming in on you that’s why.
Tim Cummings Economic Development Director
Oh, okay.

Donna Graham, Legislative Affairs Manager

But you are for me. So you're all set.

Tim Cummings Economic Development Director

So I'm all set. So could you let folks know that.
Donna Graham, Legislative Affairs Manager
I'm sure was it Jim that’s out back?

Alderman Klee

Mike | think, right?

Tim Cummings Economic Development Director

So hopefully it will come up on the screen in a second here. What I'm pulling up on my computer screen is a web
page that we developed that's off of the city's website.

Donna Graham, Legislative Affairs Manager
Do you have it?

Tim Cummings Economic Development Director

| have it up.
Donna Graham, Legislative Affairs Manager

| just switched to Zoom to screen so I'm still on left so I'm not sure why it's not coming up on yours. Hold on let me
just switch out and then I'll go back on.

President Wilshire
One thing we could use the money for is better technology. Seems a little too obvious though.

Donna Graham, Legislative Affairs Manager

Tim could you push the plug in and maybe the plug came loose on the side.
Alderman Klee
Maybe we need to get rid of Zoom. That's interfering.

Alderman Lopez

If you open up the visual aid,

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 9/8/2021 - P5

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 9/8/2021 - P6

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:09
Document Date
Wed, 09/08/2021 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Wed, 09/08/2021 - 00:00
Page Number
6
Image URL
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Special Board of Aldermen 09-08-2021 Page 6

Alderwoman Kelly

| don't know. Does a tree fall in the woods?

Tim Cummings Economic Development Director

So I'm going to try to go in via Zoom and see if maybe | can do this via the website.

Alderman Schmidt

But what is the website?

Tim Cummings Economic Development Director

If you go to: City of Nashua, Economic Development, ARPA program.

Alderman Schmidt

So it's nashuanh.gov.

Tim Cummings Economic Development Director

Will they let me share screen?

Donna Graham, Legislative Affairs Manager

Yes. Let me just switch over to Zoom to all screens and...

Jeff Poehnert

You're all set.

Tim Cummings Economic Development Director

Okay. So alright. There we go. So, look at this — there’s many ways to get to where we need to go. So here's a new
web page that we just put up that basically the first couple paragraphs is a regurgitation of the memo that was sent out
to you. Then here's the providing comments section which, you Know, somewhat said promoting with you because |
know you all have wonderful email lists. It would be wonderful if you put it out to your various people so that they
could participate. Here it is here. So basically, it's very high level, very easy. Some various contact information. Are
you a resident in Nashua? Are you a business owner in Nashua? What aspects of the city's ARPA framework do you
like? What are the aspects that you think could be approved? You know very high level but it would be good to be
able to get that type of information. We can then synthesize it and be able to report back to you what we're hearing
from the community and | think it would be a good tool.

One of the things we're looking to do is we'll take this presentation and we will upload it and put it on this page as well.
So if folks miss this evening's presentation, you'll be able to ideally go to this web page and be able to witness this
conversation, and be able to participate remotely as well as there's a regurgitation of the timeline for the community
outreach, and then some documents. As you can see, | already have this PowerPoint presentation up on this
webpage so if folks wanted to and Donna | have already sent it to you. It's in your inbox so you have it for your
minutes. We have this, you know, available to the public if they wanted to witness it. So those concludes my, you
know, more formal comments or remarks and really just hoping to have a conversation.

President Wilshire

Your timeline is kind of tight. That's my only observation. Do you expect to get all this feedback and have it put
together by mid-October?

Tim Cummings Economic Development Director

| do but we already have the date set. You know its Zoom meetings with one or two in person meetings in the month
of September. Really just wanted to get the conversation going. We know that there's a resolution that will be filed

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 9/8/2021 - P6

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 9/8/2021 - P7

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:09
Document Date
Wed, 09/08/2021 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Wed, 09/08/2021 - 00:00
Page Number
7
Image URL
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Special Board of Aldermen 09-08-2021 Page 7

where you're looking to accept the money on the 14" which would be the first reading. | suspect it will have a second
reading and committee discussion. | wanted to be able to provide some sort of data at the subcommittee level, which
was one of the reasons why | want to really get it in the month of September because | could, you know, | could
foresee the conversation continuing on in October.

President Wilshire

Thank you. Alderwoman Kelly.

Alderwoman Kelly

Thank you. | have a couple of questions but | thank you for your presentation. | think it's important to kind of set the
framework for this. | perk up a little bit about the affordable housing. |, too, hear from everybody that affordable
housing, especially in our city is critical and | know that it aligned with a lot of the long-term planning and discussions
that we’ve been having and also aligns with some of the HUD discussions that we have in Human Affairs. So | think
that's an interesting opportunity to make a big impact like you were saying.

| do have a couple of questions but they might be a little too technical. | Know we talked about.

Tim Cummings Economic Development Director

That's why | have Cheryl.

Alderwoman Kelly

It might be a Sarah question, but | Know we talked about helping the Soup Kitchen with the shelter. Is that this money
or was that a separate bucket?

Tim Cummings Economic Development Director

That could be separate and so this is not project specific. So this is not by any means saying we've pre-identified
projects by any stretch.

Alderwoman Kelly

Okay. So that's outside of the scope. Can | ask one more follow up?
President Wilshire

Yeah, sure.

Alderwoman Kelly

The Mayor was talking about the school program and | was just interested in what that entailed. | guess | assumed
that if we were told we had to do universal that we were getting paid for that or the COVID funds that we were getting
was going to cover that. Do you know more about that? Through you to the Mayor.

Mayor Donchess

Thank you. Well we can get Dan Donovan from the School Department to answer it in detail but they apparently
believe that they cannot replace that revenue loss with money that they're receiving. Now we do get a benefit here
because they are returning to the city assuming that we make this revenue replacement $2.5 million of surplus, which
is part of the money that you've already seen or we've talked about. If we replace their revenue loss with a part of this
federal money, then the amount that will flow to surplus is $2.5 million. If we didn't, it would only be $1.3 million. So
we think in view of the escrows and the tax relief that we are providing with the surplus, that it's worth directing the
$1.2 into helping them to help them help us so too, so to speak.

One thing that | didn't mention was that one project that because Tim mentioned $1.7 million. We've wanted to do the
backup for the servers and we had that in the works, and then COVID came, and then the money got used for
something else. We really should do a $500,000 backup system. We have the room at the School Department but
this would be to prevent, you know, the extortion that we've seen so that if someone ever did hack the system and sort

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 9/8/2021 - P7

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 9/8/2021 - P8

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:09
Document Date
Wed, 09/08/2021 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Wed, 09/08/2021 - 00:00
Page Number
8
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__090820…

Special Board of Aldermen 09-08-2021 Page 8

of shut it down, we would be able to repopulate the software with the data that we have on file. So | think we should
do that. To me, that is such a necessity that we should, you know, set that set that $500,000 aside before we even
think about whether other smaller projects that we get from the directors would be worth doing.

President Wilshire

All set?

Alderwoman Kelly

Thank you.
Alderman Dowd

Yes, the first thing you had the first bullet was $13 million towards, | believe, offsetting cost for the budget year. The
only issue | have with that and maybe a John Griffin question is this is one-time funding. If you spend say $13 million
to offset the budget to reduce the budget costs, how do you make that difference up in year two? You start with a $13
million hole in revenue and that's a huge issue and always been a huge issue. When we tried to apply too much
money to reduce the tax rate in one year, it could very seriously impact the tax rate in the succeeding year. So it's a
balance and that's something that John Griffin can explain in detail.

Mayor Donchess

Well just yes definitely that's correct. | mean if — and that’s a big if, if we adopted that approach, you would make this
revenue replacement over a period of four or five years because we have until 2026 to spend the money. So you
would even things out over a period of three, four, or five years rather than, you know, falling into the trap that you just
mentioned.

Alderman Dowd
You know there’s more to clarify that for the general public that we can’t just take $13 million and apply it to next

year's tax rate and, you know, have this really artificially low tax rate for one year and then bingo the next year you get
hammered.

Mayor Donchess

And we cannot actually use it for tax relief but what we can use it for is revenue replacement. So to the extent that we
see and can document loss of revenue along with a certain 4.1 percent increase per year that we could replace, |
mean you could find revenue that we had lost to use up the money over a period of years but we couldn't just say
we're going to use this to cut the taxes. We would need to, you know, direct it into a sort of a tactical revenue
replacement approach.

President Wilshire

All set Alderman Dowd?

Alderman Dowd

All set.

Tim Cummings Economic Development Director

If | may Madam President?
President Wilshire
Director Cummings.

Tim Cummings Economic Development Director

The thought would be also to massage it in as the Mayor was saying over time because we know that there's the

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 9/8/2021 - P8

Finance Committee - Agenda - 5/18/2022 - P8

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 21:41
Document Date
Wed, 05/18/2022 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Finance Committee
Document Type
Agenda
Meeting Date
Wed, 05/18/2022 - 00:00
Page Number
8
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/fin_a__051820…

City of Nashua

Purchasing Department

Administrative Services Division
229 Main Street - Nashua, NH 03060

May 11, 2022
Memo #22-272

TO: Mayor Donchess
Finance Committee

SUBJECT: Audio Visual Equipment in the amount not to exceed $35,553.68 funded from 71000
Equipment/PEIPP Trust

Please see attached communications from William Atkinson, Assistant Chief dated April 26, 2022 for project

specific details related to this purchase. Below please find a summary of the purchase approval request:

Item: Audio Visual Equipment for the Classroom & Library at the Nashua Fire Training &
Safety

Value: $35,553.68

Vendor: CCS Presentation Systems of Nashua NH

Department: 152 Fire Rescue
Source Fund: 71000 Equipment/ PEIPP Trust

Ordinance: Pursuant to § 5-78 Major purchases (greater than $25,000) A. All supplies and
contractual services, except as otherwise provided herein, when the estimated

cost thereof shall exceed $25,000 shall be purchased by formal, written contract

from the lowest responsible bidder, after due notice inviting bids.

A competitive bidding RFP for this project was issued on 2/11/2022 and the following bids were received:

Vendor Location Amount Note

Access AV, LLC Concord, NH $32,179.00 | Does not include shipping charges

Northeast Digital Integrators | Merrimack, NH $33,464.00 | Does not include shipping charges

CCS Presentation Systems Nashua, NH $34,058.68 | Shipping charges are included in this total.
Additional $1495 needed for service
agreement.

Ockers Technology Brockton, MA $36,651.00

Red Thread Spaces Manchester, NH $40,650.42

AVI-SPL North Billerica, MA | $71,274.98

We recommend this bid to be awarded to the most advantageous, lowest total cost vendor who met the

RFP specified requirements and meets the requirements for § 5-78 Local Preference.

The Nashua Fire Rescue, and the Purchasing Department respectfully request your approval of this

contract.

Regards,
Kelly Parkinson

Purchasing Manager

Ce: J Graziano
S Buxton

(603) 589-3330
Fax (603) 594-3233

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Finance Committee - Agenda - 5/18/2022 - P8

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 9/8/2021 - P9

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:09
Document Date
Wed, 09/08/2021 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Wed, 09/08/2021 - 00:00
Page Number
9
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__090820…

Special Board of Aldermen 09-08-2021 Page 9

revaluation going on and so looking at taking that, you know, $13 million or thereabouts and spreading it over three or
four years would, you know, the goal would be to, as | said, stabilize the tax rate so we could, you know, project what
we're thinking and not see a fluctuation or a spike.

Alderman O’Brien

Thank you Madam President. As we look at this money that it definitely has a need but are we going to first pay off
our debts? And what | mean by the debts when the pandemic was here Nashua Fire Rescue provided EMTs to assist
in the inoculations and in the situation in the School Department to help out certain people in the community.
QuickBooks or, you know, computers were bought and different things to come out. Are those debts going to be paid
first and then look at what's left in that and then come up with the plan on that particular money?

Tim Cummings Economic Development Director

So if | may, Madam President. I'm not really sure when you say “debts”. I'm under the impression we've paid
everything.

Alderman O’Brien

Okay. | just see, you know, one of the Fire Chiefs here and | think that's what they showed. Maybe or maybe not but
| Know the Nashua Fire Rescue did provide EMTs at the time and that was part of the, you know, going out of the
budget. | don't know how much was actually paid into that account but just to make sure that we're free and clear of
that.

Tim Cummings Economic Development Director

Yeah. | think | think we would be. | think | suspected the...
Alderman O’Brien

Okay and that was my only concern that...

Tim Cummings Economic Development Director

To use GOFFR funds maybe to help massage that.
Alderman O’Brien

Right. Okay and that would be fine. | just want to make sure that that money or that responsibility has been cleared,
you know, such as public health, anything that they needed to purchase or anything else like that, that we are really
looking at something else right here. Okay. Very good. Thank you.

Alderman Lopez

So I'm interested in the use of special revenue funds. | know the housing fund that Alderman Kelly had mentioned is
definitely a particular interest of mine. Members of the faith community have actually reached out informally and
wanted to know what we're doing with that with how it's structured because they would be interested in contributing to
it too. So there's an opportunity to have a force multiplier where we take this grant money and we use it to create a
more sustaining fun that helps us create low income housing. | see a lot of added value. | definitely appreciate the
possibility of dropping the tax rate for political purposes because it makes us look good for one year but as Alderman
Dowd pointed out, it's not necessarily sustainable. So | would be concerned about just doing it for the sake of doing it.
| wouldn't mind some research being done into the possibility of maybe creating an income based relief program so
that people who are being hit hardest by the sticker shock who might have the least amount of money to pay for it are
getting the benefit of these resources and whatever financial strategies we can apply as opposed to, you know,
someone who just happens to have a very valuable piece of property, has the ability to apply for a complicated grant
that we might put out - maybe a team of lawyers to do such - I'd really rather see this money be used to mitigate the
economic impact that we're seeing from COVID-19 and how that is likely to make people less able to respond to
revaluation issues and property tax issues further down the road.

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 9/8/2021 - P9

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 9/8/2021 - P10

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:09
Document Date
Wed, 09/08/2021 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Wed, 09/08/2021 - 00:00
Page Number
10
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Special Board of Aldermen 09-08-2021 Page 10

Tim Cummings Economic Development Director

Yes thank you. | want to just reiterate that the number one issue that I've heard about over the last couple years is
affordable housing. | can say without having a survey or having any quantified type data behind me to support it that
anecdotally, it's the number one issue that | hear about when I'm talking to various employers, when they're talking
about expanding. The first thing they say is can my employees afford to live here? You know talking to an employee
or just, you know, someone on the street that the thing that they say is, I'm worried that my kids won't be able to buy a
house here and raise their family in the community that they grew up in. | can tell you time and time again, it is by far
the number one issue that the city needs to be aware of and | think with this type of opportunity, you could make the
best type of impact. We could develop some metrics and some goals if we chose to go in this direction so we could
judge our success based on using these funds. New units supply into the marketplace. Maybe assistance for rental
for individuals who, you know, have received catastrophic loss of income. Future deed restrictions so you can buy
homeownership and be able to buy units. There are various strategies that we could undertake to achieve what is
“affordable housing” which is a very broad definition. But it's one that | think is worth a substantial conversation.

Alderman Dowd

Yeah just two things. One -—1| do agree that at least some of the money ought to go for affordable housing. It is a
critical element here in the City.

The other thing | just want to clarify for the viewing public is that if you could explain Director Cummings that the
School Department has separate funds...

Tim Cummings Economic Development Director
Correct.
Alderman Dowd

...that can be used for things regarding education. So that’s why you’re not seeing education in the spending of this
money because they have a pretty significant amount and they have their own set of rules as to how they can spend
it.

Tim Cummings Economic Development Director

Yes that is an excellent point and one we should absolutely emphasize which is everything we’re speaking to this
evening does not talk about the educational funding. That is completely separate and aside from this.

Alderwoman Kelly

Yeah thank you. | just wanted to add to the conversation around affordable housing and how it’s changed with
COVID-19 as well. Its funny when we talk about affordable housing you don't even really think about what affordable
is like it still comes in pretty high. One of the things that we’ve seen and we've talked about it at different committee
levels is that a lot of people are coming here from Boston because it’s affordable for them and that’s squeezing our
market that already has very little to almost no housing open at all. That factor happened with COVID — people
wanting to move out of the cities and then you have on top of that, people who are out of work and were under these
moratoriums. We have nothing. We really have almost no vacancies for ability for people to get into the housing that
they need.

Alderman Klee

Thank you. Director Cummings when we talk about affordable housing and so on —| Know you said it’s a very broad
term. We know that there is very little land to build on here in the city but we also know that there are buildings that
could be converted and so on. When you're talking about affordable housing using it towards this would the mindset
be that we would give incentives to builders and so on? Can the money be used in that respect because the city
obviously cannot build this housing? While this is not anything that’s even possible but say something like the
Pheasant Lane Mall decided yes we will consider getting rid of that and maybe using some of that land for something.
Would we be able to give incentives to or even incentives to those people who already have low income housing but
need to fix it up So it’s in better shape?

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