Skip to main content

Main navigation

  • Documents
  • Search

User account menu

  • Log in
Home
Nashua City Data

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. Search

Search

Displaying 1781 - 1790 of 38765

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 1/25/2022 - P18

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:40
Document Date
Tue, 01/25/2022 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 01/25/2022 - 00:00
Page Number
18
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__012520…

Board of Aldermen 01-25-2022 Page 18

with it in the family and they were all tested. The big concern was one of my daughters has a 3 year old and a 1 year old
that were exposed. That really concerned the heck out of me because they’re susceptible and for them to get sick, and
go in the hospital, and god knows what can happen. That scared the heck out of me.

I’ve always said that if we’re not going support our Board of Health, why do we have them. They’re making
recommendations to extend. | wish we could extend it for only two weeks and see what happens, but they’re asking for a
month. | would hope at that point in time the trend is coming down. The reason New York is coming off the mandate is
because they’re trend is down. They have turned the corner. We haven't.

The other thing is recently I’ve had the opportunity to talk to several physicians — most of them at Dartmouth Hitchcock.
They all say please keep the masks for now. When we’re at a point where we see the numbers coming down, then we
can terminate it. | wish we didn’t call ita mandate. There are no police going around trying to arrest people for not
wearing a mask. The people that are talking against masks, they’re not going to wear them anyway. That’s up to them.
They won't wear them. The people that are currently wearing masks even with or without a mandate are going to keep
wearing masks. So it’s just more of the Board of Aldermen’s supporting the Board of Health and making a stand that says
we're concerned about COVID. We’re concerned about our hospitals being loaded and overworked. So | will be
supporting this.

Alderman Gouveia

Thank you Madam President. It’s been very clear to me. Ward 1 has spoken loud and clear against the proposed
ordinance for various reasons whether it be over a call, text, or in person, at the grocery store I’ve talked about this. |
think the big thing that | was hearing from a lot of the constituents was there’s no enforcement. What is the point of an
ordinance without enforcement? It sounds almost useless to me. As it’s been said, people who want to wear mask are
going to wear one with or without this mandate. People who do want to wear one are going to wear it with or without this
mandate. For those reasons, | will be against the ordinance tonight. Thank you.

Alderman Thibeault

Thank you Madam President. | just want to first off say are we really masking 2 year olds? | hope we’re not masking 2
year olds. So I’m going to vote for this extension on mask mandate. | don’t like masks and to be honest and pardon my
language, they suck. | hate them. | hate coaching basketball in them. | hate coaching baseball in them. They’re awful
but my vote is not out there to control people’s health or their political agenda. It’s a compassionate vote based on the
advice of the Board of Health that has doctors that we trust. When | see a medical professional even though | don’t agree
with them and | don’t because they call me obese, but | have to trust that what they’re telling me is accurate and they’re
trying to help me. Like Alderman Dowd said, what do we have them for if we’re not going to take their advice?

We've heard a couple of Aldermen say about their Ward. Well my Ward, I’m getting 99 percent to my personal e-mail -—
maybe 95 percent — saying that they actually want the mask extension. We support the people of Nashua but there’s
90,000 people in Nashua. There’s not 300 people on Facebook, or 50 e-mails coming to us, there’s 90,000. How many
80 year olds are on Facebook and how many of them do we have in the city? They’re not voting. They’re not voting
anywhere. We've got to protect them as well. They’re people. There’s probably a lot of 17 year olds that aren't on the
Scoop or these other Facebook pages taking informal polls. We have to protect everyone and we have to be here for
everyone not just people voting on these polls. | thank you to Ward 8. Their e-mails have been extremely respectful even
if the few that have said that they do not want an extension have been extremely respectful and | thank that. Some of the
ones coming from to us generally have not been as nice.

If we do not extend this mask mandate, it doesn’t impact the schools. That’s a completely different unit. The Board of
Education has to follow that. So we won't be changing that. City Hall’s not going to be changing. A lot of businesses will
keep their employees masked up. If they have to be masked for 8 hours a day, | don’t know why going to Shaw’s for an
hour and a half is such a deal for us to put on a mask. | really don’t. Again, I’m not having anybody tell me politically how
to vote. I’m voting my conscious based on what my Ward wants, and what | believe they want, and what | believe the
Board of Health is telling us. Again I’m not going to debate the science of it because you can go down and pretty much
find anything on the internet that you want. The numbers did go down in schools this week a little bit and I’m hoping that
that means there’s going to be a change soon that we see these going down and we can actually get rid of the masks
hopefully. Hopefully at the end of the four weeks. | also agree with Alderman Dowd about | wish we could address this in
the next meeting as well if numbers go down. Maybe we could get rid of it in two weeks. I’m going to be for it. So thank
you very much.

Page Image
Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 1/25/2022 - P18

Finance Committee - Agenda - 5/18/2022 - P157

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 21:42
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
157
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/fin_a__051820…

Administration and Management:

Vi.

VII.

VIII.

An annual survey of Nashua franchise customers (local Comcast cable customers) must be performed for
evaluation use by the City, and for public dissemination. Survey method, media, and content will be
developed in collaboration with the City. This survey’s objective will be to determine among other useful
operational data:
e demographic profile of the PEG Access audience;
e desired and undesired PEG television content preferences (by category and specifics);
e desired and undesired PEG television delivery and media preferences (by category and specifics);
e anticipated viewing times and patterns;
e potential PEG television participant interest (organizational member, volunteer, producer, etc.),
and recommended outreach methods for those individuals;
Provide to the City and CTAB and maintain a detailed plan for channel administration, oversight, and
governance, which shall include but not be limited to channel policies, soliciting, selecting and managing
cablecast content, enforcement and remedies for violations of policies, appeal of enforcement decisions.
Organize and facilitate an annual public meeting to solicit public comment on the performance of the
vendor
Assure that any Public Access Television facilities and equipment (including those that are shared with the
City’s PEG Program department and those solely provisioned for public access television) are available to
all City residents on a nondiscriminatory, non-exclusive, content-neutral basis.
Manage the public access contract, resources and funds derived from the City of Nashua.
Explore opportunities to develop and implement revenue-generating activities such as media and
commodity sales, development of sponsorships, additional sources of funding for Public Access television
such as foundation or federal or state grants. No fundraising activity shall interfere with the financial
support of Public Access Television, the shared use of the Public Access television facility and or channel
time by the users. Fundraising activities must be compliant with appropriate regulations of the Internal
Revenue Code, as it may be amended from time to time.
Using the available dedicated and shared equipment as provided in Exhibit B, develop and maintain a
production equipment plan as necessary to support operations and to supplement any dedicated or shared
equipment provided by the City
e Establish rules, procedures and guidelines for use of the Public Access Television channel,
equipment and facilities, and file such rules, procedures and guidelines and any amendments
thereto with the City.
e Schedule, monitor, and maintain editing facilities and studio in collaboration with the City’s PEG
Program department.
e Monitor equipment and perform maintenance, in collaboration with the City’s PEG Program
department.

Collaborate with the City’s PEG Program department staff in ensuring the continuity of cablecast
operations, including:
e notification to PEG Program staff, as soon as practical, of any technical interruption of cablecast of
Public Access Television signal regardless of cause or source;
e collaboration with PEG Program staff to address technical issues and interruptions;
e collaboration with PEG Program staff to manage and provide coordinated content in the event of
a City-designated emergency event;

27|Page

Page Image
Finance Committee - Agenda - 5/18/2022 - P157

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 1/25/2022 - P19

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:40
Document Date
Tue, 01/25/2022 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 01/25/2022 - 00:00
Page Number
19
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__012520…

Board of Aldermen 01-25-2022 Page 19

Alderman Timmons

Thank you President Wilshire. I’m also going to support the mask mandate. It’s not surprise to anybody that | would not
do this. | have children that works in Elliot and one works at Southern Regional. They were masks all day long. They
see people dying all day long. They say masks work. | believe it works. In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been taking care
of a sick grandchild that had COVID. By the way I’m not COVID free because I’m in a gen study. | have two boosters
already and in the gen study, anybody knows gen is Johnson and Johnson. I’ve been in that study for the last two years.
In the last two years, one of the things they say in the study 1) | can get vaccinations before most people. | got the
second booster already. Who in this room got a second booster already? During my study, they say you need to keep on
wearing a mask. It’s important. So | will be supporting mask mandate because | do believe they do. | go to Mass
General so that’s in Massachusetts and anybody want to follow up on that, that’s why | would support this.

Alderman Cathey

To me, the primary issue is does COVID and more specifically the Omicron variant warrant a mask mandate? If it does,
I’m going to need some people to show their numbers, show their work because the Omicron variant is 91 percent less
likely to kill you compared to Delta. That’s from Kaiser Permanente. A board member and the former FDA Director
recently said that we need to end mask mandates. As we know that we heard before, New York is ending their mask
mandates. England ended their mask mandates. The CDC came out and said natural immunity meets the vax mandate
against Delta. The CDC came out with its own study that said there’s only 1.8 percent change in case rates of people
who wear a mask versus people who do not wear a mask. That means out of 90,000 people who live in Nashua, we’re
trying to protect 1,100 people not from dying, not from going to the hospital, just from catching the case alone maybe. No
other public policy would dictate a mandate over an entire populous over such a small rate of change. It doesn’t make
any sense.

We've already heard that the masks don’t work. The microns of the virus get through. The Board of Health put in a mask
mandate in May of 2020 or June of 2020 — | forget the exact date - | apologize and we had it for a year yet cases still
surged in the winter. This year had a mask mandate — cases still surged. That’s two bites of the apple for a mask
mandate and it didn’t work because it doesn’t work. Mask mandates historically across the world, in multiple cities, in the
US, Europe, wherever you check once a mask mandate is in place, the cases still surge regardless of a mask mandate
because it’s not about the mask. It’s about what the virus does. It’s a virus. It’s going to do what viruses do. It has an
infection rate of 7 to 10 people. If you get Omicron, you’re going to affect likely 7 to 10 people around you. That's like a
measles rate.

So whether you’re vaxxed, whether you have a mask, you’re going to get Omicron. The mask mandate is not the thing.
That’s not the thing that’s going to stop it. It’s a seasonal thing now. We've seen it twice two years. It’s going to go up.
It’s going to come down. So masking is not the one size fits all approach that needs to be used here. Much like a doctor
would not prescribe the same medicine to every patient, or fitness instructor would not prescribe the same routines to
anyone who’s using their health services. It’s all about the individual. It’s all about what they need. We are trying to one
size fits all this and make a mask mandate for an entire city that is unwarranted by the data and | don’t think that it is right
or correct. It’s especially unfair to businesses who have to enforce it either upon their employees or customers who walk
in the door. Thank you.

Alderman Sullivan

Thank you Madam President. We heard a lot tonight. There’s a lot of information out there. I’m going to rely on my eyes
and my ears. My eyes tell me that since we instituted the mask mandate in late December, cases shot through the roof
and now they’re coming back down regardless of the mask mandate. My ears tell me that the city doesn’t want this.
That’s all | need to hear. | think the policy that we set tonight dictates the direction of this city. | think we have to move
away from a culture of mandate and move to a culture of responsibility where we take care of each other.

If you are worried about a bad outcome from COVID, we now have effective vaccines. We have therapeutics. We have
two years going on three years of information. With all due respect to our healthcare workers, to everybody who’s on the
front lines of this, let’s think of everybody that’s been affected by this. There’s been millions of people that have been cast
into poverty because of this pandemic. There are countless people in this city that have lost their jobs because our
economy stopped. Let’s all go back to March, April, and May of 2020. This economy stopped and people lost their jobs.
People are tired. They’ve been vaccinated. They've done what they’ve been told and COVID doesn’t care. It goes up, it
goes down. It goes up, it goes down. I’m going to be voting against extending this tonight and | think we just have to
move to a cultural responsibility. Thank you.

Page Image
Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 1/25/2022 - P19

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 1/25/2022 - P20

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:40
Document Date
Tue, 01/25/2022 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 01/25/2022 - 00:00
Page Number
20
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__012520…

Board of Aldermen 01-25-2022 Page 20
Alderman Klee

Thank you Madam President. Again | have another questions and again it’s probably to Corporate Counsel. The next
time that the Board of Health | believe comes together would be on 2/9. That’s after our February 8". If they decided at
that time that the numbers were coming down and that we could lift this mandate, do we all have to come together or do
we have to wait until the next meeting, or is it something that the Mayor can cancel? We have to come together as a
Board of Aldermen and vote on that. Is that correct?

Steve Bolton, Corporation Counsel

That is correct.
Alderman Klee
Okay, thank you. That answers it.

| just want to make a side comment. I, too, like surveys and | listen to my constituents. The truth is the majority of my
constituents have said they are for it. | can’t say that it’s 99 or 95 percent but | would definitely say a strong majority have
said that they were for. One thing | do find out especially on social media is that people have a tendency to speak out
when they don’t like something or they’re upset by something. Those that are for something such as this mandate feel
bullied and they're afraid to do it.

At the beginning of this pandemic, | think the people that didn’t want to be masked and didn’t want to be vaccinated, they
felt bullied because they would get bullied in grocery stores and so on — put on a mask, put on a mask. | think that the
tables have turned and those that are for masks are feeling bullied. | had a number of people that contacted me and very
specifically said please don’t use my name but | am for it. I’ve had a few other people that said that | could use her name
or forward their e-mail. The truth was | just got tired of everybody being bombarded with e-mails and didn't forward all
these e-mails to all of us but they are. They really do — | think it’s a mixed. | think the city is split and | think we literally
walked around and knocked on every door, we would find that we have a 50/50 within the city. I’m not saying 95/10. |
think really a 50/50 and as such, | think we have a Board of Health. If we don’t listen to them, why have them. Thank you.
| will be voting for it.

Alderman Lopez

| just had a question for Attorney Bolton. A question was made are we receiving grants that are requiring to put this
mandate into effect? I’m not aware of a grant being able to compel aldermen to vote a certain way. Is there anything that
was being alluded to that you’re aware of that would compel members of this Board to vote?

Steve Bolton, Corporation Counsel

There is nothing. The motivation for this is not because we’re compelled by any federal grant. It’s never been brought up
by anyone other than those opposed to this. There were a couple other questions that were asked that | can provide
responses to. Someone said it was telling that no one could provide a response. The fact is, | can fully respond.

One of the questions was by what State Statute do we have the authorization to the Board of Aldermen to enact
something like this. The answer is RSA 47:17 XV which authorizes city councils which in Nashua’s case is the Board of
Aldermen to enact ordinances which they deem to be for the wellbeing of the city. You tested that last year when we had
an ordinance requiring face coverings. We went to court and NH Superior Court upheld this Board’s decision to enact
such an ordinance and cited that provision of State law.

The other Statute that was raised by one of the speakers is RSA 31:5. Chapter 31 is the powers of towns. It’s specifically
not applicable to cities and other municipalities who can appropriate funds through a Board of Aldermen, city council, or
town council. It only applies to towns that appropriate funds by way of a town meeting. 31:5 speaks to such a town
petitioning the Superior Court to enable it, to hold a special town meeting to enable a supplemental appropriation. For
those of you who have been on this Board for any length of time knows that routinely when necessary the Board has the
authority to have meetings where supplemental appropriations are made. That’s not what this ordinance is. There’s no
appropriation in the ordinance at all. So for both of those reasons, RSA 31:5 doesn’t apply at all. Thank you.

Alderman Lopez

| just had a follow up question to - a cultural responsibility was referenced earlier. The earlier mask mandate required

Page Image
Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 1/25/2022 - P20

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 1/25/2022 - P21

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:40
Document Date
Tue, 01/25/2022 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 01/25/2022 - 00:00
Page Number
21
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__012520…

Board of Aldermen 01-25-2022 Page 21
business — well it stipulated that businesses were required to have face masks on all customers, clients, patrons,
whatever. The new mandate that we've recently enforce to emergency 1, it requires businesses to post a sign but it
requires the individuals to be wearing masks. Am | accurate identifying the distinction?

Steve Bolton, Corporation Counsel

There is a distinction. | don’t Know that you’re quoting precisely the language of the prior ordinance as compared to the
one before you today. There is a distinction much as you have outlined.

Alderman Lopez

Thank you.

Alderwoman Kelly

Thank you. | just wanted to respond to a few things that have been said. One of the things that has been asserted is that
we have to listen to our citizens and | agree with that. | 100 percent agree with that. However, we also have the
responsibility to protect those who don’t have a voice or can’t have a voice. My two year old son he is unable to be
vaccinated. He is not here at the Board of Aldermen telling us how he feels about this and you prefer he wouldn't
because he would be destroying the room but he doesn’t have a voice in this and he cannot protect himself right now.
Those are the people — him, and there’s lots of other people we are supporting through this. Someone said in public
comment they almost mocked the idea that one child death is too many. One child death is too many and so is one
grandmother, or one brother, or one friend. Thank you.

Alderman Comeau

Thank you Madam President. | would just like to add my oldest daughter is currently a nurse in a long-term care facility
right here in Nashua. So she’s also on the front lines of this. She opposes the mandate herself. Both my children have
had COVID. So | certainly understand the sensitivities to it. My doctor has also told me that | should lose weight and | still
get to decide whether | want to eat that steak or not. So I’m choosing whether or not to take that advice. When | get on
my motorcycle, | Know the right thing to do is put my helmet on. Sometimes | do, sometimes | don't. | apologize to my
daughter if she’s listening but that’s we have the right to do. We get to choose for ourselves. We should be able to
choose for ourselves on what to do.

As far as listening to the public, | just feel that if members of this body go ahead and vote their conscious against the will
of the people, that’s a disservice to the public and it goes against what they’ve put us here to do for them. Thank you.

Alderman Cathey

Thank you Madam Chairwoman. | have a clarification for Corporation Counsel. Earlier when it was asked the definition of
“business” and if it included churches you were affirmative or negative on that?

Steve Bolton, Corporation Counsel

| said it is the opinion of the Legal Department that the word “business” does not include churches.

Alderman Cathey

Does not include churches. Okay. Thank you.

MOTION BY ALDERMAN CATHEY TO AMEND ORDINANCE O-22-003 TO INCLUDE A PROVISION BETWEEN
NUMBERS 10 AND 11 THAT STATES THAT CHAPTER 1, SECTION 12, OF THE NASHUA REVISED ORDINANCES
REGARDING THE PENALTIES FOR VIOLATION DO NOT APPLY

ON THE QUESTION

Aldermen Clemons

Can the good Alderman or Corporation Counsel explain what that amendment does?

Page Image
Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 1/25/2022 - P21

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 1/25/2022 - P22

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:40
Document Date
Tue, 01/25/2022 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 01/25/2022 - 00:00
Page Number
22
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__012520…

Board of Aldermen 01-25-2022 Page 22

Steve Bolton, Corporation Counsel

The cited section is in your code — your big black book if you will which basically says that the penalty for violation of any
ordinance where no other penalty is specified is a maximum fine of $1,000. So the amendment would basically eliminate
that from having any applicability to the ordinance under consideration.

President Wilshire

Further discussion on the amendment?

Alderman Lopez

Can | request it by roll call?

President Wilshire

You can request a roll call.
A viva voce roll call was taken, which resulted as follows:

Yea: Alderman Sullivan, Alderman Moran, Alderman Clemons,
Alderman Comeau, Alderman Gouveia, Alderman Cathey 6

Nay: Alderman O’Brien, Alderman Klee, Alderman Lopez,

Alderman Jette, Alderwoman Kelly, Alderman Dowd,

Alderman Thibeault, Alderwoman Timmons, Alderman Wilshire 9
MOTION FAILED

Alderman Thibeault

Yeah | have of points. One clarification. Just to make sure. | said 95 percent of the e-mails | was getting from my Ward
not 95 percent of my Ward. | don’t want my Ward 8 freaking out. I’m getting more — like | said, 95 percent of my e-mails
and probably most of the people | talk to have said they are for the extension. So | don’t know if it’s just the part of the
city, is it the specific people I’m talking to? I’m trying to talk to anybody. It doesn’t matter political party. It doesn’t really
matter. Id’ like to talk to everybody in my Ward if | could and | got almost 10,000 people or over 10,000. You can’t get to
everybody but that’s what I’m kind of getting. | just wanted to clarify that.

Alderman Lopez

It’s worth noting some people may not have noticed it because it’s very subtle but a large number of the e-mails that we
received very early this year were actually a form bot. All of the e-mails were identical. People’s names were inserted
into it, in caps sometimes, and sometimes multiple times. Additionally, | do look at the e-mails that come through
specifically to see who’s weighing in from Ward 4 that | might not know or may not have reached out to me before. None
of the ones that | received that were forwarded to the Board at large were from Ward 4. The majority of them were not
from Nashua.

Alderman Thibeault

Sorry. | remember what | was going to say. So one of the Ward 8 people that | did talk to wanted me to mention this. I’m
just going to throw it out there. If the Athletic Director is listening if we could have — | agree that kids playing sports inside
— basketball if they could take down their masks to play because they’re running back and forth, back and forth. | think it’s
taking a lot of them air out of their lungs. | wish at least that we could do. | know we can’t debate on it but | would like to
just throw that out there because | think that’s a concern. It’s not an outdoor sport where you can kind of get the air.
Thank you.

Alderman Comeau

It may shock him as much as it shocks me but | agree with Alderman Thibeault. | just watched my son wrestle in a mask
and | don’t know how they do it.

Page Image
Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 1/25/2022 - P22

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 1/25/2022 - P23

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:40
Document Date
Tue, 01/25/2022 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 01/25/2022 - 00:00
Page Number
23
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__012520…

Board of Aldermen 01-25-2022 Page 23

As far as the Facebook comments that | made earlier, | was trying to do some due diligence in reaching out to the public.
I’ve listened to many meetings going back months regarding a lot of topics. It seems like there’s always been mention of
sentiment on Facebook one group or the other, polls, public opinion surveys. | would find it interesting if this was the topic
that we were supposed to discount the opinion of people on social media where we give weight to that voice on other
topics.

Like | said earlier, I'm not going to rehash everything that | said because we'll all be here til midnight. We shouldn't be
debating the science whether masks work, whether they don’t. That’s really outside of our purview. The only thing that |
keep coming back to is whether we should be mandating them. You can believe that masks work. You can want to wear
a mask. You can want everyone else to wear a mask and still be against a mandate. That’s more or less where | fall.
Like | said, my daughter is in the healthcare field. We wear them when we have to and then we don’t wear them when
you don't have to. It should be everyone’s individual choice to do that on their own without being told that they’ve had that
voice taken away from them. Thank you.

Alderwoman Timmons

Yes thank you President Wilshire. Is it possible to move the question because it’s just going around and around.

MOTION BY ALDERMAN TIMMONS TO MOVE THE QUESTION
MOTION CARRIED

MOTION BY ALDERMAN O’BRIEN FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF 0O-22-003, BY ROLL CALL
A viva voce roll call was taken, which resulted as follows:
Yea: Alderman O’Brien, Alderman Klee, Alderman Moran, Alderman Lopez,

Alderman Jette, Alderwoman Kelly, Alderman Dowd,

Alderman Thibeault, Alderwoman Timmons, Alderman Wilshire 10

Nay: Alderman Sullivan, Alderman Clemons, Alderman Comeau,
Alderman Gouveia, Alderman Cathey 5

MOTION CARRIED
Ordinance O-22-003 declared duly adopted.

PERIOD FOR GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT

Laurie Ortolano

Laurie Ortolano, 41 Berkeley Street. Just a couple things. Thank you for your thoughtful discussion tonight on the mask
mandate. | certainly was a proponent of lifting it and it doesn’t really bother me because | know that our surrounding
communities are available to go to to do your business. | choose to do that and then | don’t have to use the mask. | have
been a mask wearer very avidly and a big supporter of it but | changed my views about six weeks ago and | don’t use it
anymore because | did research on my own. | really feel that it’s not the right thing. | appreciate the thoughtful discussion.

| would like to address Alderman Moran. When you talk about the responsibilities we carry because of our hospitals, | think
it's unfair to put that on Nashua people. These hospitals are supported by all these other communities. It’s a regional
hospital. I’m not responsible for what goes on in the hospital and | can’t do anything about it. We as citizens don’t get any
data on the hospitals. Nothing comes to us with any consistency at all. Apparently it goes to the city but they don’t put it out
to us. All these surrounding towns don’t have ordinances and they put their people there. So | don’t understand why I’m
responsible for the Nashua hospitals or | have to feel badly because I’m not doing enough. When you leave restaurants,
bars, casinos, and clubs open, and those were where contract tracing showed when we did that that there was an issue.
Then what’s the point? | don't think kids doing sports doing sports should be in masks at all. | think it’s more harmful to their
health.

This is a business owner — Buckley. We have SURF and MPs on the top — mask required. Three miles away, we got the
two other restaurants in Hollis and in Merrimack. Come in without out. Is that a business owner that doesn’t care and isn’t
responsible to his duties to protect everyone in the hospitals? Should this business owner be doing business here to do
that? That’s what you put the business owners in. Now there’s a few stores I’ve gone in to Nashua, and | do mean very few,
and they actually let me not wear a mask. | went into a pet store and | literally was putting my mask on and the ladies said

Page Image
Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 1/25/2022 - P23

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 1/25/2022 - P24

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:40
Document Date
Tue, 01/25/2022 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 01/25/2022 - 00:00
Page Number
24
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__012520…

Board of Aldermen 01-25-2022 Page 24

you’re the only one in here. You don't have to put it on. | don't feel like I’m breaking any big rules and | was literally the only
one in there. | went to another business, small one, the owner doesn’t wear a mask at all. He said you don’t have to wear a
mask. | don't wear a mask.

Alderman O’Brien

Thirty seconds.

Laurie Ortolano

| did it that way. Our data is coming down and the Mayor is not giving us the kind of information we deserve. You cancelled
in the last five meetings on masks, you cancelled public input three times. Two Board of Health meetings cancelled and one
Board of Aldermen meeting cancelled on masks. You want to know why people send e-mails that maybe are not so nice,
because you cancel us out. I’m okay with this mandate. I’m not going to fight it.

Alderman O’Brien

Time.

Laurie Ortolano

| have other places to go. Thank you.
Sara Dobbins

Hi, my name is Sara Dobbins. |’m at 1 Gettysburg Drive in Ms. Klee’s Ward | believe, right? | just want to start by saying
that | have a whole bunch of neighbors and we were not of the like mind. | understand that these Wards are huge and
they're encompassing a lot of people and | get that. My thoughts are a little scattered. | sat here and listened to the whole
meeting with an open mind. | tried to be as open as | could about it. I’m a mother of two. One in the Nashua school system.
| just tonight went to pick her up and there’s — sorry I’m having difficulty regulating my breath with this and being anxious but
beside the point, right? So | pick her up and there’s dividers on the cafeteria tables. | had no idea. | e-mail my Principal
prior and they said it was something that had been done last year and carried over into this year but there was no notification
that that was being done. | get precautions need to be taken but where is the communication?

On that vein of thought, | want to thank this Alderman. | am so sorry that | do not know your name. | only know a few, a
handful as I’ve been journeying my path of getting to know how the city politics work better. That’s basically my goal of
attending all of these meetings. Not all of yours but the meetings that | have been attending.

| just wanted to say thank you for the opportunity to shed voice on it because quite honestly as I’ve attended meetings, I’ve
seen more outrage about public comment being taken out than compliments or instances of public comment being given or
an opportunity for that to be given. | wonder is there a better more constructive way to get the input of the public so that we
can have these silent majorities that everybody is discussing to be able to input in a way that they feel less bullied. Sorry for
my — I’m just trying to be quick. | think that everybody should have a voice. You're right, everybody should have a voice. So
let’s find ways to do that. Is that not our job here in this committee as a whole?

So moving on, | wanted to say thank you for collecting any data and | hope that even a couple hundred voices means
something versus thousands because | do know that some of the groups that that poll was posted in had 15,000 members.
So you can’t tell me that it was all one way or the other but only 300 decided to participate.

Alderman O’Brien

Thirty seconds.
Sara Dobbins

Blew my mind. If no things will change, why are we mandating? | hear a lot of talk about a lot of stuff. If you don’t’ want it to
beat the efficacy because you can’t find anything on the internet, how are people getting information to, for, against, or
whatever to back up a mandate? It makes no sense. | heard way too many cases of vaccinated individuals passing onto
unvaccinated people. I’m an example of this and my infant son who is five months had COVID and it was brought into our
house that way.

Page Image
Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 1/25/2022 - P24

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 1/25/2022 - P25

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:40
Document Date
Tue, 01/25/2022 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 01/25/2022 - 00:00
Page Number
25
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__012520…

Board of Aldermen 01-25-2022 Page 25

Alderman O’Brien

Time.
Sara Dobbins
Thank you. Sorry. | wish | could say more.

President Wilshire

Anyone else in the chamber that wants to give comment? I’m going to go to the people on Zoom.
Beth Scaer

Hi. It’s Beth Scaer, 111 East Hobart Street. | wanted to just tell Alderman Thibeault that the mask ordinance does apply to
age two and up and I’m disappointed that he didn’t read the ordinance before voting to extend it. | think it’s innumane to do
that to little kids and to the parents trying to care for them.

Also hopefully the Mayor is listening. One of the cases he cited for taking down my (inaudible) and sports flag off the he
citizen flag pole was the case of Boston taking down or refusing to fly a Christian flag on city hall plaza and | wanted to let
him know that that case is in the Supreme Court and it’s not looking good for Boston. If Boston loses, | will likely be seeing
him in court to get my (inaudible) sports flag back up there on the citizens’ flag pole. Thank you.

Sonia Prince

Hi, I’m Sonia Prince, 49 Tufts Drive. | just wanted to thank everybody on the Board for listening to the health professionals,
for listening to the science. A lot of Aldermen spoke to the most vulnerable who don’t have a voice — the little ones, our
seniors or may or may not be on Facebook, and on these big Facebook groups (inaudible) who are not from Nashua. So it’s
not really a good sample but yet all the e-mails help but very few people are active to send e-mails which is unfortunate
90,000 people, we should have more people. The same thing during municipal elections — a lot of people don't vote. It is
what it is. But just to say that 50 e-mails do not represent the whole city. | appreciate you doing the right thing and looking
out for the most vulnerable and our medical community. Thank you so much.

Chris Parks

Hey I'd like to thank especially some of the new Aldermen that got elected tonight in voting to end the mandate. | moved
here from California so | can to the Live Free or Die State to where | would be free to make my own choices. Apparently we
can't do that. I’m really not even mad because I’m not going to comply or pay attention to it. You can’t do anything to me and
| really don’t care.

| would like to congratulate the ones — the 9 or 10 — that did vote to extend it to continue to legislate yourself and significance.
| will continue to shop in Nashua because | care about Nashua business. | care about the small businesses in our
community. They don’t have a choice that they fall under your little made up rules. | just don’t acknowledge your mandate.
There is one thing I'd like Ms. Klee asked the question about churches and private schools. | (inaudible) said no searches
but they said that private schools do stand a chance of falling under it. My kids go to private school because of some of the
things that have been enacted via the Board of Education and the Nashua Teachers’ Union. | pay for that and if you think
that you or any of you all are going to try to come in and force something in a private school in Nashua, get ready for a fight
because that’s when you're going to see my indifference turn to anger.

My entire family just had COVID like three weeks ago. The best we can figure out is that | got it from a double vaxxed and
booster individual. So yeah the vaccine is doing fantastic. So you know it was great. | was really worried considering they
had a fever for about six hours and | had a fever for about twelve. Really terrifying. So | tell you | congratulate the new
Aldermen. Thank you. You did a fantastic job tonight minus mine. | don’t Know who you talked to in Ward 8 Thibeault but
it's not anybody | know. So maybe you should expand your group. All right. Thanks have a great night. Bye.

Matthew Gouthro

Thank you Madam President. Matthew Gouthro, 104 Fawn Lane. | wanted to thank you for allowing public comment for this
mask ordinance. Although I’m disappointed with the outcome of this vote, it means a lot that you’re finally listening to your
constituents. It’s a bad look when you legislate these items like you have in the past without zero public comment. You the
one thing | heard repeated over and over again by our elected Aldermen tonight is why do we have a Board of Health if we

Page Image
Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 1/25/2022 - P25

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 1/25/2022 - P26

By dnadmin on Mon, 11/07/2022 - 07:40
Document Date
Tue, 01/25/2022 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 01/25/2022 - 00:00
Page Number
26
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__012520…

Board of Aldermen 01-25-2022 Page 26

don't listen to them. | must say to that comment as |, and Laurie Ortolano, and many others have said that the Board of
Health does not offer public input. If our Board of Health doesn't listen to our residents and stakeholders, why do we even
have a Board of Health? Thank you.

Justin Rosenberg

Thank you Madam President. Justin Rosenberg, 30 Kessler Farm Drive. I'd just like to say thank you for actually allowing
public comment during this meeting. We should not have any other meetings where public comment is not allowed. | hope
this is the last instance that we have this issue.

To the Aldermen that voted no on this ordinance, the citizens of Nashua and | we thank you for your recent vote and we
remember these things at the ballot box. Thank you.

Linda Harriott-Gathright

Thank you Madam President. First | want to send condolences to Donna Graham and her family. | didn’t get information but
hopefully we can send out information that we might be able to send cards or something of that nature because she was
instrumental in my success within the Board of Aldermen.

| also want to thank the Board for their commitment today to continue with the mask ordinance. So I’m happy about that
vote. Until the next meeting, thank you.

Alicia Houston

Thank you. Alicia Houston, 139 Westwood Drive. I’ve heard a lot of talk about the Board of Health and | appreciate the new
Aldermen who (inaudible) position of extending this mandate. It’s unfortunate that the others have voted for it because it
doesn’t seem to me like you're actually listening to the total population. | did want to mention something that in November |
had actually sent a Right to Know request to Ms. Bagley who is the Director of Public Health system here in Nashua. There
was question one — does Nashua, New Hampshire, isolate this SARS-CoV 2 virus from all other viruses in testing? Ms.
Bagley responded and | quote, “In response to question one, Nashua Division of Health and Community Services does not
isolate SARS-CoV 2 virus. We don’t have lab capacity to do this type of work. Therefore (inaudible) any documentation that
states we isolate for a (inaudible) virus.” So for those who have voted in favor with the Board of Health, | would like to
remind you not just that Ms. Bagley has come across and literally said we do not isolate the virus, you have another Board of
Health of member who's on vacation in a different country where they’ve been for two months, and you have another one
who is a dentist.

President Wilshire

Okay, that looks like it wraps up our public comment period.
REMARKS BY THE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN

Alderman Thibeault

Yeah | have a few. | appreciate that me and Alderman Comeau actually agree on something. That’s a start | guess. |
apologize to Ms. Scaer. | know the mandate. | just for some reason thought it was five years and up so thank you for
clarifying that. That is all on me.

To clarify Facebook, I’m not against people doing informal polls. It’s more that social media sometimes you don’t know if
it’s that person or like somebody said, you don’t know where somebody lives. You don’t know whose following that site
and not site. So to me it’s just not — the information just isn’t’ as good as talking to people on the phone, or seeing an e-
mail from someone you know, or someone in your Ward that you can verify. One thing | wish is that the public comment
for that public hearing was explained why. | don’t think people understood — the citizens didn’t understand why there
ended up being no public comment last time where as opposed to this time, there is. This is because it’s a regular Board
meeting. There’s two public comments. One for the agenda and one for anything they want to talk about. The other one
was a public hearing. Very different and because there was a second reading right away | believe, they went into voting.
| wish that was more explained to citizens that were outraged about no public comment.

| talked to a lot of people in Ward 8 and I’m sorry if Mr. Parks feels differently. He was a candidate prior. | knew exactly
where he stood so | didn’t need to talk to him. | knew he was anti-mask. He said on many Facebook pages before he
was never going to wear one. So why would | need to talk to him about it. | knew his answer. Like I’ve said, I’ve spoken

Page Image
Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 1/25/2022 - P26

Pagination

  • First page « First
  • Previous page ‹‹
  • …
  • Page 175
  • Page 176
  • Page 177
  • Page 178
  • Current page 179
  • Page 180
  • Page 181
  • Page 182
  • Page 183
  • …
  • Next page ››
  • Last page Last »

Search

Meeting Date
Document Date

Footer menu

  • Contact