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LEGISLATIVE YEAR 2022

RESOLUTION: R-22-056
PURPOSE: Relative to the transfer of Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal

Recovery Funds established by the American Rescue Plan Act
“ARPA” and FY2022 supplemental appropriations in the

amount of $14,500,000
SPONSOR(S): Mayor Jim Donchess
COMMITTEE
ASSIGNMENT: Budget Review Committee
FISCAL NOTE: This resolution utilizes the ARPA funds as revenue

replacement to fund the “provision of government services”
allowable expenses.

ANALYSIS

This resolution authorizes a transfer of estimated revenues and appropriations from the ARPA
Grant Fund into the FY2022 City General Fund as revenue replacement to fund the “provision of
government services” allowable expenses. Recognizing that the City of Nashua experienced lost
revenue in excess of $14,500,000 due to the Coronavirus pandemic, $14,500,000 in salaries and
wages paid out of the Nashua Police Department FY 2022 operating budget was selected as the
costs associated with the provision of government services that will be reported to the U.S.
Treasury in compliance with the ARPA rules. Then, available FY2022 funds are supplementally
appropriated into the accounts/projects shown in the resolution.

Charter Sec. 53 permits specific non-budget, supplementary appropriations. There should be
notice and a public hearing. A two-thirds vote is required under Charter Sec. 56-b for an item or
amount not in the mayor’s budget. A roll call is required under Charter Sec. 49.

Approved as to account Financial Services Division

structure, numbers, / S /John L Griffin
and amount: By: ,

Approved as to form: Office of Corporation Counsel

By: oh Cle Pe
Date: 5 On: Rod TOA

A regular meeting of the Board of Aldermen was held Tuesday, August 9, 2022, at 7:30 p.m. in the aldermanic chamber
and via Zoom teleconference which meeting link can be found on the agenda and on the City’s website calendar.

President Lori Wilshire presided; City Clerk Daniel Healey recorded.

President Wilshire

I'd like to welcome our new City Clerk Dan Healey. Thank you for being here tonight. Welcome.
Prayer was offered by City Clerk Daniel Healey; Alderman Thomas Lopez led in the Pledge to the Flag.
Let’s start the meeting by taking a roll call attendance. If you are participating via Zoom, please state your presence, reason

for not attending the meeting in person, and whether there is anyone in the room with you during this meeting, which is
required under the Right-To-Know Law.

The roll call was taken with 13 members of the Board of Aldermen present: Alderman O’Brien, Alderman Sullivan,
Alderman Klee, Alderman Moran, Alderman Lopez, Alderman Jette, Alderman Clemons, Alderwoman Kelly, Alderman
Dowd, Alderman Caron, Alderman Thibeault, Alderwoman Timmons, Alderman Wilshire.

Alderman Comeau and Alderman Gouveia were recorded absent.

Mayor James W. Donchess, Corporation Counsel Steve Bolton, were also in attendance.

REMARKS BY THE MAYOR

Mayor Donchess

Yes, Madam President. Well first, | wanted to join you in welcoming City Clerk Healey to our meeting. We're fortunate to
have him and I'm looking forward, of course, to working with him over the years.

Madam President | wanted to say that the city, and | think most of the Aldermen know about this, the city's AAA bond
rating was reaffirmed by Standard and Poor recently. They cited many good qualities about the city - our economy,
residents, but also our strong financial performance, and conservative money management practices. So | want to
congratulate John Griffin, CFO/City Treasurer and our financial staff for helping us achieve that distinction.

Paul Sullivan now is the Chief Assessor for the city. He has extensive experience in Massachusetts in Brockton where he
worked, | think, 15 years as well as in Avon, which is a smaller community. He's looking forward to the work to be done
here. We will make sure that he comes in to meet you sometime in the very near future.

Next Madam President, | wanted to mention something that we or the congressional delegation Region One of EPA
announced yesterday they have awarded the Nashua Regional Planning Commission $500,000 of brownfields funds.
These are funds which are used to investigate, usually investigate, and to some extent cleanup environmental issues that
are not so severe to be a superfund site but which impair the ability to build on or develop a particular parcel of land. This
is important because we have the NIMCO site, which we now actually own after many years of litigation. We are going to
be asking the Regional Planning Commission to allocate some of those funds to help us do further assessment on that
building. They have allocated $25,000 of brownfield funds in the past to do Phase 1 and 2 environmental studies but
more work needs to be done to assess the cost of cleanup and clearing the site.

And finally Madam President, | wanted to mention to you and the Board of Aldermen an interesting project that Public
Works is involved in with a local company. You may know or maybe not, a company GSSI on Simon Street. They are a
company that employs about 70 people, and their expertise, and they're highly technical - their expertise is developing
equipment that uses radar to look below the surface of something. It could be asphalt, concrete in a construction site, it
can be an archaeological site, can be a polar cap, many different applications. They do have currently equipment that can
after the fact, after pavement is laid down, measure the “compaction” it's called of pavement. A slight difference in
compaction. The difference between say 91% and 96% can mean a great deal in terms of how long the asphalt lasts,
how long the pavement stays down. So what they are trying to develop is, and they’re well along with it, is a piece of
equipment that you can mount on a roller so that the operator of the roller can determine in real time by looking at a
screen what the level of compaction is of the asphalt that the operator is rolling. In using that application if they saw that
well it's, you know, it's 91%, they might do a little more and make it 95.

Board of Aldermen 08-09-2022 Page 2

So we have our working with Public Works has introduced them to our current paving contractor Sunshine Paving. They
have the contract for the current year and | believe they will be installing the GSSI equipment on their rollers to experiment
with the possibility of using this in real time to develop further develop the equipment and the technology.

Now in meeting with the people | asked - | mean this is a big market. | asked how much does the United States spend on
paving every year? Now my recollection, | mean it was in the trillions. | think it was $3 trillion. If not, it was $2 trillion.
Trillions of dollars are spent in the US paving every year. So if our local company can develop expertise that will enable
all of the units of government to achieve a higher level or a better level of compaction - if it's too high, that's not good.
Ninety-nine would not be good, too brittle. But if they can develop this technology that could be applied across the whole
country and beyond, it would be good for all units of government and also certainly good for their company and their job
base. So | thought that was an interesting story and | wanted to let you know about it. And that's all | have Madam
President.

RESPONSE TO REMARKS OF THE MAYOR

Alderman Klee

Thank you. Mr. Mayor | wanted to tell you that | had spoken to Mr. Sullivan quickly because he and my husband hail from
the same location. The only thing | said to him was as long as he's living there, he needs to bring us Cape Cod Pizza. It's
just a must. So only the linquica one. That’s my favorite. But it sounds like he's really excited about the job and we’re
lucky I think to have him here. So thank you.

President Wilshire

Anyone else? Seeing none.

RECOGNITION PERIOD — None

READING MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS

There being no objection, President Wilshire declared the minutes of the regular and special Board of Aldermen
meetings of May 10, May 23, May 24, and July 25, 2022 be accepted, placed on file, and the reading suspended.

COMMUNICATIONS REQUIRING ONLY PROCEDURAL ACTIONS AND WRITTEN REPORTS FROM LIAISONS

From: William Atkinson, Assistant Fire Chief
Re: Nashua Fire Rescue’s Second Quarter Run Report

From: Jeff Poehnert, PEG Manager
Re: Zoom Meetings

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

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

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

Laura Colquhoun

Laura Colquhoun, 30 Greenwood Drive. I'm here tonight to tell the city officials that as a taxpayer I'm angry. It seems like
the Board of Aldermen have forgotten they were elected to represent the Nashua residents and now the Board feels like
they do not have to listen to the residents. The city just turned over the management of the PEG television station to a
new team. So the first thing they do is they want to shut down the Zoom for Nashua residents which is what Lord Wilshire
wants. The PEG TV just got an increase in the 2023 budget and it states that it's going to cost an additional $11,000 to
have residents be on Zoom. Well to me, that's not a lot of money seeing how our officials are spending $25 million on the
PAC, $30 million on the Riverfront, $12 million on the new DPW building, and $118 million on school projects. Let's not
forget that the Board actually paid an Alderman’s salary when they didn't show up for work, but what the hell it was our
money not theirs.

Board of Aldermen 08-09-2022 Page 3

| have aclassic idea. If the city wants to shut down the Zoom for residents, instead of shutting it down shut it down for
everybody. Period. Tell the city employees to get back to work in the newly renovated City Hall. The Nashua taxpayers
should not forget that Lord Wilshire actually shut down the Zoom meeting in the middle of a meeting because she felt the
residents were too vocal in their beliefs. Lord Wilshire is clearly one that does not want to hear from taxpayers even
though we're paying her salary.

| find it funny that our Mayor calls the City of Nashua a welcoming city for everybody but their taxpayers. Mayor’s motto to
the taxpayer is just shut up and pay your property taxes. It is said there that our current Mayor and the Board of Aldermen
do not want the Nashua taxpayers to participate in their government. Instead, the city officials just want to be able to
shove their spending down our throats with no question asked by taxpayers. If this Board wants to shut down Zoom, shut
it down for everybody. Why should Nashua taxpayers pay for something that they cannot use? Thank you.

Karen Bill

Good evening. Karen Bill, 95 Parnell Place. | echo a lot of what Laura said because | think that Zoom is a vital part of
people calling in, especially people who can't get into City Hall for whatever reasons - if they have a disability or they just
can't sit here for four to six hours. | Know that it's even being used by members of the horseshoe here when they can't be
present at a meeting whether they're out of town, or State, or home with some illness, or challenges.

| think that we're forgetting that, you Know, the democratic process is one that involves and welcomes opposing views,
different views. You know if two people in the same company always have the same ideas, one of them isn't necessary.
You want to have thriving conversation so that ideas get presented. That's the way it happens - open minds, open
conversation, open discussion about things, and actually listening to each other instead of thinking oh, yeah, here's that
person, you know, in the audience who's coming up, or there's that person on Zoom because you know, the body
language from people is very evident when some people speak whether it is on Zoom or here. There are some really
regular people who call in on Zoom. | think, again, that the cost drop in the bucket compared to all these other projects. If
only Laura the PAC was $20 million. It's probably going to be 40 by the time it's done. But you really have to think about,
again, if the city employees can use it, the public should be able to use it. It shouldn't be an avenue. It's been a
successful avenue for people to call in...

Donna Graham, Legislative Affairs Manager

One minute.

Karen Bill

...for whatever reason. So | would encourage you to take a harder look at it and not just do away with it. If there's more
discussion or some ideas to be had, or cost saving, something, you know, involve some more people but it shouldn't be
shut down tonight. | don't think it's fair to the people that need it, and rely on it, and really participate because of it, and it's
the only way that they do. Thank you very much.

Matthew Gouthro

Thank you. Can you hear me?

President Wilshire

Yes.

Mathew Gouthro

Matthew Gouthro, 104 Fawn Lane in Nashua. On this week's agenda, the Board of Aldermen there's an ambiguous
language about discussing concerning public participation in city meetings via Zoom. Word around the city is that tonight
you will discuss eliminating future public participation in all meetings via Zoom.

| first want to thank Alderman Comeau, Gouveia, Klee, and Sullivan for personally addressing my concerns on this topic. |
wish | could have heard from many more of you, including the Mayor but as one Alderman told me they rarely respond to
residents who don't reside in their Ward yet you make decisions on the Board of Aldermen that impact every Ward in the
City of Nashua. So communicating with the Board of Aldermen via phone or email, including the representative in my own
Ward, may be an available tool but ineffective if only a few members wish to participate it with that actively.

Board of Aldermen 08-09-2022 Page 4

The Zoom and other web based platforms are effective engagement tools used in public meetings by cities and States all
over this nation. Remote participation is the best way to keep our public engaged. New Hampshire's Right to Know laws
support the use of Zoom to expand the mechanism for public participation. Our neighbor to the south, the Commonwealth
of Massachusetts, has enacted legislation to allow Zoom to be used in all of their public meetings. The decision to shut
down Zoom participation for our residents will disenfranchise those residents with mobility, health concerns, the working
public, even those with small children who can't attend these meetings in person. For example, | was planning to speak
with you today in person but because | tested positive for COVID over the weekend | appreciate this opportunity to
address you remotely and not putting anyone at risk and City Hall. These technical issues are just an excuse and the
costs to make any improvements are nominal, if any. With a city of this size...

Donna Graham, Legislative Affairs Manager

One minute.

Matthew Gouthro

...we should not have crippling issues with Zoom. | conduct Zoom meetings in my professional role with hundreds of
people on a weekly basis. If our IT Department can handle a turnkey product like Zoom, I'm afraid to even ask how our
public records are being archived.

At the end of the day, I'm a big fan of open government and appreciate anytime we can give engagement tools to our
residents to participate in what's happening in our great city.

Donna Graham, Legislative Affairs Manager

30 seconds.

Matthew Gouthro

| wish more of our representatives on the Board of Aldermen felt the same way. Too many times I've seen opportunities
for public comment, debated, and even disallowed. For me, one time is too many. These self-serving attitudes when it
comes to public engagement has no place in representing the will of the people of this great city. | humbly request that
you take this engagement tool and keep it here with our residents. Consider keeping our city government here in Nashua
open and transparent. Thank you for your consideration and continued support of our residents here in Nashua

Tim Sennott
Hi, can you hear me all right.

President Wilshire

Yes.
Tim Sennott

Thank you. Tim Sennott, 62 Underhill Street in Nashua. | also mentioned tonight that I'm the Moderator of Ward 7. The
reason | mentioned that is because over the past month, we've had the two largest governmental bodies in the city - the
Board of Aldermen and the Board of Education, have to take it upon themselves to conduct a process to replace members
of the Board where vacancies have arisen. Once upon a time, this would be done via a special election but a couple of
years ago, it was the determined and agreed upon by majority of city voters that this was too costly of an expenditure
given the amount of turnout. | bring this up because as a Moderator who conducts the elections in our city, I'm in
excessive favor of anything that encourages increased participation in the government processes that affect our city. You
know | do agree that $35,000 for a special election for 157 people in one Ward to show out is a little excessive. I'd like it
to be continued but unfortunately the turnout for the cost is too low.

However if there's a silver lining from the COVID pandemic, | think that it has been the ability to use the technology at our
disposal in the 2020s to increase the public participation in what goes on at City Hall. | think whatever expenditures might
be needed to increase that participation or continue that increased participation be very worthwhile endeavors for the City
to pursue. | understand that there are some management issues at play in terms of the special skills needed to facilitate
these Zoom meetings as they’re broadcast on the public access television.

Board of Aldermen 08-09-2022 Page 5

Donna Graham, Legislative Affairs Manager

One minute.

Tim Sennott

| also understand that there may be costs associated with ensuring that the technology is kept up to speed to match the
demands of the public. As somebody who you all Know, would normally be there if not for circumstances beyond my
control in one of the first two rows there tonight, I'm thankful for the opportunity to still be able to come and address you
tonight through this means where prior to the implementation of Zoom...

Donna Graham, Legislative Affairs Manager

30 seconds.

Tim Sennott

..-or, you know, Microsoft teams or whatever, | wouldn't be able to. So | hope that the conversation tonight can
lead us towards something that can continue the use of these technologies because | do think they're a worthwhile

expenditure for the city. | think they've gone a long way in increasing participation at City Hall. Thank you.

President Wilshire

Thank you.
Laurie Ortolano

HI. Laurie Ortolano, 41. Berkeley Street. I'd like to speak in favor of maintaining Zoom as a platform and interface for
public to participate in all of your meetings. Right to Know New Hampshire is a big supporter of this interface and most of
the legislation we backed last year contained language to maintain or expand Zoom as an interface for communities to
grow their participation. Mr. Gouthro was correct in the legislation that was enacted in Massachusetts to expand it and |
know the New England First Amendment Coalition is strongly behind using this platform to increase community
participation.

| think when | read the letter on the costs, | think it's pretty nominal given all of the items in the budget and the type of
programming we're doing in this city to allow that interface to, you know, improve and be maintained. | would certainly like
to see that Zoom interface brought over to the schools side. Frankly, their meetings don't have it and that is rather
shocking. | don't think their participation is as good as it would it be if they had Zoom because they run their meetings at 6
o'clock, which is a very difficult family time if you're doing dinner. | know many people who haven't come out to school
meetings because of their family commitments to have a meal on the table and that's the population that does have kids.
If they want to have a family meal, it's right at dinner time.

So I'd like to see Zoom expanded. I'd like to see the investment made into it and I'd like to see the Board understand the
benefits you've gotten from it because | think we've had quite a few older citizens dial in...

Donna Graham, Legislative Affairs Manager

One minute.

Laurie Ortolano

...t0 participate because, you know, it was a lot easier than them coming out and particularly in a New England climate in
the winter and the cold. Zoom affords everyone a really awesome avenue to be part of a meeting. So | hope that you
would support continuing the use of it and embrace the broader involvement you get in your public meetings through that
interface. Thank you.

President Wilshire

| don't see anyone else. We'll move along.

COMMUNICATIONS REQUIRING FINAL APPROVAL

Board of Aldermen 08-09-2022 Page 6

From: Tim Cummings, Economic Development Director
Re: ARPA Funding Framework

MOTION BY ALDERMAN LOPEZ TO APPROVE OF THE COMMUNICATION SUBMITTED BY DIRECTOR
CUMMINGS ON MAY 17, 2022 FOR THE USE OF ARPA FUNDS AS “REVENUE REPLACEMENT”, WHICH WILL
ALLOW FOR THE FOLLOWING INITATIVES, PROJECTS OR EQUIPMENT TO BE PURSUDED: $10,000,000 FOR
THE HOUSING TRUST FUND; $500,000 FOR THE BACK-UP SERVER (IT); $850,000 FOR FIRE
EQUIPMENT/ALARM; $650,000 FOR POLICE RECORD MANAGEMENT AND GATE; $600,000 FOR MAIN STREET
STUDY & WEST HOLLIS STREET STUDY; $1,500,000 FOR THE LIBRARY PARK PROJECT; $600,000 FOR THE
OPTICON SYSTEM; AND $200,000 FOR THE ARPA PROGRAM SUPPORT AND FURTHER REQUEST DIRECTOR
CUMMINGS TO RETURN TO THE HUMAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE AND PROVIDE UPDATES PERIODICALLY

ON THE QUESTION

Alderman Clemons

Thank you Madam President. | believe that I'm going to ask that the maker of the motion amend it by saying $10 million
for the Housing Trust Fund and $1.5 million for the Library Park project. | think he might have misread those.

Alderman Lopez

He did and he regretted that. $10 million to the Housing Trust Fund and 500 what was the other one?

Alderman Clemons

$1.5 million for the Library Park Project.

Alderman Lopez

And $1,500,000 for the Library Park Project.

President Wilshire

Thank you Alderman Lopez.

Alderwoman Kelly

I'll Keep this brief. This came to Human Affairs twice and we had really good background and all of these. So | obviously
am very excited for the $10 million for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund but these other projects are also very deserving.
| think that they all did a good job explaining what this is going to be used for.

Alderman Clemons

Thank you. | am in support of most of this. I'm not a fan of the million and a half for the Library Park project. | think that
that money could be spent somewhere else. For those reasons, I'm gonna vote no one on this legislation.

President Wilshire

Further discussion? Seeing none.
MOTION CARRIED

From: Tim Cummings, Economic Development Director
Re: Communication — Approval & Place on File a Contract for Professional Engineering Services related to the
Nashua Downtown Riverfront Implementation Project with H.L. Turner Group

MOTION BY ALDERMAN KLEE TO APPROVE THE FIRST PHASE ON THE SPECIFIC DETAILS OF THE
CANTILEVERED BOARDWALKS TO H.L. TURNER GROUP IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $404,340. FUNDING
WILL BE THROUGH THE TIF ACCOUNT CREATED TO IMPLEMENT THE DOWNTOWN RIVERFRONT PROJECT
MOTION CARRIED

Board of Aldermen 08-09-2022 Page 7

From: Mayor Jim Donchess
Re: ESRI GIS Enterprise Agreement Renewal in the amount not to exceed $115,308 funded from 54407 Software
Maintenance/General Fund

MOTION BY ALDERMAN MORAN TO APPROVE THE RENEWAL OF THE GIS ENTERPRISE LICENSE AND
ANNUAL AGREEMENT FOR THREE YEARS BETWEEN THE CITY OF NASHUA, PENNICHUCK CORPORATION,
AND ESRI IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $115,308. FUNDING WILL BE THROUGH: DEPARTMENT: 106
ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES; FUND: 54407 SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE/GENERAL FUND

MOTION CARRIED

From: Lori Wilshire, President, Board of Aldermen
Re: Zoom meetings

MOTION BY ALDERMAN O’BRIEN TO APPROVE TERMINATING THE PUBLIC ACCESS TO ZOOM MEETINGS

ON THE QUESTION

Alderman O’Brien

Thank you. This is what I’m saying is pretty radical. | heard exactly what the people had spoken about and what have
said but | copy and | mirror what is good for the State of New Hampshire should also be equally and legally good as well
for this particular chamber. | think Alderman Klee could agree that within the State, we use very sparingly Zoom. There’s
a whole set of rules. This turned into something else.

| want to hear from the public. The answer is yes. The thing is I’m not the one that took the liberties that one particular
citizen did and came out and introduced us to a whole new set of words of vocabulary that | can assure you that are not
spoken even in the fire station. The term that was used was derogatory to women and therefore | find it particularly
disgusting but what is the safeguard? There is no safeguard. None at all. We don’t even have a switch to shut it off. It’s
uncontrolled. Raise your hand if you were at the Budget meeting like | was and saw five people that took our meeting on
the budget as important as the budget was and just got off and round robin and came up and used their time. It was their
right, but they went off subject and we know that they went off subject. We heard it. It’s on tape. People play it back.
You can see.

Therefore, what is the safeguards to what this is? We're not the ones in this chamber. We follow our rules and our
decorums to a tee. It seems the public is not following our decorums. We don’t use this type of language. We don’t
disparagingly attack our employees. Whenever we have an employee that’s up for some other form of things, we go into
closed session to discuss that employee but the public can’t and yet they can lambast an employee on their opinions and
not really based on any type of fact. Something needs to be done. Maybe after some time of terminating the Zoom
meetings, we can come up with rules and guidelines that maybe more appropriate. As it sits right now, there is no
guarantee that what had happened in the past will not happen again. Therefore based upon the past practice, | am very
guarded. Like | say with the deepest of regret but | think those who have been an Aldermen for a while when | started if
you couldn’t make a meeting, you were encouraged to be at the meeting but you called in on a telephone. | understand
that technology is lagging. I'd like to have Zoom for us that we’re able to contact and come on to Zoom in order to record
our presence and to be at the meeting.

From what | understand and the question could be asked and answered by Corporate Counsel by New Hampshire State
law, | don’t think there’s any guarantee to have public comment at any of these really proceedings. So that would need to
be clarified because you heard in somebody’s comment, it’s covered under the Right to Know Law. SO within that
clarification, that needs to be discussed. So the whole thing needs to be taken a look at and maybe we should have the
time out and come up with better rules on it and then we can make a better educated discussion. It doesn’t have to last
forever. Thank you Madam President.

President Wilshire

Can | ask you to respond to that?

Steve Bolton, Corporate Counsel

Alderman O’Brien is absolutely correct. The law does not require public comment be afforded except in specific incidents.
The annual budget, issuance of bonds, supplemental appropriations all require this Board to have a public hearing on
those issues otherwise, public comment is your choice. It is not imposed upon you by New Hampshire law.

Board of Aldermen 08-09-2022 Page 8

Alderman Sullivan

Thank you Madam President.

President Wilshire

You’re welcome.

Alderman Sullivan

| am in full support of keeping the Zoom technology for these reasons. The reason why | read the communication in
regards to the cost. | feel the cost is negligible considering what we have and the resources that we have in the city. |
think that a reason that we should keep it is when you look at the landscape of the city and how people find out about
issues, | think while our website is pretty robust our local media is not. Well we do have a local newspaper here, it’s not
very well circulated. It’s only printed maybe once a week. Obviously there is an internet edition but it’s still. | think this
allows people to understand what’s going on at the city level.

| think that while | do understand Alderman O’Brien’s concerns, | think we’re maybe mixing messages because | did see
some ordinance being proposed about decorum, which | could understand and would welcome to discuss. However, |
think that given the fact that the technology is there — and once you give people something, it’s really difficult to take it
away. | think it allows the citizens of Nashua to understand what’s going on in their city. Now if we want to talk about
maybe it’s only for Board of Aldermen meetings and maybe it’s not for every single committee meeting, maybe that’s a
discussion that we could have.

As far as for the Aldermen to maybe count that as attendance while | have used it a few times for that, | mean to me if
we're going to take it away, take it away completely, including the Board of Aldermen. | would support keeping this as it
is. Thank you.

Alderman Klee

Thank you Madam President. | apologize. I’ve been doing a lot of homework. So this could take just a few minutes. I’ve
been contacting municipalities. | contacted the New Hampshire Municipal Association. I’m going to give you a few of the
somewhat like communities that | feel as well as one town. So Concord, New Hampshire, - no for Zoom. Manchester —
no for Zoom. As a matter of fact, Manchester said masks off, Zoom gone. Portsmouth — yes. They do have Zoom and
they allow public comment in their Zoom. | said, “Oh, do you get a lot of public? They said never.” So it’s easy to have
public comment and so on. So they’d don’t get a lot of people coming in. They don’t have the glitches that we have.
Peterborough — yes it’s a town. They do not have Zoom. Keene — they do have Zoom but not for public members. They
allow the minute takers and people who are giving presentations. Board members — every time a board member wants to
use Zoom, they have to be voted permission from the remaining members of the board. Litchfield -no. Those are just
some of the ones that had called and spoke to their Town Clerks and asked information from.

| queried the New Hampshire Municipal Association. They said almost all towns — no. Some of the cities have continued
it for various reasons and so on but the majority of them are not. Very similar reasons to what we’re looking at. We’re
looking at the technical glitches. | was at the Planning Board meeting last week. For anybody that was there, | Know
Alderman Caron was there as well. | think it was a 10 or 15 delay we had - as well as Alderman Thibeault was there also.
There was about a 10 — 15 delay. The person was trying to speak. It was going in and out. | was listening to it as | do
here. You couldn't hear it over Zoom. It was just really, really bad and very difficult to do that.

For me, | would say we need to get rid of Zoom. | don’t think we’re right there. | think it was a good thing to do at the
time. I’m not going to look at the cost of it because while | think every penny is important to look at, | don’t look at this as
going to break the bank kind of expense. | also look at the Board of Ed. | think it was brought up that they don’t have
Zoom. They don’t have the technology and they do pack their rooms. Quite a bit they pack the rooms.

Before the past two years, we were packing rooms as well here. We don’t pack them quite as much now because people
can do Zoom. I’ve spoken to a number of elderly people in my community who yes they would like Zoom and equally who
say | don’t do technology. So yeah. When | explained to them some of the situations and the glitches, I’ve asked them
have you zoomed. They said no, they don’t Zoom. They were told that once we get rid of Zoom, they no longer can
speak which is not true. They can still send letters. They can still call. | do return every phone call. | return every e-mail.
| think one of the members of the public said that just a few people returned his message. Everything that he basically
said to us was what he wrote to us. | can speak for many of the people around this horseshoe that we do read all the e-

Board of Aldermen 08-09-2022 Page 9

mails. We just don’t necessarily respond if it’s not our constituent. That does not mean that we don’t hear. That does not
mean that we don’t see just because we haven't pressed the send by sending a message. | just feel that if | responded to
every single e-mail message whether it’s my constituent or not, | wouldn’t get any work done. | would just be responding
to e-mails because we do get quite a bit.

As Alderman O’Brien pointed out, New Hampshire voted against it. Well it wasn’t so much we voted against it, we were
told no. We were told by the Speaker of the House that that would not be happening and they cut off public comment.
You were there and that was how you spoke.

My biggest issue is the glitching. We don’t have control. If we mute everybody because someone is misbehaving, we
mute everybody. That means that the employees that are trying to give presentations can’t give the presentations and
that creates its own headache. I’m not going to be popular amongst my fellow colleagues here because | don’t believe
the Aldermen should be Zooming in. In the past, we had two phone lines that we could call and | think that’s what we
should be going back to. | know and I’m saying this knowing that the month of September I’m going to be having two
surgeries and there’s a good chance that because of quarantining and being laid up, that would mean | would have to call
in if | wanted to be able to participate. I’m not just doing this because I’m here at every meeting. This will affect me as
well. So | want to put that out on the table.

| think it was mentioned that there’s been bad behavior. | think that it was mentioned about the profanity. | can tell you |
remember the day | sat here watching Zoom on my screen and was appalled by a man who walked in front of the camera
totally nude, took his baby from his wife, and sat there very pleasantly, happily. We've had people who have put up vulgar
signs and so on. | hate to punish the whole because of the few but we have no way of shutting them down unless we shut
all of Zoom down. Until we can really get a handle on that technology, | think it’s time for Zoom to go by the wayside. |
think that many of the people that speak here as one from the chamber did speak was almost identical to an e-mail that
we received. Again, | read them all. There’s not one that goes by. | may not respond to all of them but | do read them all.
Thank you for letting me speak Madam President.

Alderman Moran

Thank you Madam President. Pretty split on this issue. | don’t Know how I’m going to vote yet. | really want to listen to
the debate from everyone else. My concerns are it does kind of disenfranchise folks that have access to this other than
local access TV. For one, my family we don’t have cable. We stream. So the only access that we have is to go onto
Zoom and watch. Then again, my 7 year old and my 5 old also got to hear the “C” word for the first time by a member of
the public during a Finance Committee because my kids were watching me on the Finance Committee. Mr. Mayor | think
you were that night. So it does bring up a concern of mine for the public interfering in my ability to parent, which | find
distasteful. I’m an elected official. My kids are not. I’m just trying to raise civically minded children.

Again, this allows us the opportunity to still soeak and have people in the community bring very coherent things to us. My
personal opinion is the folks that do become vulgar, and use belittling language, and hold up signs, and what not, they're
missing something in their lives. I’m not going to go on about my credentials in mental health or anything, but they’re
missing something. So on this in totality, I’m very split. I think the elderly need access. | think people who can’t get here
and have child care issues should be able elect to Zoom. Maybe it is time for a pause to see what Lord Wilshire — one of
our most popular politicians in the entire city can get control over Zoom to allow for civil engagement through all forms of
access to the Board. | really want to hear more from everyone else. | think it’s very important that we have citizens
engaged. A few bad apples shouldn’t ruin the entire bunch. | think there can be a pause to kind of figure out how to we
engage and have the Clerk or someone have the ability to intervene so we don’t have to have a parental advisory posted
on local access.

On top of that, | know | travel a lot. Alderman Sullivan travels a lot, Alderman Comeau and I’m opening another mental
health clinic in the west coast next year. | was planning on joining some days on Zoom. At the end of the day if the
constituents can’t join, | don’t want to join. | don’t think our employees or Aldermen should have a special privilege over
citizens. That’s all | have.

Alderman Lopez

So | agree with some of what was said by my colleagues. With regards to moderating, | don’t think we have the
infrastructure set up. While it was pointed out that $11,000 is the current impact of it, the current impact is not entirely
adequate and it’s being performed by people who are videographers and it’s not fair to ask them to also be Facebook
moderators. It’s not realistic to expect the public to fully moderate themselves as evidenced by some of the stuff that
we've seen. It falls automatically to the Chairs of the different committees and their Vice-Chairs. We try to do our best but
we weren't elected for that either. | wasn’t elected for my live streaming credentials. It's very problematic and distracting