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NEW BUSINESS — RESOLUTIONS
NEW BUSINESS — ORDINANCES
O-17-028
Endorser: Mayor Jim Donchess
AUTHORIZING LEFT TURNS ONTO AMHERST STREET FROM CHARRON AVENUE
O-17-029

Endorser: Alderman-at-Large Brian S. McCarthy
REGARDING SIDE AND REAR SETBACKS FOR A LOT WITH MULTIPLE PRINCIPAL

BUILDINGS
PERIOD FOR GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT
REMARKS BY THE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN
Committee announcements:

ADJOURNMENT

AMENDED
R-16-084

RESOLUTION

AUTHORIZING AN EXTENSION OF THE MASTER LEASE
TO THE NASHUA AIRPORT AUTHORITY TO DECEMBER 31, 2115

CITY OF NASHUA

In the Year Two Thousand and Sixteen

RESOLVED by the Board of Aldermen of the City of Nashua that the Mayor is hereby
authorized to execute all documents necessary to extend the expiration date of the Nashua
Airport Authority Master Lease to December 31, 2115.

APPOINTMENTS BY THE MAYOR

JANUARY 10, 2017

Nashua Arts Commission

Rachel Rendina (New Appointment)
31 Daniel Webster Highway, #624
Nashua, NH 03060

Board of Building and Fire Codes Appeals

Daniel Bergeron (New Appointment)
27 Webster Street
Nashua, NH 03064

Scott Cote (New Appointment)
39 Tenby Drive
Nashua, NH 03062

Kevin Slattery (New Appointment)
4 Berkeley Street
Nashua, NH 03064

Board of Registrars
Gwendolyn Mikailov (New Appointment)

11 Appletree Green
Nashua, NH 03062

Citizens Advisory Commission for Community Grants

Michael Apfelberg (New Appointment)
7 Edson Street
Nashua, NH 03064

Environment and Energy Committee

Gary Lambert (New Appointment)
32 Columbia Avenue
Nashua, NH 03064

Michael Seidel (New Appointment)
19 Jeremy Place
Nashua, NH 03064

Sylvie Stewart (New Appointment)
44 Spring Cove Road
Nashua, NH 03062

Term to Expire: January 31, 2020

Term to Expire: January 31, 2020

Term to Expire: January 31, 2020

Term to Expire: January 31, 2020

Term to Expire: December 31, 2018

Term to Expire: January 31, 2020

Term to Expire: January 31, 2020

Term to Expire: January 31, 2020

Term to Expire: January 31, 2020

Daniel M. Weeks (New Appointment)
7 Shattuck Street
Nashua, NH 03064

Ethics Review Committee
Sindiso Mnisi Weeks (New Appointment)

7 Shattuck Street
Nashua, NH 03064

Term to Expire: January 31, 2020

Term to Expire: January 31, 2020

| respectfully request that these appointments be confirmed.

Jim Donchess
Mayor

Board of Aldermen Page 10
June 14, 2016

same so there was no real recognition of anything within that. I’m not saying that no one reviewed it, |
am sure it was but nothing came about from that. There was one change. Peter’s letter said that there
was no change but there was one change. There were some things that used to be scratched out and
now they are no longer scratched out but essentially it’s the same because all it says is “the city “may”
give notice so it “may” or “may not.” We all know that life safety and health codes are very critical and we
all respect those, the people that are here anyway. We also want the bad landlords to be taken care of
in terms of getting them to correct their situations. When | look back to my original notes from when | first
spoke with this Board and the sub-committee back in February and | made some notes that | suggested
that we have an input and a working session or multiple working sessions to be able to talk about our
concerns. Have three landlords, three tenants, three of the administrative people, legal advice because
we certainly do need that and one independent Alderman who will make sure that things are going in the
right direction and keep on moving. We are not going to get every point that we want but | am not
speaking for everyone and maybe the administrators won't get everything that they want. We are going
to be educated if we do get together, it’s a simple thing. In business we get together to solve problems.
We asked for this a couple of times and the sub-committee did ask us to join them in this area. We had
our spokesperson go up to talk because we knew it would be a professional presentation that would be
effective than just rambling on. Part of his presentation was to say let’s get these work sessions going
and let’s talk about it. That did not take place and |’m very disappointed in that. | hope we can get
something resolved and get a work session going so that we can come to a better conclusion. | think
there is a lot of merit to the law and the legal input and there are some concerns from the landlords and |
don’t want to repeat that because we have said it over and over again. Hopefully we will work together,
thank you.

Mr. Robert Tourigny, Executive Director, NeighborWorks, Southern New Hampshire

NeighborWorks is a landlord and property owner here in Nashua. We own 19 Temple Street which is
just down the block from the property that the Mayor was discussing this evening. We have another 38
apartments here in Nashua and over 400 units in Southern New Hampshire. We own and develop
affordable housing, we provide consumer education to families to make good, wise decisions about their
housing options and that doesn’t include just homeowner options but also in rental housing. We provide
landlord trainings and seminars to help people become good landlord because they might want to buy a
two-family or a three-family and live in one unit and rent out the other. You have established a
Substandard Living Conditions Committee so | don’t need to tell you about the dire affordable rental
housing situation here but | would like to explain why | think the enforcement of the ordinance you are
considering tonight is important in impacting those conditions. Each year the New Hampshire Housing
Authority surveys the owners of some 15,000 rental units across the State of New Hampshire including
over 2,200 apartments here in Nashua. In doing so they are able to calculate the median rent and the
vacancy rate for each region. Nashua continues to maintain its place near the top of the highest rent list,
only slightly behind Portsmouth. What is most concerning from the survey is the steadily declining
vacancy rate that we see in our portfolios. Vacancy rates are down by 50% in the last six or seven years
and | think that’s probably attributable to the economy and the situation that was mentioned earlier. As a
landiord we love high occupancy and low vacancy rates but when vacancy falls below 2% in a
community which is what it is here, it essentially becomes a market where an owner can rent out literally
any unit in any condition because the demand is so strong. We are in what | would call the equivalent of
a historically high sellers’ market if you were to compare it to the home ownership or for sale arena. So
what does all of this data mean, it means that it puts an extra burden on local jurisdictions like yourselves
to crack down on code enforcement because of what | said earlier, you can literally rent any unit in any
condition to someone because the demand is so high. When sitting your seat you need to look at the
carrots and the sticks that you need to keep property owners in compliance. With the demand for rentals
are at an all-time high you need to be able to hold property owners accountable and more than just a
minor slap of the wrist. When the cost of fines and fees are considered to be just another cost of doing
business because business is good then it can create the substandard living conditions situation that you
are working to address. | think that the enforcement ordinance you are considering tonight is a step

Board of Aldermen Page 11
June 14, 2016

towards improving the situation and you just need to start somewhere. Will all property owners like it,
definitely not but it shouldn’t affect property owners who are doing their best to provide a safe, decent
and sanitary unit for their tenants. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight.

Mr. Nick Peck, 99 Taylor Street

We have been here many times talking about this problem and the Mayor had his opening statements
that basically there are two properties in Nashua that you are having trouble with. We have departments
within Nashua, the building department, fire department and the Board of Health. You are sitting in front
of us right now and telling us that these managers of the building department, Board of Health and the
fire department are having problems with two properties in Nashua. You want to enact a Bill that’s going
to affect everybody in Nashua, every property owner in Nashua. | think it’s pretty unreasonable that the
City of Nashua can’t handle two property owners. If you are having trouble with 23 Temple Street and
you can't solve the problem then maybe there should be new people hired that can solve the problem.
Above and beyond that if you are having trouble with 23 Temple Street why don’t you buy it and solve
the problem? We are standing here and we have been fighting this for months and we are going against
deaf ears with some of the Aldermen in here and | just don’t understand why you are not listening to us.
Thank you.

Mr. Fred Teeboom, 24 Cheyenne Drive

First of all, | would like to address O-16-11 which is tabled in committee, the reduced taxation for charter
public school facilities. | ask that you take it off of the table and pass it. | gave you all an analysis that
shows that there are over 500 kids that go to charter schools from Nashua and save the taxpayers over
$4.4 million. If you don’t believe that number you can take a look at my analysis. The cost as |
understand was not part of the ordinance but the item are about $80,000 and that’s steep and a loss of
taxation. It’s an enormous gain for the taxpayers and | hope you pass it.

The next thing that | would like to address is O-16-003 and | am not a landlord, | have no skin in this
game. But, then | was not a panhandler either and | spoke against the panhandler ordinance. | have
been called by landlords because of my experience with the NRO’s (the Nashua Revised Ordinances)
and as a former Aldermen-at-Large and asked me for some input. R-15-182 is what started all of this,
appointed a committee to investigate living conditions in the Country Barn Hotel and 23 Temple Street
and other larger rental properties that are unnamed to determine whether the housing or health codes
are being violated or whether new housing and our health code provisions should be enacted to protect
the living conditions for Nashua residences. | have seen no report of this sub-committee, the
investigative sub-committee, it is customary to see an investigative report and there have been none
produced. No specific conditions have ever been identified by this committee or by anyone on any
named property in Nashua, it’s all been general discussion other than the Country Barn Hotel and 23
Temple Street and that came through a television program. O-16-003 basically is sold on the basis of
efficiency of enforcing code and that’s basically it. If you list all of the staff discussion with McKinney and
all of the rest of them; it’s a more efficient process and it has nothing to do with the purposes which this
Substandard Living Conditions Committee was established. Let’s take a look, there are specific items in
the ordinance, let’s forget the generalities, there’s a table called Table 4.1 which basically is the fine
structure. Paragraph 170-2 is the reference and that is a license required for food services, what does
that have to do with living conditions? Another paragraph is 175 which is a catch-all, it relatively defers
to state law and it deals with, in summation, sanitary food code. What’s that got to do with living
conditions in housing for which this committee was established? Another one is 190-146, site plan
procedures generally, this talks about site plan reviews. | thought we had the Planning Board that did
site plan reviews, what is that doing in this ordinance? Another one is 156, Article IV, fire prevention
code. Surprisingly if you look through that you find that there is a Board of Fire Prevention Code of
Appeals so there’s actually already a Board to appeal to if there are violations of fire prevention. What's
that doing in the sub-set of living conditions ordinance that itself has no appeal, there is already an

Board of Aldermen Page 12
June 14, 2016

appeal that’s even better. It makes no sense. This thing was put together and it’s going to by lying
around for a long time and somebody says let’s go stick this all into the ordinance and that’s probably
why it is poorly drafted. If you look back at paragraph 74.482 and 74.4B1, 2 and 3, then it talks about a
penalty plus $50.00 after ten days up to $1,000. What does that mean? The highest fine, which is a
third violation of $500 so how do you get up to $1,000? Does that mean that you are going to be fined
every day $50.00? It’s unclear and vague by any rationale. Then there is Chapter 182, §26, violation of
penalties it says where no specific penalty is provided then there should be a fine of not more than
$1,000 and another issuance of a citation. So where there is no specific penalty you get a fine of up to
$1,000, what does that mean? What has that go to do with living conditions? Finally there is a lot of talk
about the warning; | think Alderman Clemons made that point. That warning has existed before a
discretionary warning was taken out and then was put back in. It says the head of the code enforcement
department, or his/her designee, may issue a warnings; it’s discretionary, “may” should at least when you
start issuing fines, the (inaudible) was before you had fines. You should at least change “may” to “shall”
so it’s mandatory. It makes it easier on the code enforcement not to have this stuff. It’s easy to put the
code enforcement people to have this list but look at it from the other side; they look for efficiency and
the demand for authority. Are we looking at people who have to meet these conditions and they have to
understand it so send the attorneys in so they can have a field day in court. Enough said but for all of
these reasons, take this thing back, table it, work it, l’m not against higher oversight over landlords, I’ve
owned several food businesses alone and oversight is good but don’t throw in everything but the kitchen
sink that something has to do with living conditions. Thank you.

Mr. Gene Parent, 15 % Main Street

| am totally against this proposed ordinance for a variety of reasons but what really ticked me off was the
way it was introduced. It was snuck in under other agendas so it would not be noticed. You could have
tried to view this ordinance not as an Alderman, not as someone who initiated it or sponsored it nor as a
city employee but as a Nashua landlord or a business owner. This proposed ordinance is vague and
tends to violate, fine and summons to court no one but the landlords and the business owners.
Everything is aimed at us. We have mentioned several times that we would like to sit down and discuss
things and no one said come on over. This to me is a one sided affair, just like Cecile Marquis said.
Does anyone listen to the public anymore? Who do you represent anyway? Please consider all of the
facts. Also, did anyone see the news two weeks ago on Fox News, Bill O’Reilly of the O’Reilly Factor?
He stated that cities across America are milking citizens and taking their money through fines, tickets,
permits, etc. or by increasing or initiating new ones. Is this what this ordinance is about, initiating a new
one and milk us out of the money? As far as Mayor Donchess goes, what you stated before under your
term that things would get better but what’s to say after you are gone; things always change and it’s not
in writing. Four years from now or whenever you go who is going to be next and what are they going to
do to us. I’m against this, please table it or send it back to committee so we can discuss it. We are
willing to talk, are you? Thank you.

Ms. Sue Newman, 25 Charlotte Avenue

| will be brief. | have followed this since the Country Barn Hotel issue came up and embarrassingly |
wasn’t aware of the situation there and be all that as it may, | was out of town today and | looked at the
newspaper on-line and the first thing | went to was the editorial and | assumed this was a slam dunk and
you would be and this legislation would be going through; O-16-003. Sometime later | looked at the front
page and realized there was some controversy with it. Rentals are tough, prices are up and when there
is a shortage of rentals anything that’s got four walls and maybe a roof that is mostly in good condition
can get rented. With that said, my involvement started with this with the television show and sometime
later on that year | spoke with David Deane and | explained in a spirited manner what | thought about the
whole thing; that | thought it was a use of working the system when you could have landlords apparently
keeping substandard or worse than that conditions that they could easily get rented and they got
vouchers so the money was coming in and the repairs were not required. With that | thought the

Board of Aldermen Page 13
June 14, 2016

committee came through with some reasonable things and | thought it was a place to start. | think the
newspaper editorial captured it right that the Bill before the Aldermen gives the city the tools needed to
deal with these repeat offenders while maintaining an appeals process and so forth. But, in fairness, |
think several of these people also had good points. | don’t know if this will pass tonight but | would hope
that you maintain and build in flexibility to keep some of these good people’s concerns in the forefront
with it. | appreciate the efforts because something had to get done and | appreciate the committee’s
work to get something started, thank you.

Mr. Joseph Haas

Two of you Aldermen know who | am because | sent them an e-mail back in April and | checked the
website today and it’s not listed under correspondence. Do you have to be a resident of this city in order
to get correspondence over to the full council here?

President McCarthy

| don’t know how you submitted it.

Mr. Haas

| sent it to the City Clerk, | see her sitting right there, Patty and your assistant, she’s the one that told me
to come here and just you know, talk; she didn’t say to sign up. Also the Mayor, | wrote you an e-mail
and | talked with you on the phone. This is with regard to my attending an auction back in November
over at the Mayflower, McLaughlin Transportation. | got there before the auction occurred, it was
advertised as a public auction and they told me to scram and to get out. The owner didn’t want me on
his property.

President McCarthy

Does this have anything to do with is on our agenda to be acted upon this evening?

Mr. Haas

Yes, item #13, | presume is your increase in compensation of your elected officials, is that still on?
President McCarthy

Of “elected officials” yes.

Mr. Haas

Yes, an elected official meaning the Town Clerk who isn’t doing her job as far as | am concerned.
President McCarthy

No, the Bill deals with paying personnel who work at the polls on Election Day.

Mr. Haas

Okay, | didn’t see the details on-line, I’m sorry. So | wait until the public section later in order to discuss
what | was hoping, not to waste your time, but if the two; Dowd and Lopez, if they had transferred that e-

mail over to the rest of you | wouldn’t have to be here today. And Lavoie, I’ve been to his police
commission and him too and | voiced my frustration over there. Me as a citizen wanting to spend money

Board of Aldermen Page 14
June 14, 2016

in the city and being told to scram and get lost, it’s a public auction but we don’t want there, that’s
ridiculous. There’s an RSA 444:06 that the City Clerk...

President McCarthy

You have to wait until the second public comment period to speak on that.
Mr. Haas

Well in the meantime are you going to take a break or a recess, can you have my e-mail distributed to
the rest of the people?

President McCarthy

No we cannot.
Mr. Haas

Well that’s tampering with public records and that’s a crime. You guys are criminals.

President McCarthy

Sir, | will let you speak to the issue later on but | am not going to let you call this Board criminals.
Mr. Haas

Okay, thank you, | appreciate it.

Mr. Bradley Whitney, 38 Fifield Street

| own several properties and | am a landlord. | always use the same contractor and sometimes they are
busy so if you only give ten days then that can include six working days or eight working days depending
on when you get your ten day notice. It is 1 % time rate on Saturdays and double time on Sundays and
most of us cannot afford that. | would like you to take into consideration that it is pretty unreasonable
and very harmful to hard working people that may be ill. | don’t know what the length of time is for the
warning period, there’s no time that they give you thirty days or ten days warning period. It hasn’t been
explained so we are in the dark on that. | hired a contractor and he put in sumps that should have taken
six to nine months and it took 1 % and | had to get rid of him and get someone else. There are problems
and we try to solve them but | don’t think you are reasonable and you are looking out for your own
interests only and | don’t see any problem with an infestation fine or time period to get rid of bed bugs.
It’s a lot different than a broken window. This ordinance is a one shot that takes care of everybody but
you don’t have two different time periods for emergency/health or some minor detail. | think it should be
revised for that and | don’t think it’s fair to put it through and it’s being forced down our throats and we
don’t have any input and | didn’t think that was the way Nashua worked. Nashua is a wonderful town
and you guys are all great people but you are not really...this is being pushed through too fast for me
and we should feel that our voices are heard. Thank you.

Mr. Erik Bray, 3 Dover Street

| want to voice my support for this Bill but at the same time ask that you table it and further the
discussion. | am a property owner and not a landlord and | have struggled to comprehend the objection
to this ordinance. | think what is being triggered here emotionally by both the landlords in opposition and
property owners in favor of is that code enforcement clearly needs work and | think this is a great first

Board of Aldermen Page 15
June 14, 2016

step but the focus on the landlords as opposed to the properties in general neglects the fact that you can
drive down many streets in Nashua and see things that appear in direct contradiction with the
established ordinances. As a property owner it’s disappointing. We need to know what to expect in our
communities and are the ordinances enforceable. You are a Board that establishes ordinances. If
further discussion is needed on this to garner community support and have an ordinance that is
enforceable and that’s supported and that betters our community then further the discussion, it’s great to
hear what’s happening and help explain it to the people, make the right decision. Nashua desperately
needs realistic expectations that property owners understand and they are held accountable for. If this is
the ordinance that establishes that then so be it but if it takes more time to get it right to improve the
entire community, property owners, renters and landlords then do it. That’s all | ask.
PETITIONS — None
NOMINATIONS, APPOINTMENTS AND ELECTIONS — None
REPORTS OF COMMITTEE

Budget Review Committee 00.0.0... cece eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 05/19/16

There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the May 19, 2016
Budget Review Committee accepted and placed on file.

Budget Review Committee 2000.00.00... eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 05/23/16

There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the May 23, 2016
Budget Review Committee accepted and placed on file.

Budget Review Committee 200.000.000.000... eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 05/31/16

There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the May 31, 2016
Budget Review Committee accepted and placed on file.

Budget Review Committee 2000.00.00... eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 06/02/16

There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the June 2, 2016
Budget Review Committee accepted and placed on file.

Finance COMMIttee 2.0.0... ee ccecccecccececececeeeceeceeeeeseaeseaeeeaeseaereaeeeaeenaes 06/01/16

There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the June 1, 2016
Finance Committee accepted and placed on file.

Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee. ......0..00..0c.cccccceceeeceeeeeeeeeeee 06/06/16

There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the June 6, 2016
Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee accepted and placed on file.

Planning & Economic Development Committee ............... eee 05/17/16

There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the May 17, 2016
Planning & Economic Development Committee accepted and placed on file.