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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/11/2018 - P24

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:17
Document Date
Tue, 12/11/2018 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 12/11/2018 - 00:00
Page Number
24
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__121120…

Board of Aldermen 12-11-2018 Page 24
Given its second reading;

MOTION BY ALDERMAN O’BRIEN FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-18-092 BY ROLL CALL

ON THE QUESTION

Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja

| would just point out that although this is for final passage of R-18-092 we are not letting the bond, we
are not approving that the bond be let. There seems to be confusion out there that we are allowing the
bond to be let prior to the private funds being raised. That is not what is happening, we are just
approving the amendments, the changes that are in here.

The second thing is around the design and the design of the new Performing Arts Center being
included in what the money can be used for. For those of us who were on not the Steering Committee
but prior to that the working group and Mr. Lannon was part of that. We had discussions at that point
about the need for having some sort of design that could be taken out there. We even had some
casual conversations about the need to raise funds for that. So | think again to Alderman Klee’s point,
we make mistakes once in a while and | think it was just an omission because there had been multiple
conversations about the need to have something to take out and make this whole idea and this concept
more real so people would see what it was we were asking them to invest in. And the community would
have a sense of what it was we were asking them to invest in as well as what it was we were hoping to
have here for them to enjoy.

Again, we are not asking for $15.5 million for the bond to be released, we still have to have that public
money there. There just seems to have been a lot of confusion about that and | just want lead off by
stating that. And that this idea of a need for design is not new | think it was just an accident that we
thought maybe we’d raise the money some other way, bake sales, | don’t know.

Alderman Lopez

I'd want to start out by saying that if Fred is somewhat favorable towards this, we need to listen
because he was also the person who to my recollection earliest starting pointing out the issues with the
architectural flaws and so | take his comments as things we need to consider, even if it to address a
skeptic at times, they are not just out of the blue. So | just wanted to recognize that. | also wanted to
point out that | was the biggest fan of bake sales and | was pushing since Day 1 that ok we have all
these people packing the Aldermanic Chamber, which is amazing because whenever we are talking
about practically everything else, there is nobody in the room back there. So there is obviously a lot of
public interest in this. And we had the referendum and we had people turning out to vote and
committing their support behind this; at least in terms of checking a box and saying yeah move forward
with this and this is something we are interested in if you do choose to do it.

There was public support for it and | have been pretty outspoken about my disappointment that we
aren't harnessing that public support and engaging it and making sure that each individual person feels
like they have a role in it. | would have had bake sales if possible because everybody gets a chance to
contribute something even if it is small. My experience in charitable work is that even small donations
do add up over time. However, that being said, one of the examples that | used to give for things that
you could fund raise privately with smaller donations would have been marketing material and showing
them what the thing would actually look like and trying to attract larger donors.

Building from the bottom up and understanding now exactly how much it costs to get a real professional
architecture involved, to get the assessment that higher end investors are looking for. Now|
understand that basically we would have been throwing out the baby with the bath water. We would
have had the public interest, we’ve had the public input and we would have worn it out before even
getting to the architectural design, because raising $1 million dollars alone with bake sales is
exhausting. That is what Betsy McNamara was trying to tell me repeatedly, that’s what Alderman

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/11/2018 - P24

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/11/2018 - P25

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:17
Document Date
Tue, 12/11/2018 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 12/11/2018 - 00:00
Page Number
25
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__121120…

Board of Aldermen 12-11-2018 Page 25

McCarthy was trying to tell me, and it wasn’t really until | saw the estimate for the architect and started
comparing it to other projects of similar scope and | realize “Oh so that’s the problem”.

| am encouraged that we are moving forward in the public phase of this now because while we are
going to attract a lot more confusion and concern that we might be doing the wrong thing or not the
perfect thing, at least the public is much more involved. And | think that is necessary and | think the
arguments that I’ve been making all along is that the public has always been involved because we are
talking about their money. Each one of us represents a district, a part of the City, tax payers that are
contributing to the money that we are ultimately custodians of. So the tax payers have been always
been involved, transparency is very important and making sure that the public is aware that progress is
being made is key because this wouldn't be as difficult a decision if the public had been following all
along a successful project and was fully in favor of it. They couldn’t because we didn’t have all the
pieces together we still needed the planning and organization and | understand that as the awkward
part of this kind of process.

This is a new kind of partnership where it has the transparency of local government, but it needs the
investment of private donors and likewise the donations and the support for it are going to come from a
different mechanism than we typically see. We are not going to see the rich that have tons of money
just drop money in so they can put their name on the building. We are seeing a lot of very discerning
donors wanting to see a plan and wanting to understand the nuances of the project. To do that we are
also going to have to use different tools such as the New Market Tax Credit and other resources.

So | am in favor of this because we already are invested in this; we already bought the building. The
reasoning behind it has still not been challenged. I’m even concerned that with the economy doing
really well right now, historically it sort of goes the other way when it gets too good. | think trying to
weather a rough economy without an economic anchor downtown to replace Alecs is going to be a
problem for people downtown, for people working and for our City trying to attract what people it can to
support our economy.

So there are many reasons that | am in favor of this; there is many reasons | was concerned about it
but | just want to end with my most compelling point. Fred is not against it so we should be considering
it and | also want to point out that former Alderman Clemmons who came up and made comments
decided to position this as this is the position that you are in but he also was part of this, because he
was the one who voted for it and got us into this mess.

Alderman Klee

| want to kind of almost echo the same thing that Alderman Melizzi-Golja and Alderman Lopez has
already said. | had a very lengthy impassioned speech that | wanted to give but the truth is that the
bottom is that we cannot delay this. We have to go forward. | have read and re-read this over and over
again and | think that we did rush and we didn’t put the design plan in there. But! think the intent was
that we would not put hammer to nail as far as the Performing Arts Center and | think that stays there,
you know. We are not saying we are going to release the $15 million dollars, etc., it basically says that
we need this in order to get the $4 million dollars. We can’t get there without it. | think someone had
earlier said you can’t make money without spending money. This just seems natural to it. And I’d also
like to echo Alderman Lopez if ex Alderman Teeboom is on board it has got to be good. So thank you.

Alderman Dowd

I'll be very brief. This was one of Brian’s most important projects and | know for a fact in talking to him
that he would have fully supported this amendment.

Alderman Jette

| guess | am a voice crying in the wilderness, even Fred has been won over.

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/11/2018 - P25

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/11/2018 - P26

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:17
Document Date
Tue, 12/11/2018 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 12/11/2018 - 00:00
Page Number
26
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__121120…

Board of Aldermen 12-11-2018 Page 26
President Wilshire

You don’t have to cry.

Alderman Jette

The people who spoke | know most of them, they are my friends and | was not against this, but |
promised the voters in my Ward that | would vote the way they voted, they voted against this. But the
majority of the City voted for it not by much but they did vote for it. But what they voted for was a
resolution that has words in it and that resolution included the requirement that the $4 million be raised
before any money would be borrowed or the thing would go forward, except for the cost of acquiring the
building. There was pressure there because the building was for sale and we didn’t want to lose out on
acquiring that building and also for maintaining that building.

Certainly people can assume that when people voted for this they meant go forward with this project but
that’s not what the resolution says. I’m not going to substitute what | think people thought, | read the
resolution that’s what they voted for and | think that’s what we are stuck with. | understand the reasons
for wanting to hire an architect and come up with a plan, | don’t disagree with the soundness of that
idea. But there is a way, | think, of doing that without violating the trust that the voters put in us when
they assumed that we were going to do what the resolution said.

One way is that we are going to have a special election, we can ask the voters to give their opinion
again and | think as this thing has been moving along, everybody seems to think it has gained
momentum and that people have come around and we have a chance to hear what the voters have to
say by adding this to the ballot when the special election occurs. Another way of doing this is
separately hiring the architect, it doesn’t have to be part of this $15.5 million, this resolution. Back in
September the Mayor met with us and at least the Budget Review Committee and told us he was
projecting an $8.5 million dollar surplus from last year. He asked us to set aside $2.5 million in escrows
for various projects which were not part of last year’s budget. So there is $8.5 million | think, at least
$2.5 million that could be allocated, I’ve heard a ballpark for this architect would be $1 million. So |
think we could authorize the spending of $1 million dollars without violating the resolution that the voters
voted for. Sol am going to vote against this resolution.

Alderman Klee

Thank you very much Alderman Jette. | understand what you are saying, but | have this gut feeling that
if we spend outside of the bond, outside of the resolution and used found money or surplus money of
$1 million dollars, where does that slippery slope end? We are telling the tax payers that we are going
to spend within the bond, that we are going to do this. It has been brought out that it is actually going to
cost us more from people in the audience, particularly ex Alderman Teeboom who feels that it is going
to cost more. If we start spending bits and pieces outside of the bond | think we are kind, we are just
not being as honest and transparent as I'd like to be. | would prefer to stay within the bond.

Also, putting it on the ballot while that sounds like a good idea and | think giving the voters as much
voice as possible is a wonderful idea; it is just going to delay it all that more. Then we have to change
the 2/20 date that we get the $4 million dollars to another and again we are making major changes to
this resolution. And it also means more cost because as the time goes by the tariffs will increase the
cost of steel and so on, so ultimately, | think we are going to be doing a disservice to the tax payers and
actually asking for more money down the road. | would prefer to stay within the resolution of the bond. |
don’t think the change that we are asking to make is anything extraordinary, | stated before, sometimes
we make mistake and we need to own the mistake and we need to try to rectify it if we can. I’m not
saying that every mistake has to be fixed; but as we did with the sick leave and so on.

| think that we just need to fix this. | think this is fair, lve spoken to many people about making sure
that we continue to have a milestone; | think we are keeping the milestone, the $4 million dollars still
has to earned or however you want to say it, donated, have on the books more or less by 2/2020. |

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/11/2018 - P26

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/11/2018 - P27

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:17
Document Date
Tue, 12/11/2018 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 12/11/2018 - 00:00
Page Number
27
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__121120…

Board of Aldermen 12-11-2018 Page 27

think we are staying within that. | think we still stay within the intent, | think delaying it is, this is just my
opinion, but | think it would be wrong and going outside the bond | think we lose the honesty and
transparency of it.

Alderman Tencza

Thank you and | would just echo what Alderman Klee said regarding finding outside source of funding. |
think the two kind of over-arching themes of the non-binding vote was that the bond amount was going
to be $15.5 million dollars and there is going to be this $4 million-dollar pot of money that is set aside
for operating costs or for some kind of trust to help operate the facility. What we are asking for with this
amendment is to access some of that money so we don’t have to go outside the bond so we can
continue with this project moving forward, but also so that we can have some flexibility with that $4
million or even $6.5 million dollars that is going to be coming into the project.

| said it at the Committee meeting, as far as the amendment that they have asked for for the New
Market Tax Credits, in my opinion | am not even sure that we need to put that in there because that is
outside money not coming from the City coffers. We are not asking City tax payers to contribute any of
that, it is just another source of grant funding, essentially that we are going to be asking to use. This
would help off-set City costs, help improve the construction and design of the building and make the
Performing Arts Center the best that it could be. So | would not support sending it back to the voters,
because that would delay this far beyond what we can afford to delay in this project.

It is a fair resolution if we were back here and the City was asking to increase the bond to $20 million
dollars then | think this would be a much different outcome, but given the reasonableness of this
request, | am hoping that it passes tonight

Alderman Lopez

Alderman Jette’s comment reminded me of something a constituent asked me regarding the wording,
as | understand the wording was “no money shall be spent on construction or renovation except for” but
if that is the beginning part of it, does that mean, | mean is there a specific restriction on architectural
drawing, because | don’t think that is building or renovating. | guess my question is directed at Attorney
Bolton.

Attorney Bolton

| don’t remember that being the wording | remember the wording being something to the effect of
“except for the acquisition cost and on-going maintenance of the building no other funds will be
expended prior to the raising of private funds in the amount of $4 million to be used for continued
operating expenses, words to that effect. | think pretty much excluded everything but the acquisition of
the building and the on-going maintenance of the building. | am just by memory because | don’t have it
in front of me.

Alderman Lopez
My memory was based on what Alderman Jette just said so | would like to confirm first, so it is not

dependent, it’s not going to be on construction or renovation, but you can use it for purchase, it is
saying no money period.

Attorney Bolton

Purchase and on-going maintenance.

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/11/2018 - P27

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/11/2018 - P28

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:17
Document Date
Tue, 12/11/2018 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 12/11/2018 - 00:00
Page Number
28
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__121120…

Board of Aldermen 12-11-2018 Page 28

Alderman Gidge

Alderman-at-Large and Alderman Clemons is correct, we do come to points he would know, we must
make a change, not to make it more expensive, but possibly to make it a little easier. The Mayor is
correct that | am on a State Board where we get one-half percent of $50 million dollars, these monies,
tax breaks being used everywhere except Nashua. Now this amount of money gets us from here to
here, which from $4 to potentially $6. We need a design anyway, this is the moment where | think
we’ve just got to go there is just too much involved in it.

Alderman Jette

So just to clarify, I’ve got the resolution in front of me, it says “no borrowing for the renovation or
construction of a new Performing Arts Center, no borrowing, except for costs related to acquiring and
securing for safety and security purposes the property anticipated to be used as a new Performing Arts
Center shall occur until such time as the Mayor has determined that private funds, totaling at least $4
million dollars to be used towards a portion of the operating costs of such new Performing Arts Center
have been raised”.

So if we took $1 million dollars and paid for an architect, we are not borrowing that money, we’ve got
surplus funds that we could use to do that after the $4 million is raised then you can borrow the $15.5
million and you can pay the City back the $1 million you spent on the architect.

Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja

Just to the point of putting it on the ballot, another piece that | have been told fits into this time line is
that the whole plan for going out for the New Market Tax Credits, that needs to be done soon. So by
putting that on the ballot we are also going to be delaying that. And some of you know and some of you
probably have not heard, that | have been concerned that we have not had the presentation about the
New Market Tax Credits. It was postponed a month ago because of Alderman McCarthy’s death but at
the same time, in October, when Mr. Cummings asked about it, he indicated that he felt it was really
important that we understand how the New Market Tax Credits are structured and, in fact, said that
sometime in October he wanted to meet with the Steering Committee and the consultant to talk about
an overview of how New Market Tax Credits are structured or an overview of how the program works.
and then in particular his, the consultant's recommendation on how this deal should be structured.

Later on in that same meeting Alderman Jette asked him to explain, asked Mr. Cummings to explain
about the New Market Tax Credits and President McCarthy replied “If we are going to have a
presentation from the Tax Credit Consultant, I’d rather do that there because it is a lengthy topic”. So |
think that some of our questions and our lack of understanding of time lines comes because we don’t
understand of this also and | think that once we have that presentation we will have a better sense of
those timelines and how all of this is working together. But all of that, again being said, there are those
other timelines operating in the background and we need to be aware of that so again the process can
move forward. Thank you.

Alderwoman Kelly

Thank you Madam President, | just wanted to talk a little bit about the people in the room, | know that
Alderman Lopez talked about it, that we have quite a full gallery there and | remember the last time that
happened | was actually on the other side of that barrier, | know some of us were as well. So | just
wanted to give a moment to talk about some of the things that were brought up from the people in these
seats who have come out to be part of the democracy and | think that is hearing their voices.

Andrew talked about his daughter and wanting her to grow up in a City that was vibrant; that he owned
a business. And Lotman talked about the potential of Nashua. | think Michael Buckley has such a
succinct point when he said that he talks to his employees he says the best way to get something done

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/11/2018 - P28

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/11/2018 - P29

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:17
Document Date
Tue, 12/11/2018 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 12/11/2018 - 00:00
Page Number
29
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__121120…

Board of Aldermen 12-11-2018 Page 29

is to start. And | think we have started, and we need to continue and we need to invest in what we’ve
already started to keep going.

Alderman Caron

’ll be brief because we are talking about this resolution which was a $15 million-dollar bond and nothing
could be done until that $4 million dollars was raised. That was a real point for me and some other
Aldermen, Ben Clemons being one of them that we had something in place that the private sector was
going to be part of this. This change and maybe because we were trying to move this forward because
we wanted to make sure that we had that building, that we purchased that building, that we didn’t stop
to think that we would have to put some money aside for design work. | have no problem with that and

| agree with Alderman Tencza, this piece about the New Market Tax Credit is what does not sit well with
me, because it just makes me feel like we are using that instead of what we wanted to be set aside
which was $4 million dollars. And there is no guarantee on those Tax Credits.

So that’s why | am really sitting on this because | said | don’t want to vote yes on this because | am
really concerned, not that | don’t think we need that design work, we didn’t do our due diligence back
then but we are trying to rectify that and | don’t have a problem with that. | was here 30 years ago
Mayor and | know what it was when we struggled trying to keep that Arts Center open and doing the
things that we wanted to do. It was very discouraging | think for a lot of people that we didn’t get this
done. So that is my dilemma here; are we going to get what we asked for in order to move forward?
Because all the other groups that have come in, this has to be a public/private partnership.

And yes, we do have a lot of people in the room and they want us to vote yes for this and | know a lot of
them will step up to the plate because | know a lot of them. But! worry and | am still torn when it comes
to this vote whether | will vote yes or no. | want to see this succeed, but if you hadn’t put that Tax
Credit piece in there as part of the amendment, | wouldn’t have had any issues whatsoever because |
know that the purity of the resolution that we put together several years ago was standing. All we were
doing was to rectify the fact that we needed that design project in place to move forward even faster.
Thank you.

Alderman Klee

Thank you very much and | respect your comments about the New Market Tax Credit. | think a lot of
the conversation has been is it public is it private can we get can’t we get it. And | think it is semantics,
| hear people saying, you are just playing with words. | really try to do as much due diligence as | can
and | have not spoken and we have not had that presentation and | think that’s sad that we haven't
gotten that way. And | understand why it was delayed and why we had to deal with his schedule and so
on. So in my looking up and checking things and so on, | want to make it perfectly clear that this does
not hit the local tax payers, nor does it hit the State tax, it doesn’t come from that. It is a Federal
Program; the monies are released and | went to the Treasury Department and so on. The Treasury
Department is very clear and says for every $1 that is invested, there are $8 dollars that is returned
based on, let me make sure | have the right words, it generates $8 of private investment. That is very
key.

| started asking about well what is our possibility of getting this $4 million dollars and the more that |
started looking at it and | think we were all given some information on that and | looked and the State of
NH has gotten $200 million dollars since the inception of this. These numbers are based as of 2017 so
there has probably been a little bit more in the interim. When | look at it, and the main thing is for what
they called economic census areas, areas that are low income and when we look at the downtown and
the Tree Street area, this is going to be a boom for that particular thing. So | look at it and | say Nashua
is not a depressed area, but the census area of the downtown is. | look at these 9 cities, Errol,
Claremont, Concord, Derry, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Berlin, Newmarket, and Keene, those areas have
gotten it over and over again. Keene has gotten $10 million dollars; Newmarket, which we know is not a
depressed area - $17 million dollars; Berlin $33.4 million dollars. The Claremont, Concord and Berlin
are more than 50% of that $200 million dollars that has been received.

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/11/2018 - P29

Board Of Aldermen - Agenda - 6/14/2016 - P9

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 21:34
Document Date
Tue, 06/14/2016 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Agenda
Meeting Date
Tue, 06/14/2016 - 00:00
Page Number
9
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_a__061420…

ORDINANCE Proposed Amendment 4/22/2016
(Proposed Amendment 3/7/2016 incorporated)
O-16-003

2. In Part Ht “General Legislation”, Chapter 182 “Housing Standards”, Article IV
“Enforcement”, “Section 26 “Violations and penalties,” by deleting the struck-through
language and adding the new underlined language as follows:

Any person who shall violate any provision of this chapter shall, upon conviction thereof,
be punished as provided in § 1-12 of the City Code subjectte-a-fine-of nottessthan-$25
nermerethan $100-at the -diseretion- of the-court. Every day a violation continues after
due notice has been served in accordance with the terms and provisions of this chapter
shall be deemed a separate offense.

This legislation shall take effect following its passage.

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Board Of Aldermen - Agenda - 6/14/2016 - P9

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/11/2018 - P30

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:17
Document Date
Tue, 12/11/2018 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 12/11/2018 - 00:00
Page Number
30
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__121120…

Board of Aldermen 12-11-2018 Page 30

So | look at this as this is private money, we do get these and | am no expert on it, | don’t know exactly
how it happens and so on. | Know we put in the bid, we put what our project is, we keep our fingers
crossed that we get it, | believe that he has said, Mr. Caronke | believe his name is, has said that we
are probably real prime for the picking simply because we have never asked for it before, we have
never been awarded one, obviously because we haven’t asked for it. And we have a perfect area, so |
see that we should go forward. | believe in my heart that we will go over the $4 million dollars. | don’t
think the New Market Tax Credits is going to take us all the way and | believe we need to stay with we
are going to earn the $4 million dollars before we go any further to put hammer to nail as | used before.
| can tell you as a, | have two hats, | am Alderman and! am a State Rep. From a State Rep
perspective, | look at it as we need to do everything we can to get new families and increase investment
into our state. As an Alderman | say into my City. This | believe is going to happen; | understand what
you are saying is if those words hadn't been there. | think ultimately many of us always felt that it was
there, just not said. | think we became more transparent and more honest when we put the words in
the resolution and | think that was the way to go with it. But! do respect and | understand your anxiety
of it. | don’t fault you for any decision you would make. Thank you.

Alderman Laws

I’ve got a lot of thoughts. My major concern right now is we are going to cut off our nose to spite our
face. | mean | can’t imagine we have a single constituent who is surprised that we had a little bit of
oversight on one of the first that the newly elected Board came in and voted on. What! would implore
them to think about is that how many Boards do you have that unanimously accept the fact that we
made a mistake, we are sorry, and we want to move on with it? In reality if we do anything right now to
stagnate this plan, we are going to screw it up. We are probably not going to get the Performing Arts
Center that we want, that we promised most of our constituents.

Alderman Jette, | completely respect your point, we have spoken about this privately, but | would also
implore you to think you are basing your decision off of a vote that your constituents made over a year
ago. | feel like the idea of this and the City of Nashua has grown exponentially in that last year and I’d
like to think that as that idea has evolved, so too have your constituents about whether or not they
should be supporting this measure. The e-mails, phone calls, conversations that | have, they are all
overwhelmingly in favor of this process.

Alderman Gidge

I’ve been up in Concord and the Commerce, which is banking, insurance and consumer affairs, | can
tell you this is not private money. This is coming from the Federal Government, there is three ways that
it comes and it is complex, but we end up with quite a bit. Everyone along the way makes something in
a sense, it is not private money. Money that comes in federally could be considered in a sense private,
but itis not. This is all Federal and | think this has been going on for 17 years and | cannot believe that
we have not taken advantage of this. So if anyone believes it is private, it’s not.

Alderman Lopez

| have to disagree a little bit because it is called a tax credit because private people have to pay the
money but | wanted to circle back to what Alderman Klee said earlier and point out that we have this
huge project which could benefit the City of Nashua and the reason we are eligible for it is because of
all the people who are working hard in the surrounding neighborhoods to make ends meet. So you are
welcome; the rest of the City can enjoy this project but let’s not forget why we are eligible for it. People
are working every day trying to make ends meet, trying to sustain their living, and maybe the City has
looked a little bit sideways at some of the people who are just trying to get by every day and didn’t really
know they had an audience.

Those are also the people that the tax credit is meant to focus on. It is supposed to stimulate that area
and help them and as much as | love the arts and the Performing Arts and | do play guitar, some people

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don’t think | can or do anything, and | am an artist, this is an economic anchor and downtown and those
neighborhoods need it. They need people to be drawn downtown to some attraction so that they will
stay downtown and spend their money at the shops , at the restaurants, at the businesses, who
themselves are also struggling and trying to maintain a bottom line while at the same time doing it ina
manner that builds a community space. Downtown is for everybody, it is our living room and that is
because the businesses downtown choose to be that way. They choose to participate in things like the
Farmer’s Market, the Holiday Stroll, a lot of times they put themselves out and work collectively just to
help create a better event and more visibility.

Things like the Farmer’s Dinner that is an act of love if I’ve ever saw one, where so many different
businesses that may be competing somewhat during the rest of the year are really working
collaboratively. The same thing with the Taste of Downtown; there is a lot of people and businesses
working cooperatively downtown. It is right where this Performing Arts Center should be and it is right
where we need that economic anchor to be. So again please remember the people who are making
this possible because while there will definitely be larger donors who see the merit of this and support it:
there is also other people who just by nature of their being there and trying to support their families
every day are also contributing to this and they will contribute to it moving forward.

Alderman Schmidt

Thank you Madam President. | think we all agree that this is a really good idea for Nashua. | think we all
agree that this going to be an economic boost to the City not just downtown but the whole region. | think
a few of us are struggling with this because at the beginning we did not have a template for this. We
did not have a plan. This is being developed as we speak and it has been changing all along. The first
6 months or so, we didn’t even have an agenda, we didn’t even have this on the calendar and then
people like Mr. Teeboom reminded us that this is a City project.

This is a thing that citizens need to be involved in and it really made a difference. It made such a
difference that they developed a really good idea of having someone come in and run this for us, we will
just be the landlord. In the long run, this is going to do exactly what we need to do. We just didn’t know
at the beginning. So | am going to vote for it even though it is still confusing and | know it is going to
happen, but | think it will work. Thank you.

Alderman Jette

| think | know where this is going. But to avoid making another mistake, if | could ask Attorney Bolton
the opinion has been expressed by Alderman Tencza and | agree with him that including New Market
Tax Credits is probably not necessary, but | assume it is there for a reason? And | am wondering if
bond counsel requires that we put that in there and if that is the reason, what about the NH Community
Development Finance Authority, the State Credits, does that need to be put in there also? Do they both
have to be in there or does neither have to be in there?

Attorney Bolton

| didn’t write this, | didn’t work on this, Dorie Clark in my office did and | think she investigated these
possibilities. The advice of bond counsel, the advice of the counsel the attorney dealing with New
Market Tax Credits which is his expertise was to do it this way. In the past, the State Agency has not
required that they be specifically referenced in these things and no one saw any reason to do that.

New Market Tax Credits are a difficult animal and you have got to hit them sort of step by step in the
appropriate ways. But at the bottom line they are no more or less government money than normal
donations to any charity or government that receive favorable tax treatment in the methodology of
charitable deductions, one’s income taxes. The New Market Tax Credits are a tax credit against
income taxes that private parties would otherwise have to pay.

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Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/11/2018 - P31

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 12/11/2018 - P32

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:17
Document Date
Tue, 12/11/2018 - 00:00
Meeting Description
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Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 12/11/2018 - 00:00
Page Number
32
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Board of Aldermen 12-11-2018 Page 32

The City has to qualify to get them; we get authorized by the US Treasury to essentially provide donors
with these credits. In order to be eligible to do that you have to go through a whole process. You’ve got
to be in the right census track which is depressed; you’ve got to have a program that is intended to
address issues in that census track and stimulate the economy.

We believe that we will meet all those credentials and from our expert up in Portland, Maine, so it was
with consultation with bond counsel and the Portland attorney who has been through this dozens of
times, that the specific reference to New Market Tax Credits was in there. The specific unfettering that
from our requirement to pay future operating expenses was detached because the intention | gather is
to spend the money on actually doing the construction as opposed to setting it aside in some sort of
endowment. Whatever the reason the Federal Government determined that to be a requirement, we
were trying to make sure we fit in there. But! do not think there is any reason, | think there is good
reason not to take the reference for New Market Tax Credits out and | think there is no reason to add
the State Agency in at this point.

Alderman Jette
Thank you.
Alderman Dowd

| am not going to make a motion to move the question but | think we are going around in circles and |
would hope that we can take a vote and go from there.

A viva voce roll call was taken which resulted as follows:

Yea: Ald. O’Brien, Ald. Gidge, Ald. Harriott-Gathright
Ald. Dowd, Ald. Klee, Ald. Laws
Ald. Lopez, Ald. Kelly
Ald. Melizzi-Golja, Ald. Tencza
Ald. Schmidt, Ald. Wilshire 12

Nay: Ald. Caron, Ald. Jette 2
MOTION CARRIED
Resolution R-18-092 declared duly adopted.

R-18-094
Endorser: Alderman Richard A. Dowd
APPROVING THE COST ITEMS OF A COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT
BETWEEN THE NASHUA BOARD OF EDUCATION AND THE NASHUA TEACHERS’
UNION, LOCAL 1044, AFT, AFL-CIO, UNIT C, SECRETARIES FROM JULY 1, 2018
THROUGH JUNE 30, 2022 AND RELATED TRANSFER

Given its second reading;

MOTION BY ALDERMAN DOWD FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-18-094
MOTION CARRIED

Resolution R-18-094 declared duly adopted.

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