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Board of Aldermen 11-27-2018 Page 3

READING MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING

There being no objection, President Wilshire declared the minutes of the Board of Aldermen
meeting of November 13, 2018, accepted, placed on file, and the reading suspended.

COMMUNICATIONS REQUIRING ONLY PROCEDURAL ACTIONS AND WRITTEN REPORTS
FROM LIAISONS

From: Dorothy Clarke, Deputy Corporation Counsel
Re: Proposed Amendment to R-18-073 (Legislation proposing a City Charter Amendment
Regarding the Filing of Elected Vacancies)

There being no objection, President Wilshire accepted the communication, placed it on file and
referred it to the Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee.

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

COMMUNICATIONS REQUIRING FINAL APPROVAL

From: Lori Wilshire, President, Board of Aldermen
Re: Committee Assignments

MOTION BY ALDERMAN O’BRIEN TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND APPROVE THE
COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS AS PRESENTED
MOTION CARRIED

From: Jim Donchess, Mayor
Re: Contract for Board of Public Works Pension Administration

MOTION BY ALDERMAN O’BRIEN TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND AWARD THE CONTRACT
TO HOOKER AND HOLCOMBE IN THE AMOUNT OF $49,000
MOTION CARRIED

From: Jim Donchess, Mayor
Re: Purchase Replacement for 2018 Ford Explorer Police Cruiser

MOTION BY ALDERWOMAN KELLY TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND APPROVE THE USE
OF CERF FUNDS FOR THE PURCHASE OF A REPLACEMENT VEHICLE FROM M-H-Q
MUNICIPAL VEHICLES

MOTION CARRIED

PETITIONS - None

NOMINATIONS, APPOINTMENTS AND ELECTIONS - None

REPORTS OF COMMITTEE

FINANCE COMMITEE. 00. ee cc ececccceececeeceecececcueceeeuseeaeseeaeseuauseeauevevanteraneenentenaes 11/15/2018

There being no objection, President Wilshire declared the report of the November 15, 2018, Finance
Committee accepted and placed on file.

Special Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee... cceeeccceeceeeeeessteeeeees 11/19/2018

FY 2016

Division: Community Development

Department: Community Development

Per NRO 5-134-c, the Financial Services Division shall report to the Board of Aldermen the status of all uncompleted projects.

"Project type" as defined by the ordinance is any one of the following:

(1) An endeavor requiring expenditure in excess of $50,000

(2) The purchase, construction, replacement or rehabilitation of any physical facility, including but not limited to, roads, buildings,
bridges, and sewerage, with an anticipated life in excess of ten (10) years

(3) The acquisition of tangible personal property with an anticipated life in excess of ten (10) years

(4) The acquisition of land or any interest in land

(5) Surveys or studies relative to the aforementioned categories

(6) Contractual services provided to the city

Accounting Unit Activity # Account . Budget Percent Funding Required
Project /Account (if applicable) Name Source of Funding Amount Funds Expended | Funds Encumbered Complete | to Compicte Pevject
Project Name Type Brief Description of Project
INHDES-Fimbel Site Assessment (2) [Conducting a site assessment and 81.3080 1023 Cap Project -NHDES |State/Federal Grant Funds 66,700 24,329 42,371 36% -
cleanup planning activities at the Brownfields
Fimbel Door Sludve Landfill site. Assessment Grant
R-15-108
BSP-LED Bridge Lighting (2) |Installation of Light-emitting diode 60.5700 2016 Cap Project - LED State/Federal Grant Funds 230,000 0%! 230,000
(LED) lighting along the new Bridge Lighting
Borad Street Parkway River
Bridoe
R-15-197 Revenue from Other Sources 180,000 0% 150,000

Page 3

Board of Aldermen 11-27-2018 Page 4

There being no objection, President Wilshire declared the report of the November 19, 2018, Special
Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee accepted and placed on file.

CONFIRMATION OF MAYOR'S APPOINTMENTS - None

UNFINISHED BUSINESS — RESOLUTIONS

There being no objection, President Wilshire removed R-18-073 from the table.

R-18-073
Endorsers: Alderman-at-Large Brian S. McCarthy
Alderwoman-at-Large Shoshanna Kelly
Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr.
Alderman Jan Schmidt
Alderman Tom Lopez
Alderman-at-Large Brandon Michael Laws
Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja
PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO THE CITY CHARTER RELATIVE TO FILLING
VACANCIES ON ELECTED BOARDS BY MAJORITY VOTE OF THE REMAINING MEMBERS
OF THAT BOARD
Given its third reading;

MOTION BY ALDERMAN CARON TO RE-REFER R-18-073 TO THE PERSONNEL/ADMINISTRATIVE

AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
MOTION CARRIED

Resolution R-18-073 re-referred to Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS — ORDINANCES

O-18-029
Endorsers: Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr.
Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire
Alderman Patricia Klee
Alderman Richard A. Dowd
Alderman Ken Gidge
Alderman Linda Harriott-Gathright
Alderman-at-Large Brandon Michael Laws
Alderman Tom Lopez
Alderman June M. Caron
Alderwoman-at-Large Shoshanna Kelly
Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja
Alderman-at-Large David C. Tencza
Alderman Jan Schmidt
INCREASING THE EXEMPTION AMOUNT FOR THE BLIND, ELDERLY, AND DISABLED TAX
EXEMPTIONS BY 25% TOTAL OVER THE NEXT TWO YEARS
Given its second reading;

MOTION BY ALDERMAN O’BRIEN TO AMEND O-18-029 IN ITS ENTIRETY BY REPLACING IT
WITH THE PROPOSED AMENDMENTS RECOMMENDED BY THE PERSONNEL/ADMINISTRATIVE
AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

ON THE QUESTION

Board of Aldermen 11-27-2018 Page 5
Alderman Dowd

For the public could we cover what were the changes?

Alderman O’Brien

| don’t have the particular facts right in front of me.

President McCarthy

Alderman O’Brien, | can have the attorney describe it if you prefer.

Alderman O’Brien

| Know it had to do with the changing to make it easier for the people in the office.

Stephen Bolton, Corporate Counsel

The amount of the exemption in each case has been rounded to the nearest thousand essentially so it
didn’t come out a more difficult and less practical number when trying to explain. So everything ends in
an even thousand instead of 683 or whatever it would be.

Alderman Dowd

| ran into former Alderman Chasse at the Stroll and he wanted to ensure that we continue to what he
always proposed, explaining the changes to the public.

Alderman O’Brien

Thank you Madam President, exactly what Corporate Counsel has said, in looking into this, what the
amendment was brought forward, because when you are dealing with some of the elderly and you are
dealing with numbers for $1,582.67, it was basically just rounded off like Corporate Counsel said, it
made it easy, did nothing with the original proposal, we are still going to hit the 12.5 and 12.5, itis a
tiered effect thing and we will come to the 25% which will help out our elderly. | think it is better all the
way around and it is easier for the public to understand it. Thank you.

MOTION CARRIED

MOTION BY ALDERMAN O’BRIEN FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF O-18-029 AS AMENDED

ON THE QUESTION

Alderman Jette

| would just like to clarify that for the elderly exemption as the Mayor explained this is not for everybody,
for all of the elderly. Besides reaching the age requirements there are also income limitations as the
Mayor mentioned, the $50,000.00 per person or per married couple but also an asset limitation of
$150,000.00 excluding the home that is being subject to the property tax. So it is not all the elderly that
are going to be able to take advantage of this, it is restricted to people with those income limitations and
asset limitations.

Alderman O’Brien

To reaffirm what Alderman Jette has said, it appears that the numbers that were brought before the
committee is we are dealing with 600 residents. But keep in mind that these are 600 residents that
really are in need, like | say, people who are blind or elderly and do not meet the criteria and that

Board of Aldermen 11-27-2018 Page 6
$50,000.00 | think we can all agree that qualifier is proper and these people do need some attention
particularly with the State revaluation that was mandated upon and that came upon us. This seems like
a fair way for the City to react, thank you.

MOTION CARRIED

Ordinance O-18-029 declared duly adopted as amended.

NEW BUSINESS — RESOLUTIONS

R-18-094
Endorser: Alderman Richard A. Dowd
Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja
Alderman Tom Lopez
Alderwoman-at-Large Shoshanna Kelly
Alderman Patricia Klee
Alderman Ken Gidge
Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr.
Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire
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 TRANSFERS
Given its first reading; assigned to the BUDGET REVIEW COMMITTEE by President Wilshire

There being no objection, President Wilshire suspended the rules to allow for the first reading of
a resolution received after the agenda was prepared

R-18-095
Endorser: Mayor Jim Donchess
RELATIVE TO THE ACCEPTANCE AND APPROPRIATION OF $119,100 FROM THE
KRESGE FOUNDATION INTO PUBLIC HEALTH AND COMMUNITY SERVICES GRANT
ACTIVITY “CREATING A CULTURE OF PREVENTION”

Given its first reading; assigned to the HUMAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE by President Wilshire

NEW BUSINESS — ORDINANCES - None

PERIOD FOR GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT

Fred Teeboom, 24 Cheyenne Drive. Good evening, | am here to introduce Lynn Berry. You may have
read the newspaper recently that had an article about Lynn Barry, an editorial about Lynn Berry and I’d
like to briefly mention her before | introduce her. Lynn Barry is 86 years old. Lynn has been a 63 year
resident of Nashua. She is probably the feistiest 86 year old that I've ever met. She has owned a
business in Nashua for 25 years and paid taxes to the City all through that time.

Lynn Berry fell on some bad times and she needed some help, she needed some help to repair a
broken water pipe, hot water pipe in a mobile home and she didn’t have quite the cash to pay for that.
She got some estimates that came to $100.00 to $200.00, basically needed like a shark back coupler
inserted into a section of the pipe. Because she didn’t have the money she contacted the City, the City
put her in touch with the HUD program office and now Ms. Barry has $1100.00 mortgage on her home.
That is not right. The system failed her. We failed her. We need a better system than what happened
to Ms. Barry. I'll let her tell her own story, she’s perfectly capable of it, she will be the next speaker Ms.
Chairman.

Board of Aldermen 11-27-2018 Page 7

Lynn Berry 21 Marina Drive. Good evening, | was very frustrated about this progress and a lot of the
things that really infuriated me that number one they didn’t even use a Nashua or New Hampshire
contractor, they got a contractor from Worcester, Mass. | got quotes from people, | live at Jensen’s
Park, and they have maintenance people there and they came and they opened up the bottom of the
mobile home so that it would be easily accessible. Then | had a plumber go in there and give me an
estimate and he said it would be between $150.00 and $200.00.

So then when the City sent over this representative of HUD, he told me he wouldn’t start the work until |
signed this lien on my house, which upset me very highly. So the gentleman came and he spent a
good two hours at my house and I’m retired and | know how long he stayed there. He wasn’t there for
more than two hours and he left. And he left it all open and | thought he was coming back, | thought he
wasn’t finished. | waited a day, two days, three days and finally he didn’t call back and | called the
gentleman at City Hall and | said, “Is he finished” and he said, “I think so” and | said, “Well | think you
better come look at this, it’s all opened up to the weather and it isn’t finished, he didn’t come back”. So
he said, “Well let me look into it’.

The next thing | know, the day after that, the gentleman came back and then he argued with me that he
wasn’t going to just close it up, he wasn’t going to put insulation. That really set me off, because | said,
“You can’t close it up in a mobile home and not put insulation”. And he said, “Well it's not in the work
order” and | said, “Well it should be”. So | finally got him to put the insulation in and close it up but that
was after he came back a second time and | said this is unbelievable, | can’t believe the City of Nashua
would have something like that for the elderly, | think it is a disgrace. Thank you.

Laurie Ortolano, 41 Berkeley Street. Good evening, | wanted to share a little more information with you
looking at some of the assessment data. We had the opportunity over the Holiday weekend to get
ahold of KRT’s data base in a form that we could actually look at and manipulate. It would be my
request to the Aldermen that in the future if we do and when we do another assessment that we could
look at the possibility of having that type of data that KRT provided in PDF form which was basic and
did not include a lot of the fields, be provided to the public to in Excel or a readable form so that we can,
as the public, work with that data to kind of see what went on in our neighborhoods and get what we
need to get. It would be so easy to put it out that way and it does not have the level of data that the
Nashua system would have in case we are concerned about manipulations or privacy; but it would
make it so much easier for us to look at our neighborhoods and to make comparisons to streets and
properties around Nashua.

In the process of really looking at the data we started wondering why we didn’t get a report from KRT,
we paid them what seemed to be almost half a million dollars to do an assessment for us. Next week |
will be going into City Hall under the RSA request that my attorney wrote to look into some of the
documents that the City is putting together and one of them was KRT correspondence. | don’t know if
there is a report from KRT that summarized what they saw when they did their assessment or what the
distribution was. We hear the Mayor tell us tonight that the average increase was 23% or 24%, we
came up with 26% in our data base, so you know, you always worry when you transfer data base that
you didn’t get it all as clean as you want or you know, it is a lot of work to bring one in. We had other
residents in Nashua that worked on it and put it together, so it wasn’t us doing it alone.

It certainly would be nice if the professionals through KRT would give us that data clean and we would
be able to know for certain if we are correct, but we are in the right ballpark. It just seems that we
missed a great opportunity hiring a company and paying as much as we did if we did not get a report to
look at what happened in our community when it came to assessing, where we hit these pitfalls and
take this data and have our assessing office use it to make improvements in the process by which they
are assessing. There clearly is room for improvements.

Board of Aldermen 11-27-2018 Page 8

| think when you look at the history of the last ten years, we came out of 2008 which was a nightmare,
had to be a nightmare for all assessing offices. The crash of the real estate market was tremendously
difficult; and in 2010 they did a reassessment that was not an easy task; 2013 they did a reassessment.
My observation of that, because it is on the data cards is that we over-corrected, heavily. | know in my
neighborhood, they cut houses $100,000.00 which was in some instances 25%, it was just so steep,
when the equalized ratio in 2010 was 1.1.

So | noticed we went up streets and gave $30,000.00 discounts to every home, whether it was worth
$200,000.00 or it was worth $300,000.00, it wasn’t percentage based. It was just a single swoop cut
and | think that led to part of the problem in this assessment cycle. We found condo units that had
been dropped from $120,000.00 to $70,000.00 in 2013 that are now up to $130,000.00 from KRT
coming in 2018. So it was a total boomerang process for the people in those communities. | am
disappointed that the assessing office and our chair or our manager didn’t say, “Hey we need to get a
report. Give us the distributions.” That KRT data base is listed by Ward, every Alderman could have
had a Ward report, really simple to run, to Know what happened in my Ward? What was the increase,
where are the problem areas? Who might | be hearing from? How simple would that be?

And then we would get to work in the communities and neighborhoods that are messed up and we
would be putting some extra focus time into those areas to correct it, because there is a lot corrective
work that needs to be done. | was out in my neighborhood today walking a dog and got stopped from
two people from the other end that had gotten their tax bills and one guy put the spread sheet together.
He knew | was the person being public and he was like, “Oh my god, what happened to my house, how
did this happen, how did | go from the 300’s to the upper 500’s, what happened in a week when all this
changed over”. It is hard for people to understand. And then they say, “Well | looked down the street
and there are a whole bunch of houses in the 300’s, we are all over the map over here, what
happened”. | know, yes | understand that, it is a problem. It all has to do, | did meet with the Board of
Assessors, it was a good meeting. It has to do with how we capture our permits and how we handle
our MLS data in-between assessing cycles.

It is abundantly clear to me that we do not value renovations and home improvements the way that the
sales market tells you we should value it. We are undervaluing grossly, | mean it is ridiculous. All
assessors, all good assessors will tell you, it is all about the sales data. This business is about the
sales data and that is why when we abate, we only allow people to come in, working off of sales data.
We don’t allow them to use comps that are not sales based because the sales data is the hard data. It
makes perfect sense, | understand that. But the assessors should be operating on that sales data too.
Every time they look at a property they need to be asking themselves, what will this property bring in a
market sale? What would it bring when they look at these improvements. | am finding lots of permits
for home renovations, major home renovations, that bring $10, $15, $20, $30K to the property when
they assess it.

Then when | look at the sales data and | looked at substantial homes that sold — when you look at a
house that undergoes a home renovation, you are getting between, in neighborhoods all over Nashua,
especially for the homes in the high 200’s or 300 range, when they completely renovate that house |
could show you 10 sales that the house popped $180,000.00 to $200,000 to $225,000.00. They are
hot and they go and there’s a lot of data to support that. It is right in our neighborhood and that is one
the reasons when | looked at your permit that | was concerned, Mr. Mayor, because it was so under-
valued for the work done and any other house, there are three or four houses right around your
neighborhood that when they did that level of work, their homes sold for $150, $200,000.00 more. They
really get that pop.

| feel that we are just not principled in the office down there, that we just don’t have practices in place. |
was very clear with the Board of Assessors that | felt policy needed to be created. | told them that it
says in the mission statement that their role is to review and make certain that the Assessing Office is
compliant with their policies. Well there appear to be none, so | encourage them to perhaps encourage

Board of Aldermen 11-27-2018 Page 9

the Assessing Office to create some. It just seems like there should be something down there. | know
that legal counsel and members of City Hall, the Mayor, are very concerned about the time that | am
wasting with staff, that | have overstayed my welcome. | have to tell you it is enormously difficult for me
to access this data.

The property cards you cannot get on your computer at home, the data base that is available in the
house at your home is not a clean data base and it says right on the web site that there are errors in
this data and basically you can’t trust it. So | can’t do it from home and when | go into the Assessing
Office, | can use the computer but it will not bring up the format of a property card. | can’t get the data
that | need, unless | print the card out. So | have to use some staff time, and | do it all myself but then it
goes to the printer and they have to charge me and | pay and sort them and count them and send me
on my merry way. You know, | had asked the Assessing Office for help months ago in comping our
house and it was Steve Hamilton up at the DRA | had three good conversations with him. And he gave
me some questions that | would be able to ask my Assessing Office for help. They were not willing to
answer those questions. Their immediate was no, they are not going to help me. He said one of the
things you could ask about was comps. If you are looking at your property and you are confused about,
he knew the effect of your build was an issue for me we talked about this. He said, “Ask for comps”. |
did, so did my assessing chief at the Lakes Region, she said, “just ask for comps, ask for help and ask
them to give you comps”.

| asked John Duhamel for comps, “Could you provide me with any comps or any policies to help me
understand where my house EYB fell in my neighborhood”. He never responded to the e-mail. So the
only way for me to understand that was to go to City Hall and print the 55 cards and pay for it. And
what | learned is we were the only property that was changed aggressively when we were assessed
and that was great data for me to have. We were right at the top of the list. And | wouldn’t have been
looking so much and so deeply into the data, | look back at the way all of this has transpired, if
somebody had shown me some professional courtesy in that office, and just helped me out, had a
single meeting with me, got me some data, | wouldn’t have been in there digging for every property
card. If the guy had come back and said, “Oh you were the only house that was hit at this level, yes,
ok, that may be a question, that’s the data’, | would have been at least happy to know that. And |
wouldn’t have had to spend time down there digging like | have dug. That’s the level we are at.

| cannot emphasize enough how strongly | feel about professional courtesy in an office. You have one
assessor down there who is so professional, any time | am in that office and anyone walks in and he is
around and he happens to have good visibility, he will say to anyone, “Is there anything | can help you
with, do you need anything’?. The women in the office are A1 professional, the Chief, not cutting it. |
have never seen a more unprofessional person in my life. | have had two conversations with him and in
the second conversation a couple weeks ago, only twice, I’ve never had a meeting with this gentleman,
the second conversation | had a couple weeks ago he actually had his head facing a wall while | was
talking to him. Right in front of his staff | asked him if he could turn his head and look at me while | am
speaking to him, to have to ask for that is absurd. It is absurd. And the issue of not really being at work
really disturbs me. You have to take that job on full-time.

It would take very little for this management team or the Mayor’s Office or the CFO to go in there and
do a quick audit on what is happening with attendance and get that information pretty quickly,
somebody has to care and look into it. | think a lot of our problems occurred when | called him a year
ago, he wasn’t willing to meet, it was a very hostile conversation, | was wrong about everything, permits
are captured, sales data is done, you are wrong, you are wrong, you are wrong. And that is what got
me hopping because | didn’t feel | was wrong.

It is just really disappointing and with regard to our property card, | had another neighbor go in last
week, I’ve had two now, they go to the professional assessor, the one | would recommend to anyone,
and there’s only one that | will recommend that somebody go to in that office, only one. And they had a
question on the land issue on the cards, there is a bunch of neighbors who are really concerned with

Board of Aldermen 11-27-2018 Page 10

land valuation and the factors on the property card and | think there is a legitimate issue there. One of
my neighbors has been hot on it. He went in, he got the assessor to meet with him, the assessor could
not answer his questions, the assessor said, “I'll get back to you’, the assessor called back three days
later, he gave him an answer on the phone, my neighbor wasn’t really satisfied with it, but was super
appreciative that at least he got a response. That is more than we ever got in four years and we
happened to be with the assessor that doesn’t do that, that didn’t do it from the beginning.

| think that difference in the assessors should not exist. Even three years that should not have existed,
| shouldn’t have felt like | needed to get a lawyer to get RSA information. | didn’t know how to word my
questions to this administration without having a lawyer do it for me. | didn’t know how to ask for a
document, because | have asked, |’ve asked for the qualifications of our assessors because the CFO
has said they are all certified. | don’t know if they are, we all here have stuff on ... people walking into a
doctor who isn’t a doctor, we all here are being duped because we are told what the right answer is but
we don’t really know. | said, “Well when were they certified and what are they certified in, who are
they’? No answer nobody knows, but they are, just trust them, they are.

| want to point out one thing when it comes to assessing and assessing fairly and | told this to the Board
of Assessors, when | looked at our street, on Berkeley Street, there were a lot of permits that were
missed. But when | finally laid out all the permit data and | looked at what it showed, KRT came in and
met with the Board of Assessors and the Board said to him, Rob Tozier, “are all these problems caused
by people not pulling permits and they are doing work to their homes and we don’t know about it” and
Rob said, “I don’t know, I’m not certain it could be the problem”, right? How would he actually know and
in reality when | went into the Board of Assessors, | said “Let me tell you what | see. | see lots of
permits being pulled but | see the assessing people not going out to check on the permits or to close
them with a visit’. Tons, they are assessing at the desk off a picture.

On Berkeley Street there were 16 out of 35 permits pulled that were never visited or looked at. And |
am talking significant valuations, they didn’t go and in the process of not going they missed full home
renovations, major changes, because we know we cannot just trust what is written on a piece of paper
on what is happening with the permit. So 16 out of 35 were just never visited or seen and about 10 of
them of those permits were simply not valued, forgotten to be valued for new kitchens and stuff. That is
a lot, that is a lot of missed data that creates disproportionate assessments, it is very significant. You
know, | was culling through the extra hundred permit cards | printed a week ago. | am going to tell you,
| just scroll through them, scroll through them, | create a spread sheet and | take a look and | hit a
property card where there were 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 permits pulled, a lot done. Three big ones and the
rest were mechanical, electrical and plumbing and | said, “Oh this is a house that has a lot of work it is
in my neighborhood” and then | look at the activity section and there hasn’t been a measuring list since
1994 and they hadn’t done a data verification since 1998. There are absolutely no visits on this card,
all of that work and there isn’t a visit out there. The valuations are so flipping low it is crazy, a brand
new kitchen in an old home, yielded $1,500.00 on the assessment.

When | see a card like this and this is a card that they don’t go back to all the time, three big permits, no
visits, no visits, no visits, you Know what | do? | look at the name, who is this? It is a Board of
Assessor's member, you know, do they understand how hard it is for us? That to me is a conflict and |
don’t like seeing that. They don’t understand on the outside what is like for us if you are not having
anyone come to your property or that assessing office isn’t going to these properties’ to capture this
stuff. They are missing it on a big level so it is really disappointing. | am going to continue to work at it.
| don’t really care if you stonewall and | am sure that the City is going to provide nothing and | am not
going to get any answers and | am going to go back to the questions I’ve asked and | know | won’t get
answers. Over time | am going to try and verify the data by going back down there and obtaining
information but the only reason that | am doing that is because the City won’t give you any answers and
| am not going to sit back and just accept that it got taken care of or somebody looked at it. | am going
to verify it. And | am going to continue to verify it. And | do everything | can, | haven’t spent much time

Board of Aldermen 11-27-2018 Page 11

in the assessing office this week, they have been mobbed with people coming in with issues, it is a zoo
in there.

| have stayed out of there because | know what is going on with the tax bills. But when things calm
down a little bit, | will go back and do what | need to do. | hope that you folks as Aldermen can really
get onboard, | would love to see you take a vote of no confidence in that office. At least as a minimum
send a message that you’ve to clean it up. And you’ve got to care, it is really tough for us on the
outside and | just don’t see anyone on the inside doing and making the right decisions. And when you
talk about exemptions, let’s talk about Concord Street, let’s talk about all the communities that give
exemptions to historic homes. We never talk about that and they do and there is a street that is all over
the map with properties that we largely know have so much trouble selling. And | feel very badly, | don’t
benefit with this tax, | don’t live in the historic district, | am not pushing this for me, but these folks who
try to maintain those little mini-museums down there have a brutal time trying to sell those houses and
maintain them. When | see assessing done on those houses that jacks it $100 or $150 or $200,000.00
above sales prices, | cringe. We should be very careful in that neighborhood on how we assess those
homes. Thank you.

Mayor Donchess

| just want to correct any misimpression that may have been created with respect to the reference to my
house because | think there was the implication that somehow | had influenced my own, this building
permit. | think we took out and | actually brought my file, l’ve never even looked at it until | Know Ms.
Ortolano was investigating. We took out a building permit in maybe 2007 or 2008, | was neither an
Alderman nor in office nor a Mayor and the permit said $100,00000. Of course | never even saw the
paperwork at the time because | wasn’t that interested in how this would affect my assessment and the
project took a few years, the house is nearly 100 years old, so you have horse hair plaster, bathrooms
are really small, we moved a door, stuff that didn’t really effect value. There’s a post and whatever it is,
the old wiring system, a lot of that had to be replaced, the plumbing had to be replaced, some stuff had
to be taken out of the basement.

The value went up $30,000.00, at the time | didn’t even look, and it was maybe 2010 or 2011, again |
wasn’t even in office, the implication is that somehow | influenced this as Mayor? | was not Mayor, |
wasn’t even an Alderman and | didn’t even look at what the assessment was at all, | got the tax bill and
| paid it. So the idea that somehow this was improper is completely a slander and it is not an issue that
| thought about, | paid the taxes, | never looked at the property card | wasn’t even really aware of how
this affected my value until this came up and | looked back at the file. Because | knew this might come
up the last couple of meetings, | have had my file, so the next meeting | will bring you my file and you
can look at it, it is a totally an open book. This happened 10 years ago.

| think that certainly mistakes have been made, a lot of this was back in 2013, when you say that the
condos went way down and went way up, that is a two-sided problem, | mean in the sense that yes,
that sort of boomerang affect is a problem, but it meant that people paid lower taxes for five years. So if
that had not happened, they would have paid more to the City. So a lot of these arguments are that
individuals should be paying higher taxes, a building permit — enough value wasn’t added, that means
that some individual, some family who probably thinks they are paying too much, the argument is they
are not paying enough. | am more concerned about the people whose values went up so much from
not on Berkeley Street like Ms. Ortolano’s house where the taxes went down 20%, those aren’t the
people that | am worried about. It is the people who have owned $200,000.00 homes and their
assessments went up 30 or 40%, those are the people that | think we should be concerned about.

As you know, because | have sent you the Memo, | am just going to make two more points, because |
sent you the Memo, | asked John Griffin, CFO and Kim Kleiner, Chief of Staff to do a management
audit and an efficiency audit of the Assessing Office and | think you got that Memo, right? But if you