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Board of Aldermen 03-12-2019 Page 27

could put your arm through, you say “well there’s some deferred maintenance there”. | wouldn't call that a
B Grade anymore. KRT looked at this house and said, “Well that’s a B’. No. And that’s worth
$400,000.00. Ok, cool that’s fine.

But then you come right up from it, three houses up and you’ve got a beautiful, painted lady Victorian, a
little bit larger, attached two car garage, beautifully done, 8 permits and very well rated and this is
$13,000.00 grand more, with a B Grading? How can that be, how could you look at that house there and
basically give it 3% more for this house here? Next to it is a beautifully restored conventional home
wrapped in vinyl trim, new windows, very lovely done, this has a Grade C. Now what is it assessed at?
$329,000.00. That’s a really nice valuation. How can this be so low and this house that has fallen into
such disrepair be so high graded above?

All these homes are down in the block between Courtland and Laton. So land valuation is maybe 20%
lower down there. And then you come up to the block where land valuation is higher and these two homes
sit next to each other, this is a painted lady Victorian, very nicely done, a lot of exterior work, new kitchen
put in, but older, older windows, you know certainly not all restored by any means, but very nicely
maintained property and this is sitting at $410,000.00 virtually the same price as the house at 1 Berkeley
Street. The building value on this house is $250,000.00 and the building value on the first house is
$280,000.00. How can that be? This house next to it just sold. This house the exterior is definitely better
than the first one | showed you but if you walk into this house you are in 1945 and it is really 1945. And it
just sold to a young couple for $400,000.00 which was a high price and needs a lot of work but it’s hard to
believe that KRT would put this house above this house and they are right next to each other, they are right
next to each other, they are neighbors.

So | look at what KRT did on our street and | say, “that wasn’t well done”. And people have abated on
some of these changes and | think very legitimately so, | think the second go-around on some of those
houses was absolutely uncalled for. And people were irate, because once they put the change on, there
was no hearing process anymore, because it was the second go-around. And all they had left was to
abate. And you know the Assessing Office is like, “Well what is the problem their taxes went down’. The
problem is that one of these houses took an $80,000.00 hit for honestly | even don’t know why. You know?
So the model shows you right there, there is a problem with the KRT model.

Go over to Monadnock because | talked about Monadnock at the last meeting and if you just — that was an
interesting street too. That’s a street where the model fails and it’s right in the old neighborhood because
they had 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 sales and three of them were in the KRT window, where KRT took the data and used
it to make their model, they captured the sales data and built their model. Cool. So a house sells for
$355,000.00, it is used to build the model and KRT spits out a price on that of $269,000.00. That is pretty
off from the sale price and that house ends up with a 76% valuation, that’s what the model did. Another
house sold within the window of their model for $232,000.00, it comes in at $200,000.00, it is at 86%
valuation. Now their goal was to be between 90 and 110. They have another one that sells for
$230,000.00; it comes in at $182,000.00 with their model, 79%. They have another one that sells outside
of the window, it sells for $522,000.00; it comes in at $489,000.00, that one hit at 94%. Everything else hit
at 81, 76, 86, 79.

So what does that tell you? Well | don’t know. | guess when | bought my house and | said, “Well we kind of
overpaid for it” and they said, “No there’s no such thing”. KRT’s model shows me all over the City there is
overbought houses. They just, they are not worth what they paid for them and the model will show you,
relative to other homes, that’s not the valuation they should have. That’s fine, I’ll accept that, let’s apply
that to everyone now when we are abating and following our rules, let’s apply it to everyone. So that is kind
of an interesting thing and so | think we have to recognize that there are limitations in the KRT model and
there are plenty of people who don’t see equity in that model. And Berkeley Street is a picture street,
Monadnock Street is another street that really puts it out there. | think we can say that they did the best
they could, it was an inherently flawed system, we don’t just want to focus on IT improvements, we want to

Board of Aldermen 03-12-2019 Page 28

focus on the actual development of the card and the modeling that we are using for that card and we want
to get rid of practices that weren’t good practices to be doing like the way we apply the median ratio and the
possibility that we were chasing some of these sales. That is important stuff. And nobody wants to
recognize it in the City but boy it is important to me.

So | get worried that every time we talk about bringing in a consultant it is KRT, you know we are
bedfellows now with them. Is there anyone else we can use? Should we look at somebody else when we
do this big, multi — you know, $1.5 million dollar contract would we even bid it? Do they now a precedent
and they are the ones that come all the time? You know | think we should expand our thinking and | think
we should look at other experts too, | think that’s a good idea. KRT, to my disappointment, when this
happened and they went down the street the second time and | called them in October and | said, “Well you
haven’t come to my house” and they said, “Well Mr. Duhamel told us you wouldn’t let us in so we never
showed up”. Of course | wanted them to come in| went to the meeting for that. So Mr. Duhamel had a
bitterness to him and made certain that KRT didn’t come to our house. So that’s when KRT said to me,
“Hey we went down your street, we took another drive by, the City asked us to do it, we drove down, we
raised 5 homes”. | said, “Well who did you lower?”. “Nobody”. How does that work, | said, “What other
streets did you go down”. “Only yours”. | said, “They didn’t ask you to go down any other streets | gave a
package, | looked at my street behind me, | looked at Concord Street, you didn’t look at any other street”?
“Nope, just yours the City said just do yours again’. That was very targeting; that was really very targeting,
that was not a great model approach.

And then when | wrote a letter to CFO Griffin and | said, “Who really authorized this? Why did we do this
and who authorized KRT to do this drive by and make these changes’ and this appears outside the scope
of work well KRT writes back, John Griffin sends them to KRT and KRT writes back to that request that the
street was reviewed along with the rest of the City during the evaluation process, the initial process. It was
reviewed a second time at the homeowner’s request during the peering process, both reviews were part of
our contract. So all of a sudden the second review was put on me. And that’s why when people on my
street called the Assessing Office and said, “Why were we evaluated again”. They were told, “Your
neighbor complained and she caused the houses to go up”. That was not right. | never had a dialogue with
KRT. | was never the one in charge of KRT. | didn’t order a second go down on the street, it is absurd. And
why would | do that and not have them come to my own home that | was trying to reduce? It was really
disappointing for me to read that. And it made me think a lot differently about KRT when | did the Right To
Know Law and pulled those minutes and saw that was how it was documented.

I’ve been spending a lot of time reading the IAAO manual and there is a nice one on Standards on Mass
Appraisal for Real Estate Property” and it talks about how important it is to value defend your numbers.
And this is the guide that everyone here throws at me constantly, the Mayor, CFO Griffin, we follow the
IAAO manual. Great: it says that the staff should also be prepared to support individual valuations as
required preferably through comparable sales. At a minimum the staff should be able to produce a property
record and explain the basic approach used to estimate the value of the property. The property owners
should never be told simply that the computer or the system produced the appraisal. In general, the staff
should tailor the explanation to the tax payer’s knowledge and expertise, equations converted to tabular
form can be used to explain the basis for valuation. We could never get anyone to explain our card or have
any information brought to us on how it was built. We never got there, we are in abatement without an
explanation. And as | read these things and these are the standards we use, | feel that we’ve got a lot of
work to do on these standards.

One last item, | didn’t realize Mr. Teeboom was going to talk about the Board of Assessor’s seat, the
alternate. And | discovered that seat had expired essentially very oddly, | just happened to be going to
Board of Assessor’s Meetings and they kept cancelling meetings. And | finally went to the Assessing
woman, clerk lady, and said, “Why are we canceling, why aren’t we calling our alternate in to keep the
meetings going” and she said “We don’t have an alternate, her seat expired a year ago”. | said, “are you
kidding me, we are not running meetings because we don’t have an alternate”. You know, ok, | could do

Board of Aldermen 03-12-2019 Page 29

that job, | said “That is one I’d be interested in, I’d only have a few meetings a year, probably 2 or 3, it is an
entry level position that would give me a voice and | already go to the meetings”.

So | typed an e-mail to the Mayor and | said, “This seat is open, no one is on it, |’d be interested in it’. |
ended up reaching out to Patricia, | was traveling she called me back on a Monday and she said, “Oh just
to let you know, the person who had it prior wants to do it again, the seat is not available, she’s going to
receive the seat”. | said, “Ok that’s the way it is’. And then | decided to go meet the individual who was
supposed to have the seat and talk to her and | asked her if she knew what was going on in the Assessing
Office and the answer was no, had she kept up, does she receive the packets, no, did she ever receive the
packets, no. And she said to me, you know, “I made it clear that if the Mayor could find somebody else to
do this job, | really am very busy with my downtown work and | really don’t want to do it, | will only do it if he
can’t find somebody else”. Well that was a little different from what | had heard.

So | typed an e-mail and | went back to the Mayor and | said “Hey, | really would be interested in the seat,
and just to let you know, to my disappointment, | am not upset that | didn’t get the seat, it’s obviously not
the place for me, that’s fine, this is not my hill to die on, maybe my best work is done on the outside”. It
was just an entry level you know foot in the door, maybe go to three meetings, I’m there anyways, maybe
have a voice on some things, but he gets to pick it, it’s his to pick.

| am disappointed that he did not have the courtesy to respond to my e-mail at all, nothing. It just went into
vapor space. And | am disappointed that he doesn’t take these seats seriously, these seats that he has to
fill. We have a little bit of a crisis in that department and we have some weaknesses in that Board and we
could really use a Mayor who is using his expertise and reaching out to try and fill these seats with the best
people possible and that may not be me. He may have a better person in mind, that’s fine, but at least
show me you are working at it, you know? Not that it’s just let’s hurry up and quickly get someone in there
and make this person take it if they really didn’t want it because they are the best person. So that’s a little
disappointing, it just shows me how far we have to go to really you know fix things over there. And | would
love to see some public positions available, maybe it doesn’t have to be anything permanent, but some
short term openings where the public could participate maybe in policy creation, a one year seat or panel,
discussion group, work with consultants, try and look at better ways of doing what we do down there. |
think there’s an opportunity for that, that’s not a long term position, it would just be a short term thing and
that might be helpful, but not my hill to die on, it’s ok that | didn’t get it. Thank you.

REMARKS BY THE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN
Alderman Klee

Yes I’d like to make a couple comments, first I’d just like to make a comment about the Board of Assessors
and | know, | just recently found out that Ms. Blaisdell turned it down. She thought she had sent out an e-
mail so she sent me an e-mail and | know she sent it to the Mayor’s Office too that she wasn’t interested in
the position, | think it was just two days ago that | received that e-mail. So just to get that straight. And the
other comment | wanted to make is that | did not sponsor the Administrative Position and not because |
don’t support it, | do support that and | spoke to Ms. Kleiner earlier today and | have been speaking with her
on a regular basis and | said that | am glad that we finished Part 1; but that | wanted Part 2, 3 and 4 and so
on and the process and the policy to be completed, timely and so on and | have been assured that they are
working on that.

| don’t Know how that process is going to happen | don’t get into the weeds as far as people doing the jobs.
But | did want to personally thank Mrs. Ortolano for the work she’s done. As she has explained to us and |
know she has spent hours of time looking at property cards, educating herself on the process, while | won’t
speak for anyone else | can say that during this process she did educate me on many of the elements of
the cards and | brought this to different people’s attention and how it was used to calculate property
assessments. And while | truly wish things had been a whole lot less contentious the bottom line is that |
really do think we are on the road to resolving the past issues and hopefully, you know, ultimately a better

Board of Aldermen 03-12-2019 Page 30

and more transparent system. And | do want to thank you Lori for the work that you’ve done. | also want to
thank Kim Kleiner and so on for taking this above and beyond her duties of doing this. | think we are on the
road and | think hearing from the public of what they want us to do, and how they want us to move forward
is important, but ultimately | think as long as we keep an open mind and continue on this road that we will
work things out and you know | feel bad that things aren’t, haven’t always been perfect but | do think we are
heading the right way.

Alderman Jette

| too would like to thank Mrs. Ortolano for bringing a lot of these issues to our attention and you know she’s
been very articulate about this whole thing, but her voice is not the only I’ve heard. A lot of our citizens
question the fairness of our current assessment process and | think the Mayor by ordering this audit and |
think the audit itself was a step in the right direction. | think we can look forward to some improvements
and | think the Mayor has talked about being on board with doing a complete reevaluation, the so-called list
and measure | think is what they call it. | support that and | am looking forward to more on that.

| also would like to congratulate Margaret Loret Ward 5 resident on her appointment and | want to
congratulate Alderman Clemons and welcome him, maybe he ought to be welcoming some of us since he’s
been here before, but it is our turn to welcome him. And lastly | would be remiss if | did not acknowledge
that next week we will be celebrating the feast of that great Saint and Patron of the Christian Church, of
course, | am speaking of St. Joseph.

Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja

| will just follow up and say “Yay” to St. Joseph, my favorite desserts. | too would like to welcome Alderman
Clemons and look forward to working with him once again, congratulations. And thank you to all of those
who came and spoke this evening during the public comment and the public hearing. One other thing, and
Alderman Laws can correct me but | believe next Tuesday at 6:00 GAD is having their Annual Meeting in
the Auditorium. Is that correct, before PEDC? Yes so just for anyone who would like attend, Paul Shea will
be doing the Annual Meeting for GAD in the Auditorium at 6:00 p.m. and as Alderman Tencza said, PEDC
will follow. Thank you.

Alderman Clemons

Thank you for everybody’s warm welcome. | just want to be brief and say that | will be raising this Sunday
for my favorite Saint, which is St. Patrick and | want everybody to enjoy and have a safe St. Patrick’s Day.
Make sure you have a designated driver or take an Uber or Lyft home or a cab.

President Wilshire

| too would like to welcome Alderman Clemons back to the horseshoe, he has been missed, so welcome
back Alderman Clemons

Committee announcements:
Alderman Dowd

On the 18"", we are going to be starting our series of budget meetings, everybody on the Board has got a
list of when those occur particularly the Budget Committee, | would like you to study before you come in for
that particular department so that you Know what to expect and what questions to ask. The budgets pretty
much haven’t changed except for a few departments and I’m sure you'll hear from those departments when
they come through. | will be putting out some other guidance before the first meeting, actually the first
meeting | will be occupied somewhere else, | have a previous commitment, but the president of the board
will be chairing that particular meeting and | believe it is Public Health.

Board of Aldermen 03-12-2019 Page 31

So get familiar with the schedule, do your homework so that we can review all of the budgets, all the
departments as well as we can. Alderman Clemons, welcome to the Budget Committee.

Alderman Clemons

2010 | think was the last time | was on that.

Alderman Lopez

Substandard Living Conditions Committee is meeting this Thursday.

Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja

As | indicated, PEDC will meet next Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. And also | forgot to say in your mailboxes, you
will find the most recent magazine that the Chamber has put together. | got some copies of those and
thought you might be interested so those are for you. And if you would like more, I’m sure you can contact

the Chamber for those. Thank you.

ADJOURNMENT

MOTION BY ALDERMAN O’BRIEN THAT THE MARCH 12, 2019, MEETING OF THE BOARD OF
ALDERMEN BE ADJOURNED
MOTION CARRIED

The meeting was declared adjourned at 9:40 p.m.

Attest: Patricia D. Piecuch City Clerk

SPECIAL BOARD OF ALDERMEN

MARCH 12, 2019

7:00 PM Aldermanic Chamber

PRESIDENT LORI WILSHIRE CALLS ASSEMBLY TO ORDER PRAYER

OFFERED BY CITY CLERK PATRICIA D. PIECUCH

PLEDGE TO THE FLAG LED BY ALDERMAN-AT-LARGE DAVID C. TENCZA
ROLL CALL

PUBLIC HEARING
R-18-073, Amended

PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO THE CITY CHARTER RELATIVE TO FILLING
VACANCIES ON ELECTED BOARDS BY MAJORITY VOTE OF THE REMAINING
MEMBERS OF THAT BOARD

Testimony in Favor
Testimony in Opposition
Testimony in Favor

Testimony in Opposition

ADJOURNMENT

Swap settlements are recorded in the statement of income with the hedged item as interest
expense. During the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014, $144,000 and $152,000,
respectively, was reclassified pre-tax from accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)
to interest expense as a result of swap settlements. We expect to reclassify approximately
$134,000, pre-tax, from accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) to interest expense
as a result of swap settlements, over the next twelve months.

Note 11 —- Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income

The following table presents changes in accumulated other comprehensive income by
component for the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014:

Interest Rate Contract
(in thousands) 2015 2014
Beginning balance $ 180 = § 298
Other comprehensive income
before reclassifications (65) (209)
Amounts reclassified from
accumulated other
comprehensive income 86 91
Net current period other
comprehensive income 21 (118)
Ending balance $ 201s $ 180

The following table presents reclassifications out of accumulated other comprehensive
income for the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014:

Amounts Reclassified Affected Line Item In
Details about Accumulated Other from Accumulated Other the Statement Where
Comprehensive Income Components Comprehensive Income Net Income is Presented
(in thousands) 2015 2014

Gain (loss) on cash flow hedges
Interest rate contracts $ 144 $ 152 Interest expense

(58) (61) Tax expense

Amounts reclassified from accumulated
other comprehensive income $ 86 | $ 9I Net of tax

33

Board of Aldermen

City of Nashua
229 Main Street Lori Wilshire
Nashua, NH 03061-2019 President, Board of Aldermen

(603) 589-3030

March 1, 2019

Patricia D. Piecuch, City Clerk
City of Nashua

229 Main Street

Nashua, NH 03061-2019

Dear Ms. Piecuch:

Please be advised | am hereby calling a Special Meeting of the Board of Aldermen on Tuesday, March
12, 2019, at 6:30 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chamber. The Solid Waste Department will be in attendance

to give a presentation on recycling.

Thank you.

Athi. wW. ° | °
Lori Wilshire

President

cc: Mayor Jim Donchess
Steven A. Bolton, Corporation Counsel

Mine Falls Park Advisory Committee

Nicholas Serpa (Reappointment) Term to Expire: December 31, 2019
9 Joston Place
Merrimack, NH 03054

UNFINISHED BUSINESS — RESOLUTIONS

R-18-073, Amended
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
e Amended and Tabled pending Public Hrg scheduled for 3/12/2019 at 7 PM in the Chambers

R-19-103
Endorser: Alderman Ernest Jette
AUTHORIZING THE CONVEYANCE OF DISCONTINUED PORTIONS OF CONANT ROAD
e Committee on Infrastructure Recommends: Final Passage

R-19-104
Endorsers: Alderman Richard A. Dowd
Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja
Alderwoman-at-Large Shoshanna Kelly
Alderman Jan Schmidt
Alderman-at-Large Brandon Michael Laws
Alderman Patricia Klee
Alderman Linda Harriott-Gathright
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 D, FOOD SERVICE WORKERS FROM SEPTEMBER 1, 2018 THROUGH
AUGUST 31, 2021
e Budget Review Committee Recommends: Final Passage

R-19-107
Endorsers: Mayor Jim Donchess
Alderman Jan Schmidt
Alderman-at-Large David C. Tencza
Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja
Alderman June M. Caron
Alderman Tom Lopez
Alderman-at-Large Brandon Michael Laws
Alderman Patricia Klee
Alderman Linda Harriott-Gathright
Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr.
RELATIVE TO THE SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATION OF $50,250 OF UNANTICIPATED REVENUE
FROM FUND #1000 “GENERAL FUND”, ACCOUNT #43295 “REVENUE FROM FEDERAL GRANT”
INTO FUND #7074 “SCHOOL SPECIAL EDUCATION EXPENDABLE TRUST FUND”
e Budget Review Committee Recommends: Final Passage

R-19-113

Endorsers: Mayor Jim Donchess
Alderwoman-at-Large Shoshanna Kelly
Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr.
Alderman Richard A. Dowd
Alderman Patricia Klee
Alderman-at-Large Brandon Michael Laws
Alderman Ernest Jette
Alderman-at-Large David C. Tencza
Alderman Jan Schmidt
Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire
Alderman Linda Harriott-Gathright

ADOPTING ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS

e Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee Recommends: Final Passage

UNFINISHED BUSINESS — ORDINANCES

O-18-030
Endorsers: Alderman-at-Large Brandon Michael Laws
Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja
Alderman Patricia Klee
Alderman Linda Harriott-Gathright
INCREASING FEES FOR LEASED CITY PARKING SPACES
e Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee Recommends: Final Passage

O-19-035
Endorsers: Alderman June M. Caron
Alderwoman-at-Large Shoshanna Kelly
RESCINDING THE RIGHT TURN ON RED PROHIBITION FROM THE COSTCO EXIT ONTO
DANIEL WEBSTER HIGHWAY
e Committee on Infrastructure Recommends: Final Passage

NEW BUSINESS — RESOLUTIONS

R-19-114
Endorser: Mayor Jim Donchess
AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND CITY TREASURER TO ISSUE BONDS NOT TO EXCEED
THE AMOUNT OF SIX MILLION DOLLARS ($6,000,000) FOR THE PHASE III LINED LANDFILL
EXPANSION OF THE NASHUA FOUR HILLS LANDFILL, TO INCLUDE ENGINEERING SERVICES

R-19-115
Endorsers: Mayor Jim Donchess
Alderman Ernest Jette
RELATIVE TO THE SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATION OF $120,000 OF UNANTICIPATED
REVENUE FROM FUND 6000 “SOLID WASTE FUND”, ACCOUNT 44286 “COVER MATERIAL
REVENUE” INTO FUND 6000 “SOLID WASTE FUND”, ACCOUNT 55699 “OTHER CONTRACTED
SERVICES”

R-19-116
Endorser: Alderman Richard A. Dowd
CHANGING THE PURPOSE OF UP TO TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS ($10,000) OF UNEXPENDED
BOND PROCEEDS FROM THE ROOF REPLACEMENT WORK AT FAIRGROUNDS MIDDLE SCHOOL
AND LEDGE STREET ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TO PAY COSTS OF ROOF ASSESSMENTS AT MAIN
DUNSTABLE, BIRCH HILL, AND BICENTENNIAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS