Search

A regular meeting of the Board of Aldermen was held Tuesday, June 26, 2018, at 7:30 p.m. in the
Aldermanic Chamber.

President Brian S. McCarthy presided; City Clerk Patricia D. Piecuch recorded.

Prayer was offered by City Clerk Patricia D. Piecuch; Alderman Dowd led in the Pledge to the Flag.
The roll call was taken with 15 members of the Board of Aldermen present.

Mayor James W. Donchess and Corporation Counsel Steven A. Bolton were also in attendance.

REMARKS BY THE MAYOR

Mayor Donchess

First the budget is of course on the agenda; you held it last meeting to see if we could learn more about the
revaluation and its effect, whether we are going to get better information than we think out of the commercial
sector. | think after the President and the Budget Committee Chair met with KRT, | believe they will tell you
that KRT cannot really provide any more specific information than we already have until late July or early
August. | think, therefore, in order to enact the budget before the end of the fiscal year, so we can start out
next year with a budget in place, so that we can close the books and begin working on the surplus and any
escrows; | would ask you to consider passing the budget tonight.

There are a few adjustments made by the Budget Committee which | think all make sense. The budget, as
you know, is a very tight budget up 1.6% which we are trying to be as careful as possible in view of the
effect which we are concerned that the State ordered revaluation may have. Therefore by passing this
budget | think we help to mitigate or lessen the impact of the revaluation on residential property tax payers
as much as we possibly can.

There are a few other things, Mr. President, that | wanted to mention on the agenda. First, R-18-050 is a
resolution that will fully fund the Canal Bridge Project. This is a project that has been in the works for quite
some time. We are getting close to $500,000.00 of TAP grant or Federal Funds to create a connection
between the Rail Trail and Mine Falls Park, down Everett Street with a pedestrian bridge over the canal into
Mine Falls Park. The bids came in a little higher than we had hoped, we are getting some more money from
the State, their Federal Funds, and we need to match that. So this resolution would complete the funding of
the project so that we can move forward with our bids and hopefully complete it by the end of the year.

It will provide better access to one of our inner city neighborhoods, that being the Tree Streets into Mine
Falls Park which will be | think good for the neighborhood and good for Mine Falls Park both.

R-18-042 is the contract with the nano-brewery, they want to move forward with a brewery in the bay area of
the 14 Court Street Fire House where the fire trucks and fire wagons used to be. In addition to the lease
that this would authorize, they are borrowing $150,000.00 from the federally funded community revolving
loan fund to make improvements to the building which would of course be, if they are not successful, would
be left with the City as a result of the fact that they are fixtures to the building. So they are considerably
improving the building and for the first time in decades we will actually activate the bays of the fire station.

You have already appropriated community development block grant money to do some improvements to the
doors, to the windows going in to make that look a lot better, so | think that working together with them, we
can really improve the use of the fire station and hopefully after a couple of other things go forward, we can
really activate the building in a way that it hasn’t been used in a long, long time. Of course, it is a very
beautiful building and | think it can come out as a wonderful asset to the City when everything is finished.

| wanted to mention something that is not on your agenda that is on the desk establishing an expendable
trust fund to accept donations for City events. This | was hoping you would simply accept under a
suspension of the rules and then refer to committee for normal process. This really is related to the Pride
Festival which is coming up on Saturday, the Pride Parade and the Pride Festival. Right now we have no
mechanism with which to accept sponsorships and donations to City events. So there is a very complicated

Board of Aldermen 06-26-2018 Page 2

mechanism, in this case | think United Way is holding the funds as a proxy for GAD and we have collected
sponsorships. This way the City could accept sponsorships directly and money could go into a community
loan fund. We could carry this over and apply it to other events. In this case, the question has come up of
“what is the Pride Festival, Pride Parade going to cost the City”. The answer is about $450.00. We will
need a detail at the park for about four hours and that’s the out-of-pocket cost and the funds we have
collected, once they go into this expendable trust fund, if you authorize it, would be used to off-set that cost.

We have collected so far about $2,000.00 in sponsorships and therefore there could be funds left over which
could fund this account and be used towards next year’s Pride Parade or Festival or some other community

event. So | hope you will accept that and, of course, we will make a full presentation at whatever committee
it is referred to and we can discuss it more fully there.

Finally Mr. President | think some good news related to the Police Department. The Police Department has
gotten some funds to help us with the fight against drug dealing, the opioid crisis. First they got a grant in
the amount of $231,000.00 from the State in the form of the Granite Hammer or Granite Shield Grant to help
pay for overtime. Number two, through the Civil Forfeiture Procedure that is run by the Federal
Government, we hit a little bit of a windfall in the sense that the City Police Department was involved in a
drug bust that yielded a lot of money; a couple million dollars of | think cash and other assets.

So the Police Department is going to be getting $291,000.00 of Forfeiture Funds which are used to fund
undercover operations, some of the buys, the undercover vehicles and even some of the overtime. So these
both are really good news and will help with our Police Department who are doing an extremely good job in
making a lot of drug arrests and keeping as much as humanly possible, the supply of illegal drugs outside of
Nashua.

With those items Mr. President, thank you very much and | will conclude.

RESPONSE TO REMARKS OF THE MAYOR - None

RECOGNITION PERIOD — None
READING MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING

There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the minutes of the Board of Aldermen
meeting of June 12, 2018, accepted, placed on file, and the reading suspended.

COMMUNICATIONS REQUIRING ONLY PROCEDURAL ACTIONS AND WRITTEN REPORTS
FROM LIAISONS

From: Patricia D. Piecuch, City Clerk
Re: Fire Commissioner Resignation

There being no objection, President McCarthy accepted the communication and placed it on file.

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

John Roche, 12 Meadowview Circle, Nashua. Good evening my name is John Roche, | have come to
make a last ditch request on the budget. In particular, I’m asking you to please consider adding
$224,000.00 to the bottom line of the Mayor’s School Budget. In particular, this would fund two ELL
teachers at $100,000.00 and eight kindergarten paras at $114,000.00. | realize that you can only add
the money to the bottom line but | recently exchanged e-mails with Mrs. Oden who is the president of
the board and she assures me that this is very high priority not only for the administration but also for
many members of the board.

Board of Aldermen 06-26-2018 Page 3

Should you add this, | can pretty much assure you that they won’t spend the money buying pencils. |
realize that the budget is tight; | realize that they have a rookie superintendent, | realize that sometimes
they struggle to make simple decisions, | realize that we spend an awful lot of money on pensions. |
realize also that we have a big huge construction project coming up in the near future. But the truth of
the matter is none of that is the kids’ fault. We have a tremendous opportunity here to help our kids,
some of the most vulnerable residents of this town and | ask you to please consider that.

COMMUNICATIONS REQUIRING FINAL APPROVAL — None
PETITIONS

Petition for Street Acceptance — Pine and Central Streets

There being no objection, President McCarthy accepted the Petition for Street Acceptance,
referred it to the Committee on Infrastructure and scheduled a public hearing for Wednesday,
July 25, 2018, at 7:00 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chamber.

Petition for Street Discontinuance — Portion of Conant Road
There being no objection, President McCarthy accepted the Petition for Street Discontinuance,
referred it to the Committee on Infrastructure and the Nashua City Planning Board, and
scheduled a public hearing for Wednesday, July 25, 2018, at 7:00 p.m. in the Aldermanic
Chamber.
NOMINATIONS, APPOINTMENTS AND ELECTIONS — None
REPORTS OF COMMITTEE

Special Budget Review Committee..............cccccccccccceeeeesceeeeeeeeeeeessteeeeeeeeeeeneaees 06/21/2018

There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the June 21, 2018, Special
Budget Review Committee accepted and placed on file.

Finance Committee. .......0. ccc cccecccceccccueccccecceeececceuveecuesersueeeeaceeraueetraeeeteeereeseraneess 06/20/2018

There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the June 20, 2018, Finance
Committee accepted and placed on file.

Human Affairs COMMIttee. 22... cee ceecccceccececeeceuececuuceeeavecsuueeeeavectaeeerneeeteneeraness 06/18/2018

There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the June 18, 2018, Human Affairs
Committee accepted and placed on file.

Planning & Economic Development Commiittee................. cc cccccccceecestteeeeeeeeeeettneees 06/19/2018

There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the June 19, 2018, Planning &
Economic Development Committee accepted and placed on file.

There being no objection, President McCarthy suspended the rules to allow for an oral report of
the Budget Review Committee meeting held June 25, 2018, regarding Resolution R-18-051

Alderman Dowd gave an oral report of the Budget Review Committee meeting with respect to R-18-051.

Board of Aldermen 06-26-2018 Page 4
Alderman Dowd

The one that was considered last night and passed unanimously R-18-051 is relative to the transfer of
$20,000.00 from the Department of 181, Community Development and Department 186 Transportation
for the purpose of transferring additional matching grant funds to rehabilitate the Nashua Transit Center.
The Transit Center has some issues that need to be taken care of. There is a time crunch on this and
that’s why we are doing it this way, because we want to have the opportunity to get the matching funds
so we are only putting in half the money to upgrade the Transfer Station. So Director Marchant asked
me if we would take this under special consideration this evening.

CONFIRMATION OF MAYOR'S APPOINTMENTS — None
UNFINISHED BUSINESS — RESOLUTIONS

R-18-019, Amended
Endorser: Mayor Jim Donchess
RELATIVE TO THE ADOPTION OF THE FISCAL YEAR 2019 PROPOSED BUDGET FOR
THE CITY OF NASHUA GENERAL, ENTERPRISE, AND SPECIAL REVENUE FUNDS
Given its third reading;

MOTION BY ALDERMAN DOWD FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-18-019 AS AMENDED BY ROLL
CALL

ON THE QUESTION

President McCarthy

You will recall that at our previous meeting we had amended it to match what came out of the Budget
Committee.

Alderman Dowd

Yes that is sort of what! was going to say. It has already been amended with the changes that the
Mayor suggested and were talked about in his comments so the resolution as it stands now is the
amended one, it is the final one. As we discussed, we are hoping that we can approve that tonight so
that we will set to go for the 1st of July.

Alderman Wilshire

| will be supporting the budget tonight. However, | do understand the speaker that came before us
looking for more funding for teachers and paras for the School District. While | would support that if it
were a different year, we have the revaluation that we don’t know what kind of affect that is going to
have on our tax payers and so adding that much money to this budget | can’t see my way to do that, so
| plan to support the budget as amended tonight. Thank you.

Alderman Lopez

| just wanted to thank Mr. Roche for coming up and speaking publicly. | have had some concerns
throughout the budget process about some of the departments maybe having to speak a certain way or
present in public what their needs were. | have been pretty vocal about it. | had concerns about City
Welfare Assistance reductions, | think Alderman Kelly made a pretty good argument for needing to
address shortcomings more needs in our school district. Ultimately | have those misgivings through
the budget process. Alderman-at-Large McCarthy and Alderman Dowd were pretty persuasive and |
am deferring to their experience.

Board of Aldermen 06-26-2018 Page 5

But | am asking the Board to be conscious that we are moving this budget forward in a pretty austere
nature when there are needs and there were specific programs targeting vulnerable people that we
made certain decisions about while we have made other financial decisions in other departments and
in other areas; to just be conscious that if we have problems that start to present themselves, | think we
owe it to consider them and make tough decisions if necessary.

All that being said, again, Alderman McCarthy and Alderman Dowd were pretty clear that the
revaluation is a significant risk, they've been through this and they have seen it before. | agree with
their caution that we need to be very careful this year and | appreciate the budget that the Mayor has
prepared.

Alderwoman Kelly

Thank you. | will be supporting the budget as well. | did bring up the same things that Mr. Roche
brought up and | think he brings some really valid points and | think that what Tom is talking about is
very important that we continue to look at as the year goes on. | hope that once we get those numbers
in we can look at things and see where we can help because | agree, we are definitely putting some of
the most marginalized students at a disadvantage. So, thank you.

Alderman Klee

Yes thank you. | too am going to support the budget as it is going forward. | recently had some town
hall meetings with some of my constituents and they are concerned about the taxes going up. That is
basically what convinced me. | had a number of people that told me if they go up too high they are
going to have to sell or they are going to have to leave.

That spoke volumes to me, although | do think in agreement with Alderwoman Kelly and Alderman
Lopez, | think we need to look forward to possibly having to maybe next year or even sometime this
year, look at some of the things we have done. Thank you.
Alderman Harriott-Gathright
| too support the budget but | do have a concern just as Alderman Kelly’s and Alderman Lopez’s
concern is the same for me. But! do hope that once everything settles down and we look at where we
stand with taxes, that if there is anything available we will look at these two issues.
A viva voce roll call was taken which resulted as follows:
Yea: Alderman Wilshire, Alderman Gidge, Alderman Harriott-Gathright

Alderman Dowd, Alderman Klee, Alderman Laws, Alderman Lopez

Alderman Caron, Alderwoman Kelly, Alderman Jette, Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja

Alderman Tencza, Alderman Schmidt, Alderman O’Brien, Alderman McCarthy 15
Nay: 0
MOTION CARRIED

Resolution R-18-019 declared duly adopted as amended.

Board of Aldermen 06-26-2018 Page 6

R-18-039
Endorsers: Mayor Jim Donchess
Alderman Linda Harriott-Gathright
Alderwoman-at-Large Shoshanna Kelly

Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja

Alderman Jan Schmidt

Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr.

Alderman Ken Gidge
RELATIVE TO THE ACCEPTANCE AND APPROPRIATION OF $22,347 FROM THE STATE
OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES, EXOTIC SPECIES
PROGRAM AND AUTHORIZING THE TRANSFER OF MATCHING FUNDS

Given its second reading;

MOTION BY ALDERMAN WILSHIRE FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-18-039
MOTION CARRIED

Resolution R-18-039 declared duly adopted.

R-18-041

Endorser: Mayor Jim Donchess
Alderman Linda Harriott-Gathright
Alderman Richard A. Dowd
Alderman Patricia Klee
Alderman Ken Gidge
Alderwoman-at-Large Shoshanna Kelly
Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja

Alderman Jan Schmidt
RELATIVE TO THE TRANSFER OF $65,000 FROM DEPARTMENT 162 “STREET LIGHTING”,
ACCOUNT 54100 “ELECTRICITY” TO DEPARTMENT 191 “SCHOOL CAPITAL IMPROVE-
MENTS”, ACCOUNT 81100 “SCHOOL DEFERRED MAINTENANCE”
Given its second reading;

MOTION BY ALDERMAN DOWD FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-18-041

ON THE QUESTION

Alderman Dowd

As you know, the Deferred Maintenance Account for the School Department is woefully low compared
to what they require. This money is to buy a piece of electronics to keep the school able to be open.
So it is very critical to get this passed.

MOTION CARRIED

Resolution R-18-041 declared duly adopted.

Board of Aldermen 06-26-2018 Page 7

R-18-042
Endorser: Mayor Jim Donchess
AUTHORIZING THE CITY OF NASHUA TO ENTER INTO A LEASE AGREEMENT WITH

LIQUID THERAPY, LLC FOR 14 COURT STREET, UNIT B
Given its second reading;

MOTION BY ALDERWOMAN KELLY FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-18-042
MOTION CARRIED

Resolution R-18-042 declared duly adopted.

R-18-043

Endorsers: Mayor Jim Donchess
Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire
Alderman Linda Harriott-Gathright
Alderman Richard A. Dowd
Alderman Patricia Klee
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
Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr.

RELATIVE TO THE ACCEPTANCE AND APPROPRIATION OF $190,800 FROM
THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN
SERVICES INTO PUBLIC HEALTH AND COMMUNITY SERVICES GRANT

ACTIVITIES “FY19 AND FY20 STD AND HIV PREVENTION GRANT”
Given its second reading;

MOTION BY ALDERMAN HARRIOTT-GATHRIGHT FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-18-043
MOTION CARRIED

Resolution R-18-043 declared duly adopted.

Board of Aldermen 06-26-2018 Page 8

R-18-044

Endorsers: Mayor Jim Donchess

Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire

Alderman Linda Harriott-Gathright
Alderman Richard A. Dowd

Alderman Patricia Klee
Alderman-at-Large Brandon Michael Laws
Alderman Tom Lopez

Alderman June M. Caron
Alderwoman-at-Large Shoshanna Kelly
Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja
Alderman Jan Schmidt
Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr.

RELATIVE TO THE ACCEPTANCE AND APPROPRIATION OF $130,000 FROM THE STATE
OF NEW HAMPSHIRE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES INTO PUBLIC
HEALTH AND COMMUNITY SERVICES GRANT ACTIVITIES “FY19 AND FY20
IMMUNIZATION PROGRAM OF GREATER NASHUA”

Given its second reading;

MOTION BY ALDERMAN KLEE FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-18-044
MOTION CARRIED

Resolution R-18-044 declared duly adopted.

R-18-045

Endorsers: Mayor Jim Donchess

Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire
Alderman Linda Harriott-Gathright
Alderman Ken Gidge

Alderman Richard A. Dowd

Alderman Patricia Klee
Alderman-at-Large Brandon Michael Laws
Alderman Tom Lopez

Alderman June M. Caron

Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja
Alderman Jan Schmidt
Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr.

RELATIVE TO THE ACCEPTANCE AND APPROPRIATION OF $70,000 FROM THE STATE
OF NEW HAMPSHIRE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES INTO PUBLIC
HEALTH AND COMMUNITY SERVICES GRANT ACTIVITIES “FY19 AND FY20 TUBERCU-
LOSIS PROGRAM OF GREATER NASHUA”

Given its second reading;

MOTION BY ALDERMAN LOPEZ FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-18-045
MOTION CARRIED

Resolution R-18-045 declared duly adopted.

Board of Aldermen 06-26-2018 Page 9

R-18-046

Endorsers: Mayor Jim Donchess

Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire
Alderman Ken Gidge

Alderman Linda Harriott-Gathright
Alderman Richard A. Dowd

Alderman Patricia Klee
Alderman-at-Large Brandon Michael Laws
Alderman Tom Lopez

Alderman June M. Caron

Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja
Alderman Jan Schmidt
Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr.

RELATIVE TO THE ACCEPTANCE AND APPROPRIATION OF $41,243.50 FROM
THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN
SERVICES INTO PUBLIC HEALTH AND COMMUNITY SERVICES GRANT ACTIVITY
“FY19 PUBLIC HEALTH NETWORK SERVICES”

Given its second reading;

MOTION BY ALDERMAN CARON FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-18-046
MOTION CARRIED

Resolution R-18-046 declared duly adopted.

R-18-047

Endorsers: Mayor Jim Donchess

Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire
Alderman Ken Gidge

Alderman Linda Harriott-Gathright
Alderman Richard A. Dowd

Alderman Patricia Klee
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
Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr.

RELATIVE TO THE ACCEPTANCE AND APPROPRIATION OF $25,000 FROM THE STATE
OF NEW HAMPSHIRE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES INTO PUBLIC
HEALTH AND COMMUNITY SERVICES GRANT ACTIVITY “FY19 SUBSTANCE MISUSE
SERVICES”

Given its second reading;

MOTION BY ALDERMAN TENCZA FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-18-047
MOTION CARRIED

Resolution R-18-047 declared duly adopted.

Board of Aldermen 06-26-2018

R-18-048

Endorsers: Mayor Jim Donchess
Alderman Ken Gidge
Alderman Linda Harriott-Gathright
Alderman Patricia Klee
Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja
Alderman Jan Schmidt
Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr.
Alderman-at-Large Brian S. McCarthy

Page 10

AUTHORIZING A SUB-AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE NASHUA REGIONAL PLANNING

COMMISSION AND CITY OF NASHUA, NASHUA TRANSIT SYSTEM
Given its second reading;

MOTION BY ALDERMAN SCHMIDT FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-18-048
MOTION CARRIED

Resolution R-18-048 declared duly adopted.

R-18-049

Endorsers: Mayor Jim Donchess
Alderman Ken Gidge
Alderman Linda Harriott-Gathright
Alderman Richard A. Dowd
Alderman Patricia Klee
Alderman Tom Lopez
Alderwoman-at-Large Shoshanna Kelly
Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja
Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr.
Alderman-at-Large Brian S. McCarthy

AUTHORIZING THE CITY OF NASHUA TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH THE

SOUHEGAN VALLEY TRANSPORTATION COLLABORATIVE FOR TRANSIT SERVICES

Given its second reading;

MOTION BY ALDERMAN GIDGE FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-18-049
MOTION CARRIED

Resolution R-18-049 declared duly adopted.