Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 6/11/2019 - P15
Board of Aldermen 06-11-2019 Page 15
It got vaporized with the spending cap and out of this particular chamber, that we didn’t give enough
money for them to operate. | hope those days are gone, but | am not going to make up 25 years of fiscal
foolishness in one year, we can’t although we really probably could, but we can’t. Maybe if we change our
attitude and get some decent people into this chamber that are progressive in thinking and looking and
they are going to come up. With a City Budget of 3% | think the people of the City can take into account
that the Mayor and this Board sharpened our pencils and we came up with something that was a darn
good budget that was practical. And keep in mind, we went through something that the State also gave us
down our bowling alley, was the reassessment that some people went through. So there were a lot of
things that came in and affected us and | think we did good. But again, | think now we have some other,
labor groups coming up for contracts and one of them is the Firemen and the Fire Fighters are doing the
extra duty. | Know the mechanics are working harder with only a limited amount of men to fix those trucks
and they get used an awful lot.
You’ve got engine companies that are doing close to 3,000, 2,000 runs a year for an engine company.
That’s a lot of work. They are not sleeping folks, you Know when you average out the call per day volume.
So these things need to be addressed and maybe we should reward them for their good work as it comes
down to. But | think if we take the budget methodically and slow and look and then in the future, Sarah
Marchant said with the Grant Writer that they are going to look into a new study, particularly with the Fire
Department. That | hope we listen to because that is going to come in with clear identification; what
positions going to need to be filled and put the importance upon that. So | use caution, | respect the
motion before us, | thank the Alderman again for putting the motion before us. But in prudence, | think
staying underneath 3% | think is enough for the tax payers to chew at this particular time. Then we could
look another crack in future budgets. Thank you.
Alderman Dowd
Just a couple things, again, | talked to both Police and Fire Chiefs. The one thing that Chief Lavoie took
issue with over the years is that they managed their budget and stayed within the budget by managing
attrition. At the end of the year they didn’t hire somebody to make ends meet until the end of the budget.
They also didn’t have as big a problem with that because on a few times when they went out with tests,
they got 100, 150 people to take the tests, zero became a Police Officer. So they had an issue hiring.
That’s why the Police Commissioners and the Police Department decided to change their modus operandi
hiring and go out and hire people from other forces. They tended not to do that in the past; they try to get
new officers and train them in to the way they want them trained. Other Departments did that and that’s
why Nashua loses Police Officers to other cities and State Police and occasionally FBI. We train them
well. So in talking to the Police Department they may have to budget that same way at the end of the
year, through attrition to make their ends meet. If they have a major event in the year and they have a
budget issue with it like that issue they had in Manchester, they will have to come back to us and ask for
more money. If they don’t, they don’t. But that would be addressed downstream. The other thing is that
Chief Rhodes actually called me and said that he didn’t want anybody on the Board of Aldermen to get the
idea that any business was delayed in being inspected because they are short a person. Their people
work the extra hours, the overtime, and they went out and made that these people were inspected and
they will still do that.
Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja
Yes thank you. Chief Rhodes and | also has a couple conversations about the budget and my impression
is the same as Alderman Dowd’s. And to Fire Marshalls going out and doing inspections, | had
conversations with two individuals who are involved in development and they were talking about someone
from the Fire Marshall's Office coming out. And they said “Well how did that go; how long did you have to
wait, | know they are really busy”. And both individuals said “Oh no problem, they came out and it got
done”. And | appreciate the fact that they are working extra hours to get that done. | also appreciate the
fact that all of our department heads and division heads have a fine balancing routine that we are all
engaging in.
