Skip to main content

Main navigation

  • Documents
  • Search

User account menu

  • Log in
Home
Nashua City Data

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. Search

Search

Displaying 35011 - 35020 of 38765

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/28/2019 - P17

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:38
Document Date
Tue, 05/28/2019 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 05/28/2019 - 00:00
Page Number
17
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__052820…

Board of Aldermen 05-28-2019 Page 17

When | look at the Commercial Assessor who is in our Assessing Department his mileage is very low,
80, 20, 40, 30, low mileage. The Residential Assessors have much higher mileage going to individual
properties, 175, 150, the month of April our Residential Assessors covered 226 miles because April was
a busy month to gather data. So that’s fine. When | look at this individual who moved into Commercial
Assessing, his mileage is higher than anyone’s, 220, 200, 210, 180. That’s very unusual and when |
saw that in October it was red flag for me. | went and called John Griffin and | said, “I think you have a
fraud problem over here, there’s an issue”. OK? It’s hard to prove, OK, other than giving it to him and |
got the response, “I'll get back to you in a week”. | never heard back from him again. But then | pushed
that aside, because | said, “that’s too big an issue, it’s too hard for me”. Then | started looking at the
property cards more and | started seeing property cards that were so off.

For example, property cards that had visits to homes written in the activity section that were not visited.
So those were potentially mileage charged for properties that were not visited and they could be easily
sat down in a round table with anyone who would want to see them to know, to see how | know that and
how | am able to ascertain that. But! am; there is amethod. So that mileage was very concerning and
it is very interesting to me that in April when Kim Kleiner asked for the field logs to be attached, the
Residential Assessors attach a field log, they go out to 78 homes, they attach 226 miles. The
Commercial Assessor now, who has been charging last month 220 miles, suddenly charges 45, 43; way
down. Guess how many properties they visited in April? The very month that we are the busiest we
could possibly be in Assessing, because we have so many permits to capture, A9’s, exemptions, all this
property work, it went to 7. Seven, that is startling. So the expense and the mileage logs from March
would tell me that this individual had to be out at 100, 150 homes.

But the data, the records don’t support it. And | want you to understand that, that’s the big red flag for
me. How do you go from 200, 220, 280 down to 43? And a busy, busy month? The second thing is we
could look at that and say you know what, there’s a lot of work going on in assessing, this assessor
didn’t go to properties, what is the big thing happening in assessing? Abatements; abatements are huge
right now. Everyone got those abatements divvied up, each assessor got about 90 files they had to
work on. When you look at your Junior Assessor, your Junior Assessor in Assessing, who is not
certified yet | don’t believe, who is in training, since January he has done about 225 pages of
abatements. And they are complete abatements, these are heavy duty sales intensive abatements
where he had to do comps, go out to the homes, take measurements. So there is a lot of work here. |
am going to venture to guess that this Assessor is going to get through 70, 75 abatements, challenging
ones. When | look at our Senior Assessor who is supervisory level, look at the packet, 25 pages. And
what are these abatements? Most of them, well there were 14, actually there are 8 abatements and 6 of
them are fire probations or dilapidated mobile homes that had to be re-evaluated.

President Wilshire

Ms. Ortolano, there is one minute left to our public comment period so if you could start wrapping it up,
I'd appreciate it. Thank you.

Ms. Ortolano Sure, so there’s a big issue and a disparity between why is a Senior Official, a Senior
Supervisor unable to really put a bite into the abatements and take on the ones that are challenging and
get any work done. There are actually no abatements here that required any work at all. Six of the
abatements in here are people who filed after the March 1* deadline. So we had to tear the front sheet
off, stamp a “D” on it and put it in the file and you get credit for work done. That is three minutes of
work, 6 of them out of the 8; that leaves 2 in 5 months. That’s pretty startling, so it is not abatements he
is doing, it is not traveling to properties he is doing and it is not MLS adjusting because | checked that
too. This is where the concern comes in. And as far as morality and demoralizing, | know what that’s
about. And it is demoralizing when you are a hard worker and you are doing your job and you see
somebody who gets breaks like this who doesn’t appear to be. Thank you.

Page Image
Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/28/2019 - P17

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/28/2019 - P18

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:38
Document Date
Tue, 05/28/2019 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 05/28/2019 - 00:00
Page Number
18
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__052820…

Board of Aldermen 05-28-2019 Page 18
REMARKS BY THE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN

Alderman Lopez June 15h is the Tree Street Block Party. It is from 2:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Ash
Street and we are featuring Mighty Mystic, a Reggae band this year, so everybody is welcome to attend.

Alderwoman Kelly

Thank you. A little bit later in the month, June 29", at 2:00 p.m. we will be having our second annual
Pride Parade and Festival. It is longer this year, we are expecting a great turn out. We are still looking
for sponsors, volunteers and the t-shirts just went on sale. So you guys can go on an get all of your
memorabilia before the big day. So NashuaPride.Org has all the information.

Alderman Jette

So | know that a lot of us don’t like hearing what Mrs. Ortolano is reporting to us because it is disturbing.
| don’t know, at this point these are all allegations, | acknowledge and the employees involved are
entitled to their due process. But! would encourage us to listen to these allegations and hopefully the
information that she has provided will be turned over to the Attorney we have hired to investigate this
and that an investigation will occur. I’m not schooled in the ways of Labor Law where Unions are
involved, so | know it’s not, you know, | know there is a whole process that is involved. | did take a look
at the Collective Bargaining Agreement that regulates this Union and | do see that there is a provision in
there that the City is entitled to terminate an employee for good cause. Whether or not “good cause”
exists here | guess is what the Attorney we have hired will show us.

| think that and I’ve heard from other employees of the City who far from being demoralized by this
investigation are welcoming it. They resent if these allegations are true, they resent what this, I’m trying
to be careful here. If this employee is guilty of what he is being accused of, and it is still an allegation,
they are not comfortable being looked at by the rest of the City. We've always heard people malign our
employees and we have a lot of good employees. But when we find a bad one, if we found a bad one,
then we ought to act appropriate. We ought to take the measures that we should to eliminate that
situation. So | just want to say | for one thank Mrs. Ortolano for all the time she has spent looking into
this situation and has brought to light things that | had no knowledge of and | don’t think any of us had
knowledge of. And | think we owe her a debt of gratitude for bringing it up. I’m not saying that what she
has brought up has been proven, but | think there is probable cause for us to look into it and investigate
it and ask the Mayor to do that and | think he is. | am looking forward to the result of the investigation by
Attorney Broth. The second Public Comment period is not limited to the legislation that we have before
us, | think it is the only opportunity the citizens have to address us. | would hate to discourage people
from coming forward with legitimate complaints that we maybe should be hearing. Thank you.

Alderman Lopez

Madam President, can | claim personal privilege? Attorney Jette just inferred that the rest of us just
don’t like hearing it because it is uncomfortable. | would like to clarify | dislike it because | don’t, | see
this as an HR issue and | think that’s where it needs to be. | don’t want to try navigating the Public
Comment field of “what did | accidentally say about an employee who may or may not be innocent or
may or may not be guilty”. And | believe at least two weeks ago the Mayor told us that he is
investigating it. | Know that multiple claims have been brought up against the Assessing Department
and that Ms. Ortolano has very thoroughly researched what their activities are and every month there
continues to be more and more issues. So | don’t have a problem with her reporting them, | just think
that the Public Comment is for Public Comment and not lengthy expositions of information. If she feels
like she doesn’t have a voice and isn’t able to send this information, then she should be working with her
local Alderman or she can be sending us information and we should be putting that in Public Record
certainly. | just think that this particular personnel issue should be brought up in Public Comment,
introduced but then let be investigated. There has not been time for any of that to be done.

Page Image
Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/28/2019 - P18

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/28/2019 - P19

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:38
Document Date
Tue, 05/28/2019 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 05/28/2019 - 00:00
Page Number
19
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__052820…

Board of Aldermen 05-28-2019 Page 19
Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja

Thank you. | will just make one comment regarding the last Public Comment. | think it has been very
clearly stated that we as a Board don’t investigate and we don’t get involved in HR but | do feel that the
Mayor recognizes the importance of this and is moving forward with an attorney to investigate. | am
looking forward to hearing the results of that investigation. | think that the responsibility for that
investigation clearly is with the Mayor's Office and his HR Department and not with this Board.

Two things, unfortunately we had hoped Alderman Gidge would be with us this evening and he’s not, |
regret that. But a couple of weeks ago the Artwork Studios at 14 Court Street had its ribbon-cutting and
again | would just like to acknowledge his work in bringing that forward and thank him and look forward
to sitting across the horseshoe and thanking him personally. So hopefully he will be joining us soon.

Also, this week, which is not shaping up to be a very pleasant week weather-wise, is the last week our
sculptures will be working. | thought of them today as it was cold and rainy and miserable. But they
have been working very hard; if you haven’t had a chance to go visit them | would encourage you to go
visit them at the Picker Artist Collaborative. The closing is at 1:00 p.m. this Saturday, meeting here
behind City Hall to then go to the locations for the 3 sculptures. They are each delightful and enjoy
talking to people. They break for lunch and break for dinner there at the location but are busy working
away. Some of you may have caught the YouTube Video of Jarod from Kenya singing to some students
who visited form Ledge Street, which was great. So | encourage you to go and visit them or at least
attend on Saturday. Thank you.

Alderman Clemons

Thank you. | just want to address a couple of things. So first | was mentioned in Public Comment and
all | will say is that | didn’t want to address this last time we were here but | guess my hand has been
forced. So when somebody makes an accusation against somebody the details should be there in full.
And what we originally got was not complete. And | am not saying that what was in there was not
accurate or that it wasn’t true; but | don’t know that. And there’s no corroborating evidence. | appreciate
the fact that Ms. Ortolano is bringing forward some more information so that maybe we can corroborate
that report that she paid $8,000.00 of her own money for. But | will look at it, | will make my own
judgement as | hope other people will but | made the comments that | made to her because we didn’t
have a full report. All it was, was accusations; pictures of | don’t even know what, somebody in a car,
somewhere. How do | know that the private investigator, why should | trust him? | didn’t pay $8,000.00
for it. What are his credentials, why should | automatically take something at face value?

Look we are talking about a public employee here who has the right to due process and when there are
personnel issues, they should come up in the appropriate venue. Thatis to the HR Director or to the
Mayor or to somebody in City Hall and you know it would have been appropriate for that to come out
that way. If you really feel like you want to spend $8,000.00 of your own money on something like that,
why do you have to go to the press with it? It makes me wonder, is this a political thing, is there an
undercurrent here that we should know about? | don’t know. But! do know this; | know that there is a
man who works here for the City who has been publicly berated by a citizen and it is really too bad.
What that tells people who want to come and work for this City is — you better watch out for citizens in
Nashua because they let them go crazy on you. They let them go after you. Your reputation could be
put on the line if somebody has enough money, they can get that out there and they can ruin your
career. So you know | don’t like this stuff; | don’t think this is the appropriate venue for it. | think there is
some kind of political undercurrent here and | am going to state that for the record. | will look at what is
presented to me but | look forward to the private investigator, or I’m sorry, to our City Investigator’s
report. The only thing that | will address is that basically what | have heard is we have an employee
that maybe at best doesn’t do their job very well. But beyond the other accusations, | can’t corroborate
them and | don’t think anybody else here can corroborate them with what has been presented thus far to
us. And | think the public should keep that in mind. When you hear these things and you hear these
discussions being had, keep that in mind.

Page Image
Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/28/2019 - P19

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/28/2019 - P20

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:38
Document Date
Tue, 05/28/2019 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 05/28/2019 - 00:00
Page Number
20
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__052820…

Board of Aldermen 05-28-2019 Page 20

The other thing that | want to say is there was another speaker earlier this evening who brought up the
fact that in his opinion our Board President had a conflict of interest. Well | can tell you for a fact that
having been the Vice President of this Board, | had had another corporation counsel look into it and
there is no conflict of interest there for Alderman Wilshire to be Chairing that Committee. That is another
horse that has beaten to death and that is another political tirade of someone who knows that there is an
election around the corner. So | have had enough with this kind of stuff, we need to leave the politics out
of here and we need to do what’s right for this City. And we need to start doing it now.

Alderman Dowd

Yes the reason | brought up the challenge is because I’ve been on Labor Relations Boards before who
have the hiring and firing capability. When we have personnel issues they are discussed in non-public
for very good reasons. | was concerned that something was going to be said on one side or the other
that was going to jeopardize anything that a special investigator might have to do. So this is not the
place to discuss it, there is a special investigator that has been hired and that’s where it should stay. It
should not be being discussed at this meeting.

Committee announcements:

Alderman Dowd

Tomorrow night is the first Budget Wrap Up and | would like people to be prepared; if they have any
motions that they want to entertain please have them be written out in advance. Please be as specific
as you can, | can’t say any of them will pass but if they do, then the Budget Committee will get to vote on
it. If the majority of the Budget Committee feels that it’s OK, it will go forward, once we pass the Budget
to the Full Board of Aldermen, it will take the form of a modification to the Mayor’s Budget if we make
those modifications. Just to remind people, when it comes back to the Full Board, if it is an increase in
the Mayor's Budget it is going to take 10 votes; if it's a decrease it is 8 votes. So just wanted to let you
know that. | know some of the members of the Budget Committee have been talking to Department
heads, if there is any information that you have collected that is associated with a motion you are going
to make, | would prefer that you give that information to the entire Board as soon as possible so that
they will have that information to make their decisions on.

Alderman Clemons

Will Treasurer Fredette be there tomorrow?

Mayor Donchess

| think so yes. You are the Budget Committee Wrap Up? Yes if you’d like him, | will be there as well as
Treasurer Fredette and Mr. Griffin.

Alderman Clemons

Great thank you.

Alderman Dowd

It might be a good thing to have the CFO as well.
President Wilshire

Yes he said that.

Page Image
Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/28/2019 - P20

Board Of Aldermen - Agenda - 4/12/2016 - P8

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 21:35
Document Date
Tue, 04/12/2016 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Agenda
Meeting Date
Tue, 04/12/2016 - 00:00
Page Number
8
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_a__041220…

Agreement on November 23, 2011, concluding that “the transaction is in the public interest and
will not have an adverse effect on rates, terms, service, or operation of the utilities.”

Corporate Structure. As part of the acquisition, the corporate structure of Pennichuck
Corporation and its utility subsidiaries was retained. Under this structure, the City is the sole
shareholder of Pennichuck Corporation. Pennichuck Corporation continues to own five
corporate subsidiaries, including three regulated public utilities (Pennichuck Water Works, Inc.,
Pennichuck East Utility, Inc., and Pittsfield Aqueduct Company, Inc.), an unregulated service
company (Pennichuck Water Service Corporation), and a real estate holding company (The
Southwood Corporation).

Election of the Board of Directors. Under this corporate governance system, the City exercises
its contro] over Pennichuck Corporation in its capacity as the Company’s Sole Shareholder in
accordance with the Articles of Incorporation, the By-Laws and the New Hampshire laws
governing business corporations. In accordance with these rules, Pennichuck Corporation’s
business affairs are managed and overseen by a Board of Directors. One of the most important
responsibilities of the City, in its capacity as Sole Shareholder, is to elect members of the Board
of Directors from individuals nominated by the Pennichuck Corporation Board of Directors at
the Company’s Annual Meeting.

Voting at the Annual Meeting. \t is important to remember that the City itself is the Sole
Shareholder, not any individual person who may hold an office with the City. The City must
exercise its responsibilities as Sole Shareholder through public meetings of the City’s Board of
Aldermen and Mayor, acting in accordance with applicable New Hampshire laws and the
provisions of the City Charter. As a municipal entity, the City is not typically in a position to
“attend” an annual meeting, or any other meeting of the Sole Shareholder, “in person.”

Traditional corporate law principles provide a ready solution for this type of “institutional”
voting of shares. As the Sole Shareholder, the City may review the proposed vote and take
action at appropriate City meetings determined by the City. The City may then either designate
an individual person to attend the Annual Meeting in person with the authority to vote the City’s
shares in accordance with the City’s determination, or the City may vote its shares by proxy.

To facilitate these options, the Pennichuck Corporation Board of Directors has prepared this
Proxy Statement which contains details of the business to be conducted at the Annual Meeting.
If the City determines to vote its shares by proxy, it should cause the enclosed proxy card to be
completed and returned to Pennichuck Corporation prior to the Annual Meeting. By executing
the enclosed proxy card, the City will be designating the actions it has determined to take with
respect to the matters to be heard at the Annual Meeting and will be authorizing the officers of
the Company named on the proxy card to act as the City’s proxy to vote on the City’s behalf at
the Annual Meeting in accordance with the instructions set forth on the proxy card.

Page Image
Board Of Aldermen - Agenda - 4/12/2016 - P8

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/28/2019 - P21

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:38
Document Date
Tue, 05/28/2019 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 05/28/2019 - 00:00
Page Number
21
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__052820…

Board of Aldermen 05-28-2019 Page 21
Alderman Dowd

Oh I’m sorry, | missed that.

Alderman Caron

Personnel will be meeting Monday, already, June 3” at 7:00.

Alderman Jette

| do have a question of Alderman Dowd if | could. So is tomorrow night’s meeting limited to any part of
the budget or it the whole budget, tomorrow night?

Alderman Dowd

When we are done and we will be passing on the entire budget, but if you have any motions relative to
any part of the budget it would be for that specific part of the budget. Hypothetically if you have
Department X and you want to add $10,000.00 to it, | am going to ask the CFO what does that do to our
end budget number. Without any other changes that would be above the Mayor’s budget so anything
going forward would require 10 votes of the Full Board. But yes, you can make a recommendation on
any part of the budget and | would hope that there is some rationale behind the decision.

Alderman Jette

Thank you.

Alderwoman Kelly

If | could just follow up on his question, so we didn’t go into wrap up sessions last year, we just passed
it. So what is the cut off? You have one for tomorrow and then you have one on Thursday like is it a
time or just wondering.

Alderman Dowd

I’m hoping that we wrap it up tomorrow.

Alderwoman Kelly

| agree with you. | am with you.

Alderman Dowd

The reason that | scheduled other meetings is in case we don’t wrap it up tomorrow because we have a
very busy calendar. Mrs. Lovering, we blocked off dates so we would make sure we had them. But |
would prefer that we wrap it up tomorrow because I’d like to bring it back to the full board and have it
passed at the June 11" | think it’s Tuesday June 11", yes, Full Board Meeting. We have to get this
passed in June, that’s getting awfully close.

President Wilshire

No other Committee announcements? Do | have a motion?

Page Image
Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/28/2019 - P21

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/28/2019 - P22

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:38
Document Date
Tue, 05/28/2019 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 05/28/2019 - 00:00
Page Number
22
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__052820…

Board of Aldermen 05-28-2019 Page 22

ADJOURNMENT

MOTION BY ALDERMAN O’BRIEN THAT THE MAY 28, 2019, MEETING OF THE BOARD
OF ALDERMEN BE ADJOURNED
MOTION CARRIED

The meeting was declared adjourned at 8:57 p.m.

Attest: Patricia D. Piecuch, City Clerk

Page Image
Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/28/2019 - P22

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/28/2019 - P23

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:38
Document Date
Tue, 05/28/2019 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 05/28/2019 - 00:00
Page Number
23
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__052820…

Fouo Law, PLLC
121 Bay Street
Manchester, NH 03104

FOJO-

Robert M. Fojo
Direct/Fax: (603) 473-4694

rfoje@fojolaw.com
May 8, 2019
BY EMAIL
Mayor James Donchess
City of Nashua
P.O. Box 2019

Nashua, NH 03061
RE: Assessing Department/Greg Turgiss

Dear Mayor Donchess:

fam writing to you concerning Greg Turgiss, an Assessor III and commercial assessor
(and formerly a residential assessor) in the City of Nashua’s Assessing Department and
developments concerning his daily behavior that my client, Laurie Ortolano, recently discovered.
Greg is among the various individuals within the Assessing Department that Ms. Ortolano has
focused on during her recent, months-long campaign to identify deficiencies in the Department
and promote change and course correction within it.

Ms. Ortolano has raised concerns about Greg in the past, but the City has largely ignored
them. For example, Greg’s brother, Gary Turgiss performed the initial assessment of Ms.
Ortolano’s property, 41 Berkeley St., after she purchased it in December 2013. Gary informed
Ms. Ortolano of a sudden 50.3% increase (from $469,800 in 2013 to $706,300 in 2014) in her
property’s total assessed value after the sale. Ms. Ortolano thereafter requested a review of that
assessment. Greg visited her property to perform the review. During Greg’s visit, Ms. Ortolano
provided him with intricate detail concerning what she believed Gary had done wrong in the
initial assessment. Greg seemed disinterested, failed to answer any of her questions, and told her
he would get back to her.

In early March 2019, the Chief Assessor position in the Assessing Department was
eliminated as the result of an internal audit, and our understanding is the City intends to re-
instate the “Administrative Services Director” position to oversee the Assessing Department and
several other departments (subject to approval by the Board of Aldermen). That audit also found
several critical problems existed within the Department, including ineffective management, and a
lack of internal policies to guide its operations. Accordingly, after the Chief Assessor position
was eliminated, the Department had no one with any assessing expertise or experience
overseeing it.!

Page Image
Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/28/2019 - P23

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/28/2019 - P24

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:38
Document Date
Tue, 05/28/2019 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 05/28/2019 - 00:00
Page Number
24
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__052820…

Mayor Donchess
May 8, 2019
Page 2

To alleviate that vacuum, at a March 7, 2019 Special Aldermen meeting on that
Assessment Management Audit Report, you stated that, in the interim and in defense of
eliminating the Chief Assessor position, “There is a supervisor Assessor, certified as a supervisor
in the Assessing Office who can serve as sort of a working supervisor.” This statement
obviously referred to Greg since he is the only certified supervisor in the Assessing Department.

In response, Ms. Ortolano raised the concern that having both Greg and Gary Turgiss
working in the same department violated the City’s anti-nepotism policy, and that elevating
either to supervise the other a/so violated that policy. Section 4.01 of the policy states,
“Individuals who are related are permitted to work for the City of Nashua, provided that no_
direct reporting or supervisory/management relationship exists.” (The italics and underlining
are not mine; they are in the policy.) Section 4.02 states, “No relatives are permitted to work in
the same department or in any other positions in which the Human Resources Department
believes an inherent conflict of interest may exist.” As you are likely aware, the Turgiss brothers
have worked in the Assessing Department for over two decades. The City’s Human Resources
Director, Larry Budreau, stated, however, that there was no conflict interest, and thus this
situation did not violate the City’s anti-nepotism policy.

The City has recently continued to express support for Greg and the Assessing
Department. At the most recent Board of Aldermen meeting on April 30, 2019, Louise Brown,
an Administrative Specialist, explained that, due to Greg’s “hard work, education, and lengthy
experience,” he was elevated from a DRA Certified Property Assessor to a DRA Certified
Property Assessor Supervisor in 2018. In this role, Greg apparently executes numerous critical
duties for the Department, including, but not limited to, general supervision over re-evaluation
projects, conducting sales surveys, establishing base values for land and buildings, preparing
sales surveys, establishing charts to be used in re-evaluations, preparing reports, supervising
informal reviews of property assessments with property owners, and oversight over any re-
evaluation by assisting the City to ensure the re-evaluation is performed in accordance with
applicable law. In particular, Ms. Brown remarked that she has worked with Greg from 2000 to
the present, and his “growth in the Department is something to aspire to.” She further praised
Greg as “one of the top individuals I have been able to depend on with the changes that have
occurred within” the Department.

At that same meeting, Greg provided his own comments after Ms. Brown. He explained
this period of time is “a very busy time with the April 1* tax date and July bills going out,” and
he explained many of the functions the Department was performing for that purpose. The Acting
Administrative Services Director, Kim Kleiner, made a few remarks after Greg: she explained
the Assessing Department is “extremely busy,” and “you have a group of people that are working
extremely hard to get information and applications processed and reviewed |for abatements].”
Then, the President of the Board of Aldermen, Lori Wilshire, remarked that “the people down [in
the Assessing Department] are working hard, everyone wants to do a good job for the residents.”

' While we understand your Chief of Staff, Kim Kleiner, is currently overseeing the Assessing Department as the
“Acting Administrative Services Director,” Ms. Kleiner has no assessing credentials or experience. It is like asking
a lawyer to oversee a doctor’s office.

Page Image
Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/28/2019 - P24

Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/28/2019 - P25

By dnadmin on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 22:38
Document Date
Tue, 05/28/2019 - 00:00
Meeting Description
Board Of Aldermen
Document Type
Minutes
Meeting Date
Tue, 05/28/2019 - 00:00
Page Number
25
Image URL
https://nashuameetingsstorage.blob.core.windows.net/nm-docs-pages/boa_m__052820…

Mayor Donchess
May 8, 2019
Page 3

She commended “the staff down there for stepping up and wanting to do better and mak[e]
changes that are going to be positive for them and the City.”

Finally, you bestowed additional praise on Greg during Ms. Kleiner’s interview this past
Monday evening. During the interview, Alderwoman Shoshanna Kelly asked how the City
addresses the day-to-day issues that might arise in the Assessing Department as well as public
concerns. You responded, ‘“‘Well we have qualified assessors working in the assessing _
department. They are qualified and certified to answer the demands of the job.... We have the
expertise within the department to do these jobs.”

Ms. Ortolano has, nevertheless, remained concerned about the Assessing Department
and, specifically, Greg’s work ethic and behavior. For example, she has always noticed Greg
exhibit a pattern of behavior in his day-to-day work schedule: Greg leaves City Hall every day at
approximately 12 noon and does not return until 3 or 4 p.m., on the representation that he is
performing “field work.” There are also numerous abnormalities in his assessing practices,
including disparities between the values assigned to various properties and information contained
in corresponding property cards.

Accordingly, Ms. Ortolano hired a private investigating firm, Freyler Investigations,
LLC, in late March to follow and review Greg’s behavior and, ultimately confirm her suspicions
regarding him. A surveillance report, dated April 26, 2019, concerning Greg’s behavior is
attached to this letter (“Freyler Report”). In addition, Ms. Ortolano performed her own
investigation to assist Freyler. Her own report is also attached to this letter.

These reports, unfortunately, not only do not surprise us with respect to Greg’s day-to-
day activities, but they deeply alarm us, should concern Nashua taxpayers, and undermine
virtually all of the accolades recently bestowed on Greg by the City.

These reports demonstrate that, during a period of investigation from April 1 — 26, 2019
(a full month, during which there were 20 business days), the investigator and Ms. Ortolano
personally witnessed and observed Greg take extended breaks on nearly half (eight) of those
days during work hours. During those breaks, he either parked his car in the parking area at the
Rail Trial at the end of Country Side Drive in Nashua and napped or smoked cigarettes for
approximately 2-2.5 hours (on April 11, 15, and 23), or parked his car in a parking lot at a
Holiday Inn on 9 Northeastern Blvd. in Nashua and remained there either napping or smoking
cigarettes, also for 1-2 hours (on April 18, 19, 22, 25, and 26).

The investigator and Ms. Ortolano also observed that, on April 1-3, 5, and 8-10, Greg
disappeared from City Hall for similar gaps in time (from approximately 12 noon until 2 or 3
p.m.) and followed similar driving routes either near or in the direction of the Rail Trail and the
Holiday Inn, but the investigator and Ms. Ortolano lost track of him and, thus, could not confirm
whether Greg engaged in the same activities (taking extended breaks to nap and smoke)
described above. These reports do explain, however, that before the investigator and Ms.
Ortolano lost track of Greg on those days, they observed Greg drive aimlessly around the City
and perform very little field work.

Page Image
Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/28/2019 - P25

Pagination

  • First page « First
  • Previous page ‹‹
  • …
  • Page 3498
  • Page 3499
  • Page 3500
  • Page 3501
  • Current page 3502
  • Page 3503
  • Page 3504
  • Page 3505
  • Page 3506
  • …
  • Next page ››
  • Last page Last »

Search

Meeting Date
Document Date

Footer menu

  • Contact