Board of Aldermen 04-23-2019 Page 13
Stacie Laughton, 507 Broad Street, Ward 1
As with the last meeting | attended | have notes prepared but given the fact that we only have 15 minutes, I'll
just say a few things briefly. The City is considering raising the smoking age to age 21. There is going to be a
committee meeting coming up. During the last meeting there was a lot of talk back and forth. There was a lot
of public comment and input. | just wanted to add to what | said. | will come to the committee meeting and
express more.
One thing | wanted to point out is that the companies that make e-cigarettes vaping devices are all in favor of
raising the age to 21. As one of the aldermen who is not here tonight has mentioned in the past, the
companies that make the vaping devices or cigarettes or whatnot are putting on their packaging for e-
cigarettes for use of smokers or users that are at least 21 years of age. They have no authority to enforce that
because the government or here or whatever says you can smoke at 18 or vape at 18. With that in mind, any
members of the Board here tonight who are on that committee, keep in mind that tobacco companies are
behind raising the age to 21. As we see on their packaging, a lot of times it will say 21. But then again in a
place where the smoking age is 18, they can get away with selling at 18 because there’s no law that says,
obviously around here, that says you have to be 21 to buy them. I'll come to that meeting and I'll share more
of my thoughts on that as that committee meeting approaches.
| just wanted to share with the board also, really quick, that as most of you know | have been involved in public
service in the past. | stepped out for along time. As of July of last year, | became eligible to hold and serve in
public office. As of this month, | have formed a committee to explore options to get back into politics and city
government and whatnot. Over the years since | had to step away from the New Hampshire House and | had
to step away from being a selectman, | have always continued to engage politically. | have always tried to
engage in community service. Some people on this Board have seen me go to various events locally and live
stream them so that information can get out to the people. | will be coming back to more meetings and
learning more and getting to know and be more familiar with what’s going on since | have stepped away. It’s
nice to be back and nice to be eligible and try to make some sort of a comeback.
| thank you for your time this evening, and I'll let you finish up. Thank you.
Laurie Ortolano, 41 Berkeley Street
Just a couple of things. Laura spoke a little bit about the difficulty in getting answers. At that meeting that she
went to with Kim and John Griffin, | attended with her back at the end of March. She asked a lot of good
questions. A lot of questions | didn’t know the answers to. The administration was pretty responsive to not
knowing the answers either. But, | do think there’s something to be said in getting a response or a timely
response. If it doesn’t come that somebody even lets us know that it’s being worked on and it will be coming. |
don’t know what you consider reasonable, but | think a couple of weeks is reasonable. If it is going to be a
month or two months, | think that people ought to know that because it’s a long time.
| can tell you right now there’s been a change in practice down in the office set up by Ms. Kleiner to restrict
information to the public. I’m not in favor of it. She isn’t allowing people to speak directly to the assessors.
You have to put it in writing, and it has to go to the assessor for an answer. That really is, | think, too
restrictive and not appropriate. | know | raised a question about three weeks ago to an assessor. | went in to
ask a question; | don’t ask many. | really don’t engage the assessors often, but | was asked to be a
representative for somebody on an abatement, an individual, and | had a question about basement valuations.
| was stopped at the counter and said: “Oh no, no. You have to put it in writing.” So | put it in writing and sent
the email to the assessor. It was two and a half week’s ago. | haven't received a response. Honest to God,
it’s a question that would take 60 seconds to answer. | know it’s that quick, and it is not responded to. | think
the reason is she’s trying to insulate the assessors from the public because they are concerned or nervous. |
just don’t think that’s the right way to go. | don’t think it’s how an assessing office should work.
