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Board of Aldermen 08-13-2019 Page 22

R-19-166
Endorsers: Mayor Jim Donchess
Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja
Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr.
Alderman Ken Gidge
Alderman Richard A. Dowd
Alderman Patricia Klee
Alderman-at-Large Brandon Michael Laws
Alderman Tom Lopez
Alderman June M. Caron
Alderman-at-Large David C. Tencza
Alderman Jan Schmidt
Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire
RELATIVE TO THE ACCEPTANCE AND APPROPRIATION OF $110,000 FROM THE NEW
HAMPSHIRE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INTO PARKS & RECREATION GRANT ACTIVITY
“JEFF MORIN FUND, PLAYGROUND IMPROVEMENTS AT ROBY PARK”
Given its first reading; assigned to the HUMAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE by President Wilshire

R-19-167
Endorser: Mayor Jim Donchess
Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr.
Alderman Ken Gidge
Alderman Richard A. Dowd
Alderman Patricia Klee
Alderman Tom Lopez
Alderwoman-at-Large Shoshanna Kelly
Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja
Alderman Jan Schmidt
Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire
RELATIVE TO THE SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATION OF $1,000,000 OF FY2019
UNANTICIPATED REVENUE FROM DEPARTMENT #191 “SCHOOL”, ACCOUNTING
CLASSIFICATION #43 “INTERGOVERMENTAL REVENUE” INTO SCHOOL CAPITAL
PROJECT ACTIVITY “DISTRICT-WIDE MIDDLE SCHOOL RENOVATIONS”
Given its first reading; assigned to the BUDGET REVIEW COMMITTEE and the CAPITAL
IMPROVEMENTS COMMITTEE by President Wilshire

R-19-168
Endorser: Mayor Jim Donchess
Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr.
Alderman Ken Gidge
Alderman Richard A. Dowd
Alderman Patricia Klee
Alderman-at-Large Brandon Michael Laws
Alderman Tom Lopez
Alderwoman-at-Large Shoshanna Kelly
Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja
Alderman-at-Large David C. Tencza
Alderman Jan Schmidt
Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire
RELATIVE TO THE SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATION OF $300,000 OF FY2019
UNANTICIPATED REVENUE FROM DEPARTMENT #126 “FINANCIAL SERVICES”,
ACCOUNTING CLASSIFICATION #42 “LICENSES AND PERMITS” REVENUE INTO
CAPITAL PROJECT ACTIVITY “14 COURT STREET COURTYARD IMPROVEMENTS”
Given its first reading; assigned to the BUDGET REVIEW COMMITTEE and the CAPITAL
IMPROVEMENTS COMMITTEE by President Wilshire

Board of Aldermen Page 25
April 26, 2016

Alderman Lopez

| just wanted to use my public comment time to explain why on my Facebook page for Ward 4 alderman | have
been posting pictures of me doing 22 push-ups. There is a moved that is based on the VA’s report in 2012 that
the equivalent of 22 Veterans a day commits suicide annually. It occurred to me in one of our previous
meetings that while as somebody who works in the social work field | might be aware of movements or
concerns that are going on badly, the general public is not. | should be a better conduit for bringing those
issues to the surface. While anybody who has worked in social work would have told you that then heroin
epidemic was coming a few years ago, there was a blur of communication. | think the general public is only
aware of it within the last year and a half or so. Likewise, suicide is on the rise. It’s a tabooed that nobody
wants to talk about. The statistics are there. Tne CDC released a report just last week stating that suicide on
the national level was increasing. Especially with our veterans that is not something that we should be refusing
to talk about. Our veterans served our country; they put their lives on the line. Without them we really wouldn't
have the freedom that we have today. Doing 22 pushups isn’t necessarily going to save the world, but doing it
and announcing that the statistic exists and generating the conversation is all that I’m hoping to do. I’m hoping
more resourceful people or people with better resources will become aware of this issue so we don’t have
another epidemic moving forward. | just wanted to explain my behavior on social media to people.

President McCarthy

| wanted to thank City Arts Nashua for having organized the third annual Meri Goyette Art Lunch a week and a
half ago. It was another fascinating event.

Committee announcements:

Alderman Cookson

Infrastructure, tomorrow evening at 7:00 p.m. in these Chambers. | believe we are going to have a wonderful
presentation from our Downtown Specialist, Mr. Vayo. We have extended the invitation to our Planning &
Economic Development Committee to join us for that presentation. Post the presentation, we will continue with
our regular order of business on Infrastructure.

Alderman Clemons

The Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee will meet here at 7:00 p.m. on May 2.

Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja

The Planning & Economic Development Committee will hold their next meeting on Tuesday, May 3, at the City
Auditorium at 7:00 p.m. At that time, we will have a presentation on the Performing Arts Feasibility Study.

President McCarthy

As we pointed out before, we will also have on May 5 the meeting with the State Delegation here.

Board of Aldermen 08-13-2019 Page 23

R-19-169

Endorser: Mayor Jim Donchess

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

Alderman Richard A. Dowd

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

Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja

RELATIVE TO THE SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATION OF $700,000 OF FY2019
UNANTICIPATED REVENUE FROM DEPARTMENT #126 “FINANCIAL SERVICES”,
ACCOUNTING CLASSIFICATION #42 “LICENSES AND PERMITS” REVENUE INTO
PUBLIC WORKS CAPITAL PROJECT ACTIVITY “INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS
CITYWIDE”
Given its first reading; assigned to the BUDGET REVIEW COMMITTEE and the CAPITAL
IMPROVEMENTS COMMITTEE by President Wilshire

R-19-170

Endorser:

Mayor Jim Donchess
Alderman Richard A. Dowd

RELATIVE TO THE RE-APPROPRIATION OF FISCAL YEAR FY2020 ESCROWS
Given its first reading; assigned to the BUDGET REVIEW COMMITTEE by President Wilshire

R-19-171

Endorsers: Mayor Jim Donchess

Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire
Alderman Richard A. Dowd
Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr.
Alderman Ken Gidge

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 Ben Clemons

APPROVING AN AMENDMENT TO THE LEASE WITH NASHUA ICE CENTER
(KNOWN AS CONWAY ARENA)
Given its first reading; assigned to the FINANCE COMMITTEE by President Wilshire

Board of Aldermen 08-13-2019 Page 24

R-19-172
Endorsers: Mayor Jim Donchess
Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire
Alderman Richard A. Dowd
Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr.
Alderman Ken Gidge
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 Ben Clemons
AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO A POWER PURCHASE AGREEMENT
(PPA) AND LEASE WITH REVISION ENERGY
Given its first reading; assigned to the FINANCE COMMITTEE by President Wilshire

NEW BUSINESS — ORDINANCES

O-19-049

Endorser: Mayor Jim Donchess
Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr.
Alderman Ken Gidge
Alderman Richard A. Dowd
Alderman Patricia Klee
Alderman Tom Lopez
Alderwoman-at-Large Shoshanna Kelly
Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja
Alderman-at-Large David C. Tencza
Alderman Jan Schmidt
Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire

AUTHORIZING FREE HOLIDAY PARKING AT METERS IN ZONE III WHICH INCLUDES THE
ELM STREET AND HIGH STREET PARKING GARAGES FROM DECEMBER 9, 2019 THROUGH
JANUARY 3, 2020

Given its first reading; assigned to the COMMITTEE ON INFRASTRUCTURE by President Wilshire

O-19-050
Endorsers: Alderman Tom Lopez
Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire
Alderman Patricia Klee
Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja
CHANGING THE LOCATION OF THE PARKING PERMITS FOR DALIANIS HOUSE RESIDENTS
Given its first reading; assigned to the COMMITTEE ON INFRASTRUCTURE by President Wilshire

O-19-051
Endorser: Alderwoman-at-Large Shoshanna Kelly
Alderman Tom Lopez
Alderman June M. Caron
Alderman Jan Schmidt
PROVIDING FREE LIBRARY PARKING FOR UP TO THREE HOURS FOR NASHUA STUDENTS
USING THE NASHUA PUBLIC LIBRARY
Given its first reading; assigned to the COMMITTEE ON INFRASTRUCTURE by President Wilshire

Board of Aldermen 08-13-2019 Page 25

O-19-052
Endorsers: Alderman Patricia Klee
Alderwoman-at-Large Shoshanna Kelly
Alderman Tom Lopez
AMENDING NRO 93-6 IMPOUNDMENT OF DOGS, CATS, FERRETS AND CHICKENS
Given its first reading; assigned to the PERSONNEL/ADMINISTRATIVE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE by
President Wilshire

O-19-053
Endorser: Mayor Jim Donchess
Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr.
AUTHORIZING SIGNATURES FOR CONTRACTS LESS THAN $1,000
Given its first reading; assigned to the PERSONNEL/ADMINISTRATIVE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE by
President Wilshire

PERIOD FOR GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT

Laurie Ortolano 41 Berkeley Street. There were some things Ms. Kleiner said that were disappointing to
hear. For me as a taxpayer, the quality of the Assessing staff is an issue and | don’t understand why we
haven't been able to conclude an investigation with an Assessor who did not do his job for the month of
April, did not go out and inspect properties, is a confessed sex addict, has a number of issues and we
accept that. And that’s a problem for me.

President Wilshire

The problem here is | don’t think we need to be saying that about people in the City.
Ms. Ortolano |’m only saying what he said. Ok?

President Wilshire

It is not acceptable in our Chamber, thank you.

Ms. Ortolano Ok fine, that’s fine for you but you’re sitting up there and | am the taxpayer and this is the
person you have working in the office. And | notice that he came out tonight to sit with the crew. | notice
Ms. Walley isn’t here. She wasn’t invited. I’d like to know why somebody so valued isn’t here? I'd like to
understand that. But that’s a disappointment. I’d like to share something with you that | shared up at the
BTLA and as you know | had a big concern with permit data and also EYB. Let’s talk about EYB, Effective
Year Build. This was a big issue from the very first day you came out in September and talked about the
KRT meetings that were being set up. | think it was Mary Ann who talked about her District, having
concerns with EYB, The Mayor spoke about it. | started focusing on Effective Year Build as a concern
and | couldn’t get anyone in the Assessing Office to validate it. They wouldn’t speak with me, they wouldn’t
meet with me, they wouldn’t talk to us, they rejected any attempt we had for a meeting even though we met
with neighbors and we couldn’t get any confirmation.

Over the last couple of months investigating and digging deep and looking into records, | found a set of
notes that was a meeting with KRT on 10/11/18. It was about five days after | had a phone call with Rob
Tozier about my property and EYB and | was trying to figure out why they never came back and did an
inspection. We went to the Hearing on September 6" and no one showed up. On August 5"" | called KRT
in Haverhill and | said, “Why didn’t you come” and that’s when | learned that they were told by John
Duhamel we wouldn't let them in which was not true. But after that, he went and had a meeting with the
Board of Assessors where only one Board Member was there and Ms. Walley was asked to take notes. At
that meeting it said, in the record, KRT discovered that the Effective Year Build was being used to increase
depreciation. This is an ineffective measure for anything that has maintenance issues or anything that is

Board of Aldermen 08-13-2019 Page 26

old. This issue really affects older homes. KRT found a lot of stuff that was old, 69, 84, 89, 94 inconsistent
and they started to use the condition in conjunction with EYB.

For example, a restored home is not in average condition; it is in better condition that average. About half
the properties need to be reset. If one property has an Effective Year Build adjusted and the other property
next door is identical and doesn’t have that adjustment it will result in assessments that are not fair and
equitable. EYB is a very subjective field. If an EYB was last updated in 1991 with the last full List &
Measure, that would be skewing that assessments. Rob said there are really only 3 fields that are
subjective: grade, condition and EYB, everything else is black and white. The neighborhood codes are
somewhat objective but not tremendously. That is an interesting statement in set of minutes because | was
struggling so much to understand why this EYB was throwing me off in my neighborhood to the point where
| paid the $55.00 to get all the cards and put the data together to realize that most of the homes were 1955,
1960 and we were slammed up to 1995. No one, including Dan Hansberry, who is now the Chair of the
Board who was sitting in this meeting would tell me that this discussion took place; that this was a
legitimate issue, that | was seeing a problem. It affects about half the older homes, that’s a big issue and |
feel like the City withheld information from me.

Also in the same meeting, Rob said that there was a serious problem with implementing the income
approach. The income approach was all set up and then John recalculated wiping out all the income
information, we lost it all. Rob said this happened “late in the game”. So he called Patriot and they said it
is probably because we were in the analysis database and that was not stable. Rob believes that
explanation was just a cop out. Patriot was surprised that we did the entire update in the analysis data
base but Rob said it should have been able to handle it. He was asked if there was going to be a problem
when an abatement is filed and we need to defend the income approach. He said it would have to be set
up again on that account. He said that Ken is really the person to explain how it was set up. At the
meeting by the Board of Assessors on October 18" it was Dan Hansberry who said “I’m really concerned,
we have to reinvent the wheel and create all this data all over again”. And they never discussed it again.
And the BTLA brought up the issue of this data. To me itis really questionable whether all this data got
recreated. Nobody ever really looked at that except to say “John said it was done”. He lost it all and then
it's all done. We should be looking at that. | really think Cornell, David Cornell should be looking at that
income data to find out if the commercial properties were re-established correctly.

But this is some of the public issues with perceptions and clarity and truthfulness and trust with this
department, you know? | have opened my house for 35 years, we have always let assessors in. | will
never open my door again in Nashua. That ship has sailed and | will tell anyone, don’t open your door.
Because | have looked at a lot of data and it pays not to open your door. And | hope all of you Aldermen
here and the Mayor and the people sitting in this Chamber set the example and are the first ones to open
your door and let these assessors in to re-evaluate your property and set the data straight. Thank you.

Ben Telersky 5 Shakespeare Road. | am here to speak regarding Ordinance 19-051 which was introduced
tonight. | have been working with Alderwoman Kelly to put together a small Youth Advisory Committee. We
have got together a group of Nashua High School and College students to talk about things we would like
to see in Nashua. One of the recurring comments that was made was making the Library more accessible
to students. A lot of the times when High School kids have a group project they will go to Barnes & Noble,
the south end, when we could be getting them into the library utilizing downtown. | am a recent graduate of
Nashua South. | know Nashua values education and by allowing up to 20 students, which is what is in the
Ordinance, allowing up to 20 students to park for free up to 3 hours we’d allow students to have much
better access to the resources that the library has for them. I’m leaving for college in about a week and a
half but | hope you will all support the Ordinance to allow students here to take advantage of the resources
they have in the City. Thank you.

President Wilshire

Oh | didn’t have anyone else signed up. You can address the Board.

Board of Aldermen 08-13-2019 Page 27

Peter Schaefer 15 E Street. | just wanted to make a quick comment on the future social investment in the
railyard district. Today Nashua sold a ballfield in that area and you will still be using it although we lost a
skate park in that area. There is a lot of development going on, hundreds of apartments are going into that
area and | think we may need some investment in services as well. We've lost services recently and we’d
like to get some of that back. You’ve got some money today, $770,000.00 or so for that ballfield. There
are other funds available in the future although the apartments that are coming in, they are going to be
paying taxes so we will get some of that. There’s also going to be a tax increment theory of some kind
where there is money so — the reason I’m speaking is because you are the folks that spend the money,
figure out where the money will go. So rather than going to all these meetings all of the time | want to
suggest to all of you is that that area needs some investment so when things come up, think about us down
in that area. Thank you.

REMARKS BY THE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN

Alderman Tencza

Thank you. So this our last Board meeting until September and before we meet again will be the filing
period for municipal offices, starting at the end of August and going into the first week of September.
Hopefully we will, well we'll definitely have a new Clerk by that time. One of the things that people can do
to help out the new Clerk is to get involved, especially at the local election position. There are board
moderators, Ward Clerks and Selectmen who help run the polling places. There is always a need for
people, good people maybe even young people to step up and fill those roles. It is a long day and with the
new Clerk, he or she, hopefully she, is going to need a great staff behind her. So please look into that if
you are inclined to do so, get involved and help the City out in that way.

Also, | think at these meetings when we are debating and having a debate over what is going wrong with
the City or perceived to be going wrong with the City, we forget about all the good stuff that is happening.
So | just wanted to congratulate the Mayor and Alderman Lopez about the new futsal field, am | saying that
correctly that was installed down in Ward 4. It is great to see that space being used and it was a great
project | think through the community to come together and make that decision. Hopefully it will be there,
around for a long time for kids in the downtown area for the kids to be able to use.

Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja

Yes thank you. First of all Mr. Schaefer to your concern, | had a conversation with the Mayor this evening
prior to this meeting and also with some other individuals who were involved in planning. | share your
concern about the need for resources there, especially recreational resources as we increase the
population there. | would just like to let you know | know there are several people sitting around this
horseshoe who are also looking at what is going on there and how we can make sure some of those
resources are in your community.

The other thing is Alderman Caron and | have gotten to know each other very well, both in her professional
career and her retired career. This is the 15" year of Nashua Goes Back to School. And | know you’re all
like “Oh yeah big deal” but the other thing we all realize and Maureen Lemieux and | talked about this a
month ago is that 15 years ago we opened our two high schools, which is just amazing to think. With some
of the controversy and some of the concerns and here we are. | look at programs in the high schools,
especially the technology programs and in 15 years they have reinvented themselves and they keep
moving forward to make sure what our students are getting on both campuses is relevant and preparing
them for the workplace.

Fifteen years ago we hoped we would have 700 students attend, this year as we have in the past, 8 years,
we plan for 1,500 and we typically have between 1,200 and 1,400. We couldn't do it without the generosity
of the business community both in their donations of goods and services and anywhere from $9,000.00 to
$10,000.00 a year and that has stayed steady. So | think in terms of the good things, education is
supported and the School District, from the very beginning, Superintendent Giuliano said “yup every
principal will be there” and they are there. We always open our doors to the private schools if they would

Board of Aldermen 08-13-2019 Page 28

want to attend and our home-schoolers are also invited. Every one of them receives a little goody bag of
school supplies. | think we all feel as a Committee that 15 years of 2 high schools is certainly something to
celebrate.

| know some of us sitting around this table are going “Oh my gosh, how long have we been doing this”. So
| would like to invite all of you to stop in on Thursday, the event goes from 5:00 to 6:30. Typically people
are lining up around 3:00 in the afternoon, we have 37 agencies and programs in the City who will be
participating out on the lawn. The Health Department, | am so glad to see Director Bagley here, the Health
Department is going to be providing immunizations free of charge, but you need to have your record. So
put it out on social media. The nurses have been making that available to people so | hate to say it, but
don’t spend the co-pay to go get your child’s immunizations up-to-date, come see us. We will be doing free
lead screenings also. | hope you will join us and thank you to Mayor Donchess and all of the Mayors in the
past who have supported us by providing City services for this event. Thank you.

Alderman Jette

| just wanted to say that | voted for the Bond for the Full List & Measure because we have been hearing for
some time criticisms about the Assessing Department. But more importantly on this issue criticisms of the
data that we have. | voted for the Full List & Measure because | thought that was a step in the right
direction as far as getting a handle on our data and updating our data. It has been a long time since we’ve
done it and there are some cities and towns that do this on an ongoing basis. They do a fifth of their
homes every year to keep up-to-date on it. | know that the issue about whether or not people have to let the
Assessors in our not has come up but | think that there are other ways that these professional assessing
companies can verify the accuracy of the records. So that is why | voted for it. | think it is a step in the right
direction. Hopefully it will help us in the long run.

Alderwoman Kelly

Thank you. | wanted to start off by thanking City Clerk Piecuch, we worked very closely with her on the
Pride Committee and she was indispensable among other things that she does with the City so you will be
missed and | know the State is gaining someone who is very competent and passionate and | appreciate all
your hard work. As anew Alderman Ms. Lovering has been indispensable to me and | hope that we
confirm her in her new role but | will definitely miss her. | wanted to quickly note about the assessing, the
Full Measure & List, | just wanted to just thank everyone for the additional information given what has
occurred in the last couple weeks and also thank the Assessing Department for being here in full strength
and really explaining what they wanted to see come out of that. Lots of thank you's.

| just wanted to thank the Board for their support of the solar program. | know it is something that | am
personally passionate about but also the Energy & Environment Committee is really looking forward to see
happen in our City. And the appointment of the new student members which we have been working on for
a bit | think is really going to help us as we continue to build towards addressing the climate crisis. Lastly |
wanted to thank Ben for being here, as he mentioned we did put together a group of students who were
eager and interested in doing something this Summer and | worked with the Mayor's office to meet with
them weekly and this was the project that they came up with. | had no input on it; this was a project that
they felt very strongly about. They’ve done a lot of research and they are looking forward to presenting to
the Infrastructure Committee which | believe will be next week. So if you guys are able to come, they are
really a passionate group of students and | think they’ve done a great job on it so | hope to get your support
on that. Thank you.

Alderman Caron

Ok thank you. A few things, on R-19-148 went over my head but | would hope that that $700,000.00 that
we utilize some of that for that East Hollis Street/Bridge Street area. They were supposed to provide
recreation for those neighbors and unfortunately it didn’t come to pass. Giving us the money is wonderful
but | think it is very important for that neighborhood to get some of that recreation programs that they asked
for. | know that we worked, because Mr. Schaefer and | sat on the Committee concerning the traffic pattern

Board of Aldermen 08-13-2019 Page 29

that was going to take place for the bridge coming from Hudson to Nashua. Some of the concerns that the
neighbors had was that we did not have any recreation ideas. And they did come up with some, but
unfortunately you know that money that goes for traffic doesn’t necessarily go for recreation.

| think it is very important Mayor that the Board of Public Works understands that there is a need there with
the additional 200 plus apartments that are going in that those people have a right to some passive/active
recreation in that area. So | hope that you keep that in mind when you move down that line for that
$700,000.00 cost and | apologize for not doing that.

As far as Back to School, | have been doing this longer than retired than when | was working, but my
function basically is to pack the 1,500 bags. We can’t do that without volunteers. For 15 years RSVP our
Seniors in this community have stepped up to the plate and bagged those bags in less than 3 hours. They
work piecemeal, some of them are in their 80’s. So if you want to see people who work hard, who know
how to do it, you come down to the library next Tuesday after 8:30 and see what they can do. | know the
Mayor came last year and | think he was quite impressed with some of them. A lot of them have been
doing it for 15 years. So it shows you that one generation will help the other moving forward and of course
we will all be there on Thursday the 22" for the big bag hand out. So thank you for that.

Alderman Lopez

I’m just going to watch DJ Bernie catch kids playing Freeze. So the first thing | want to say is we have
been talking about the need for recreational activities and to Alderman Tencza’s point, the new futsal court
going in on Ash Street is across the street from the PAL Center which on the top floor has a boxing gym
where we have regularly succeeding athletes. Kids that would otherwise be engaged in other activities or
might be at risk, really learning to build a positive self-image and how to value themselves as athletes. We
have Golden Glove winners; we have people qualifying for the Olympics.

We have some pretty amazing things happening at that PAL Center because of the years of investment
that have gone into it. We have the Skate Park on the same street, and we have kids of increasing skill
and dexterity in the inner-city having the opportunity to practice right in their own neighborhood. And now
we have a futsal court which any professional or semi-professional soccer player will tell you, futsal helps
kids develop skills much more rapidly and effectively than just casual soccer. It is a great training activity
and we can look forward to seeing some really good athletic soccer athletes coming out of those
neighborhoods over the next couple of years.

And in addition to athletes that neighborhood is turning out leaders because the idea for the futsal court
came from the kids at the PAL Center. They participated in the “Your Choice/Your Voice”: they developed
a presentation for it; they campaigned for it and did a great job. So | think recreational facilities over in the
Canal Street area are important to that area’s future and that area’s growth. And ultimately the investment
of those families in that community. So | agree with Alderman Clemons or Alderman Caron that we need to
take that as a serious priority.

| also wanted to recognize City Clerk Piecuch, she’s been helping me for years, before | was even an
Alderman, trying to put together Cultural Festivals, Positive Street Art Events, Great American Downtown
Events. And then as an Alderman she has been of enormous help in helping me figure out what City
Statutes there are, what activities are going on that | should be part of. Even in this horseshoe, where she
staying all night with the rest of us, having late night meetings. We get to posture and express our opinions
and do all this political stuff while she is just paid to quietly work, which she does very well. So | just wanted
to recognize her with one opportunity because | thought maybe next month, in case you’re sick, let’s do it
now and | wanted to do a roll call vote, on Aldermen expressing their appreciation for the job she’s done
over the year.

President Wilshire

Would the Clerk please call the roll?

Board of Aldermen 08-13-2019 Page 30

Yea: Ald. O’Brien, Ald. Gidge, Ald. Dowd, Ald. Klee, Ald. Laws,
Ald. Lopez, Ald. Caron, Ald. Kelly, Ald. Jette, Ald. Melizzi-Golja,
Ald. Teneza, Ald. Schmidt, Ald. Clemons, Ald. Wilshire 14

Nay: 0

Alderman Klee

Yes I’d like to also mention about the Back to School, last year was the first year | went to it. And |
primarily went to it because | was an Alderman. | have no children, | have no children in the School
System. But! have to tell you, walking around it was excitement of all the kids gathering all the stuff and
putting it in their bags. It was just a pleasure to see. They were excited about going back to school, they
were excited about their little goody bags. | think also seeing all their friends and even some of the
teachers and so on, it was quite exciting. And | am glad we are going to have the immunizations and the
free lead screening, | think that’s a wonderful addition to this.

And then I'd like to kind of address some comments that were made and | hope | don’t embarrass Mrs.
Kleiner over there but Mrs. Kleiner | noticed that there 3 missing, employees here. Did you send out an
invitation and skip those three? Ok thank you, | just like to make sure that gets into the record. And the
comment about the EYB | believe that was addressed in the management audit. And | think that when they
came and talked to us they talked to us about there was some subjectivity to the EYB so | don’t think we’ve
been hiding anything or anything to that nature.

And | also just want to make one other comment, the City has not done a Full Measure & List since 1991:
while my house was done in 1991 and my house was done in 1995, mine has been out there a little bit
more. I’m done, thank you very much.

Alderman Dowd

Yeah some quick things. There was a Yard sale at Kessler Farms the other day and a woman came up to
me and wanted to know if | had any notebooks because she was trying to get things for her kids to go back
to school and | steered them to the Back to School event. She was ecstatic and | just want to thank
everybody involved because I’ve tried to be at every one every year. It is an amazing event and the kids
really love it.

Second thing is the bond process, correct me if I'm wrong, Corporation Counsel, but the $1.3 million has
now been approved and then go out and get bids. If it comes in over $1.3 million it has to go back through
the process, it needs a new public hearing through Budget and would have to go back through the Board
again. Also when a contract is arranged, it will have to go through Finance. So there are other checks and
balances on the $1.3 million.

Third thing is I’ve been getting a lot of questions on the Middle School Development. We are expecting the
Architect’s Report in September. I’m not going to put an exact date on it but in September, it got delayed a
little bit because vendors are very hard to get as far as some of the things that we had to do make sure that
the property is buildable and environmental aspects of Elm Street and other things. So it is still going on
and we will have some answers probably in September.

And the fourth thing | want to congratulate the Spartans Drum & Bugle Corp; they won the World
Championship. It is an organization that gives kids another outlet for their musical talents and gives them
something to do and get them off the street. That is what they established for many years ago and they do
a phenomenal job. That’s it.