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Please take all the above under advisement as you consider your next moves with respect to
COVID-19. Start thinking about how you extricate yourselves from a situation that has spiraled
out of control and for which you currently have no end game in sight.

Graham, Donna

From: Laurie Ortolano <laurieortclano@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, September 14, 2020 8:17 PM

To: Graham, Donna

Cec: Board of Assessors; Board of Aldermen
Subject: New RTK position for the Legal Office

CAUTION: This email came from outside of the organization. Do not click links/open attachments if source is
unknown.

Donna,
Please allow this letter to be part of public comment.

Do we need A Right-To-Know Manager in the Legal Office?

The Board of Aldermen will be voting on a new Legai Office Right-to-Know (RTK}) Management Position
{$100,000}. There is a hiring freeze in the City; this position needs to be carefully reviewed. According to
Attorney Bolton (Personnel Committee Meeting 9/10/20), the courts are taking these requests for information
more seriously which is creating risk exposure for the city. There has been an increase in requests starting five
years ago with a high demand in the last two years.

It is important to understand that one of the reasons for the increase has been due to the concerns of
the national advocates for freedom of information and transparency, They have been worried about State and
local governments stonewalling and using COVID-19 as an excuse.

Nashua is hardly a paragon of virtue in this regard. In fact, stifling public access to information predates the
pandemic. In one of my 2019 requests for sales letters, the legal office responded that it would take the City
almost 4 years to complete. The legal office made no serious attempt to search for the records.

Since the pandemic, a request to review fifty abatement applications was stalled by limiting access to the
information to 15 minute visits. Citing COVID-19 protocol setting 15 minute limits to visits to ensure access to
everyone who might want an appointment, the City, in effect, told me to go away. Despite the fact that only a
handful of peopie were requesting appointments each week, the Director forbade extending the time period
to review the information. This is an unnecessary bureaucratic maneuver that further erodes public trust.

Though a new dedicated RTK manager, possibly a lawyer, might seem like a good idea, this move will not
benefit the public, especially considering that this position will operate within the legal department.
Historically, the legal office is not willing to communicate with the public to explain the information that is
available nor are they willing to work with the public to minimize the burden to the City.

In case this position is filled by a lawyer, we know lawyers are generally may more skilled at parsing language.
This might frustrate the average Nashua citizen making a general request.

Problems with filling Right-To-Know requests exist in many of our City agencies, Assessing, City Clerk, Finance,
Health, Legal, Police and Public Works. All City departments, top management, and elected officials need

immediate training in Right-to-Know Law. What we need is policy development to create uniform standards in
1

all departments. Training through the NHMA should be happening throughout City government, with a staff
member in each department responsible for handling requests for information. Each department should be
capable of determining what reports and documents are public and which may be restricted and why.
Hopefully, the lawyers would only have to get involved in complicated situations.

Why do | believe a decentralized approach is even possible? This approach was working smoothly in the
Assessing office for 20 years until the Director of Administrative Services took over in May 2019 and
dismantled the function that specifically handled public requests for information.

Between September 2018 and May 2019, | was working with the Assessing clerical staff member whose job
description was to fill public requests for information. The staff member was trained in Right-To-Know through
the NHMA. It was simple and produced professional, timely responses. No one was complaining.

The Director of Administrative Services ordered a change in responding to public information requests in
2019. The legal office took over the process, were not familiar with the information requested, conducted
minimal searches in an attempt to fill the request and in the end, could not respond to the request in a timely
manner. Hiring a $100,000 per annum lawyer will exacerbate, not solve the problems.

The Personnel Committee did not vet this position. The Committee spent approximately 3 minutes to vote
“yes” on a $100,000 permanent position, while spending 60 minutes discussing a revision to the facemask
ordinance. If the City is intent on hiring for this position, then we should at least have answers to these
questions before making a final decision:

1) What is the job description for this position?

2) How will the public interface with this position?

3) Will a temporary position suffice until Departments and Divisions are RTK trained?

4) Will the School and Police Departments have all Right-To-Know requests going through legal?

5) Why is the city establishing a centralized permanent system when department employees

have the expertise and knowledge to know what reports and records are available?

6) Explain what the current process and the future process will look like when a citizen submits a

request for information.

Please email the Aldermen at boa@nashuanh.gov and ask them to send this new position back to committee
for review. Support a decentralized Right-to-Know system that is efficient, cost effective, customer friendly
and responsive. Our local newspapers have been leaders in mounting legal challenges to open records. These
struggling businesses may no longer be resourced to pursue these challenges so let’s work together asa
community to make sure records that should be public and accessible remain that way. Open societies and
those who temporarily govern them should not be afraid to let in the fresh air.

Laurie Ortolano
41 Berkeley St.
Nashua, NH 03064

Graham, Donna

eae TER
From: Laura Colquhoun <lauracolquhoun2@gmail.com>

Sent: Tuesday, September 15, 2020 3:13 PM

To: Board of Aidermen

Subject: Vote NO

CAUTION: This email came from outside of the organization. Do not click links‘open attachments if source is
unknown.

I am asking The Board of Aldermen to vote NO on the addition of a new position to the budget,
a RTK manager in the legal department. I do not support this centralized position. It should be
City wide training and the responsibility for maintaining documents open to public access in
each department where they are created. This is a $100,000 permanent position and the
Personnel committee did not review this position nor did they ask any questions. Nashua
residents do not need this "new" position.

Please vote NO on this item. Thank you.

Laura Colquhoun

30 Greenwood Dr
Nashua, NH 03062

[=| eo Virus-free. www.ava.com

APPOINTMENTS BY THE MAYOR

SEPTEMBER 22, 2020

Cultural Connections Committee

Eric Drouart (Reappointment) Term to Expire: December 31, 2020
52 Main Street, Unit 206
Nashua, NH 03064

Mohammed Mustak Arif Term to Expire: February 28, 2023
1 Kinsley Street
Nashua, NH 03060

Adelina Hernandez (Reappointment) Term to Expire: July 30, 2023
56 Chestnut Street
Nashua, NH 03060

Jessica Gorhan (Reappointment) Term te Expire: December 31, 2023
97 Western Avenue
Henniker, NH 03242

Nashua Aris Commission

Judith Carlson (Reappointment) Term to Expire: April 1, 2023
5 Manchester Street
Nashua, NH 03064

Paul LaFlamme Term to Expire: April 1, 2023
28 Lutheran Drive
Nashua, NH 03063

Steve Ruddock (New Appointment) Term to Expire: July 30, 2023
5 Town Crier Road

Amherst, NH 03031

Travis Tripoldi (New Appointment) Term to Expire: April 1, 2023
15 Manchester Street

Nashua, NH 03064

Tax Increment Financing Advisory Board

Angelina Spillios (New Appointment) Term to Expire: September 30, 2021

15 Technology Way
Nashua, NH 03060

| respectfully request that these appointments be confirmed.

Jim Donchess, Mayor

AMENDED
O-20-029

ORDINANCE

SUPPLEMENTAL REQUIREMENTS RELATIVE TO FACE COVERINGS

CITY OF NASHUA

In the Year Two Thousand and Twenty

The City of Nashua ordains that the following supplemental regulations are in addition
to the requirements of Ordinance O-20-018 and do not supersede them. Exceptions contained in
O-20-018 apply to these requirements as well. For convenience the numbering sequence
continues from that in O-20-018.

10. All businesses open to the public, including restaurants, retail stores, service providers,
and places of amusement and recreation, and residential and commercial buildings of
greater than two (2) units shall post at each public entrance a notice stating “FACE
COVERINGS REQUIRED.”

11. —_No business and no employee of any business shall provide goods or services to any
person not complying with face covering requirements of this ordinance, O-20-018, or
any other face covering requirements now in force or hereafter adopted. No business and
no employee of any business shall permit a person to remain on its premises in violation
of these requirements.

12. Persons engaged in utilizing cardio, strength training, and other gymnasium equipment
may remove the mask during the actual use of such equipment provided a distance of six
(6) feet from any other person is maintained.

13. Persons at places of amusement, including bingo halls, bowling alleys, charitable gaming
facilities, and similar places where food and drink is served secondarily to the main
activity may remove face covering while actually engaged in eating or drinking and not at
other times.

14. Section 3 of O-20-018 shall apply to indoor dining as well as outdoor dining.

15, Persons receiving personal care services including hair cutting and other hair treatment,
facials, tattooing, piercing, and similar services, may remove face covering during any
limited period during which the face covering actually interferes with the performing of
the service.

Ordinance O-20-029

16. For purposes of this ordinance, O-20-018, and any other face covering requirements now
in force or hereafter adopted the following words shall have the indicated meanings:

“Business” means any manager or supervisor on the premises when a violation occurs
and any owner of the business.

“Owner” means any one or more of the natural persons owning a business; in the case of
a business owned by a partnership “owner” means the partnership and all general and
limited partners; in the case of a business owned by a limited liability company “owner”
means the company and all managers and members thereof, in the case of a business
owned by a corporation “owner” means the corporation and all officers, and directors,
thereof; and in the case of a business owned by a corporation having fewer than ten (10)
shareholders “owner” means all shareholders.

ee The exception to the face covering requirement for health reasons contained in section 7
of O-20-018 shall require a person to have in his or her immediate possession a written
document executed by a medical doctor, registered nurse practitioner, or a physician’s
assistant authorized to prescribe medication which document certifies that the practitioner
has warned the individual that he or she should not wear a face covering because it would
pose a risk to his or her health.

This ordinance shall be effective immediately and shall continue in effect until rescinded by
action of the Board of Aldermen.

The City Clerk is directed not to codify this ordinance in the Nashua Revised Ordinances but to
designate it as Covid-19 Emergency Measure No. (City Clerk to assign appropriate
number upon passage) and publish it and any subsequent emergency measures on the city
website.

R-20-074

RESOLUTION

RELATIVE TO THE ACCEPTANCE AND APPROPRIATION OF $821,500 FROM THE U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, FEDERAL TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION INTO
TRANSIT GRANT ACTIVITY “BUSES AND BUS FACILITIES GRANT PROGRAM”

CITY OF NASHUA

in the Year Two Thousand and Twenty

RESOLVED by the Board of Aldermen of the City of Nashua that the City of Nashua is
authorized to accept and appropriate $821,500 of Federal grant funds from the U.S. Department of
Transportation, Federal Transit Administration into Transit Grant Activity “Buses and Bus Facilities
Grant Program” for the purpose of performing Transit Center Safety and Security Improvements and
Passenger Technology Enhancements.

Matching funds in the amount of $188,500 are required for this grant. $72,000 of the required
matching funds will be funded through FY21 General Fund escrows pending approval by the Board of
Aldermen. $116,500, which is the remainder of the required matching funds, will need to be
appropriated by the Mayor and Board of Aldermen in the FY22 General Fund budget or some other
funding source.

South Nashua. This project also provides the opportunity to add more freight traffic
along this corridor.

East Holils Street Traffic Improvements

The City of Nashua received a $3.661,000M award from NH DOT (R-13-154) to design
and construct improvements to the existing signalized intersection where East Hollis
Street and Bridge Street meet. A planning study by STV, Inc. has been ongoing to
develop alternatives and select a recommended plan that can then go forward into
the Engineering Phase of the overall project.

The study examined whether a roundabout design would include full access to the
Renaissance site and the Crown Street connection. The results presented showed that a
roundabout does not operate satisfactorily. The only intersection redesign that STV
recommended as the concept to both improve access and east/west traffic flow is a
twin signalized intersection. However, this design does not meet the City's vision
regarding the use of the space and the ability to treat it as a gateway. Another traffic
concept that results in acceptable levels of service is a one-way couplet that makes
Bridge Street and East Hollis Street one ways from the Hudson line to Amory Street/
Temple/Sireet. However, this concept comes with significant changes in the area
including circulation, speed and increased travel times.

City staff plans to host a public information meeting in late January or early February to
present the findings of the STV study. The City may take a step back to examine
whether the existing traffic problems, added development traffic and accesses can be
addressed by taking a broader view of the area. This might include examining the
traffic operations in Hudson immediately east of the Merrimack River. New traffic
counts are being obtained by the Nashua Regional Planning Commission to help
support these efforts.

25 Crown Street

The City of Nashua acquired the former Gregg & Sons/Armstrong Cabinet property in
July of 2013, utilizing a CMAG grant from NHDOT. The purpose of the acquisition was to
site and eventually build a park & ride facility to be used by commuters from Downtown
Nashua and across the Merrimack River. Staff is set to launch the design and
construction phase of the project in 2016 and expect to open the facility in 2017.

The City recently signed a five-year lease with Makelt Labs to occupy the 15,000 sq. ft.
building located at the front of the site. The non-profit organization is expected to
complete renovations in the first quarter of 2016 on what will become New Hampshire's
largest makerspace. This makerspace could safely remain at the site in the space long-
term, as the building does not conflict with the plans to construct the park & ride facility.

LEGISLATIVE YEAR 2020

RESOLUTION: R-20-074
PURPOSE Relative to the acceptance and appropriation of $821,500 from the

U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration
into Transit Grant Activity “Buses and Bus Facilities Grant

Program”
SPONSOR(S): Mayor Jim Donchess
COMMITTEE
ASSIGNMENT: Human Affairs Committee.
FISCAL NOTE: Fiscal impact is grant funding to be used for a specific purpose. The

matching funds required by this grant will be appropriated over a two-
year period - $72,000 in FY2021 and $116,500 in FY2022.

ANALYSIS
This resolution authorizes the City to accept and appropriate grant funds from the U.S. Department of
Transportation, Federal Transit Administration for the purpose of performing Transit Center Safety
and Security Improvements and Passenger Technology Enhancements.

Matching funds in the amount of $188,500 are required for this grant and will only be partially funded
through FY21 General Fund escrows pending approval by the Board of Aldermen. The remainder of
the matching funds will need to be appropriated by the Mayor and Board of Aldermen in the FY 22
General Fund Budget or some other funding source. Community Development has indicated that only
a portion of the grant funds will be available in FY21, so the entire match did not have to be funded in
FY21. Ifthe City does not appropriate the remainder of the matching funds in FY22, City staff would
try to work with the FTA to determine if the funds could be utilized in FY23. Failure to use funding
could negatively impact future city grant applications.

The Transit Center rehabilitation project is in the FY2020 Capital Improvements Program.

Approved as to account Financial Services Division
structure, numbers, and a
amount: By: /s/John Griffin
Approved as to form: Office of Corporation Counsel

By: pb (Por Me
pate: 1G Se phen 2022