Board of Aldermen 09-22-2020 Page 45
I'd like to a motion that we remove line 32 and also line 35 from the transfer and we leave it in the general
fund?
MOTION BY ALDERWOMAN LU TO AMEND R-20-069 TO REMOVE LINES 32 AND 35 FROM THE
TRANSFER AND LEAVE IT IN THE GENERAL FUND, BY ROLL CALL
ON THE QUESTION
President Wilshire
Ok that’s your motion?
Alderwoman Lu
Yeah, | am referring to the $410,000.00 and the $200,000.00; one for the lighting and one for the barriers.
President Wilshire
So the barriers are ... ok, you’ve heard the motion. Discussion on that motion? Alderman Clemons?
Alderman Clemons
Thank you. | can understand the argument for the Riverfront project of the lighting. | get that, whereas we
have a TIF District. | can see that. | don’t necessarily agree with that; | think that if we have this money |
think we should spend it on that project. Because, as the Mayor said, we can complete it. But | definitely
am notin support of not allocating the money for the barriers. Being on the Downtown Improvement
Committee and also being very connected to the business folks downtown, | can tell you without a doubt
that the barriers have made a tremendous of difference to our downtown community. Putting those up
definitely saved business.
But in addition to that, it drew people to our downtown that might not have otherwise come and might not
have otherwise seen wnat a great place our community is. That's particularly important because we set
apart as a community that overcame the obstacle of the COVID-19 Pandemic by swiftly acting and really
that was the biggest change to downtown in Nashua in my lifetime, and | was born here in 1982 and|can
tell you that nothing in Nashua ever happens overnight. Thathappened overnight and it was for good.
And because this community came together and we respondedto an action that was really largely outside
of our control, we did things to help our local businesses stay in business.
With that being said, the program was a success. And so we have gotten requests from the businesses
and from many of the patrons that go downtown to continue that project. And to do it next year and to doit
year over year. As the Mayor stated, if we do not fund the $200,000.00 with the escrow, then we will find it
hard to find that money to continue the project if we so desire next year. If we decide later on that we don’t
want to do it for wnatever reason, we can always put that money back. The thing about the escrows, it is
money that we have already taken from taxpayers. So this isn’t — none of these expenditures are costing
taxpayers any more money, we've already taken it from them, we have it in the bank. So we are not
costing anybody anymore really in theory by doing this. Because if the motion that is before us passes, the
money is just going to lapse into the general fund which will increase the unexpended fund balance thatwe
were talking about earlier in the previous conversation which we have already heard from the CFO is ata
balance that is good enough to get a Triple A Bond Rating with two different credit agencies.
So for all of those reasons | can’t support this amendment and | hope my colleagues will consider not
supporting it as well.
