Board of Aldermen 6-10-2020 Page 15
And it is not by anything that we can do because that is not something that the City of Nashua should have
to bear the burden because the State of New Hampshire is receiving an incredible amount of money to deal
with this but unfortunately, they never consulted us to see why our model was so successful.
And again, | think you know Alderman Lopez, from your association with Harbor Homes, that is a great
organization that stepped to the forefront, that has been there for us, for the City of Nashua for the past four
years, 24/7 365. And they have not let us down one iota in any of the promises that they made. And our
Fire Fighters have not let us down. But we cannot get into a program where we are going to put a Fire
Company in the City of Nashua because of the activity level that we are already at, we cannot have a Fire
Company out of service for a half hour, 45 minutes to an hour, trying to make phone calls. That’s not the
role of an emergency service organization.
So | hope | gave you the answer you are looking for; a little bit more maybe than you were asking for, but |
think we have to be fully transparent here. | have been, I’ve probably been the biggest champion of the
Nashua Safe Stations for the Fire Department for the last 4 years. And it pains me to tell you this. But
those are the hard, cold facts of this and | just don’t think that this should be put on the backs of our
Nashua Fire Fighters or the taxpayers of the City of Nashua, going forward.
Chairman Dowd
All set, Alderman Lopez?
Alderman Lopez
Actually | would like to respond. So | appreciate the thoroughness of your response because it does put
context to it. This is not the first time I’ve seen the State redirect or rearrange that was working really well
in Nashua, particularly the Safe Station. So your context definitely makes sense. In reference to what
former Mayor Davidson said earlier, you Know, would anybody do this extra work without asking for any
extra pay? Actually | did, because | was managing Maple Street Shelter through the kick-off of the Safe
Station Program and it was basically dumped in my lap. | was asked, you know, are you and your staff
willing to take the overnight overflow people.
So we were working with the after-hours element of it as well. And we were the ones that were calling 211,
we were the ones that were connecting them with recovery sites and created the model on Harbor Homes’
side. So knowing that first-hand and the amount of work that is involved with that, it is not a role | would
imagine for our Fire Fighters to be taking moving forward. So | appreciate you making sure that we didn’t
have that mission and our Fire Fighters weren’t being pushed in a direction where they are not really able
to manage it.
Because what our Fire Fighters do really, really well is fight fires and there’s plenty of that and there is
plenty of concern about it. | mean during this meeting, | must’ve had 12 fireworks go off about 300 feet
away. So | appreciate the efforts that you guys do. | was just wondering about the context of the Safe
Station since it was brought up so many times. So thank you for your answer, | appreciate it.
Chairman Dowd
Thank you, Alderman Lopez. Anyone else that has any questions for Attorney Clarke or Treasurer
Fredette? Seeing and hearing none. Alderman O’Brien would you please give us a motion?
