Board of Aldermen 2-25-2020 Page 13
So | put full trust on this particular bill to look or for this Board to look on a case by case basis, when they do
come up. It’s a rarity when they do. But we will be able to make the independent decision as they come
forward and act accordingly.
Alderwoman Lu
Thank you Madam Chairman. | had hoped to gather my thoughts for another meeting on this. But since it
has been raised, I'll try to gather them quickly. I’ve thought about this and you know | look at the ... | feel as
though this is a situation where we are opening our purse strings and we, in this body, that’s part of what
we do. But rather than being in the position to be able to please people and dole out money when they
ask, my feeling in this position is more | feel that | am protecting the money that residents have put into the
pot. So | looked at the, | thought about the Building Department, and | thought about the fees we charge
when people are, for building fees, permits, etc. And that Department does not take in as much as we pay
in salaries. So when we waive fees, we are basically saying, “someone else will pay for the time that our
City employees are going to put toward making, you know, carrying out that permit process, and that
inspection process”.
| also thought about Police Athletic Organization and LEAK. And they have substantial support from the
Nashua citizens through, there’s a Police Officer that is on duty that is paid for by the residents of Nashua.
And there is an allotment from our City grant, not sure what they are called but it is a substantial amount
that goes towards that organization. And | feel as though this is just a situation where an enterprising, well
let me just say, | was at the meeting when we had the presentation from the PAL representative. And |
don’t recall a case being made that they were just stretched and didn’t have the fees. My recollection or my
feeling is that it was just an enterprising, shot in the dark, and | just feel, | prefer not to waiver one group
that just had the chutzpah to ask for their fees waived. Thank you.
Alderman Klee
Thank you Madam President. | was at that meeting also and if | recall, they did speak about how they were
getting the funds and raising the money and that if we could do this, it would help put them over the edge to
the point of being able to accomplish that particular job and so on. Just as a side note, | would not want to
see an Ordinance of any sort that said, “all non-profits”. | think they should be on a case-by —case, | think
saying that someone who had the “chutzpah” to come is kind of, not as kind as it should be. | think the fact
that they came to us asking us for help and so on and | think, if | remember correctly, one of the things that
they asked us to kind of push this quickly was because they were on a timeline. All of these people are
volunteering their time, they have come forward. All these different independent contractors are willing to
do their piece and so on. But they are doing it in their off time and off hours.
So that’s why this was kind of rushed a little bit. | am not opposed to other non-profits, | would just be
opposed to any kind of blanket, | think we should look at everything on a case-by-case. And this particular
thing, and | look at the fiscal note on this, we are looking between $1,400.00 and $1,800.00. And | do also
respect the tax payers and the tax payer’s money. But we do other things; for instance we have elderly
credits, we have Veteran’s credits. We have all these other things that we do and we have taken into
consider. So | think on a case-by-case and they’ve come to us. It doesn’t mean that you should
necessarily feel in your heart that it’s the right thing to do. | will support this but | do think that they did ask
us and they did ask us to rush because the contractors are waiting. And as we heard the elevator, they are
ready to do the elevator and so on.
Alderman Lopez
So this mission of PAL is really to inspire positive interaction with the Police. That's something that | would
consider directly beneficial to the City. In very diverse communities where there’s a lot of people of
different economic levels and different cultural backgrounds, it may not always be apparent, but Police are
not always viewed the same way, whether it is because a family came from a country where Police were
not an ally or they were not as altruistic as our Police here in Nashua are.
