Board of Aldermen 03-09-2021 Page 3
Susan Lovering, City Clerk
You have 14 in attendance.
President Wilshire
Thank you. Also in attendance is Mayor Donchess and Corporation Counsel Steve Bolton. Does the Mayor wish
to address the Board this evening?
REMARKS BY THE MAYOR
Yes, thanks Madam President. Well it is good to see you all once again. First | wanted to mention the City’s effort
to eradicate the pandemic; numbers have gone down recently which is, of course, very good news. You might
remember that 2 or 3 months ago we had almost 600 active and identified cases of COVID-19. As of yesterday,
that number was 86, so it is down considerably. Of course, we know that we need to continue to be careful with
wearing masks and social distancing, avoiding large gatherings, but people are beginning to get vaccinated. Our
Public Health Department, which has been allocated some doses to reach the inner City and other populations,
minority populations that are more difficult to get to, to engage with vaccinations. They have vaccinated over 1,100
people. And, of course, the State is running its site out of Nashua South vaccinating people every day. So that
seems to be going pretty well.
We do have a grant for First Reading on the Agenda. That is a $1.5 million dollar grant to assist the State with their
vaccine efforts. The way that money needs to be used is it will pay for overtime for First Responders, Police
Officers and Fire Fighters who will be at the vaccination sites in assisting the State in running those sites. When
that occurs, the City will be reimbursed through this grant for the overtime required. So that is good and | am sure
will help to keep the sites running well and reimburse the City for the overtime costs that we incur.
A couple of other items on the Agenda, Madam President, we, of course, have the outdoor dining extension for this
year which will, once enacted by the Board, be implemented pursuant to the detailed plan that you see attached to
the Resolution; that has been reviewed by the Committee. In addition, we have a proposal that we are making to
rename the Broad Street Parkway, rename that Veteran’s Drive, because as you have seen, I’m sure all of you,
that over the past season we erected banners for about 30 veterans, families pay for these banners and then we
put them up on the light poles and as you go down the parkway, you can see the photos, the likenesses of veterans
of Nashua and other families. So that seemed to go very well and was a good way to honor many of our veterans.
So we are proposing to rename the Broad Street Parkway, Veteran’s Parkway.
Madam President, there is something regarding the BIDA the creation of an Expendable Trust Fund for the BIDA.
There has been a lot of discussion about that over the last couple of days. The Resolution itself does not allocate
any money at this point and that is not required to have a valid Expendable Trust Fund and that you will hear from
the Legal Department. The issue of whether money should be allocated into it was discussed with the BIDA way
pre-COVID, a couple of years ago because we anticipate, the money is not here yet, but that when the second
phase of the Renaissance Development begins, when the closing occurs, the City will realize funds from the sale of
the second parcel of land. That sale and develoment is required by the development agreement that was signed by
the City 10 years ago or maybe even more. But when those funds arrive, some of it, the BIDA would like to use
some of it to develop to try to bring about other economic development projects. That could be possible and it is
something that we discussed with the BIDA as | said, maybe a couple of years ago, definitely pre-COVID. In terms
of how much money might be allocated in that direction and how it would be used, that could be discussed in detail
when an appropriation is actually proposed.
A couple of other items, Madam President, first | wanted to congratulate you; there was a really nice article on the
Nashua Children’s Home in the Union Leader. | thought, of course, they told just part of the story of all the good
work that is done there and has been done for 100 years or more. And finally, | have some sad news to report
which came via Alderman Lopez which is that the mother of Sandy Belknap, Catherine Belknap passed away |
think yesterday, very recently. That is, of course, sad because Sandra and Catherine have had many people over
