Special Board of Aldermen 06-07-2021 Page 10
Ms. Halloran No. | am in favor of more oversight. When a Department is a $30 million dollar annual budget, |
am comfortable with more eyes on the budgeting process. So that change from 3 to 5 makes me more
comfortable. | just feel it is time, since Nashua is the only City for a long period of time, to have this specific
process that it has now, time to take a look at it, review it and | think it’s very important in today’s world for local
residents to have the opportunity to have their voice heard by a vote. So | would urge the Aldermen to approve
having this proposal as a referendum on the ballot. Thank you.
Alderman Caron
Thank you. | am going to ask again, is there anyone out there who wants to give testimony in favor of the
Legislation.
Sonia Prince — Yes please, Sonia Prince, 49 Tufts Drive. | am in favor of this, no one brags about the Police
Department more than | do and especially our Chief, | love him, | think he’s great especially with our training
and steps taken before use of force or before they use weapons. But it’s time that we step into the 21% Century
with transparency and oversight. Vetting our officers and training our officers won’t change, only sets of eyes
watching and added transparency will be added. An example of not being accountable in my opinion and
speaking of loyalty and influence is when a current Commissioner who has been appointed is married to a
sitting Alderman who votes on their $30 million dollar budgets, that is a huge political conflict of interest in my
opinion.
Another appointee is the Police Athletic Director. So transparency and oversight is important and needs to be
unbiased. The people who are against putting this question on the ballot may counter with — Oh but they don’t
understand what a policeman goes through as we do on other Boards we have professionals come in and
make their case and explain it and then we vote so the Commissions do just that. Every single City and Town
in New Hampshire has taken back local control. So why would the Department be afraid of a Board of
Aldermen nominated two people and the Mayor nominated 3 people than having 15 elected members of the
Board of Aldermen interview them, get input from the public then vote on those 5 nominees. With the current
system, do you really think our New Hampshire Governor spends a lot of time thinking of who would serve the
Nashua Police Commission best especially with all the issues going on. Let the people have input on where
their tax dollars go. Lastly as a woman | am appalled to discover that in 126 years only one woman was on the
Commission in the 1970’s. And she wasn’t just any woman she was a judge. So why is that? When women
are 50% of the Nashua population a minimum, some of us are tired of seeing Boards of white men which has
obviously been done by design in my opinion. At the very least, they should have appointed a women to show
respect to the women on the force. Anyone with a daughter, mother or sister should be alarmed. It’s time.
Please put this question on the ballot so we can join the rest of New Hampshire cities and towns in the 21°*
Century and let the people decide if they want an accurate representation of our population on all Boards
around the City.
I'll finish with a quote from Dan Rather, “In my book it is simple, if you work hard to prevent people from voting
on this question you pretty much admit your ideas aren’t popular and you feel the verdict of the people”. So
please approve this. Thank you.
David Victory- Hi there, David Victory, 53 Arlington Street, Nashua. | want to echo a lot of what many other
speakers have said. | have very positive feelings about our Nashua Police Department but | think it is time to
take back local control, | think that’s a good thing. Nashua is the only City in the State that has a Commission
appointed by the Governor and | am not OK with that. So this should go to the ballot. Thank you.
Sarah Paratore Hi my name is Sarah Paratore, | live at 7 Bartlett (?) Street in Nashua. | agree with all the folks
who have spoken before me and the issues that they have raised the existing system. But | would also like to
take the opportunity to point out two things. The Chief spoke of transparency and the existing system doesn’t
give the voters the opportunity to have the conversation with the Governor and the Executive Counselors to
discuss suitability of candidates of the Commission, that’s only for those individuals. So it’s not transparent
citizen just to the Governor and the Executive Counsel. And the other point that | would like to make is that |
think this is an opportunity, | think we should look at this as an opportunity. The Police Commission if it is
