Special Board of Aldermen 06-07-2021 Page 13
Ms. Cleary ... that is recognized across the State and is head and shoulders above the rest. | have lived in and
owned many businesses in various places and Nashua is above all the best Police Department that we’ve
seen. The Mayor has said repeatedly that Nashua is one of the safest cities. Security is very important to me. |
came here largely because | feel safe here and | believe in the professionalism and the services offered. As a
business owner, property owner and an individual willing to get very involved in the local level of a situation if |
have to, | respectfully request that the Board rejects this amendment. Thank you.
Laurie Ortolano Hi, Good Evening. Laurie Ortolano, 41 Berkeley Street. | want to address a couple of issues
here. We have heard about the political influence on this change and | think the woman who just spoke nailed
it. There’s political influence either way. There is politics involved, you can’t completely remove that. But |
think you do take it a step further back when you leave this appointment at the State level. You know, at the
State level the appointment of the 3, nobody has touched upon that they have to come from two different
parties and right now we have 1 Republican and 2 Independents on our Police Commission. | haven’t heard
anyone here speak about how these appointments would be made by the Mayor and the Board, but my
observation with this Administration is that we tend to promote and put all Democrats on Committees. And |
would like to see, you know, the Committee be representative of the diversity of the voter population in Nashua.
And right now your voter population, the heaviest party is your party of Independents.
So | am concerned that we wouldn't see that. | don’t support solving problems that don’t really exist. And | can
tell you that nobody probably right now understands what retaliation is about and like than myself and what |
encountered and what | have come up against in trying to address issues in the Nashua Assessing Office. It
far exceeded anything | ever thought would happen to me. My property was raised $150,000.00 above what
KRT had placed it at, the Mayor was furious with me and came after me with everything he had. Attorney
Bolton told me | had offended him, the Mayor, | offended Attorney Bolton, | offended Alderwoman Wilshire and
offense caused a personal vendetta to be established. | would not want the local administration, local
leadership to be appointing Commissioners on the Police force for the Police Department because | think it
would result it in even greater conflicts and problems for somebody like me who opened the door and found a
situation, walked into a real hornet’s nest and got caught in a way that | have not yet been able to resolve.
So you know, | will have the opportunity to speak to this again but | am concerned ....
Alderman O’Brien
30 seconds.
Ms. Ortolano that we will find that it will be seats filled with Democrats. The Board of Assessors is three older
men, | believe all Democrats; two are cousins. You know, you want to talk about some conflict, you have some
conflict there and you know, that’s the way it is. And | know somebody like me who is an Independent, there is
no place in the City for a seat for a person like me. Thank you.
Laura Colquhoun Laura Colquhoun, |’m in opposition of it. My name is Laura Colquhoun, | am at 30
Greenwood Drive. | am speaking out again tonight against the amendment change for the City Charter relative
to the manner of the appointments to the Nashua Board of Police Commissioners. This amendment has been
on the books since September 2013 and has worked very well for the City of Nashua. There is an old saying
that if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. Currently there are no politics within this selection. However, if the City of
Nashua puts this amendment in the hands on the Mayor, and the President of the Board of Aldermen it will be
an utter disaster. The Mayor has already shown that he is hiring only like-minded people from his inner circle to
Boards and Committees. Just look at the Boards and the Committees that Nashua currently has and the
resident can clearly see this is happening.
If the Mayor wants the City of Nashua to be transparent than leave the current manner of appointments to the
Governor. The Police Commissioner should never be picked because the Mayor likes them or are friends with
the Mayor. They should not be selected because of their party affiliation or their like-minded viewpoints. It
needs to be a qualified person, male or female, with no personal ties to the Mayor and/or the President of the
