Board of Aldermen 03-08-2022 Page 12
Then on top of that, the roof didn’t even come out of maintenance costs. To my understanding, it came out of capital
improvements. So if we need to keep spending big expenses on things on the building that are going to come out of
funds elsewhere in the budget, then having this trust fund which has been bleeding money for at least the past 3 years.
It’s probably longer, | don’t know if the expendable trust fund a) does the job that it’s supposed to do, and b) is worthwhile
in the long run because it’s going to require a lot more money from the budget anyway.
So even with those thoughts, | think it does deserve more conversation back on the committee level. I’m not saying I’m
definitely against it, but | would love to have more conversation about why this is the way to go when | believe there are
other actions and other opportunities. | understand there are tenants and they want to have good faith, but | think
showing good faith is doing the due diligence to make sure that we don’t just pass an action or resolution but rather we
solve the problem long-term and think about second and third order affects and how we can actually get this building to
the desired goal we want. Thank you.
Alderman Thibeault
Yeah, I’m not really for putting it back in the Budget Committee. | just look like it’s going to delay it longer. If we are
putting this money into another trust fund or we’re not putting it in another trust fund, honestly what is going to happen is
this building is going to be forgotten about because there are other buildings that are going to be looked at as more
important. This isn’t just a historical thing. | mean | went there as a kid. It’s a fire station, it’s performing arts, my
daughter went there for drama. Now she’s studying Biology so obviously that didn’t work, but you know what at the end of
the day I’m afraid - and Chairman O’Brien said it perfectly - that “this building will get lost in the shuffle” and it’s a great
location, a lot of parking, people can eat outside without any barriers. It’s something that if it goes back and we lose
tenants, or people start getting frustrated and they go somewhere else, then we’re going to lose that building.
Director Kleiner did a good job in sending us information. That building does need a lot of work. To Alderman Cathey’s
point $40,000, $80,000 isn’t going to be all the money we’re going to need to fix that building, but it’s a start to something
that no one can touch for something else. | think Alderman Dowd said it in the Budget Committee or Finance Committee
that we still have to put the money in there every year. It doesn’t automatically go in there, so we still as a Board of
Alderman have to do that. | think we should keep it today and not have the amendment.
Alderman Dowd
As Chair of Budget | don’t have any problem going back to Budget, | don’t know when we can schedule it in, but we'll do
our best. A couple of things — Junior Actor Singers also uses that building. My daughters have all been in a number of
performances there.
The other thing is expendable trust funds is not someplace we hide money. It takes legislative action to put something in
and there are specific spending parameters on money taken out. It’s in the budget and budget book every budget year,
so it’s not hidden. It’s very transparent but if you want to go back to Budget, that’s fine with me.
Alderman Comeau
Thank you Madam President. | also | don’t want to put words in anybody’s mouth either, but | didn’t get the sense from
the speakers tonight that any of my colleagues are against maintaining the building, or doing some of these projects, or
funding the projects. | think that my questions personally are procedural in nature. We have a number of trust funds that |
don’t know why we can’t already use. We have capital improvements, general accounts, and downtown improvement
funds. So my confusion is why we need another one when it seems like we may already have the mechanisms in place to
do this work already. So | would definitely support at least having a longer conversation about it so that at least when |
cast my vote | know that it’s informed. Thank you.
Alderwoman Kelly
Thank you. I’m inclined to move this forward. | think that I’ve heard about leases. | think that the theater is a diamond-in-
the-rough that we have here in Nashua and having been on the Board of the Symphony, I’ve been in the building many,
many times. It’s under-utilized and it does need some attention and having its own trust fund will allow us to make sure
that money goes directly into this building that really has a lot of potential and | know Alderman Gidge put in the artist
studios, like there is a lot in there that can be happening and as we become a City that is starting to be known for arts and
culture, being outside, coming downtown, | want to make sure we prioritize this building.
