Finance Committee Page 5
July 20, 2016
NEW BUSINESS — ORDINANCES
O-16-015
Endorser: Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire
Alderman Richard A. Dowd
Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr.
PROVIDING FOR CONFIDENTIAL REDACTIONS ON THE RECORD OF EXPENDITURES
MOTION BY ALDERMAN WILSHIRE TO RECOMMEND FINAL PASSAGE
ON THE QUESTION
Chief Lavoie
| am here to support this proposed ordinance, and I'd like to speak to the police related aspects of the
legislation. The city’s Record of Expenditures lists the name of the person and entity receiving payment as
well as the amount that the payment was. It also must list the fund or appropriation in which the account or
claim was allowed. As you can see this proposed ordinance provides a mechanism for redacting the name of
police department personnel or an entity the claim is paid to if the disclosure could endanger police department
personnel. Some examples are when an undercover officer is paid travel and/or meal expenses for narcotic
training, when a certain company is paid rent for certain facility used by undercover officers, or vehicles rented
or leased for undercover operations and other similar situations. These certain non-salary payments are made
out of a few very specific and quite frankly, very self-descriptive police funding accounts. | can’t identify these
in public session. A person seeing the names of these officers, combined with the specific accounts these
funds come from, because again the funds are right out there in the expenditure report, could potentially lead
to the identification of undercover officers, vehicles or facilities using our fight against the drug dealers currently
plaguing Nashua. This could also, and definitely my opinion would, put the officers’ lives in jeopardy. I’m not
asking for the accounts, themselves, to be redacted. In my opinion the public has every right to see the
account from which money is being spent. I’m not asking that the amount of the payments be redacted for the
same reason, but | am asking for the ability to redact the names of these officers for their safety. Not one
citizen has contacted me expressing any concern about this proposed ordinance. This was even after an
article appeared in the Nashua Telegraph on or about July 10" and a Telegraph editorial that was published on
July 12. Both were expressing concerns about this ordinance. | do have some serious questions about an
editorial that was labeled “Privacy Bill Puts the Public in the Dark” yet the editor wrote, and | quote: “The police
departments $20.3 million budget affords ample areas where overtime, training, equipment and other costs
could be paid out without specifically disclosing the name of an officer with a type of a vehicle being bought or
rented.” | have a lot of respect for Mr. Carroll, and I’m sure he didn’t think the implication of this statement
through. What he is suggesting, in my opinion, is against the rules since money spent from each account has
to be reported as coming from that account, and not mixed in just in the general budget. The name has to be
listed to whom the payment went. That’s the whole reason we’re looking to be completely transparent and
enact this ordinance. | firmly believe that simply redacting a name, when the amount of the payment and the
account from which the payment was charged are still present for review, keeps the police department
accountable to taxpayers. | ask for some common sense to prevail. My business manager has estimated we
would use the redaction of a name only about a dozen times a year. The safety of my officers is of paramount
importance to me, and | hope it is of paramount importance to us all. Thank you for your time. That’s all |
have: a statement on the issue. Again, | am specifically talking about what | assume to be the police related
portion of this ordinance.
Alderman Siegel
| absolutely support the goal, which is to keep to the police officers’ information confidential. We're not looking
to compromise identities. It’s just a question of whether or not the ordinance, as currently structured, allows us
to do that as effectively as possible. | think there’s a couple of things that are worth noting. As far as the
