Special Board of Aldermen Page 3
September 14, 2016
Alderman O’Brien
Thank you for stepping in. We have students that are in housing there and my concerns are that you haven't
discussed how they are going to eat and what happens when life/safety issues such as sprinkler systems and
keeping up to the codes? Also, what about campus security?
Mr. LeBlanc
In our MOU we have licensed the campus as is and we have retained all of the staff and the contracts. All of
the operations will continue uninterrupted; they will get better because we will actually attend to issues that |
think have been neglected. There was an appalling amount of deferred maintenance, broken HVAC and other
things that we are going to need to fix even just to make it acceptable.
Alderman Lopez
| would also like to thank you and everyone who has worked on doing this. It’s incredibly difficult for students
who are living on campus trying to focus on their education to try and deal with something like this. One of the
concerns that | have is how information is being passed on from ITT and the evident trend in how they are
making their decisions. I’m not sure what you meant by terminating the employees wasn’t part of the original
plan. | hope it wasn’t part of the MOU that we are relying on for them to take care of their property. Do you
have any concerns about the disposition of the property and is there any way the city can help?
Mr. LeBlanc
Just to be clear, we were not party to any of ITT’s discussions or planning about how they were going to
handle their employees. They just asked us yesterday if we could get them on the payroll tomorrow. They
communicated that via e-mail to all of their employees today and | don’t think there is any communication left.
There is no one answering the phone. It’s effectively shut down; they laid off 8,000 of their employees, they
were down to 80 and the rest were terminated today. We are not sure who is managing the offer on the
property. In terms of help, | don’t know how you or | can reach into that state of affairs at least at the moment.
If it goes into bankruptcy then it’s easier because at least there is a process. Should we get the property it is in
our offer, contingent on us understanding better some of the hazardous waste issues. There is apparently a
significant asbestos question. It was an asbestos dump. There was a $2 million reserve set aside for
asbestos abatement and that has disappeared. City access to other sources of funding that can help with this
might be helpful but in the meantime we will take up all of the direct operating costs and pay their taxes to the
City of Nashua. Going forward you will have a lot of local creditors who have not been paid and they will have
to deal with the bankruptcy proceedings of ITT. Our expenses take up tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m.
Alderman Siegel
| also thank you for the swift action that you took. | am concerned about the disposition of the property and
what happens to a presence in Nashua. Are you aware of the noteholder, do you have any communication?
Mr. LeBlanc
We have not had access to any of that information. Our understanding is that there is one primary creditor that
has collateralized the whole of the campus; Cerberus Capital. They are apparently tough guys by all reports.
We don’t know how it will play out. The good news is there is only one primary creditor. They could look at our
offer and clear the way with the bankruptcy court if they say that’s acceptable. The bad news is there is one
creditor that could freeze the whole thing.
