Board of Aldermen Page 2
January 10, 2017
when we discussed this, no one really knew how vast or how many people would show up or what this would
take. Any numbers that Harbor Homes was providing were nothing more than estimates. No one anticipated,
for example, that 8 people would show up in one day in Nashua to the Safe Stations Program. They estimate,
based on the experience that they have had that the cost of running this over a period of one year is $331,000.
In terms of revenue they have a BDAS funding, that’s the Bureau of Drug & Alcohol Services and they think
that will cover about $200,000 so they are $131,000 short. They are not asking us for all of that money. At the
beginning when Peter Kelleher and | were discussing the assistance that they might need, he suggested that it
would be helpful if the city would contribute towards transportation cost and the number he gave me was
$20,000 but | think in the end it’s probably more than that. | did propose a resolution to transfer them $20,000
for the current fiscal year but that’s not a firm request and he and | will work out something and come forward
with something more specific. There is definitely going to be fundraising towards this $131,000; we think we
can raise some money privately through maybe pancake breakfasts and other ways. He says that when
people hear about the program they are beginning to provide at least smaller contributions on an unsolicited
basis. There are a number of ways that gap to reach the $131,000 can be closed. At the Finance Committee
we also took up a proposal from the fire department to provide security at the two stations where civilian
employees are there to interact with the public, East Hollis Street and Lake Street. Alderman Cookson
pointed out that | did not mention this when | first discussed this and the reality was that | wasn’t really thinking
about that as an operational cost. When they did their security review as they visited Manchester, our fire
department, they found that there is much more security up there. This is a step that we should probably have
anyway but it’s somewhat Safe Stations related because it probably wouldn’t have come up if we weren't doing
this. The proposal is to soend about $40,000 to provide security with a phone system and the like at the two
fire stations so civilian employees can see people coming in and people can’t just come unimpeded into those
two fire stations. The committee asked some questions and we may get more detail or that cost may be
whittled down by some degree but that is a collateral cost. | know that many of you have expressed interest in
this so | wanted to make sure that you were up-to-date on what is going on.
As far as tonight’s agenda, there are a number of appointments on the agenda. One that we discussed the
last time is the Board of Building and Fire Code of Appeals. Those people say “new appointment” because it’s
a new Board but they are currently on one of the existing Boards that we are merging, those being Dan
Bergeron, Scott Cote and Kevin Slattery. | think all of the other appointments are all good people and | think
will do a good job for the city. Finally, | thought | would mention the ordinance that authorizes a left turn from
Charron Avenue to Amherst Street. We enabled that left turn as part of the project out there and that went into
effect some time in December and people seem really happy with it. | think Alderman McGuinness will bear
that out. Then we discovered that left turn was actually prohibited by ordinance but legal says this is not an
unusual situation. There have been other sort of “holdover” ordinances that contradicts something that we
have done in a traffic fashion so this is basically just to clean things up and make sure that the ordinance
supports the traffic movements which are taking place.
| would only add that there is community meeting that | wanted to go to this evening and | was hoping that if
anyone had any questions for me or thoughts that they could be mentioned now so | can leave and attend the
other meeting which only takes place once per quarter.
RESPONSE TO REMARKS OF THE MAYOR
Alderman Moriarty
| am curious about the staff that are traveling to Mysore, India for a month. | remember when that resolution
came up for discussion, which | voted against, we were assured that it wasn’t going to cost us, the city,
anything for them to travel there. Is the staff that are going there for a month going to receive their normal
salary?
Mayor Donchess
| think it is three weeks and the one person that is going is Sarah Marchant, Director of Community
Development. The trip is being paid for by the Rotary Club, this is not a city sponsored tour but she, Ms.
