A regular meeting of the Board of Aldermen was held Tuesday, December 11, 2018, at 7:30 p.m. in the
Aldermanic Chamber.
President Lori Wilshire presided; City Clerk Patricia D. Piecuch recorded.
Prayer was offered by City Clerk Patricia D. Piecuch; Alderman Jan Schmidt led in the Pledge to the
Flag.
The roll call was taken with 14 members of the Board of Aldermen present.
Mayor James W. Donchess and Corporation Counsel Steven A. Bolton were also in attendance.
REMARKS BY THE MAYOR
Mayor Donchess
Yes Madam President. First | wanted to mention a sad note which is that a good friend of mine and a very
active community member, a person who has served as a Selectman on Election Day down in Ward 9,
Vivian McGuire passed away a short time ago. She was a person who was really full of life and loved
Nashua and | know some of you know her and she will definitely be missed.
| also wanted to welcome all of the people who are here. | see a number of people who are going to be
sworn into our various Boards and Commissions. We really appreciate volunteers willing to serve; it is what
really makes Nashua a strong, strong community. | look forward to see you all begin your or continue your
service. | see some people who are going to be sworn in tonight to the Planning Board, the TIF District, and
a whole bunch of other things. We all really appreciate your willingness to volunteer.
Madam President | did want to spend a little time discussing R-18-092 which is the amendment to the
Resolution which authorized the bond for the Performing Arts Center. To go back to the beginning, the
Performing Arts Center is of course an economic development project. It will bring business, 70,0000+
people to downtown, help us build a stronger downtown tax base; help to attract new people downtown.
When we talked to our larger employers, they are always struggling to attract new, younger residents to
Nashua, BAE and Fidelity and the other employers, trying to get them to take the jobs that are available.
It is amenities like the Performing Arts Center, like Rail, if we can persuade the legislature or bring that
about in some other way. It is these kinds of initiatives that make Nashua a place where people want to live
and want to stay; and where they can build strong lives and strong families. So | think this is a very
important project.
Now in the months since we have kicked the project off, we acquired the building in May we have a taken a
good plan and made it a better, stronger plan. Many people have worked on this, the people who are
raising money, who have worked together to now, they are about to initiate the fund-raising campaign. All of
the people who have worked on the Steering Committee to interview the architects, the construction
manager, the operator, everybody working together has really improved the plan in many respects.
One important aspect is that we have increased the amount that we believe that we can obtain from outside
sources from around $4 million dollars to over $6 million dollars. This will enable us potentially to reduce the
commitment of Nashua tax payers to the project, reduce the cost to Nashua tax payers and in a very
significant way strengthens a good plan into a great plan. We have worked to interview and select a very
creative architect by the name of Icon. This was done in a series of 10 open meetings by the Performing
Steering Committee, many of them devoted to the selection of architects and construction manager and
operator. We have received many, many creative ideas and | think at least some people who attended
some of those meetings and saw the imagination, the creativity, and the potential that this Performing Arts
Center actually offers, were converted from skeptics to supporters of this project.
Icon can do a great job and has suggested changes such as moving the Performing Arts Center to the first
floor from the second which will make it much more friendly to the type of performers we want to bring to
