Board of Aldermen 12-11-2018 Page 7
name it, even small towns like Westford and Chelmsford there is a Performing Arts Center on Main
Street. So that is a vital thing that we are missing in a wonderful City like Nashua. So | strongly urge all
of you to support this and this will only increase the cultural diversity and art diversity in our City. And |
can speak from a small minority community that has made home in Nashua, how many performances
from the Indian Community are looking and they hear about this Performing Arts Center, “When is it
coming, when can we sign up to have a performance there”. So there is excitement, there is buzz, so it
is on the radar screen for people outside of the community so we can attract more people.
The Holiday Stroll was a big testament a lot of people came from Boston and they said we didn’t realize
how huge this is, what a huge beautiful City. So there it is, we have the potential. So | am requesting,
and | am pleading please make a unanimous consent and unanimous vote to move forward and be this
shining star or shining icon in our downtown. Thank you.
Adam Marcoux Adam Marcoux, 4 Joloriln Lane, | am president of the Nashua Teacher's Union and |
am not here to talk about the Arts Center, sorry. | am here for other things and it is nice not to be the
most controversial item on an agenda for once in my life. We bring forward tonight the contract
between the Nashua Teacher’s Union Secretary’s Contract and the Board of Education. We spent
almost a year negotiating this contract and in any negotiation, no one is equally happy but | think we
found a compromise that we all could live with that is fair for my 73 secretaries. As the budget has
changed in the City and things have left the district, that rolls downhill to them.
One of the biggest things they deal with right now is answering the door bell and most people think
answering the door bell at a school is “Hey Welcome to our school’. In the days that we live in today, it
is a lot different and at times there is weight on these people’s shoulders when they answer that door
and they don’t know what person is. And this goes to recognize their hard work and dedication to our
City. | would like to thank Alderman Dowd and the Budget Review Committee for sending it through and
| look forward to hopeful final passage this evening and a new four-year contract for our secretaries.
Thank you.
Jim Tollner Good evening Aldermen and Mayor. | am here to discuss R-18-066. This is the same
legislation that was presented to you about a moth and a half ago so it hasn’t changed. This is the fair
and the correct thing to do for our city employees. Those employees whose sick time arrangement or
time policy was changed after they had been hired. In the legislation is a choice, it is a choice whether
they can cash out the amount of hours that they originally had when they were hired or utilize the sick
time. So we left that in there to give them a choice and that came out of the work that the Personnel
Administrative Affairs Committee worked on.
The total cost of the legislation is somewhere around $170,000.00 but please keep in mind that this
deals with11 city employees and those 11 city employees will probably retire sometime anywhere from
a year to 12 years from now. The issue of retirees, people who have already retired, shouldn’t be a
concern with regard to this legislation. You pass this legislation and it will alleviate the future risk for
litigation that the City might incur. Again, this is about the fair and correct thing to do for our city
employees. | want to thank the Mayor for his conversation and patient dialogue throughout this process.
| would like to thank the Personnel Administrative Committee for voting for this unanimously | think
twice, as recently as last week.
| also want to thank the Administrative Affairs Committee which is made up of citizens who also voted
unanimously in favor of this. Thanks very much.
Mike Buckley Good evening, Mike Buckley, Toddy Brook Road, Hollis, NH. | wanted to speak about
the Performing Arts Center the resolution to amend and | wanted to speak in favor of it but | guess there
wasn't a lot of discussion about why people would be opposed or for it. As | understand it there is a
little bit of a catch 22 as far as wanting to raise the $4 million dollars before we spend any money, but in
order to do that | think it was explained that we obviously needed a plan so we could present it to
people and have a viable concept that people can really say wow that is a great plan, | want to get
