Special Bd. of Aldermen — 11/26/2018 Page 14
people at full capacity and Alderman O’Brien you would be the best to know, what is going to be the fire
capacity in this building? Having gone through feasibility study myself many years ago in this community in a
non-profit, during the feasibility study we had hired an architect, it was part of the cost of the feasibility study.
We had architects come in and do a plan and we knew what the plan was right down to the rooms which way
the doors opened and everything else, and here was the number, boom — during the feasibility study. So that
when we sought out donors, and then we went and me with them, we could say this is the land this is on, this
is the cost and here is the amount of animals that this building is going to hold. So they knew right off the bat,
that was part of the feasibility study so in my mind it seems like some things happened backwards or are
happening backwards.
My last kind of question from my first round | am not sure if it was answered or | didn’t pose it as an explicit
question, is the Performing Arts Center already in or does it already have non-profit status? Is it a 501(c)3
currently in the State of New Hampshire so that, god forbid | know we don’t want the $10.00 donors yet, but if
somebody all of a sudden found out they were terminal and had a lot of money and thought | want to have a
tax benefit or make a donation or whatever to the arts, and have a contribution in Nashua to a non-profit entity,
is the Performing Arts Center a non-profit? Is that status already secured? Can anybody answer that question
for me?
Mr. Cummings
Mr. Chairman | can answer that question, so the simple answer is we are working with City Arts Nashua, they
are a fiscal agent, they have the 501(c) charitable tax deduction status. There is an effort underway to receive
certification through the IRS, that is three to six month-ish process and so until that is actually achieved, we
created an avenue with City Arts Nashua so there could be a way of donations being given and tax deductible.
Ms. Bell So City Arts Nashua could in fact accept donations as we speak for the Performing Arts Center and if
people didn’t know that, they know that now so that if they wanted to consider making a contribution, an early
one, even though it is not going to be naming rights or anything else, in any amount to the Performing Arts
Center, they could do so through the City Arts. Good to know.
Alderman Dowd
Also I’ve been involved in the design of numerous schools here in Nashua, we always have the Fire Marshall
involved in reviewing all plans and having to sign off on the design.
Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja
Just to clarify Mr. Teeboom’s comment, he was talking about different options, so it could be 1,000 at one time,
it could be 500 tiered at one time, or it could be table tops because as we have moved through this project, one
of the things that we have looked at is flexibility in use. So do we want movable seats and those sorts of
things. So what he was referencing was three different options, not all of that at one time.
Ms. Bell Different options, not totally combined, ok thank you.
Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja
No, no, because | think all of us would be very afraid of having 2,000 people in there. And | just think that one
of the things that all of us have come to realize, because many of us work both public and non-profit, is that
some of the things we need to do in the public arena happen in a little bit of a different way, because we are
public and how we have to go about writing resolutions and passing resolutions and moving forward. So we
don’t have the flexibility to just say ok we are going to do a design even though that kind of makes sense. At
one point, those of us from the public as well as members of City Government and this Board who were on that
initial committee, we were like oh we have to get money to put a design together, but you can’t put a design
