Board of Aldermen 04-10-2018 Page 2
8:00, and you can come by. | know Alderman Tom Lopez is going to be there and if you would like to
come that would be great. On Thursday night we have the Ward 4 Town Hall Meeting at Amherst
Street School. We intend to talk a little about the tannery site as well other issues in the City. Then next
week there are a couple more town hall meetings one in Ward 7 and one in Ward 6 as well as Beer with
the Mayor on | think Tuesday night, which again, you’d be very welcome to come to that. That’s all |
have Mr. President.
RESPONSE TO REMARKS OF THE MAYOR
Alderman Lopez
| just wanted to point out and thank the Mayor for attending his first Greater Nashua Continuing Care
meeting. Previously he had a scheduling conflict at JajaBelle’s Coffee with the Mayor. And everyone
was very pleased and honored to see him there.
Alderwoman Melizza-Golja
Yes Mayor Donchess, regarding hiring an inspector to monitor the quality of the asphalt, is that a result
of the quality of the asphalt that was put down last summer?
Mayor Donchess
The Department of Public Works was not entirely happy with the quality of some of the work and you
can tell some of the difference. If you look at the pavement at a year out, if you look at the pavement
that was done out by Whole Foods, you will see it is still very shiny, really in good shape and is still a
very black color. Some of the paving that has been done in recent years elsewhere, tends to gray up
more quickly, which suggests, | believe | am accurately describing this, the dust content is a little too
high and maybe the liquid or the tar content is too low. That is part of the reason but also we want to
make sure that the specs which we have are complied with 100% because again it’s an expensive
proposition and we want to make sure we get the highest quality.
Alderwoman Melizza-Golja
And | certainly appreciate that. | would assume there a few companies in the region that mix asphalt,
so are we going with the same company for the asphalt?
Mayor Donchess
We are subject to bidding laws so we are going to, particularly with respect to the arterial streets, well
actually the side streets went out and the bids were due today. | haven’t heard the result yet. But
within that bid document, the department has a right to do any inspections that they care to, so they
have the right to make the inspection under the bids that were submitted today. And then that is going
to be continued with respect to putting out the bid for the arterial streets and the federally funded
package. Our right to do that is within the bid package and we intend to follow up on it.
Alderwoman Melizza-Golja
Just a comment, | think it’s unfortunate that the specs that we put forth and that were bid on were not
followed and as a result the City is going to be paying additional funds to monitor something that a
company should be monitoring. But | also appreciate us doing what is necessary because every
morning | drive through the areas where newly laid pavement is no longer there on Main Street in front
of Enterprise. So | appreciate us trying to make sure the companies we deal with follow the standards
we have asked for. Thank you.
