Board of Aldermen Page 3
April 26, 2016
pension increases imposed by the State of New Hampshire for the purpose for which the money was saved.
Therefore, at least in my thinking, that resolution should pass.
RESPONSE TO REMARKS OF THE MAYOR
Alderman Lopez
| have concerns about using the revenue from the Clocktower Projects to study doing a newer project when we
have existing projects that really need more attention and development. The rail trail is an area where my
Ward is particularly concerned about. The lights are all broken on it and need to be repaired. We made the
decision on CDBG to allocate funds for that but we didn’t allocate enough to complete the project. One of the
things that | would be looking for before supporting a special fund to create a new shiny thing downtown is to
make sure that we at least have a plan to take care of the existing facilities that we have. | agree that the river
front is a valuable asset but | think the residents that live in our community are most important in terms of asset
and making sure that they can get to and from places safely should be a primary concern. | did spend an
entire weekend cleaning up the area along the library trail where the new development might go in and | think
it's a gorgeous area that could use a lot of development and I’m sure the neighborhoods would like an inflow of
new ideas and development but again, | want to make sure that we keep our focus on the people who live here
now and make sure that they know that City Hall is taking care of them.
| also want to extend my appreciation to Alderman Siegel and Alderman O’Brien for their efforts in Concord.
My Ward is the biggest example of landlords evicting tenants and not having the eviction hearings in proximity
to those tenants. Our residents should have their day in court if they are being evicted.
Mayor Donchess
| wanted to mention to Alderman Lopez that | agree with his assessment of the rail trail situation and the
Department of Public Works and | are committed to getting the money for that. | think there are two sources
where we could derive the rest of the money and we will definitely do that. First of all there will be some
surplus in the public works budget that could be devoted to the lighting of the rail trail which | agree is a very
important project, one that we should definitely do as soon as possible. Secondly, in the budget that | will
introduce for the next meeting, there will be money for public works projects, one of which would be that. |
think that project is the highest priority for public works, getting the rail trail lignted properly and they have been
pricing it and preparing to put it out to bid. | think you will find and I’m not suggesting that you should take a
different approach, but | think you will find that we are going to be able to proceed with that project with other
sources of funds.
RECOGNITION PERIOD — None
READING MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING AND PUBLIC HEARING
There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the minutes of the Board of Aldermen
meeting of April 12, 2016, and the public hearing conducted by the Human Affairs Committee
of April 11, 2016, accepted, placed on file and the readings suspended.
