Board of Aldermen 12-22-2020 Page 42
Ms. Ortolano Just quickly, | am just wondering why the Board didn’t put the AFSME contract on for Public
Works to vote on that. They changed the language in there to eliminate the additional pay that goes in with
snowplowing and contracting and we’ve had a lot of plow days and we are piling a lot of money out that we
wouldn’t have to if you did contract approval. So | think that’s something to vote on or get a vote on that
soon because we are in the winter.
Another thing, | wanted to ask the Board to consider developing some Ordinances to help with the
governance of the Board of Assessors. The Board voted for a public input policy like you folks did, but the
policy included the language for uncivil and rude remarks that Shoshanna Kelly felt didn’t belong in the
policy because it would present a liability issue for the City. And Attorney Bolton agreed and the Board of
Aldermen struck the language. But Attorney Leonard recommended that the Board of Assessors leave the
language in. And when they rewrote their bylaws, they didn’t cover policy. So the Board of Assessors on
their web site had a mission statement that they did policy oversight and enforcement. And | did not realize
until last week that they had removed their mission statement and they no longer do policy oversight and
enforcement. And this is a big issue to me because bylaws and adopting new bylaws which they worked
on in a workshop format but they brought it to a public meeting and approved it in a public meeting. They
didn’t tell the public that they eliminated their mission statement and policy oversight.
They have very stricter rules over there, much stricter than the Board of Aldermen on what you can say and
not say because they are enforcing this unconstitutional language. And | am no longer to address policy
issues with the Board because it’s not their responsibility anymore. And | really think policy has to be
brought on the table and the Board of Aldermen have to be the ones to do that. You know you have
Ordinances and Resolutions that define your work and allow the public to understand what you do. And |
really thing policy and policy development should be what the next level down works on so the public
understands what is going on. And yeah | am just really disturbed that this was taken off the table. | asked
Chairman Hansberry today if in fact the mission statement had been removed and they are no longer doing
policy oversight and he referred me and sent me an email ccing Celia Leonard and noted that Attorney
Leonard is handling policy reviews. Well again this is confusing because Attorney Bolton will tell us that the
Legal Office doesn’t do anything without the permission of the Board. And when | asked the Board if you
removed this stuff, they point to Celia Leonard who is responsible for the removal or the action. And | really
think it’s the Board’s responsibility. But you have to develop Ordinances for that Board, because that’s your
job not theirs. They state that they are governed by State laws, they don’t follow the State Laws. They
state that they are governed by the Charter, the Charter actually has all the language that’s been repealed
and stricken for the Board of Assessors.
President Wilshire
Ms. Ortolano, time please?
Ms. Ortolano The only thing standing in there is the open records clause and that’s not being followed and
now | can’t find any ordinances so | am hoping that the Board of Aldermen will help me with Ordinance
development for the Board of Assessors. Thank you.
President Wilshire
Thank you. Beth Scaer.
Beth Scaer Hi Beth Scaer, 111 East Hobart Street. Thank you very much to the Aldermen that voted
against the curfew. | am very grateful. | was very concerned listening to the restaurant owners and staff
last night talking about the financial difficulties and possible business failures they were facing. Also |
wanted to say | was very concerned to see on Bobbie Bagley’s Public Health Page that Nashua is
welcoming to all genders. And | checked to see how many genders were up to, it’s 112 genders now and
obviously this is scientific nonsense that there’s 112 genders, there may be 112 gender expressions but
there’s only two biological sexes.
