Board of Aldermen 05-11-2021 Page 25
Steve Bolton, Corporation Counsel
Yes, Alderman Jette, you are correct that the declaration of “necessary” is just because of the way the State
Statute on how municipalities amend a charter is written. So the relevant provision is RSA 49B:5 which begins
the municipal officers, which in our case in Nashua is the Board of Aldermen. So the municipal officers may
determine that one or more amendment to the Municipal Charter are necessary and shall by order provide for
notice of a public hearing thereon. And the statute goes on to go through all of the other necessary steps. The
last step is a vote by the voters. Preliminary to that working backwards is the determination by the Board of
Aldermen to place the question on the ballot and submit it to the voters. But before you ever get to that, you
have to have a public hearing, you have to determine whether or not you want to modify the proposed
amendment. If after the public hearing, you are satisfied with the wording, you make that known. If you are
unsatisfied with the wording and you make modifications to the proposed amendment, a further public hearing
must be held.
Once the wording is finalized by the Board, the proposed amendment is submitted to three State Officers; the
New Hampshire Attorney General, Secretary of State and Commissioner of the Department of Revenue
Administration for their determination as to whether the proposed amendment conflicts with any general laws
of the State of New Hampshire; that is the statute for the New Hampshire Constitution. Following basically the
green light from those three State Officials, assuming we get to that stage, then the Board could vote at that
point as to whether or not to place it on the ballot and submit it to the voters. You never get to any of those
steps unless there’s a preliminary finding that it is necessary. So it is necessary in the sense that if you are
even going to consider it further, you have to make the determination that it is necessary at least to study the
situation.
Alderman Jette
Thank you.
President Wilshire
You're all set Alderman Jette.
Alderman Jette
Yes, | appreciate the clarification from Attorney Bolton. So as | understand it, our voting in favor of this tonight,
all that means is that we are allowing it to proceed for all of those further steps that have been explained by
Attorney Bolton. This is just the beginning, it just allows us to even consider whether or not a Charter change
is warranted or not. By voting in favor of this, we are not voting to change anything; at least not at this point. If
| understood him correctly.
President Wilshire
| think you did.
Alderman Jette
Thank you.
President Wilshire
That’s what | understood too. Thank you. Alderman Lopez.
Alderman Lopez
Just for my part, | am voting in favor of the public having a chance to weigh in on this due to public hearing and
