Board of Aldermen 04-27-2021 Page 17
Alderman Harriott-Gathright
On a positive note, | just want to mention like our Mayor stated, the shots that were given in Merrimack — | think it was at
Fidelity — | ran into a constituent today, Deidre Reynolds. Some of you guys might know her. She really talked so positive
about the experience she had on Saturday at Fidelity. Just wanted to also say kudos to the Board of Health for the work
that they do.
Alderman Klee
Thank you Madam President. | want to first start by reminding those that have been helping with the cleanup. We had
Whitney Street clean up scheduled for this Sunday but due to the rain we have rescheduled for next Sunday meeting at
Foster Square at 10 a.m. | hope that we can get even more people this time. You don’t have to be a Ward 3 resident.
We had Ward 4 and Ward 1 last time around and | look forward to seeing more city people.
| want to bring up two other issues. One is | agree with what Alderman Jette had to say about our healthcare costs. |
want to thank those employees who did choose the plan that helps us out. I'd also like to give kudos to Director Kleiner
and all the others that helped to work out this plan so that we have something better to help bring down our healthcare
costs. It starts with the plan and then it starts with the employees willing to accept this plan. | think really we give thanks
to all of those around.
I’d also like to bring up the subject that was brought up. | think our Legal Department is incredible. | think they work very
hard. | agree with what Alderman Lopez said. The fact that we do have lawsuits and the fact that we do have so many
Right-to-Know requests does mean that we do need a person that is going to be dedicated to that. While his entire job is
not that, it’s good to have one point person within it. When | worked for the Department of Defense, | was the FOIA
person. | was the one person that all FOIA requests went to and that way we had the record, we had all the information,
and so on. So while none of us like to have any what someone might consider extraneous personnel, | think it’s a wise
position to have an | think in the end we'll save the city money to be able to focus a Right-to-Know request onto that.
| don’t believe that we have a level of hatred from our city workers, from our Mayor, or from anybody else. Yes maybe
somebody might feel antagonistic towards another person but that is not a level of hatred. That’s a whole different type of
situation. | think I'll leave it at that other than to say as | believe all the members of this Board as well as at least the city
employees that | have dealt with, bend over backwards to try to help constituents, to help the citizens, and so on. | want
to thank all of my colleagues for all that they do and the city workers as well. So thank you.
Alderwoman Lu
Thank you Madam Chairman. | wanted to just reiterate something | brought up the other night that my concern with
staffing for our vaccination sites. We are less than half way through the process and | think that we can save money for
everyone if some of the work and some of the roles that are being done on overtime by city departments were relegated
to an unskilled task force such as used in the Finance Department when they get you know extra work that they need
done. They hire out. I’m concerned that the overtime and the retirement costs that may result from this are going to be
onerous.
The other thing | just wanted to say | didn’t feel the speaker's comment mentioned hate emanating from this Board. |
understood her to say she felt it from the staff, the city workers, and whether or not that’s true, | don’t know. | didn’t take it
as a reflection of the Board so | wanted to point out that | don’t think she did.
| just want to be careful to also point out that if you don’t feel like you’re qualified or you have time to run or to serve as a
public servant on the Board of Aldermen, you still have the right to complain. You still have our ear. So that’s all | wanted
to point out.
Alderman Dowd
Yes | just want to point out that the vast majority of the overtime that’s been realized at the vaccine centers are members
of the Nashua Fire Rescue and just a few police officers. All of that overtime is being covered by COVID funds coming
from the federal government.
President Wilshire
Anyone else?
