Board of Aldermen 09-28-2021 Page 29
| also want to say | do support our city staff members. | find it unfortunate the amount of pressure that they are subjected
to by a small number of people who are focused on achieving their goals often at the cost of the personal liberties of
people who were trying to work for our city. | think it's very unfortunate. | found in my time as Alderman that the city staff
are extremely helpful, very knowledgeable, and very dedicated to what they're doing. I'm confident in how | represent my
constituents and you work with those people who have made their careers out of helping others and I'm proud to continue
doing that. Thank you.
Alderman Caron
Yes thank you. Ona happier note, the Nashua Chamber has nominated Ed Lecius, a long time Nashua resident as
Citizen of the Year and that's a wonderful honor to bestow upon someone who has dedicated his life to the City of Nashua
as aradio announcer, public Police Coordinator, and a longtime member of the Nashua Lions Clubs. So just wanted to
put that out there. That that's a great accomplishment for anyone to receive. So | think that's great.
| have to echo Alderman Lopez’s comments about city staff. We have to remember that city staff is here because they
want to be here. They work at their jobs with great care. They give their heart and soul to the public and | think that
unfortunately some public people don't understand that. When they talk to our staff, they should be treating them the way
they would like to be treated if the roles were reversed. | know that being a longtime employee for the city, you always get
more with honey than with vinegar and | don't think there is any staff person that wouldn't go out of their way to do
something for anyone in the public if they really needed the help. Like | keep saying, it's called please and thank you and
it goes a long way in getting the help that you deserve and I, too, will always support our city employees. Thank you
Alderman Dowd
Yes since last time we met, the architects and the Joint Special have worked very closely with the Conservation
Commission and at the last Conservation Commission meeting, we were voted five zero in favor of the new middle school
project. Earlier this evening, the Zoning Board from the recommendation with the Conservation Commission voted to
grant the special exception for the new middle school five to zero - unanimous. So we move forward.
The other thing is that, you know, | find it odd that people say, oh we should remove everybody on the Board of Aldermen
when during our tenure we once again have been elected as one of the best cities in the United States to live. One of the
safest cities in the United States to live, which we found out last night has made that information all the way out to
California when a young lady out there did research and now is asking questions of the Nashua Police Department
because they've ranked so highly nationwide.
The other thing is if anybody read the write up that we got from Standard and Poor's on the way the city is run and the
way the city takes care of its finances, we were awarded a AAA rating again. Our bonding rate is 1.86%. That's amazing.
If they think we're doing a terrible job, | don't know how the Board could do any better. We are representing the citizens of
Nashua very well. The city is very well run and I'm also going to echo that my experience in the Joint Special School
Building Committee working with our Legal Department, they've done outstanding work and it should not be ridiculed.
Alderman Cleaver
Thank you, Madam President. Just a couple of things. I'm very proud of our city employees. They do an outstanding job
and they shouldn't be commended not ridiculed. They they're outstanding group of people, and largely responsible for
how well the city is rated, et cetera, et cetera, according to those references that Alderman Dowd was making.
Speaking of Alderman Dowd, I'd like to commend one of our own. You've done yeoman's work on the Finance Committee
and also the Joint Special School Committee and just should be commended very highly for his work and all the hard
effort he’s put in over the years.
Lastly, it's very exciting to see the performing arts center grow and blossom into an actual building. It's rewarding to know
that it has such great support and it's a great asset to the city that we will all enjoy for many, many years to come. Thank
you.
Alderman O’Brien
Thank you, Madam President. To fall along the lines of supporting city employees, | would like to remind everybody that
this Sunday is the Firefighters Memorial Sunday. The service will be conducted at the intersection of Concord and
Manchester Street. That's the monument with the bell. The bell symbolizes the old days of which you needed to wake up
down those horses and get them going. So anyways, it's got to be there at 10 a.m. and at those ceremonies, we
