Special Board of Aldermen 09-21-2021 Page 20
Alderman Clemons
Thank you, Madam President. | just wanted to give my two cents for whatever its worth. Probably worth a lot less in the
retirement system but. So my feeling on this is that the, you know, | understand the goal of the 100% and getting there.
| actually agree with it to an extent but the issue is, is that, and this is what Alderman Schmidt was referring to, and that is
that you also have to live in reality. The reality right now is that, you know, people are hurting still from the pandemic.
The pandemic still going on. You have a number of Aldermen here participating from home, myself included, just to be
overly cautious. So you still have an economy that's recovering. The biggest part of it, though, is to me the fact that the
State doesn't contribute a dime to this system. So, you know, | think that, in my opinion you know, we have a perfect
storm that happened this year. Certainly | can understand the argument that, you know and in theory, had the pension
plan been fully funded, that this wouldn't have been as drastic as a year or as tough for Nashua or other cities and towns
because we would have had that higher funding source.
But on the other hand, that's an artificial thing that was created via Statute because in all reality, the legislature could
have decided to relax some of those burdens that came down to Nashua in a number of different ways. They could
have, you know, not to overuse the phrase “kick the can down the road” but certainly they could have, you know, at least
delayed that 100% implementation to kind of give people who are living here in reality a break. | think it's incumbent
upon the legislature and it’s incumbent upon the people who are voting to understand who they're voting for and what
they stand for because people's livelihoods, and their taxes, and things like that it makes a difference. So when you hear
people, you know, that are putting these goals and they stick by them 100% no matter what, sometimes that's not the
way to go.
In my opinion, you want somebody in office who's going to be flexible. You want somebody who's going to understand
that things change and you need to be able to change with the times. So you know, | think we have some good people
from Nashua up there in that legislature but kind of what Alderman O’Brien said, | think some of the people in the rest of
the State, | don't think they understand the difficulties that some of us here in Nashua or another cities are facing. So it's
a little disappointing but regardless, that's my two cents and | appreciate the time. Thank you.
President Wilshire
Anyone else have any questions, comments? Seeing none.
Mr. Karlon and Miss Goodwin thank you so much for being here this evening. We really appreciate you taking the time
to come down to Nashua and explain to us the pension system. So thank you very much for being here.
Marty Karlon, Director of Communications and Legislative Affairs
Thanks for having us.
Jan Goodwin, Executive Director of NH Retirement System
Thank you for all the good questions.
President Wilshire
Thank you.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Motion to Forward to the Ballot the Citizens Petition Relative to a Citizens Petition Seeking to Amend the City Charter
Relative to the Nomination and the Confirmation of Appointments to the Nashua Board of Police Commissioners
MOTION BY ALDERMAN HARRIOTT-GATHRIGHT TO FORWARD TO THE BALLOT THE CITIZENS PETITION
RELATIVE TO A CITIZENS PETITION SEEKING TO AMEND THE CITY CHARTER RELATIVE TO THE
NOMINATION AND THE CONFIRMATION OF APPOINTMENTS TO THE NASHUA BOARD OF POLICE
COMMISSIONERS BY ROLL CALL
ON THE QUESTION
