Board of Aldermen 08-10-2021 Page 35
Alderman Dowd
Just a real quick — let me give the Board on the middle school project. Fairgrounds Middle School is almost complete. It
will be completed in the next week or two 100 percent. | think if you go by there you'll see a marked changed.
Pennichuck is coming along real well. We will have all the hard construction hopefully buttoned up before school starts.
All of the new roads are in and if you’ve been by, you'll see there’s the new temporary traffic light. That will be there for
approximately a year. Next summer we'll put in the regular mast arms and the final light as we widen the road to make all
the road changes. | can tell you that all of the neighbors in the area are all in favor of the change and I’ve met with them
all personally. So | can tell you that for a fact.
The new middle school down the south end of Nashua, we have all the land we need for access to the school. We have
the Purchase and Sale on the last little piece of land and we'll be having a closing fairly soon. Work will start in October
and the opening of the school will be September of 2024. | just wanted to say also that Thursday the 26" which is going
to be a very busy day, the back to school event at the Library is at 5:00 and the person sitting to my right is deeply
involved in that. She may mention more about it but then after that there’s going to be a tour of Fairgrounds Middle
School for the Board of Aldermen and the Board of Education. We'll break up into smaller groups and they'll give you a
tour of all of the changes before the students actually go in and use the school. Then the Joint Special School Building
Committee will be at 7:00 p.m. following those tours.
Alderman Caron
He took my thunder. First of all, | was going to remind you that the 17" annual back to school will take place at the Library
on the 26" of August at the Library. Finally we're back there. The 25'" which is that Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. if anyone
would like to come down, we'll be packing 1,500 bags. In less than 4 hours, we will provide coffee and donuts in the
morning and then we will have a boxed lunch for everyone who participates. We have a lot of fun. There’s a lot of things
to put in the bags and the committee is working real hard to make sure that the word gets out. The only group that will be
inside of the Library will be the Nashua Lions Club because they need a darken room in order to do the eye screening. |
know the Health Department will be there to give the COVID vaccine and all the schools and principals will be outside all
around the Library under tents and we have about 32 to 35 vendors who will also be there giving out supplies and
information concerning their different programs. We look forward to it. We're hoping that we have a good day and come
on down and see how the city is working with the Chamber, and the school, and our great businesses like George Cades
who co-chairs this event with Mary-Ann Melizzi-Golja.
On another note, | know how difficult this conversation was concerning the Police Department but | think that we tried to
let everybody hear what had to be spoken during Personnel without getting too crazy but as | have said before in the last
few years, it seems like people forget their manners, and become rude, and disrespectful to each other whether it’s public
or members of the Board. None of us should think that way because we’re here for a reason. The other thing that
bothers me is I’d rather have you say it to my face than to put it out there on social media where | have to hear about it
from somebody else. That is worse than having you say something to my face because then | know whether you're telling
the truth or not. So there’s a difference there between having a conversation and hiding behind a computer all day long
and making comments. That’s the sad part of what’s going on within the community. | think that tabling this and trying to
get the work study group involved is very important. As Alderman Dowd said when you’re making a Charter change, it is
not like a normal resolution or piece of legislation. It affects you long term because as you all know, we’re not here
forever. We're only here for a short period of time and new people come in and want to do things. When you’re making
those big Charter changes, you really need to have all the facts whether it’s you or the public. So | think that’s important
that you hear everything and you do everything in a timely fashion.
Madam Chair I’d like to ask a question to the Mayor if...so Mayor | read an article in the Union Leader concerning the City
of Manchester and the money they’re receiving from the federal government to be utilized within their community. They
had a major survey throughout the community asking for the top ten things they would like to see that money used for.
They came up with a plan. Part of it was infrastructure, new housing, how to help the homeless. | know we're getting
money. | don’t think we’re getting as much as Manchester but have you given any thought of how we’re going to utilize
that money or present it to the Board for consideration? You don’t have to do a long detail but I’m just wondering — | was
quite fascinated that Manchester had done that.
Mayor Donchess
The answer is yes and we’ve talked with them in a lot of detail — the people who formulated the Manchester plan. That
one big difference is of course they can do much more sort of cover the waterfront because they have $40 million and we
have 16. Until a few weeks ago, the budget had proposed of the $8 million we’d get in year one, $4.4 million was going to
be for revenue replacement — the lost school aid, leaving us $3 million compared to the $20 million.
