Finance Committee Page 4
January 4, 2017
up and she said it would be difficult but if there was a need maybe. There was obviously going to be a cost
involved. Then | spoke with Peter Kelleher of Harbor Homes and | said is there any reason why we shouldn’t
do that and he said there is a reason and it’s because we at Harbor Homes think given some grants that we
have received and we are now getting 11 medical respite beds and we have Maple Street so we think we can
meet that need. | think everyone that was involved was in a bit of a hurry because it seemed like the situation
was escalating and we had more people than ever before dying of overdoses plus the fire department was
doing so many Narcan administrations. We decided that even though we didn’t have the security features in
place that it was worth going ahead and coming back for the security features after we got the program off of
the ground. | think that what | said was that | thought that the...| was really referring to the operational costs,
that they would be limited and the estimate | had been given was around $20,000 for transportation for the
remainder of the year. That estimate is probably going to be low because we are getting many more reports
than...we’ve had sixteen people in four days show up in the first days of 2017 so Harbor Homes is working
with the situation to try to determine what their transportation costs are and they are stretched to the limit in
terms of the number of people that are showing up and they are doing such a good job that at least there is
some discussion of the fact that they are placing people so quickly that now the word is out that maybe the
best place to go is Nashua because Harbor Homes is doing such a good job. | think | mentioned the $20,000
and that was an estimate. | did not mention this because | was thinking of operational costs as opposed to a
one-time expense and because this seemed to be something we should have done anyway. | probably
should have mentioned it but as you pointed out, | didn’t so | apologize for that but | think it is a one-time
expense. We didn’t really even have a cost figure at that time but we were thinking it would cost a little bit
less.
Alderman Cookson
Thank you, Mr. Mayor, | appreciate that response. Your last comment leads to the question if the Safe
Havens Program is as successful as we want it to be and we address the epidemic and it’s no longer an
epidemic, would this need right now for the security and the keys and the doors and the phones and the video
to the fire alarm station, would that still be something that you would pursue if the Safe Haven Program is
successful and is ultimately not needed.
Assistant Chief Rhodes
Absolutely, the world we live in, this isn’t the Nashua that | came to in 1987. We have a lot of confidential
information and this is critical city infrastructure. This has been on my plate since | became the assistant
chief.
Alderman O’Brien
We are talking about a responsibility to our employees. We are not asking for all six stations for this special
security, we are only asking for two; fire alarm headquarters and the Fire Marshall’s office. | wonder if court
documents of arsonists and other types of juvenile offenses that are affected that the fire department does
handle, confidential information is being stored at the Lake Street station, well, it is and it needs a special type
of security. Assistant Chief Rhodes, do we already have a secure facility? How do | get into fire alarm?
Assistant Chief Rhodes
Our fire alarm facility at 38 Lake Street is a secure facility that has an intercom system and automatic
electronic locks. There are two levels of security before someone could get into the actual dispatch center.
There is also video surveillance there.
Alderman O’Brien
Is this NFPA compliant issue that that facility has to be that secure?
