Aldermen, Board of

A regular meeting of the Board of Aldermen was held Tuesday, November 9, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chamber. President Brian S. McCarthy presided; Deputy City Clerk Patricia Piecuch recorded. Prayer was offered by Deputy City Clerk Patricia Piecuch; Alderman Clemons led in the Pledge to the Flag. The roll call was taken with 14 members of the Board of Aldermen present. Alderman Vitale arrived after the roll was taken. President McCarthy Alderman Vitale called me earlier and said she was stuck in traffic. She expects to be joining us presently. The Mayor is going to be here a little later. She had suggested I make another joke about her being out celebrating her Birthday so I won’t do that because there is no fun in that. She is addressing the Citizen Police Academy graduation ceremony at the moment, and will be here after that. Corporation Counsel James M. McNamee was also in attendance. REMARKS BY THE MAYOR – None RESPONSE TO REMARKS OF THE MAYOR – None RECOGNITION PERIOD - None READING MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS THAT THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN MEETING OF OCTOBER 26, 2010, BE ACCEPTED, PLACED ON FILE, AND THE READING SUSPENDED MOTION CARRIED COMMUNICATIONS MOTION BY ALDERMAN LAROSE THAT ALL COMMUNICATIONS BE READ BY TITLE ONLY MOTION CARRIED From: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau Re: Contract Award for ERP Training & Testing Software MOTION BY ALDERMAN DEANE TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND, PURSUANT TO NRO § 5-74(B), CONCUR WITH THE FINANCE COMMITTEE AND AWARD THE CONTRACT FOR ERP TRAINING & TESTING SOFTWARE TO DATANGO, INC. IN THE AMOUNT OF $62,345 MOTION CARRIED From: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau Re: Contract Award for Financial (ERP) System Hosting Services MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND, PURSUANT TO NRO § 5- 74(B), CONCUR WITH THE FINANCE COMMITTEE AND AWARD THE CONTRACT FOR FINANCIAL (ERP) SYSTEM HOSTING SERVICES TO AFFILIATED COMPUTER SERVICES IN THE AMOUNT OF $661,772 MOTION CARRIED PERIOD FOR PUBLIC COMMENT RELATIVE TO ITEMS EXPECTED TO BE ACTED UPON THIS EVENING – None Bd. of Aldermen – 11/09/10 Page 2 PETITIONS – None NOMINATIONS, APPOINTMENTS AND ELECTIONS Appointments by the Mayor The following appointments by the mayor were read into the record: Airport Authority Michael Rosenblum (Reappointment) Term to Expire: August 31, 2015 47 Berkeley Street Nashua, NH 03064 Child Care Advisory Commission Beth Todgham (Reappointment) Term to Expire: October 13, 2013 14 Alice Drive Nashua, NH 03063 Nashua Housing Authority Thomas Monahan (Reappointment) Term to Expire: October 14, 2015 28 Swart Terrace Nashua, NH 03064 Review and Comment Commission Corey Genest (New Appointment) Term to Expire: December 1, 2013 4 Marie Avenue Nashua, NH 03063 MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO ACCEPT THE APPOINTMENTS BY THE MAYOR AS READ AND REFER THEM TO THE PERSONNEL/ADMINISTRATIVE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE MOTION CARRIED REPORTS OF COMMITTEE Finance Committee ............................................................................ 11/03/10 There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the November 3, 2010 Finance Committee accepted and placed on file. Committee on Infrastructure ............................................................... 10/27/10 There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the October 27, 2010 Committee on Infrastructure accepted and placed on file. Pennichuck Water Special Committee ............................................... 11/03/10 There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the November 3, 2010 Pennichuck Water Special Committee accepted and placed on file. Bd. of Aldermen – 11/09/10 Page 3 WRITTEN REPORTS FROM LIAISONS – None CONFIRMATION OF MAYOR'S APPOINTMENTS – None UNFINISHED BUSINESS – RESOLUTIONS R-10-69 Endorser: Alderman-at-Large Barbara Pressly Alderman Richard P. Flynn REQUESTING THE CITY PREPARE AND ISSUE A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS TO COMPLETE OR REPLACE THE GREELEY PARK BANDSHELL Given its second reading; MOTION BY ALDERMAN PRESSLY FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-10-69 MOTION CARRIED Resolution R-10-69 declared duly adopted. R-10-72 Endorsers: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau Alderman Diane Sheehan Alderman Michael J. Tabacsko Alderman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja Alderman Arthur T. Craffey, Jr. Alderman Jeffrey T. Cox Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire APPROVING A MULTI-YEAR AGREEMENT WITH INTEGRATED PAPER RECYCLERS, LLC FOR SINGLE STREAM RECYCLING Given its second reading; President McCarthy I would point out that this resolution has received a favorable recommendation from the Board of Public Works. MOTION BY ALDERMAN SHEEHAN FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-10-72 MOTION CARRIED Resolution R-10-72 declared duly adopted. UNFINISHED BUSINESS – ORDINANCES O-10-38 Endorser: Alderman Diane Sheehan REPEALING THE TWO-HOUR PARKING TIME LIMIT ZONE ON THE NORTH SIDE OF AUBURN STREET Given its second reading; MOTION BY ALDERMAN SHEEHAN TO AMEND O-10-38 IN ITS ENTIRETY BY REPLACING IT WITH THE GOLDEN ROD COPY PROVIDED WITH THE AGENDA Bd. of Aldermen – 11/09/10 Page 4 ON THE QUESTION Alderman Chasse I was approached by one of the residents of the City of Nashua that watches all of the meetings pertaining to things like this, and what happens when we get these golden rod copies or blue copies or whatever they have no clue of what is being changed. I would like to ask the maker of the ordinance to explain what the changes are so that the residents of the City of Nashua know where and what is happening. Alderman Sheehan Certainly, I would be happy to. I did e-mail this to the concerned parties yesterday and I can understand what the resident went through because I could not find an electronic copy myself and needed some assistance doing that. When we had changed Auburn Street to two-hour parking from the front to back we were trying to eliminate the using of it as a parking lot by the first business to be open in the neighborhood, which is what was happening. However, by doing that we essentially turned Auburn Street into a ghost town and it was a wasted resource at that point as well. We had passed out pictures in everybody’s mailbox a while back showing the road every hour on the hour going down to just 1 or 2 people using the road for the whole day. I put in for one side of the road so that it would be on the agenda because there was a cutoff the next morning when this came to my attention. I met with the businesses on Auburn Street and discussed with them their needs as well as the needs of people who do need longer term parking. The commercial properties are located in the first block between Beard Street and Amherst Street. What seemed to be a good compromise to everyone involved was making that portion two-hour parking so that people who were coming to patronize those businesses could find parking that does turn over, however, the businesses which do have employees would be able to park further down the road and walk further, however, it is not a situation where somebody then has no parking in front of their business for the whole day because somebody else got there at 7:30 a.m. So what we have done is change the whole street from being two-hour parking from front to back to just having the part that has commercial businesses, which is in the first block, have two-hour parking and the rest having unrestricted parking, which is more the residential area. Alderman Chasse Thank you. President McCarthy Is there any further discussion of the motion to amend? Alderman Deane I didn’t hear the amendment part. I heard the explanation of everything. I think what Alderman Chasse was concerned about was what changed from now until then. Alderman Sheehan It went from being the entire length being two-hour parking to between Amherst Street and Beard Street on both sides to being two-hour parking and the remainder of the road from Beard Street back on Auburn Street to being unrestricted parking. Bd. of Aldermen – 11/09/10 Page 5 President McCarthy Is there any further discussion of the motion to amend? MOTION CARRIED MOTION BY ALDERMAN SHEEHAN FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF O-10-38 AS AMENDED MOTION CARRIED Ordinance O-10-38 declared duly adopted as amended. NEW BUSINESS – RESOLUTIONS R-10-73 Endorsers: Alderman-at-Large Barbara Pressly Alderman-at-Large Brian S. McCarthy Alderman-at-Large Ben Clemons Alderman Arthur T. Craffey, Jr. Alderman-at-Large David W. Deane Alderman Richard LaRose Alderman Michael J. Tabacsko Alderman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja Alderman Jeffrey T. Cox Alderman Diane Sheehan Alderman Paul M. Chasse, Jr. Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire Alderman Richard P. Flynn Alderman-at-Large Mark S. Cookson OPPOSING ANY TOLLBOOTHS IN THE CITY OF NASHUA Given its first reading; MOTION BY ALDERMAN PRESSLY THAT THE RULES BE SO FAR SUSPENDED AS TO ALLOW FOR THE SECOND READING OF R-10-73 MOTION CARRIED Resolution R-10-73 given its second reading; MOTION BY ALDERMAN PRESSLY FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-10-73 ON THE QUESTION Alderman Pressly Thank you. I’d be happy to give sort of a report on what has happened and why we needed to suspend the rules. If you all remember we received a letter dated October 29th from the Bureau of Turnpikes. They are holding a public hearing here in Nashua on the 17th. Well as you can tell with the calendar we do not meet until after the 17th so if we wanted to submit some document expressing the views of the Board of Aldermen we had to suspend the rules in order to get something written in there. There are also three other hearings taking place in the State. Something that has happened that is really quite interesting, those of you who travel along the F.E. Everett I am sure you have noticed that there is an airport access road that is going off to the right just before you get to the tollbooth. That is now completed and because of that there will be a revenue loss of $4.8 million. They have been studying some different options as to what to do about this revenue loss and where should a new toll system go. Bd. of Aldermen – 11/09/10 Page 6 What also is interesting is that there are two new techniques instead of having the traditional tollbooths. One is called an open road tolling and it is where when you approach a toll they divide it, those that have the easy pass will go to the left go straight through at the speed they are going at; anywhere from up to 65 mph and those on the right would have to stop and pay the toll in the traditional way. There is even another way that is even more interesting, it is called an all electronic tolling and what that is is that there is no stopping at all, they record everyone going through that section of the road, those that have the easy pass will have it added to their easy pass account, those that do not will be getting a letter in the mail. They now have the capability of documenting the license plate of everyone passing, no secrets in this country anymore, they have the license plate and sending them something in the mail with a fee for having done it that way. Apparently this is working currently in ten different states. What they have done they have put together a proposal of 11 different options for everyone to take a look at and to get the reaction of the citizens. There are two proposals for Nashua. They are both at the same location. It would be a location between exit 1 and exit 2 and it would be the two different proposals here. What we’re talking about today is quite different than the traditional way. It is really important for everyone, not only those of us who have been elected to public office, but citizens come out and speak to this and express and also educate yourself. They have also mentioned that if you get to the meeting at 6:00 p.m. you can look at all of the materials and maps. About 5:00 p.m. today the executive summary was sent to me. I have forwarded it to the Mayor and to our President. I am happy to send it via e-mail to anyone else who would like to receive it. It is about 30 pages. Let me know after the meeting. It is also going to be on their website. It is something that affects everybody so I really encourage you to follow this, look into this, and see what the different options are. There are many all along the highway between Nashua and Manchester. I have been told all of this verbally over the phone. I haven’t had a chance to read the 30-page executive summary since it just arrived at 5:00 p.m. today. They are exploring all of these different options, and some of them certainly affect us. Thank you for suspending the rules. I would like to also add that when the Department of Transportation has a hearing it is different from the way our hearings are done. They are not recorded quite the same and this is all part of the requirement to get federal money. The more comments that are in writing the more effective it is going to be. That is why I sponsored this and would like to have us record it. If you would like to individually submit more comments I would encourage you to put it in writing and bring it that night. They often times allow you to submit in writing something after the hearing. I thought maybe we should start a citizen petition. The more people we have documented as to we would prefer not to have anything in Nashua, the diversionary traffic in the city would be very very difficult I think for us to manage. Then more you can get your citizens in your area to step forth, put it in writing, the better off it will be. If we can get a citizen petition if we can get it distributed across the City that would be great too. Thank you for considering this. Thank you. Alderman Deane Through you to Alderman Pressly, I think it would also interest everyone in the room as well as the public why tolls can’t be placed at the new off ramp going to the airport. Alderman Pressly Thank you. May I respond Mr. President? That was a federally funded access road to the airport so if we put any type of a toll up there we have to repay the federal government for that. The feds do not allow tolls on the roads that they produce. There are going to be lots of options; they could put it south of that. One thought that I have had just thinking off the top of my head Merrimack has all of those ramp tolls that really are so difficult for them, they might prefer to have a toll on the highway if they could remove those ramps. That might be something that would appeal to them. Bd. of Aldermen – 11/09/10 Page 7 But it is the first effort at letting people know what this is all about and how it works and I think it is really important that we get as involved as we can. Alderman Deane What source of federal funding was used? Alderman Pressly I believe it was the stimulus. I don’t know for sure, but I assume it is. President McCarthy That is unlikely because the airport access road has been under construction since well before the stimulus was… Alderman Pressly Oh okay then you might know more, I don’t know where the money…but I know it has been a plan that they have been trying to put forth for a long time, and I think it will be wonderful for us and for the whole State to have that access road. Alderman Cookson Thank you. If this resolution is adopted this evening, what action is it that is to be taken? I don’t see anything within the body of the resolution that says what action will be taken as a result of its adoption. President McCarthy I would envision that we will just provide copies of the passed resolution to those in a position to make a decision on tolls such as our State Delegation and the Governor’s Council. Alderman Cookson Thank you. President McCarthy The motion is for final passage of R-10-73. Is there any further discussion? MOTION CARRIED Resolution R-10-73 declared duly adopted. R-10-74 Endorsers: Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire Alderman Richard LaRose AMENDING THE USE OF FISCAL YEAR 2011 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT FUNDING BY BRIDGES Given its first reading; assigned to the HUMAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE by President McCarthy Bd. of Aldermen – 11/09/10 Page 8 R-10-75 Endorser: Alderman Arthur T. Craffey, Jr. Alderman Michael J. Tabacsko Alderman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja Alderman Jeffrey T. Cox AMENDING THE USE OF FISCAL YEAR 2008 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT FUNDING BY GREAT AMERICAN DOWNTOWN Given its first reading; assigned to the HUMAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE by President McCarthy NEW BUSINESS – ORDINANCES O-10-39 Endorser: Alderman-at-Large David W. Deane Alderman-at-Large Mark S. Cookson DEFINING AN ACCOUNT ANALYSIS, EXPANDING WHEN AN ACCOUNT ANALYSIS MUST BE PERFORMED, AND CHANGING AN ACCOUNTS ANALYSIS REPORT DUE DATE Given its first reading; assigned to the BUDGET REVIEW COMMITTEE by President McCarthy O-10-40 Endorser: Alderman Diane Sheehan Alderman Arthur T. Craffey, Jr. PROHIBITING THE PARKING OF MOTOR VEHICLES IN FRONT YARDS OF RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES Given its first reading; assigned to the COMMITTEE ON INFRASTRUCTURE by President McCarthy PERIOD FOR GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT James Cutter, 86 Palm Street I have an open letter for Alderman-at-Large Brian McCarthy. Dear Alderman McCarthy the city website states the City Attorney does not represent individuals in private matters. I was not a private matter because it involves the City. Counsel McNamee who is a public servant should be helping us. An applicant does not approve an application, where he applies does. An applicant does not approve an application, where is applies does. An applicant does not approve an application, where he applies does. When the building permit applications from 1950 and 1971 were approved by the building inspector public servant, the City became responsible. Counsel McNamee keeps avoiding the laws trying to protect the City. When I complained that Mayor Lozeau and Kathy Hersh would not talk to me, Alderman Teeboom sent an e-mail to Mayor Lozeau’s office. It was ignored. Recently I went to Kathy Hersh’s building safety department and after talking with the clerk a while she was called to the office. She said she would be gone a long time. I was left alone without someone coming to ask if they could help me. So much for surveillance cameras. I have given the Statutes and Ordinances pertaining to building permits to Mayor Lozeau, counsel McNamee, and you to read. As all of you are intelligent individuals, you know the City has been breaking the law. Alderman Craffey has said he will help us, but since you are President of the Board of Aldermen we fell you could save him a lot of work, and ask for your help to resolve this issue. Very truly yours Jim. Thank you. James Vayo, 3 Arlington Street I just want to make a general comment about the parking issue in downtown. I think this O-10-38 and the ordinance about parking in the front yards is part of the problem. It is part of the issues that are plaguing the downtown. Downtown has a residential base, which doesn’t have enough access to parking. It would make Bd. of Aldermen – 11/09/10 Page 9 a lot of sense for the Board of Aldermen or committee to review the citywide ban on overnight parking for the purposes of creating new opportunities for parking within the downtown. I don’t know what the specific solution should be, but I definitely think a citywide ban on overnight parking is not a good use of public infrastructure that already exists. We have lots of spaces that stay vacant overnight and maybe there are opportunities where they are full during the day, but could be utilized by residents at night. The City of Lowell does something similar, they over-subscribe their public parking garages by 20% and they never fill out. What happens is residents park there at night, they go to work during the day, the people come to work in the city during the day and they leave at night. Some people park there 24 hours a day, some people never park there, but they actually were able to bond a third parking garage in the city on the profits from the first two parking garages they have. There is a lot of opportunity and we need to look at sort of the simplistic, it is a bit simplistic to say we shouldn’t part overnight in the entire city on the street, and I would just ask that we look as a whole city at opportunities for creating better use of our infrastructure. The second thing is in regards to the tollbooth issue, something the City of London does is they have a congestion charge and the congestion charge is based on how congested it is at any given point of the day. If you enter the district where there is congestion that money goes towards public transportation so what it does is it is a cyclical system; the more congested it is the more money that is raised to increase public transportation options, which reduces congestion. The two of them find an equilibrium and the forces outside of that kick it in either direction. More congestion gets a little more expensive, more money for public infrastructure vice versa. If there is less demand for public infrastructure and congestion is low it all works itself out. There are lots of options for creating new opportunities for growth in this City and I would just ask that we consider that as well. Thank you. REMARKS BY THE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN Alderman Flynn I just wanted to say this Saturday is the senior dinner at Nashua High School North at 12:30 p.m. I think I have gone to it most years. I enjoyed it more last year and I know this year once again the Mayor and the Park & Recreation Department have chosen a date after the election season is over. My first couple of years I went there I think with Alderman Dion and I think neither of us were real comfortable or happy with the breath of candidates trying to be sure someone picked up their literature or go a hold of their literature. This change that the Mayor and the Park & Recreation Department made, I believe it started last year, has made this a much more enjoyable day for all of us, the seniors and the city staff that decide to attend. Thank you. Alderman Chasse Nashua lost a real fine gentleman this past week, and I use the word gentleman because if you look up the word gentleman in the dictionary you will see the picture of George Pelletier. George Pelletier is the Father of Claire McGrath who was a past president of this board. I met him at the Nashua Club along with two other senior citizens and they could tell you stories about this City of Nashua. They go way back and it seems like there is a competition between the three of them as to who can stump who. We all say oh there was a certain building here, yeah I remember that building being there, but they go back further, and some of the things they come up with, even the hobos jumping the boxcars and heading out to Manchester and the names they had for them like Boxcar Bobby. Some of the watering holes, I saw that there was a young man I think it was Piwowarski’s kid was doing something about the old swimming holes in the City of Nashua; Red Guts and Salmon Brook and these guys had a list of swimming holes where the Greeks used to go and the French used to go and the Irish used to go. Bd. of Aldermen – 11/09/10 Page 10 Some of the stories were incredible. George was a very very nice guy. He had one thing that he could never do he could never tell a joke. He could never get to the punch line he would always crack up, and that is something I will always remember about him. At this time I would like to extend my deepest sympathies to the Pelletier family, the McGrath family, and the Rapsis family. Thank you. Alderman Wilshire I will echo Alderman Chasse’s words on George Pelletier. He was truly a gentleman and will be missed. November 20th is the Nashua Soup Kitchen and Shelter’s 10th annual dinner auction. It is a great event. It is at Sky Meadow at 5:30 p.m. They have some really terrific auction items; African safaris and some really really good stuff. I would urge all of you to attend. Thank you. Alderman Cox I would just like to wish all of my fellow Marines a Happy Birthday tomorrow and Happy Veterans Day on Thursday to all of the Veterans. Alderman Clemons Thank you. I would like to take the opportunity to welcome back our colleague. I am glad that things went well and good to see you up and about and back with us. Also I want to extend a Happy Veterans Day to the Veterans out there. Thank you for your service to our country. Alderman Craffey Thank you. There will be a Ward 4 Informational Meeting at the Amherst Street School on November 15th at 7:00 p.m. Everybody is welcome. Monday night there was a turnout for the second public meeting concerning the community park site for the old Labine building. The turnout was great. The public provided great input to the designers on both plans that they presented. They will have their work cut out for them trying to meet the demands of the community. I also would like to extend a Happy Veterans Day to all of my fellow Veterans; those who have passed away and those who are still alive today. Also remember to take time out on Thursday to say thank you for the rights that we currently have. Thank you. President McCarthy I would point out that November 17th is Alderman Tabacsko’s Birthday. I would also point out that the Veterans Day parade is this Thursday and all of you have in your box the invitation to participate. The parade forms at Holman Stadium at 9:45 a.m. and will leave Holman at 10:30 a.m. for those of you who can attend. I did want to point out that we have been dealing with some of the implementation of our legislation of a couple of weeks ago regarding Liaison reports. Those will, at some point in the near future, they may already have been, start appearing on the website the same way that the minutes do, and we will accept them by reference Bd. of Aldermen – 11/09/10 Page 11 rather than putting hard copies in the packets since I have been trying for years to get us out of the printing business and not further into it. Committee announcements: Alderman Tabacsko Tuesday November 16th we will have a joint meeting of the Planning & Economic Development Committee and the Committee on Infrastructure. I encourage all board members to attend if possible. This will be a presentation by the Service Advisory Committee also known as the BID Committee that was appointed some time ago. The report is on line. There will be a hard copy of the report provided in the packets this weekend so that you have that prior to the presentation. Again it is 7:00 p.m. here in the Chamber it will be a joint meeting of the two committees. All members are certainly welcome and encouraged to attend. Thank you. President McCarthy Are there any other committee announcements? Is there a motion? ADJOURNMENT MOTION BY ALDERMAN LAROSE THAT THE OCTOBER 12, 2010 MEETING OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN BE ADJOURNED MOTION CARRIED The meeting was declared adjourned at 8:06 p.m. Attest: Patricia Piecuch, Deputy City Clerk