Aldermen, Board of

A regular meeting of the Board of Aldermen was held Tuesday, January 25, 2011 at 7:37 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 Chasse led in the Pledge to the Flag. The roll call was taken with 15 members of the Board of Aldermen present. Her Honor Mayor Donnalee Lozeau and Corporation Counsel James M. McNamee were also in attendance. REMARKS BY THE MAYOR This evening I would start my remarks by recognizing that today, January 25th, was the day, 51 years ago, that then Senator John F. Kennedy stood before the front steps of City Hall and announced his candidacy to run for President. I bring that to your attention because about a year ago, a resident by the name of Betty Winberg, who some of you may know, has been very active in our community for more years than I can count, suggested to me that we might not want to let that 50th anniversary go unnoticed. And, while I understood the point, I couldn’t really pull something together quickly. When the date was approaching this month, I thought we don’t really have to have an event to mark an occasion like that. What’s really important is that you take a moment to remember an occasion like that. So, today in my office I had the Presidents of the three High Schools and some of their classmates, the reporters from the school newspapers, a former City Hall employee who was here the day that he visited, and two residents of the City who were present when he walked the streets downtown. The conversation was a remarkable conversation. We had newspaper printouts of the coverage from that year here in the City, 1960, so the students had a chance to read how the press reacted, but the dialogue between the generations was really quite remarkable and the whole purpose was to just take a moment to remember that day and to give a little bit of a comparison to the youth of yesterday with the youth of today. I just wanted to share with you that we did that today and it was really, really a nice experience. Another thing that I would like to take a moment to talk about is snow, and then snow, and well more snow. For those of you that like to keep track, last winter we had a snow total of 56 inches of snow from November to April 1st, which is what we consider the winter season for snow. So far this year we have had 51 inches of snow already. We’re just about approaching that half-way mark and so I know that it goes without saying that we know that it has been snowing. The problem is, I think, people loose sight of what we can actually accomplish as far as removing snow, plowing our streets, keeping up with our sidewalks, and so I wanted to take a moment to first remind people that wherever they can help us, thank you. We cannot possibly keep up with 214 miles of sidewalks. And, I do understand, that when the sidewalk plows clear the sidewalks for the kids and then days later the plow comes and cuts down the snow bank and throws it back on the sidewalk that it looks almost foolish. The problem, of course, is that as the banks get higher, we do have to try to cut them down so that visibility and safety isn’t an issue. It was the intention this week to go back into snow removal mode but as you know, we are expecting more snow tomorrow. We had a dusting this week. Now, some people think that it’s real easy so it’s not snowing today, why aren’t they out there removing snow? Just so that we all understand, the same trucks that remove the snow are the same trucks that move the snow and plow the snow. So they have to be broken down from their sanders and their plows and everything else to be able to get out there to remove snow. And, when we’re expecting a storm, it’s hard to break them down because you need them to go out and do the rest of the job. And the same people that run the snow plows are the same people that run the sidewalk plows. And, as I say to people, you can’t afford for us to have people year round that could do all of that all of the time. So, be patient with us. Mother Nature is not being so kind this year and we’ll continue to do our best. I happen to think that they’ve done a pretty good job overall when you look at what’s out there and where we have to put it. And, yes, some of the side streets are really difficult and dangerous, we will continue to work at them and hopefully make some progress. I just wanted to put that out there for what it’s worth tonight. Bd. of Aldermen – 01/25/11 Page 2 As some of you probably read, as I said in the paper, when I go out and I talk to kids at school and parents in forums, I remind people that we have 765 lane miles of streets. That’s the equivalent of driving from New Hampshire to Georgia in one pass and obviously we can’t just do one pass. So, we’ll keep doing the best that we can do. If you have problems, by all means, make us aware of them and we’ll try to fix what we can. Thank you for your kind attention this evening. RESPONSE TO REMARKS OF THE MAYOR Alderman Clemons Thank you. I want to thank you Mayor Lozeau for mentioning the snow. I did want to state for the record that I think that it has been a really hard winter on all of us, but I did want to emphasize that in the area of the Broad Street Parkway, once that road is built and traffic is using those streets, particularly Pine and Palm Streets, I think it is going to be imperative that when we do snow removal that is an area that has to be on the priority list if you will. I would only hope that as we move forward and we are planning for that parkway we are cognizant of that fact. Thank you. Alderman Pressly Thank you Mr. President. I would like to comment on your anniversary celebration; it sounded wonderful. I would have loved to have been there. I’m sure all of us would have liked to have been there. It reminds me of the wonderful position that the State of New Hampshire has in being one of the first in the nation primaries. Since we have just had a discussion with communicating with our delegation, I would hope we would put on the list to communicate with them at some time in the future to support any and all legislation that enhances our position to maintain that event. It provides job, it brings a level of excitement to our community and the State. I think one of the issues we really want to bring forth and push for in the future is that that status be maintained that New Hampshire keeps its first in the nation primary. Thank you. RECOGNITION PERIOD – None READING MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS THAT THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN MEETINGS OF JANUARY 10, 2011 AND JANUARY 11, 2011, BE ACCEPTED, PLACED ON FILE, AND THE READINGS SUSPENDED MOTION CARRIED COMMUNICATIONS – None PERIOD FOR PUBLIC COMMENT RELATIVE TO ITEMS EXPECTED TO BE ACTED UPON THIS EVENING - None PETITIONS – None NOMINATIONS, APPOINTMENTS AND ELECTIONS Historic District Commission LouAnn Fornataro (New Appointment) Term to Expire: January 31, 2014 201 Main Street Nashua, NH 03060 Bd. of Aldermen – 01/25/11 Page 3 MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO ACCEPT THE APPOINTMENT BY THE MAYOR AS READ AND REFER IT TO THE PERSONNEL/ADMINISTRATIVE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE MOTION CARRIED REPORTS OF COMMITTEE Budget Review Committee................................................................... 01/10/11 There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the January 10, 2011 Budget Review Committee accepted and placed on file. Finance Committee .............................................................................. 01/19/11 There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the January 19, 2011 Finance Committee accepted and placed on file. WRITTEN REPORTS FROM LIAISONS – None CONFIRMATION OF MAYOR'S APPOINTMENTS - None UNFINISHED BUSINESS – RESOLUTIONS R-10-77 Endorsers: Alderman Jeffrey T. Cox Alderman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja Alderman Diane Sheehan Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire Alderman-at-Large Ben Clemons Alderman Kathy Vitale Alderman Paul M. Chasse, Jr. RELATIVE TO THE TRANSFER OF $615,703 FROM ACCOUNT #581-19210 “SCHOOL DEPARTMENT, SEVERANCE” INTO ACCOUNT #981-5323 “SCHOOL RETIREMENT EXPENDABLE TRUST FUND” given its second reading; MOTION BY ALDERMAN COX FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-10-77 ON THE QUESTION Alderman Flynn Thank you. I just wanted to speak just a little bit on this. It is a little redundant because I said this in committee, but I still feel pretty strongly that this was an opportunity for the school department to give something back to the City. A little bit of history; when we had the problems on the budget back in FY09 we found a way to take care of the unpaid bills, we found that $3.3 million, quite frankly when I researched that today I recognized that there was only the Mayor and three co-sponsors, and I was one of the co-sponsors of that bill. We have bills, we have to pay them, and I didn’t certainly resist doing that. We also passed legislation shortly after that because they were on the thralls of starting a new school year. We passed legislation to give them $850,000 for that year’s school bills, and the Mayor also suggested and we went along with, I went along with it and I think the board went along with it unanimously, adding $150,000 and creating the beginning of an expendable trust fund for special education. We really have Bd. of Aldermen – 01/25/11 Page 4 been sensitive and I think we have tried to respond to emerging issues to try to support the school department; things that we certainly didn’t anticipate in the first place. Now we have a situation where after the Mayor made a change in this past year’s budget where she put the funding for school retirements into the line item budget for the school department. I actually like that idea. I thought that was a pretty good idea. It gave them an opportunity I think they ended up using some of that money to save some high school positions. I think it was $400,000 or something for high school positions. But now they have reached a point where their school year is up and running, they have identified that they have $600,000 that they don’t need for this school year. It seems to me that this would be an opportunity for the school department to return the funds to the City. It really doesn’t seem right once again to be raising taxes to be putting money aside for of all thing future severance packages. It is one thing to do it for special education or to do it for whatever reasons, for putting money aside for fuel management costs or whatever it might be, but for raising taxes and then setting money aside for future costs for severance that is a hard sell for me. This looked like it was an excellent opportunity for the school department to give something back to the City. My memory is a little spotty on this. I was sitting somewhere either here or there so I don’t even know what committee it happened at, but I remember I was on this side of the room. I remember the school department coming to us and I am pretty certain that one or two of them spoke that they were going to try to find ways, recognizing that $3.3 million was quite a charge to the city, they were going to try to find ways to I thought the words were pay that back to us. That didn’t seem reasonable to pay it back, but I thought they might try to find some ways to give something back to the City. This was an opportunity here tonight; this $615,000 that isn’t needed for this year’s cost. They want to put it away for an expendable trust fund for future severance packages. I would just say this was a chance to give something back. I understand when I questioned in committee the best information we had at that time was that the school board had voted unanimously not to give this back to the City, but to recommend putting it into this expendable trust fund. Again, I had disappointment that evening and I certainly would be disappointed to see this pass the way it is. I am not going to support this. Alderman Deane Thank you. I tend to agree with Alderman Flynn. When we discussed their operating budget and we looked at the possibilities of retirement and what was due for severance we were almost to the number on exactly what they needed for money to pay for that. They decided to keep this in the line anyway and now a trust fund is being created. I myself have created trust funds, which this board has taken the opportunity by the majority to drain and spend on other purposes. I’m not going to support this either. I think as Alderman Flynn alluded to earlier, they can give it back; they didn’t need it to begin with. They have to take a good hard look at these severance packages and retirees and the $3.3 million bailout that was given to them with all of the misappropriations that were done over there prior to the current administration, we stepped up and took care of that because we had to. This should be returned to the City. That is my belief. I will not be supporting this resolution either. Alderman Craffey Thank you Mr. President. Although this happened before I was appointed to the board, I too agree with both of the previous speakers; the money should be returned to the City. It was a misappropriation of funds by the previous administration, the City stepped up, I was all for that, but I really think the money should come back to the City, and I won’t support this either. Bd. of Aldermen – 01/25/11 Page 5 President McCarthy The motion is for final passage of R-10-77. Is there any further discussion? A Viva Voce Roll Call was requested, which resulted as follows: Yea: Alderman Clemons, Alderman Vitale, Alderman Pressly, Alderman LaRose, Alderman Tabacsko, Alderman Melizzi-Golja, Alderman Cox, Alderman Sheehan, Alderman Wilshire, Alderman Chasse, Alderman McCarthy 11 Nay: Alderman Craffey, Alderman Deane, Alderman Flynn, Alderman Cookson 4 MOTION CARRIED Resolution R-10-77 declared duly adopted. R-10-79 Endorsers: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau Alderman Diane Sheehan Alderman Jeffrey T. Cox Alderman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja Alderman Michael J. Tabacsko Alderman Richard LaRose Alderman-at-Large Barbara Pressly RELATIVE TO THE TRANSFER OF $70,000 FROM ACCOUNT #591-86005 “CONTINGENCY, GENERAL” INTO ACCOUNT #699-07 “WATER SUPPLY ACQUISITION” given its second reading; MOTION BY ALDERMAN SHEEHAN FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-10-79 MOTION CARRIED Resolution R-10-79 declared duly adopted. R-10-83 Endorser: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau CREATING A SPECIAL REVENUE FUND FOR EVENTS AT HOLMAN STADIUM given its second reading; Alderman Clemons I have something written saying that I should move to table, however I am going to move to recommend final passage of R-10-83. President McCarthy We can’t do that. By Statute, we have to wait at least 15 days after the public hearing. The 15 days isn’t over until the end of today, which is why the motion to hold. MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO TABLE R-10-83 UNTIL THE NEXT REGULARLY SCHEDULED BOARD OF ALDERMEN MEETING Bd. of Aldermen – 01/25/11 Page 6 ON THE QUESTION President McCarthy We might discuss with the state delegation what the difference between 14 and 15 days means to the schedules at this point. MOTION CARRIED UNFINISHED BUSINESS – ORDINANCES O-10-22 Endorsers: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau Alderman-at-Large Brian S. McCarthy ELIMINATING THE INCREASE IN THE MAYOR’S FY2011 SALARY Given its second reading; MOTION BY ALDERMAN DEANE TO AMEND O-10-22 IN ITS ENTIRETY BY REPLACING IT WITH THE GOLDEN ROD COPY PROVIDED WITH THE AGENDA ON THE QUESTION Alderman Chasse I believe you are the sponsor of this. Could you tell us the difference between the initial one and the golden rod copy? President McCarthy I cannot. I was not at the meeting where it was amended. Perhaps someone else could. Alderman Deane I will defer to Alderman Sheehan. She is the one that made the motion to amend. Alderman Sheehan The difference between the two is essentially some of the Aldermen on the Budget Review Committee felt that for reasons going forward we should not be pretending that the raise was actually given for calculations going forward in 2012. They wanted it held back to have the starting point be like we had never skipped a year. In essence, rather than making the calculations as if the rates had gone into affect for this upcoming year, it is now going back in time as if that never happened, which may or may not have been differently than how the other staff was handled, but have a similar process. Alderman Chasse Thank you. President McCarthy Is there any further discussion? MOTION CARRIED Bd. of Aldermen – 01/25/11 Page 7 MOTION BY ALDERMAN DEANE FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF O-10-22 AS AMENDED MOTION CARRIED Ordinance O-10-22 declared duly adopted as amended. 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 second reading; MOTION BY ALDERMAN DEANE TO AMEND O-10-39 IN ITS ENTIRETY BY REPLACING IT WITH THE GOLDEN ROD COPY PROVIDED WITH THE AGENDA ON THE QUESTION Alderman Chasse Would Alderman Deane provide us with a quick synopsis of what changed? Alderman Deane If you go to 5-134 Section B and look at the last sentence I believe that was the amendment that Alderman Sheehan had made. I’m sorry I am incorrect on that. You have to go to 5-19 under Necessary Procedure for Passage. I believe the amendment that was made, and Alderman Sheehan can correct me if I am wrong, she added in “and direct financial impact to any other accounts.” Is that all you added? That was it. Alderman Chasse Thank you. Alderman Deane You are welcome. President McCarthy Is there any further discussion of the motion to amend? MOTION CARRIED MOTION BY ALDERMAN DEANE FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF O-10-39 AS AMENDED MOTION CARRIED Ordinance O-10-39 declared duly adopted as amended. MOTION BY ALDERMAN TABACSKO TO WITHDRAW FROM COMMITTEE ORDINANCE O-10-41, AMENDING THE ZONING ORDINANCE AND MAP FROM “A SUBURBAN RESIDENCE” (R-30) AND “B SUBURBAN RESIDENCE” (R-18) TO “PARK INDUSTRIAL” (PI) AND “C URBAN RESIDENCE” (R-C) FOR LAND OFF SPIT BROOK ROAD AND THE F.E. EVERETT TURNPIKE Bd. of Aldermen – 01/25/11 Page 8 ON THE QUESTION President McCarthy The motion is to withdraw from committee O-10-41, and my understanding is there is a minor change to the legal description of the lot, which was not sufficient to cause us to do this earlier, but given that the public hearing was cancelled and needs to be rescheduled, we will amend the ordinance to have the correct legal description and then schedule a public hearing. Alderman Tabacsko That is my understanding as well. MOTION CARRIED O-10-41 Endorser: Alderman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja AMENDING THE ZONING ORDINANCE AND MAP FROM “A SUBURBAN RESIDENCE” (R-30) AND “B SUBURBAN RESIDENCE” (R-18) TO “PARK INDUSTRIAL” (PI) AND “C URBAN RESIDENCE” (R-C) FOR LAND OFF SPIT BROOK ROAD AND THE F.E. EVERETT TURNPIKE Given its second reading; MOTION BY ALDERMAN TABACSKO TO AMEND O-10-41 IN ITS ENTIRETY BY REPLACING IT WITH THE AMENDED VERSION PLACED ON OUR DESKS THIS EVENING ON THE QUESTION Alderman Tabacsko In anticipation of Alderman Chasse’s question, let me jump right out in front. The original had four sections of description one of which was redundant, and the revised version simply cleans that up. Alderman Chasse Thank you. MOTION CARRIED MOTION BY ALDERMAN TABACSKO TO RE-REFER O-10-41, AS AMENDED, TO THE PLANNING & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE AND THAT A PUBLIC HEARING BE SCHEDULED FOR TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2011, IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE COMMITTEE ON INFRASTRUCTURE MEETING SCHEDULED THAT EVENING IN THE ALDERMANIC CHAMBER ON THE QUESTION Alderman Cookson Thank you. On the second page, section 2, Area to be Rezoned From R-18 and R-30 to RC-Residential C, there is a piece of text that is highlighted. Is that a formatting error or is that something that was also amended? Bd. of Aldermen – 01/25/11 Page 9 Alderman Tabacsko I don’t know the answer to that. It would appear to be a formatting error based on the rest of the document showing the same wording without the larger font. Actually maybe not because that is the only one that is the beginning point. That may be, and I don’t know – from a legal standpoint perhaps Corporation Counsel could help us out with the legal description. James McNamee, Esq. Are you talking on the second page where it says “a point of beginning” and it is in bold and all capital letters? Alderman Tabacsko Yes. James McNamee, Esq. It may just be for ease of reading. It wouldn’t have any legal significance. Alderman Cookson And we don’t know what the original resolution stated? Alderman Tabacsko I don’t have that with me. President McCarthy It was also bolded. Alderman Cookson Okay. Thank you. Alderman Deane What is the date of the public hearing March 1st? President McCarthy Yes. Alderman Deane That is a Tuesday? Alderman Tabacsko That is a Tuesday. That is the regular PEDC night although Infrastructure is going first for the other related piece, which is the street discontinuance for Dozer Road. Bd. of Aldermen – 01/25/11 Page 10 Alderman Deane Thank you. President McCarthy Is there any further discussion? MOTION CARRIED NEW BUSINESS – RESOLUTIONS R-11-86 Endorser: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau Alderman Michael J. Tabacsko Alderman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO AN AGREEMENT WITH THE NEW HAMPSHIRE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT FINANCE AUTHORITY (CDFA) AND AUTHORIZING THE ACCEPTANCE AND APPROPRIATION OF $200,000 INTO SPECIAL REVENUE ACCOUNT #373-7003 Given its first reading; assigned to the HUMAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE by President McCarthy R-11-87 Endorsers: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau Alderman-at-Large Brian S. McCarthy Alderman Kathryn D. Vitale Alderman-at-Large Barbara Pressly Alderman Michael J. Tabacsko Alderman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja Alderman Jeffrey T. Cox Alderman Diane Sheehan Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO GIVE PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT TO PENNICHUCK WATER WORKS, INC. PROPOSED FOURTH CONTRACT WITH ANHEUSER-BUSCH, INCORPORATED Given its first reading; assigned to the PENNICHUCK WATER SPECIAL COMMITTEE by President McCarthy R-11-88 Endorser: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau Alderman-at-Large Ben Clemons Alderman Michael J. Tabacsko Alderman Arthur T. Craffey, Jr. Alderman Kathryn D. Vitale Alderman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja Alderman Jeffrey T. Cox Alderman Diane Sheehan AUTHORIZING A LEASE AND OPERATING AGREEMENT WITH AVSG LP FOR A COMPRESSED NATURAL GAS STATION ON A PORTION OF 9-11 RIVERSIDE STREET Given is first reading assigned to the FINANCE COMMITTEE by President McCarthy Bd. of Aldermen – 01/25/11 Page 11 Alderman Deane Mr. President could you refer that to the Board of Public Works too please? They are their vehicles, and I think they should probably understand the cost. Thank you. Assigned to the FINANCE COMMITTEE and the BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS by President McCarthy NEW BUSINESS – ORDINANCES O-11-53 Endorser: Alderman Diane Sheehan AMENDING THE LAND USE CODE IN REGARD TO A SHORELAND EXEMPTION Given its first reading; MOTION BY ALDERMAN TABACSKO TO ACCEPT THE FIRST READING OF O-11-53, ASSIGN IT TO THE PLANNING & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE AND THE NASHUA CITY PLANNING BOARD AND THAT A PUBLIC HEARING BE SCHEDULED FOR TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2011, AT 7:00 PM IN THE ALDERMANIC CHAMBER ON THE QUESTION Alderman Tabacsko Let me just clarify that motion; it will be as soon after 7:00 p.m. as the other pieces complete their public hearings. We are filling that agenda pretty quickly here. MOTION CARRIED O-11-54 Endorser: Alderman-at-Large Barbara Pressly Alderman-at-Large Ben Clemons Alderman Diane Sheehan Alderman Arthur T. Craffey, Jr. Alderman-at-Large Mark S. Cookson REGARDING APPOINTMENT AND REAPPOINTMENT PROCEDURES Given its first reading; MOTION BY ALDERMAN TABACSKO TO ACCEPT THE FIRST READING OF O-11-54, ASSIGN IT TO THE PERSONNEL/ADMINISTRATIVE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE, THE PLANNING & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE AND THE NASHUA CITY PLANNING BOARD AND THAT A PUBLIC HEARING BE SCHEDULED FOR TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2011, AT 7:00 PM IN THE ALDERMANIC CHAMBER ON THE QUESTION Alderman Pressly Thank you Mr. President. I have a question on procedures. What if there is an effort to amend this, how does that impact the public hearing? I know that the committee has not had a chance to review it yet and discuss it. If there is an amendment what does that do to our scheduling? Bd. of Aldermen – 01/25/11 Page 12 President McCarthy I think the statutory requirement is basically that we hold the public hearing. Our typical procedure if there are major amendments to legislation of that type, we schedule another hearing. We would also re-refer to the Planning Board with the amendments. Alderman Pressly So if there is an amendment, depending on the extent of the changes, it could go through the same procedures again? President McCarthy Yes. Alderman Pressly Thank you. Alderman Tabacsko Procedurally, because of the nature of that piece of legislation, once the public hearing has been conducted at PEDC I might be willing to entertain a motion to hold it there until the Personnel Committee has had a chance to deal with it post public hearing and then deal with it from the PEDC perspective after that. Alderman Pressly And the public hearing might produce some ideas also for amendments. I think it is important that this be well understood and have a chance for public participation. Alderman Deane Why is this being sent all over God’s creation? President McCarthy Because by State law it requires that it be sent there because it affects the appointment of the land use boards. Alderman Deane Just because of the land use boards so there is nothing that has to do with the Green Team or any of the other boards or commissions that we have in place? President McCarthy No. Is there any further discussion of the motion? MOTION CARRIED Bd. of Aldermen – 01/25/11 Page 13 PERIOD FOR GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT James Cutter, 86 Palm Street Open letter to Alderman-at-Large Brian McCarthy: Dear Alderman McCarthy City Attorney McNamee has not produced the letter I requested on December 14th so it could have been read on the 28th. Without the letter it shows he knows I am right. It is a fact Mayor Lozeau has known for some time the City made the mistakes because she has heard me at these meetings, and realizes laws are not difficult to understand or no one would obey them. The City needs to notify our neighbors that the 1950 and 1971 building permits were approved in error because the boundary lines on the plot plan did not agree with the deed, Ordinance 190-268 Building Permits and Land Use Permits. Because of these errors the Gilbertsons took part of our driveway and clothesline area that is protected by both federal and state constitutions under the name of cartilage, RSA 627:9 (1) Cartilage. That 3’ wide strip of land must be returned to us. Very truly yours, Jim. Thank you. REMARKS BY THE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN Alderman Clemons Thank you. Tonight I would like to begin my comments by discussing our frequent guest Mr. Cutter. Repeatedly for over a year Mr. Cutter has attended our meetings asking for the City to resolve his land dispute with his neighbor. I’m told that, and it was repeated this evening, that he has not received an opinion on the matter from the Mayor’s Office or Corporation Counsel, at least not in writing. President McCarthy I have that decision Alderman Clemons. Alderman Clemons Okay. My request then would only be that Mr. Cutter receive a copy of that because as a citizen I think he deserves to have that opinion given to him. On a completely different note, I would like to discuss something that, normally I don’t bring up politics at least here about what is going on at the State House, however, I was horrified to hear the new Speaker of the House talk about our young adult voters. He was quoted as saying “They are kids voting liberal, voting their feelings with no life experience.” He is in support of a law that would make it extremely hard for college students and younger adults to vote in this state. I have a huge problem with this. Speaker O’Brien’s contempt for young people is based on the fact that he thinks young people tend to vote liberal, which is against his conservative background. I would point out to him and to any of our delegation and legislatures that there are hundreds if not thousands of young republicans statewide on college campuses and throughout the state who would disagree with that comment. Further, I have a huge problem when the legislature decides or is about to decide whether a class of individuals is allowed to vote or not. We have in this country an obligation to go out and vote because democracy is the basis of our government and it also is how we conduct ourselves, this is how we elect our representatives. I am appalled by Speaker O’Brien for his comments. He should be ashamed of what he said. Wanting to take away someone’s right to vote because you don’t like the way that they vote is wrong, it is un-American, and as the leader of the third largest representative body in the English speaking world, if he truly feels that way he should resign. Bd. of Aldermen – 01/25/11 Page 14 Alderman Vitale I didn’t get a chance to do my Review & Comment Liaison Report, but I did want to let the board know that we have started the process of getting our packets for each of the agencies and we are going to be starting our interviews of those agencies coming up I believe on the 2nd. I know I’m going to do my group of interviews on the 3rd. If you have any questions regarding them you can direct them at me and the liaison report will be following. The other thing I wanted to bring up is tomorrow, even though we are supposed to have a snow storm I hear, I’m going to try and hold the constituent coffee for Ward 1 at Starbucks oat 6:00 p.m. so if anybody within the board or within the ward would like to come by and chat between 6:00 and 7:00 p.m. I would welcome their attendance. Thank you. Alderman Craffey Thank you. I will bring my snowshoes. I just wanted to thank the residents of Chautauqua Ave. for their comments and concerns expressed at last night’s Ward 4 informational meeting. I will be bringing forth legislation to help them deal with their issue of parking. I just wanted to let you know that. I also want to wish my son, Christopher, my youngest son, he is shipping out to Iraq at the end of this week, that will be two sons in harms way, I just want to say God bless him. Thank you very much. Alderman Deane I sat here for some 9 years and I have watched a lot of election results, and at times I wasn’t happy with some of the outcome, but it was what the people wanted, and I respect that. I wasn’t happy with a lot of what went on in Concord the last four years and I could sit here and talk about that for hours on end. It is getting kind of depressing to read daily the rhetoric that is published in the Telegraph about the conditions of our state, our country, the blaming. The election is over; it is time for people to move on. I agree with you Alderman Clemons everyone has a right to vote, it is not right to sit there and characterize different age groups of individuals, but the beauty of the whole thing is come this November, we get to do it again and then two years from now you get to do it again. People have an opportunity to remove those who they strongly disagree with. I think that may be some motive to implement some change, however, change was implemented this time around, and we will see how it works out. On the delegation end, I look forward to some open discussion with them on a lot of different issues. I would ask Mr. President that if you could contact either Peter Silva or whomever and have the legislation purged that may have some net affect on this city and see if they could bring something in, I know there was probably over 1,000 pieces. I am talking about things that have financial relevance towards the community. That would be appreciated. I think that would be a good starting point. Thank you. President McCarthy I have had some discussion with Representative Silva to try to nail down the 50 pieces we are going to care about out of the 1,200 that are on the… Alderman Deane The one thing I would really like to see is allowing residents and businesses in New Hampshire to be able to shop across state lines for their health insurance. When that law was passed, and everyone in the community probably remembers the old Matthew Thornton and all of those little HMOs, the big guys went around and gobbled them all up, and that is what happened. Now there is no competition and with no competition we all know what happens to the price. Thank you. Bd. of Aldermen – 01/25/11 Page 15 Alderman Pressly Thank you Mr. President. I would like to complement the drivers of Nashua in the way they handled these snowstorms. I was struck by the fact that when I was on the slippery streets that people they drove more slowly, they waived to people, if there was somebody having trouble we all were courteous to them, and I just felt there was a sense of camaraderie that we all knew that the situation on the streets had changed significantly and that courtesy was appropriate for that. I noticed that and I really enjoyed it. A reminder for Monday, wear your nametag and just remember that although it will be a social time and mingling that we will be on camera. Thank you. Alderman Melizzi-Golja Just so people are aware, the Ethnic Awareness Committee meeting that was scheduled for last week was cancelled due to a lack of quorum so that is why there is no liaison report. Also just a thank you to the streets department for all of their work during the snowstorm. I received several compliments for them that I relayed to Director Kenison, and there were a few concerns which were quickly addressed so once again thank you to them for all of their hard work. I’m sure many of you read in the paper this past week about Principal Langille at Bicentennial and Principal Asbell at Pennichuck being recognized as outstanding Principals in the State at the elementary and middle school level so congratulations to them for all of their efforts. Alderman Cox I just want to echo the previous speaker and the Mayor’s snow, snow, snow, and extend the highest compliment to the street department for the tremendous job they have done removing the snow and also the solid waste. I don’t know if everybody has seen the very creative placements of the recycling binds and the trash bins sticking at every single angle possible; on the snow bank, our of the snow bank, some actually carved little holes like they do for the mailbox into the snow bank, but it has been a real challenge and I think they have done a great job with that. Thank you. Alderman Sheehan Thanks. I just wanted to extend a thank you to the many residents of Ward 3 who came out last Saturday to the meetings that the Mayor held regarding the Mount Pleasant School parking and the Tolles and Courtland highway by pass, and for the excellent participation. There was a lot of very good input, and I just wanted to thank everyone, and give a warning that it looks like the March 1st crime watch meeting I won’t be there. There will be four public hearings that night and this is where I will be. Alderman Wilshire I too would like to thank everyone who has done such a great job keeping our streets and sidewalks plowed. Good job. Alderman Chasse Alright now I feel like Alderman Deane; I happened to find down underneath my desk O-10-41 the original and O-10-41 the amended. Those words “a pointer beginning” are not bolded in the original. I don’t know if it was a typographical error or if it has any bearing on anything at all. Bd. of Aldermen – 01/25/11 Page 16 Alderman Flynn Thank you. Because we have talked about it a little bit tonight I wanted to stay on the subject a little bit longer about severance costs. Severance costs are a payout by the City when someone retires. Generally the severance cost packages are very common to see the numbers in the $30,000 range. You see some that are in the $40,000 and $50,000 range. We get them in our packet all the time. The average is probably around $30,000 or $33,000. Those are the costs that the City incurs because the benefits that the employees have over the course of their time with the City they don’t use all of those benefits up so between their unused vacation time, unused sick time whatever it might be, personal time, all of those things end up being compensated at the end. It is an amazing cost. If you look at the FY09 the year that the school department had the problem, or if you even look at this past year what we put in our budget when we put in $1.8 million in the school department budget for severance costs and $600,000 on the city side for city retirement costs, when you add those numbers up that is $2.3 million. If the average home perhaps their tax bill is $100 a week or it is $5,000 a year that means that the average household is paying $75 each of those years just for severance costs. I think we have pretty much been told that $1.7 million is about 1% and we have been at $2.3 million or $2.4 million in each of those years. That is kind of a hard shell out $75 just for severance costs. Another way of looking at it that is even more, to me it is even more disturbing, but for others it might be more eye opening, is if you take $2.3 million and you divide that by $5,000 as an average tax bill that means that there are 460 homes each of those years that paid their taxes, their entire tax bill; their bill in June plus their bill in December that went towards severance costs. We have 460 houses; I’d get tired walking past 460 houses. I think I couldn’t survive if I had to get 460 signatures of residents who wanted their tax bill to go towards severance costs each and every year. $2.3 million divided by $5,000 is I think it is 460 homes if an average tax bill is $5,000 per home. That is a staggering number to think about. It is something we really have to fix. We have too many departments that come in here and tell us they don’t have batteries, they don’t have up to date computers, might not have paras, they are worried about study halls in the high school and yet we are taking 460 homes or $2.3 million and putting that entire tax bill both in June and in December towards severance costs. There is something wrong with that benefit and going forward we have to have, I don’t know what the strategy is, I think we have to have someone in the Mayor’s maybe H.R. staff or something come up with some strategy for us and we are going to have to agree just not to approve contracts that don’t show some improvement in those numbers. Another problem with those severance costs is if you are earning $60,000 a year for the last three years that you are here as an employee your pension would be based on the average of your last three years so it would be $60,000 times x is $180,000 divided by 3 so your pension is based on $60,000 as your average income over your last three years. But when you get that $30,000 payout your total earnings for your last 3 years is $210,000 so you divide that by 3 and your pension is based on $70,000 over the last three years as your average so your pension is increased by 14% a year forever based on that benefit of severance. It is not very common anymore, at least those people that I talk to, usually if you don’t use your time you lose your time, and it is more common I think today that you get probably 2 or 3 days for sick time and if you need more sick time you have to use your vacation time, you just don’t have these kind of benefits. We had a little bit of dialogue earlier tonight when we talked about the money that we had to raise from taxes and now we have set it aside because we are concerned about those costs being high in the future. They are very high in the present. Thank you. Bd. of Aldermen – 01/25/11 Page 17 Alderman Cookson Thank you. I also wanted to thank the many people for the help with keeping the streets clean; solid waste, wastewater, streets, traffic, everybody contributed to helping the City of Nashua so we certainly appreciate that, and the school department as well as they are clearing some sidewalks in those priority zones around the schools. I know that they are working many long hours and they are going to be working just a few more tomorrow. If, as the Mayor said in her earlier statements, if we have neighbors, if you have a snowplow that can help along clear off the sidewalks please do so, please help us out so that we can keep the streets clean for you. I also wanted to thank President McCarthy for arranging for Nashua’s delegation coming to meet with us next week. I am very much looking forward to it. I wanted to make sure that is still considered a public meeting and so in addition to Nashua’s state delegation we are open to the public as well that evening. President McCarthy We are. I’m not sure exactly where they are going to sit. Alderman Cookson But everybody is welcome? President McCarthy Yes. Alderman Cookson And we will find a way, if we do have guests that would like to come to that session, everyone is welcome. President McCarthy They may get to sit in the good chairs. Alderman Cookson Excellent. Thank you very much. Alderman Clemons I just wanted to respond to one of the previous speakers in regards to voting. I understand that the last election was about change, I get it. But my problem with what is going on particularly with this type of sentiment and this type of rhetoric is that if you take away or you make it harder for someone to vote then they don’t get to participate in the next election and that skews the process and that is wrong and that is the point that I was trying to make. Alderman Deane I won’t get into a debate. I will give my friend the last word. Thank you. Bd. of Aldermen – 01/25/11 Page 18 President McCarthy I did, as I mentioned, receive a response from Attorney McNamee regarding Mr. Cutter’s requests of this board, and I will read it to you and then I believe he has copies to hand out to the board and we will get one to Mr. Cutter. “Since 2006 James Cutter has contacted various city departments concerning a boundary dispute with his neighbor at 88 Palm Street. He has received consistent responses from city employees including two Mayors, three lawyers and the assessing and building departments. Mr. Cutter bought his property in 1977, but his problem dates back to 1875. The property was part of a larger parcel bordered on the west side by what later became Palm Street. Unfortunately the 1875 conveyance described the distance along the Palm Street side as 3’ less than what actually exists. That discrepancy was carried through as lots were subdivided out of the larger parcel. Mr. Cutter’s parcel at 86 Palm Street wound up with 30’ of frontage and 88 Palm Street has 51’ of frontage. Mr. Cutter acknowledges that his Deed only gives him 30’, but says that he should have 33’ of frontage. The discrepancy falls in the area of between those two parcels. The City cannot solve this private matter between the two property owners. The City also did not create the problem, the owners at 88 Palm Street have historically claimed that they had more than 51’ of frontage, their five building permits in 1950 and 1971 indicating that they have 53.57’ for them to mention was not necessary to get the permits, which were for additions to the structure. Mr. Cutter believes that the neighbors built a fence along the claimed property line in 1973 based on that permit, but that is not that case, the fence did not require a permit. At one time the City GIS map showed that 88 Palm Street had 53.7’ of frontage. It is not clear where that dimension came from but it does not affect the title of the property. Based on Mr. Cutter’s inquiries the City has reviewed the deeds and the dimensions shown on the GIS map now conform to the deed descriptions for both 86 and 88 Palm Street.” As I said, there are copies of that to go around. On a personal note, as you all know, my mother-in-law passed away last weekend, and I wanted to thank the members of the board; Alderman Clemons, Alderman Vitale, Alderman Deane, Alderman Pressly, Alderman Tabacsko, Alderman Melizzi-Golja, Alderman Cox, Alderman Sheehan, and Alderman Wilshire who turned out to show their sympathy and support. My family and I appreciate it. Lastly I wanted to communicate that today I received a correspondence from Chairman Currier of the Zoning Board of Adjustment asking if this board would have an interest in the ZBA moving its meetings off of Tuesday nights so that they did not overlap the board meetings and we were able to attend. I went way out on a limb and responded in the affirmative that I though the board would agree positively with that change. We have no birthdays this month. Committee announcements: Alderman Wilshire Human Affairs Committee Thursday night, January 27th here in the Chambers at 7:00 p.m. Bd. of Aldermen – 01/25/11 Page 19 Alderman Cox Consistent with our Mother Nature marriage, Infrastructure tomorrow evening at 7:00 p.m. in these chambers along with the snowstorm. Alderman Tabacsko Thank you. This Friday morning at 8:00 a.m. what used to be called the BID Committee, SAC, Services Advisory Committee at 8:00 a.m. in room 208. That is a reschedule of an earlier meeting that had been cancelled. Also just as information the PEDC meeting and public hearings from last week had to be cancelled because of the snow and inclement weather. The re-scheduled, that will be this coming Tuesday, February 1st PEDC will be taking up O-10-44, which is amending the land use code prohibiting the placement of telecommunications towers, also O-11-49 – eliminating the holdover limitation on terms of land use board members, and also O-11-52, which is amending the land use code in regards to flood plane management. As we had done earlier tonight after we had amended, on March 1st will be the pieces on the Flatley property on the Dozer Road and the rezoning down there. I just don’t want anybody to get confused because they have moved on the calendar a little bit, and I know a lot of those have different people interested in them so just trying to make sure everybody understand that. Thank you. President McCarthy I am glad you mentioned the Services Advisory Committee. I want to update the board that if you recall when we had the presentation from the advisory committee and talked about having legal look at the language we needed to draft that, I had asked that that be done. Attorney Clarke has worked on that fairly diligently, but has run into a number of cases where like all good things in New Hampshire it is harder to do than it looks. What I think we are going to try to do is legal is going to frame some of the issues and questions about things we need to decide on how we want to do them and I will ask Alderman Cox to schedule a meeting of the Infrastructure Committee where we can look at those issues and take next steps towards getting to that legislation. ADJOURNMENT MOTION BY ALDERMAN LAROSE THAT THE JANUARY 25, 2011 MEETING OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN BE ADJOURNED MOTION CARRIED The meeting was declared adjourned at 8:50 p.m. Attest: Patricia Piecuch, Deputy City Clerk