Aldermen, Board of

A regular meeting of the Board of Aldermen was held Tuesday, March 8, 2011 at 7:30 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chamber. President Brian S. McCarthy presided; City Clerk Paul R. Bergeron recorded. Prayer was offered by City Clerk Paul R. Bergeron; Alderman Wilshire led in the Pledge to the Flag. The roll call was taken with 15 members of the Board of Aldermen present; Alderman Cookson arrived after roll call at 7:32 p.m. Her Honor Mayor Donnalee Lozeau and Corporation Counsel James M. McNamee were also in attendance. REMARKS BY THE MAYOR Thank you, Mr. President. I have two items that I would mention this evening. The first is for those of you out there that have taken the time to clean catch basins and worry about things like that, it was very helpful during the heavy rains with those catch basins open. Of course, they continue to be a challenge as do some of the culverts but as many of you know, we’ve also removed snow in places where we had flooding issues and that was helpful to do that. I just wanted to take a moment and say thank you and mention to the Board and any of your constituents that you call or see relative to issues surrounding that, it would be great to tell them thank you as well. On a sad note, I would just give my condolences to the Conway family who lost Mrs. Jane Conway this week. She was a very thoughtful, caring, charitable volunteer in our community. The Conway name is on a few things here and there in Nashua. I know many of you know her, or have known of her if not known her, and her family remains just as charitable and dedicated to this community as she always was and I just wanted to pass on my sincere sympathies. Thank you, Mr. President. RESPONSE TO REMARKS OF THE MAYOR – None RECOGNITION PERIOD R-11-95 Endorsers: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau Board of Aldermen HONORING PASTOR ROBERT “ODIE” ODIERNA Given its second reading; MOTION BY ALDERMAN VITALE FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-11-95 MOTION CARRIED Resolution R-11-95 declared duly adopted. READING MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS THAT THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN MEETINGS OF FEBRUARY 15, 2011, FEBRUARY 22, 2011, AND THE PUBLIC HEARINGS CONDUCTED BY THE COMMITTEE ON INFRASTRUCTURE AND THE PLANNING & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE OF MARCH 1, 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 Bd. of Aldermen – 03/08/11 Page 2 PETITIONS Petition for Street Discontinuance: A Portion of Dozer Road (So-Called) MOTION BY ALDERMAN COX TO GRANT THE PETITION FOR STREET DISCONTINUANCE MOTION CARRIED NOMINATIONS, APPOINTMENTS AND ELECTIONS – None REPORTS OF COMMITTEE Committee on Infrastructure ................................................................ 03/01/11 There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the March 1, 2011 Committee on Infrastructure accepted and placed on file. Planning & Economic Development Committee................................... 03/01/11 There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the March 1, 2011 Planning & Economic Development Committee accepted and placed on file. WRITTEN REPORTS FROM LIAISONS – None CONFIRMATION OF MAYOR'S APPOINTMENTS - None UNFINISHED BUSINESS – RESOLUTIONS Alderman Pressly I would like to bring up an issue at this time. Having voted in the affirmative on R-11-91 at the previous meeting, I move for reconsideration, and I wish to speak to it. MOTION BY ALDERMAN PRESSLY TO RECONSIDER RESOLUTION R-11-91 ON THE QUESTION Alderman Pressly I am extremely frustrated, and I do not know where to begin. I consider this one of the most important development projects that the City has on its agenda. Alderman Melizzi-Golja Excuse me. Alderman Pressly just for people who are watching and may not be familiar, if you might want to at least let them know what R-11-91 is in reference to. I’m sorry. Alderman Pressly Authorizing the Submission of an Application to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Section 108 Loan Guarantee Program and Requesting a Revision to the Brownfields Economic Development Initiative Grant for Cotton Mill Square, LLC. Bd. of Aldermen – 03/08/11 Page 3 Alderman Melizzi-Golja Thank you. Alderman Pressly Thank you for noticing that. I’m not sure where to begin tonight other than to say I am extremely frustrated. This is one of the largest probably most significant important tasks that this board will have second only to the Broad Street Parkway is this significant to the City and to everyone involved. I’m frustrated with the process and how we have done this and I’m extremely concerned. I think there have been numerous flaws in the process. I think 99% of the flaws rest with the Board of Aldermen not with the applicant. I would like th to read to you from a meeting that took place on January 27 before the Human Affairs Committee. On page 7, the attorney for the project is speaking and says; “Excuse me Madam Chairman, but I think we are here on another matter, not the CDBG. That is on the joint committee that we had talked about.” Chairman: “This is the public hearing portion where we would identify future needs so you are more than welcome to come up and do your presentation now.” The attorney; “Is the Planning & Economic Development Committee coming for this meeting?” answer: “No.” The attorney: “I think my letter and your e-mail back to me had been we were going to try to get the two committees together.” Chairman: “When I spoke to Alderman Tabacsko he actually is at a School Construction Committee meeting tonight and I think half of us were supposed to be there too. We had a conflict, but we thought this public hearing was a good opportunity for you to come forward.” My understanding, and please understand I don’t know all of the answers to this, but I’m really confused. My understanding is that this was the routine CDBG hearing where most of the non-profits come forth and ask for their portion of the money, and for whatever reason this major multi-million dollar project was added to their agenda. It turns out there are four financial pieces for this project and for whatever reason they were assigned to the Human Affairs Committee. According to their attorney, it was expected that there would be a joint session with the Planning & Economic Development Committee because other parts will be coming to our committee. If you think of the words of our committee, there is nothing more explicit about planning & economic development than this project. It turns out it has been discussed at length at the Community Development Division, Mr. Galligani who is in charge of development has been working on this for years, but for some reason the committee that I serve on that I had expected to be part of this project was excluded. As it developed, as most of us know we had to have a special meeting to deal with it because it turned out, I believe that this attorney was absolutely correct, that was not the appropriate public hearing to deal with this project and this funding, and therefore, as we all know we had to have an emergency last minute meeting, we were not able to abide by the normal requirement for notification just because there was an error made and there was not a public hearing at the right time. President McCarthy Alderman Pressly I need to correct you on the process. The attorney requested that the two committee meet. There was nothing in the development request that required an action on the part of the Planning & Economic Development Committee… Alderman Pressly I’m well aware… President McCarthy …it meets all of the zoning codes, it meets the planning regulations, there was nothing anticipated that would come to this board. The hearing that they came to was the future needs assessment for I believe not Bd. of Aldermen – 03/08/11 Page 4 only CDBG but HOME funds as well, which is what the requests were to guarantee a loan with the proceeds of CDBG and to obtain HOME funds. Those two things are always referred to the Human Affairs Committee so that was in fact the correct hearing for them to introduce the concept at and it was the correct committee for those things to be referred to… Alderman Pressly I’m well aware of that… President McCarthy …there is nothing before us that required Planning & Economic Development. Their attorney may not have been aware of that when he requested the meeting, but just because someone suggests to us what they think the action of this board should be that doesn’t mean that is what we would do. We did what we do on our procedure, which was to send it to the Human Affairs Committee… Alderman Pressly …I’m well aware of that, however, there was much discussion along the way that there would be a joint meeting with these two committees. Apparently, there was communication between this attorney and Alderman Wilshire, according to the minutes, that this would take place. I believe that the Mayor at one point suggested both meetings and even yourself Mr. President… President McCarthy The Mayor had asked that would be a good venue… Alderman Deane Point of Order Mr. President… Alderman Pressly rd …on March 3 … President McCarthy Alderman Deane. Alderman Deane I have a Point of Order. Mr. President I would say if you are going to debate… President McCarthy I’m not debating; I’m simply stating the facts of what… Alderman Deane …well you are stating, you are debating. Your facts, you may consider them facts, they may not be facts… President McCarthy Alderman Pressly is quoting… Bd. of Aldermen – 03/08/11 Page 5 Alderman Deane …I don’t know… President McCarthy …a conversation that I and the Mayor were part of. I would expect that I am the expert on what took place in that conversation… Alderman Deane I’m not debating whether you’re an expert or not I just think if you are going to partake in this discussion I think you should step down and allow Alderman Clemons to run the meeting. President McCarthy I am in fact by the rules of order allowed to give information on which I have specific knowledge from the Chair. Alderman Pressly rd Thank you. May I point out on page 6 of the March 3 meeting, which was the emergency where we had a public hearing with a few days notice and then we had the last minute emergency meeting where on page 6 I complained at that time about this and you President McCarthy: “I want to clarify; am I mistaken in believing that the meeting where this was presented to Human Affairs was a joint meeting between the Human Affairs Committee and the Planning & Economic Development Committee?” I suggest to you that you had the impression… President McCarthy Would you read the next paragraph? Alderman Pressly And I said no it wasn’t it was not a joint meeting. President McCarthy That is because when I had the conversation with the Mayor, the Mayor asked if that night would be an appropriate venue to do that and I said yes. When the request came in, it was determined that it was a routine request of the Human Affairs Committee and we did not set up the joint meeting. I was mistaken in thinking that we had. Alderman Pressly Well I think a lot of people thought that was the appropriate thing to do. I’m very frustrated about the procedures and I think what was sort of the tip of the iceberg for me was to find out just recently that there was another meeting of the Human Affairs Committee and it was a site review, and I have also been informed that at that time there was the thought that the Human Affairs Committee, maybe that is not true, but that three members a quorum of the Human Affairs Committee had an actual site review, an on-site review of the site. If many of you remember we did that with the Broad Street Parkway and I was informed very explicitly at that time that we had to take roll call, in fact two of the people that were on that review were at that meeting, we took roll, we had to keep records. I think what is this double standard; how come three members, a quorum of a committee, can have a meeting, they were invited to have a site tour, and again Bd. of Aldermen – 03/08/11 Page 6 we are totally left off. This is such a huge project. To have this exclusivity just does not make sense. I think that could even be called an illegal meeting with no record being kept… President McCarthy I believe you are correct. I was only made aware today of the fact that tour had taken place. I have not had a chance to talk to Alderman Wilshire, but I… Alderman Pressly You just learned, so you do acknowledge it was an illegal meeting. President McCarthy I believe that meeting was in violation of the Right-to-Know Law and the process should not be repeated that way. Alderman Pressly Thank you. So that was sort of the tip of the iceberg. So what do we do about this? I have never served on a board that has such a dysfunctional process where we have last minute meetings, people think they are th invited and then they are not. Going back to that first meeting on the 27 it appears that Alderman Wilshire did communicate with Alderman Tabacsko and there was some thought at some time that there be a joint meeting because the practicality of it is that at some point some of this funding is going to have to come before the Planning & Economic Development Committee. I think we need some education. I’m not sure where we can get it, but I think we need some education on procedures. The role of the Chairman on the 27th; had I know that would be there I could have been at that meeting. I think we need to do something. I have spoken with the developer, and they are more than willing to have the complete tour of the facility for the Board of Aldermen and for the public. I will be happy to arrange that and let everybody know, and we will work out what needs to be done to make it a legal ethical meeting, and the whole community plus this board can be involved in this project. It is important enough that everybody be involved. Therefore, because I plan to do that and I suggest that we start to think as a group how can we avoid these last minute meetings, how can we be more inclusive in making sure that people know what is going on. To find out that this project has been ongoing and a discussion at City Hall for over ten years and the Planning & Economic Development Committee can’t find out about it until sort of the back door…with that in mind, I will withdraw my request for reconsideration with the understanding that I will plan to put together a walking tour. I have gone down there myself it is a very difficult confusing site. I will see to it that everyone has the chance to do this, and also explore some possibilities for education on our procedures. I think it is important that we be a little bit clearer on these last minute meetings. MOTION WITHDRAWN Alderman Clemons If you would allow me some latitude, I would appreciate it. I would just like to respond to the previous th speaker in regards to the January 27 meeting. That meeting, when the attorneys came and Mr. Stabile came before us, there was no legislation pending in front of this board and so they were presenting an idea to the community. That was chosen as the appropriate venue to do that for the reasons stated by the President. Once there was legislation in front of the Board of Aldermen it was assigned to the appropriate committees. I think, at least as far as that goes, the process was followed to the T. I won’t comment on the Bd. of Aldermen – 03/08/11 Page 7 other part about the illegal meeting, I wasn’t there. But as far as the process goes I think we followed it very well. President McCarthy Someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but my understanding of the site tour is that has been, for better or worse, common practice after the CDBG hearing, and that it was not possible to access the Cotton Mill building that day and therefore the group did not in fact see that building they saw the rest of the sites. Alderman Wilshire Thank you Mr. President. You are correct it has been past practice of the Human Affairs Committee to conduct site visits after the applications come in for CDBG funding and HOME funds. Once we get those applications, we work with the Urban Programs Department to go out and take a look at the sites that we are considering funding. We were not able to access the Cotton Mill building because it had not been shoveled or plowed out. President McCarthy I would say that in this case the applicant at one point contacted the office and ask that we have an informal presentation from them after the first Human Affairs Committee meeting and I declined saying that the only venue we could have that in was the meeting that was coming up on the last Thursday. I would say in the future, those tours need to be noticed. I did note that in the minutes of the meeting where the hearing was held the date and time of the tour is announced. It is not like it was secretive, but it should be noticed in the normal way. Alderman Deane Thank you. I’m kind of confused now. R-11-91 was not a request for Community Development Block Grant money was it? I don’t think it was. Alderman Wilshire HOME funds. Alderman Deane I was on the Human Affairs Committee one term and I didn’t attend any of the walk throughs maybe other people did, but I don’t remember a quorum of people going out viewing sites. Alderman LaRose has spoken publicly about going out in his time, and I think Alderman Wilshire has been in attendance with him, but I never remember a quorum of a committee going out. To the process, in my time on this board unless dictated by any law whether it be state or our own, we have always noted a public hearing for seven (7) days, it has always been duly advertised in the newspaper, and it has been posted. That wasn’t done. Contrary to comments that were made earlier, in my nine years that has always been our past practice. Am I wrong Alderman McCarthy? President McCarthy There are a great many different requirements for hearing notices… Bd. of Aldermen – 03/08/11 Page 8 Alderman Deane I understand that, but when we don’t have requirements put upon us we have always gone seven days and as it says duly advertised in 54-a we have always put it in the newspaper. It has always been seven days. President McCarthy While I would prefer to do it that way I can’t say that we always have in the case where there was no statutory requirement. Alderman Deane In my time, I can’t remember any different. Maybe the Legislative Manager can fill us all in since she has been here since I have been here and I believe she might know better. I didn’t attend that meeting that Mr. Stabile was at. I didn’t feel well, but I watched it at home, and to some amazement to some of the activity that went on during that meeting was a little out of the ordinary I think for someone coming in looking for money and then throwing gas and flipping matches at the people that are going to approve the money. I couldn’t understand why it had gotten to that level. Then when I hear that this thing has been going on, this legislation in part had been going on for 6 months I kind of understood some of the frustration that maybe Mr. Stabile or maybe even some of the sponsors had on the legislation. To me it didn’t bode well. I think that piece of legislation was a prime example of how not to do something. It was brought in late, there were timelines for applications that people knew about, there was a public hearing thrown together that was held before a special Board of Aldermen’s meeting, and then it was voted on right afterwards. The whole process, to me, just didn’t seem right. It just seemed like something was being ramroded through and I didn’t understand why it had to get to that point. I thought it was wrong. I have had communications from folks in the city that saw it and said it looked like Chicago style politics. I tend to agree with Alderman Pressly; if something like this is going to happen, this last minute legislation just to me this doesn’t cut it. I don’t think it is a good way to do business. I think the public sees that it is not a good way to do business, and contrary to how you voted for the legislation whether you were for it or against it isn’t the point, the point is the process. The process was, like I said earlier, it was just an extreme example of how not to do something. Thank you Mr. President. President McCarthy I will say Alderman Deane that I agree with you on that. I was unaware that we were dealing with legislation that had time periods until it came in, which was not long before that time period lapsed. I think the need for the public hearing was not discovered due to a variety of issues until the Friday before we scheduled it. Alderman Deane Well when you go outside a year with funding it requires a public hearing because you are committing funds outside of that fiscal year. The whole thing was an unfortunate situation. Alderman Sheehan If the concern is the process are we then asking to do the whole day over again and go see everybody or only that particular project? Alderman Pressly Having spoken to what I think the problems are and what I plan to be working on for the solution, I withdrew my request for reconsideration. Unless somebody else wants to do it, it does stand… Bd. of Aldermen – 03/08/11 Page 9 President McCarthy That wasn’t the question. The question was if we are going to set up an opportunity for the board to see that site does the board just want to see that site or do we want to see all of the other places that the Human Affairs Committee looked at with regard to CDBG. Alderman Pressly As far as I am concerned just that site. Alderman LaRose Thank you. As far as the site visits go, it is a good tool for the committee. People are coming in and they are asking for a considerable amount of money, and if we haven’t got the faintest idea of what they want to do, what the facilities look like, it is pretty difficult to sit here and make a decision on who gets monies and who doesn’t, who has priority and who doesn’t. When we do visit the sites we don’t discuss well I think these guys should get money, these guys shouldn’t. We have an opinion of what we have seen and then when we come to out meeting we have a full discussion on who we think should be granted monies from the Community Development Block Grant. Maybe it should be on the agenda that we are going to go visit these sites, and obviously anybody is invited to come, but eliminating the ability to go and look at sites doesn’t make much sense. Alderman Pressly The question was posed is it just this site. I don’t think this is your ordinary everyday Human Affairs request. This was a little bit special. This is a multi-million dollar project. The other requests are for $40,000 for this, $10,000 for that. It is a division that is a very competitive, they have all of these different reviews, and I have always admired the way you look into that, but this was not your ordinary everyday project. This is the one that I think we all have an interest in going down and taking a look at. It is quite complex. And I think it is time we started to treat these projects with a little more active involvement for everybody. I’m not looking to have you restructure your Human Affairs traditions, and I think it is wise that you do view some of these projects, but I think this one was extremely unique and different, and I think deserved to have the inclusion, and I understand that they told me they invited the Planning & Economic Development Committee. It was more convenient for them because they are going to have to come before this committee I think they believe to get one of the other forms of funding that was not before your committee. President McCarthy I will see if we can get something set up for the board to go see the site. Alderman Pressly I have already started that so I will work with you on that. Alderman Deane To Alderman LaRose’s point, I don’t think anybody is trying to eliminate the review process. The issue at hand is if you are going to meet as a quorum it has to be posted, a roll call has to be taken, and minutes have to be kept. So the three Aldermen that attended the meeting are probably going to have to procure some sort of minutes of what went on, when they met, who was there, and supply them to you Mr. President or to the Legislative Assistant. Bd. of Aldermen – 03/08/11 Page 10 Alderman Melizzi-Golja I would agree in looking at that visit, and I think within the previous years, which of course last year would have been my first time taking part in that. I think actually last year there was probably a quorum also. I think I was the only member last year of Human Affairs who wasn’t able to go to the site visits so I know it has just been practice, but I do think it should be posted so anyone else on the board who wants to go knows what the schedule for the day is and if you only want to go to the 11:00 a.m. visit and not the 9:00 a.m. you can show up at that visit. But I also think that, although I understand what your point is Alderman Pressly about this being a very different project and one that people have additional interest in, I would suggest that if we start talking about projects being of greater interest or more important and kind of picking projects, someone could say well we got a higher level of scrutiny on our visit than someone else because this project is over so many millions of dollars. I would just suggest that if we are going to do visits we just all get noticed so no one can say we are handpicking site visits for maybe what could be perceived as a higher level of scrutiny. Certainly you may have wanted to go see Tolles Street Mission or there may have been some other visit for which CDBG money was being considered that someone would have an interest in. I would just suggest that we treat all of these equally so it doesn’t appear that we are giving undue attention to one project. Alderman Wilshire With that said, I would be happy to work with the clerk and provide some minutes and roll call information for that meeting. UNFINISHED BUSINESS – ORDINANCES AMENDED, 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 third reading; MOTION BY ALDERMAN MELIZZI-GOLJA FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF O-10-41 AS AMENDED ON THE QUESTION Alderman Melizzi-Golja I know Alderman Chasse is going to ask me what is different, and I don’t have it in front of me. I’m sorry. Alderman Tabacsko This was actually amended at the time of its first reading. President McCarthy It was a small change in the description. Alderman Tabacsko Bd. of Aldermen – 03/08/11 Page 11 It had to do with the legal description. There were three sections in the amended version versus four and it was a budget implication in the original. It was typos basically. President McCarthy I guess the corner of the land is at the third fencepost of old McGinty’s Farm and not the fourth one. Alderman Chasse Thank you. President McCarthy Is there any further discussion? MOTION CARRIED Ordinance O-10-41 declared duly adopted as amended. O-11-52 Endorsers: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau Alderman Michael J. Tabacsko AMENDING THE LAND USE CODE IN REGARDS TO ARTICLE VII – FLOODPLAIN MANAGEMENT Given its second reading; MOTION BY ALDERMAN TABACSKO FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF O-11-52 MOTION CARRIED Ordinance O-11-52 declared duly adopted. O-11-53 Endorser: Alderman Diane Sheehan AMENDING THE LAND USE CODE IN REGARD TO A SHORELAND EXEMPTION Given its second reading; MOTION BY ALDERMAN SHEEHAN FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF O-11-53 ON THE QUESTION Alderman Deane Could the sponsor explain this piece of legislation briefly if she wouldn’t mind? Alderman Sheehan The legislation essentially aligns us with what we have already applied to do with the state level so that we are able to re-use already developed land along the river. Without this legislation, it is essentially housekeeping, there are additional application fees for re-development along the river where we already have development. Alderman Deane Are there parcels in particular that this was filed for? Alderman Sheehan Bd. of Aldermen – 03/08/11 Page 12 I believe it is essentially along the Broad Street Parkway where the Cotton Mill Square is in that inner-city area where we have mills. Alderman Deane So it is for the Cotton Mill project? Alderman Sheehan That is in that area yes. President McCarthy All set Alderman Deane? Alderman Deane Yes, thank you. President McCarthy The motion is for final passage of O-11-53. MOTION CARRIED Ordinance O-11-53 declared duly adopted. O-11-58 Endorsers: Alderman-at-Large Mark S. Cookson Alderman Kathy Vitale Alderman Richard P. Flynn Alderman Arthur T. Craffey, Jr. AMENDING THE LAND USE CODE IN REGARD TO FEES FOR ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT REHEARINGS Given its second reading; MOTION BY ALDERMAN COOKSON FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF O-11-58 MOTION CARRIED Ordinance O-11-58 declared duly adopted. MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO WITHDRAW FROM COMMITTEE ORDINANCE O-11-49, ELIMINATING THE HOLDOVER LIMITATION ON TERMS OF LAND USE BOARD MEMBERS ON THE QUESTION Alderman Clemons In the Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee we discussed this legislation and had decided that rather than move it forward before the public hearing we would wait for the public hearing, which occurred after this, and agreed, as a committee, to take this action this evening once the public hearing had been done. That is the purpose for the motion. Alderman Deane Bd. of Aldermen – 03/08/11 Page 13 What is the sense of urgency? Alderman Clemons There is no sense of urgency it is just what the committee decided we wanted to do. President McCarthy The motion is to withdraw from committee. MOTION CARRIED Division Taken O-11-49 Endorsers: Alderman-at-Large Ben Clemons Alderman Michael J. Tabacsko Alderman Jeffrey T. Cox ELIMINATING THE HOLDOVER LIMITATION ON TERMS OF LAND USE BOARD MEMBERS Given its second reading; MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF O-11-49 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 Ordinance O-11-49 declared duly adopted. NEW BUSINESS – RESOLUTIONS R-11-98 Endorser: Alderman Jeffrey T. Cox Alderman-at-Large Ben Clemons Alderman Kathy Vitale Alderman Michael J. Tabacsko Alderman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja Alderman Diane Sheehan Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire Alderman Paul M. Chasse, Jr. Alderman-at-Large Brian S. McCarthy RELATIVE TO AUTHORIZING THE EXPENDITURE AND TRANSFER OF $352,463 FROM THE STELLOS STADIUM IMPROVEMENTS EXPENDABLE TRUST FUND AND $300,000 FROM THE SCHOOL CAPITAL RESERVE FUND INTO CAPITAL PROJECT ACCOUNT #781-3761 FOR TURF REPLACEMENT AT STELLOS STADIUM Given its first reading; assigned to the BUDGET REVIEW COMMITTEE by President McCarthy NEW BUSINESS – ORDINANCES O-11-61 Bd. of Aldermen – 03/08/11 Page 14 Endorsers: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau Alderman-at-Large David W. Deane Alderman-at-Large Brian S. McCarthy Alderman Arthur T. Craffey, Jr. Alderman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja Alderman Richard P. Flynn RELATIVE TO FINANCIAL POLICIES Given its first reading; assigned to the PERSONNEL/ADMINISTRATIVE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE by President McCarthy PERIOD FOR GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT James Cutter, 86 Palm Street th On February 8 I answered Attorney McNamee’s memorandum proving the City is responsible for our problem. … audio inaudible… wondered why the City had not taken care of our problem. Since the City is responsible there cannot be a good reason why Mayor Lozeau, who will not see me so I have to speak at this meeting, is delaying her duty. Thank you. REMARKS BY THE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN Alderman Flynn Thank you Mr. President. I would like to extend congratulations to the Campbell Cougar Girls Varsity Basketball team in Litchfield, NH. They won the State Division III Varsity Girls Championship on Saturday at Southern New Hampshire University. I should disclose that I am their scorekeeper for all of their away games for the last ten years so I have gotten to know the team reasonably well. I appreciate the quality of basketball that the team plays. I also could disclose that the assistant coach is Rod Hayward, he lives on White Plains Drive, and he has been one of my friends at Nashua Corporation for years, and quite frankly when I stood on the back of the tenement porch on Chestnut Street his house used to abut my porch on Walnut Street. I have known him for quite a number of years. The other thing I should disclose is my son, my oldest boy Sean, is the Coach of the Litchfield team, the Campbell Cougars. Now I have everything out. Whereas you have heard it all I guess I just want to extend congratulations to a great group and a hard working group that somehow I have some ties to. Thank you. President McCarthy Is the hard working group the Flynn family or the team? Alderman Flynn The Flynns are pretty committed. Alderman Wilshire Thank you. I had the opportunity last night to attend the Broad Street Parkway meeting with the Mayor and the team that are working on that. It was a good turnout by the residents. I want to thank all of them for coming out and thank the Mayor for putting that on. I think it was quite helpful for the neighbors to be able to ask questions and to be heard on their concerns. Thank you for that. Mayor Lozeau You are welcome. Bd. of Aldermen – 03/08/11 Page 15 Alderman Sheehan Thank you. I have been asked by the Nashua High School South band uniform replacement group to put out the word that they have formed a Facebook page to announce any of their fundraisers, and they would ask anybody who uses Facebook to please join. I would like to wish the many many groups of Destination Imagination well in the competition, which is going on Saturday also at Nashua High School South. A lot of kids have been working for the last 6 months very diligently to prepare for this one day of competition so I want to wish everybody well. I would like to thank all of the corporate sponsors who worked with the First Robotics program. I went up to the Verizon Center on Saturday and it was packed. There were mentors for every group with a lot of different companies, some colleges, and these people work with these kids every single week. I think that public/private partnership in developing the scientific and mathematical minds of our teenagers is very st nd important. I know that my kids are already looking forward to joining it and they are in 1 and 2 grade. I think it is a great job that they are doing to plant that seed and encourage that growth so I would like to thank the companies who volunteer their employees to go and help to do that. Thank you. Alderman Tabacsko th Thank you. One last chance to plug the PAL fundraiser this Friday evening, March 11 at 7:00 p.m. at the Bounty Lounge, $15 at the door; live music, cash bar, plenty of raffle tickets and 50/50 opportunities, and a lot of fun will be had by all. Anybody that can make it I encourage you to please do so, it is for a very worthy cause. Thank you. Alderman Melizzi-Golja I just wanted to join Alderman Wilshire in thanking the Mayor and Mr. Kenison and the other individuals from the City who were at Palm Square last night answering questions related to the Broad Street Parkway. It was well attended and there were certainly lots of interest and lots of questions. Thank you. Mayor Lozeau You are welcome. Alderman Craffey Thank you. I just want to join Aldermen Wilshire and Melizzi-Golja in thanking the Mayor for putting that on. It was very well attended. There were some issues that were brought up but I think we will resolve them. Thank you. Alderman Vitale Tomorrow I would like to invite the constituents of Ward 1 to Starbucks if they would like to have coffee and discuss any concerns they might have. I will be there from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. and they are welcome to join me. Also, I would like to congratulate all of our high school swimmers for the High School Championship season and the New England Championships. We had many place winners and first place winners. I will be honoring them in the coming weeks before this board. Thank you. Alderman Clemons Bd. of Aldermen – 03/08/11 Page 16 Just going back to some of the discussion that we had this evening, I don’t want it to be lost on anyone, we have a great Chairman of the Human Affairs Committee, and you do a wonderful job. Some things slip by sometimes, but we move forward and work together. You do an excellent job. Thank you. Alderman Wilshire Thank you Alderman Clemons. President McCarthy I would like to wish happy upcoming birthdays to Alderman Clemons and to Alderman Chasse who according to these notes is three days younger than Alderman Clemons. Alderman Chasse th I don’t have birthdays anymore; they are anniversaries of the 39 . Committee announcements: Alderman Cox The Committee on Infrastructure will meet tomorrow evening in these chambers at 7:00 p.m. Alderman Clemons The Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee will meet on Thursday in the Chamber at 7:00 p.m., and hopefully that meeting will get done before my birthday on Friday. ADJOURNMENT MOTION BY ALDERMAN LAROSE THAT THE MARCH 8, 2011 MEETING OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN BE ADJOURNED MOTION CARRIED The meeting was declared adjourned at 8:20 p.m. Attest: Paul R. Bergeron, City Clerk