Aldermen, Board of

A special meeting of the Board of Aldermen was held Tuesday, March 20, 2012, at 7:00 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 Craffey led in the Pledge to the Flag. The roll call was taken with 12 members of the Board of Aldermen present; Alderman Dowd was not in attendance. Aldermen Sheehan and Vitale arrived after the roll was taken. Her Honor Mayor Donnalee Lozeau was also in attendance. President McCarthy The first item on the agenda is a Public Hearing on R-12-15. As required by our ordinances, there will be a brief description of the resolution followed by requests for testimony. PUBLIC HEARING R-12-15 AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND CITY TREASURER TO ISSUE BONDS NOT TO EXCEED THE AMOUNT OF ONE MILLION FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS ($1,400,000) FOR NEW LADDER AND PUMPER TRUCKS FOR THE FIRE DEPARTMENT As provided for in NRO 5-28, a presentation on R-12-15 was given by Mayor Donnalee Lozeau. Mayor Lozeau Thank you Mr. President. Before you this evening for your Public Hearing is R-12-15, which relates to purchasing a new ladder truck and a pumper truck also known as an engine, for the Fire Department. I’ve asked Chief Morrissey to join us here tonight to be able to speak to you specifically about some of his vehicle needs, but I did want to take the opportunity to explain that this was an anticipated bonded amount for our ten-year fleet assessment schedule. We knew that this was coming and had planned it accordingly. The engine we have put in this resolution, it will be ordered a little bit sooner, but will arrive as expected and be bonded as expected. The company, as the Chief will explain to you, was able to give us a better price on that engine because we put the two of them together to order. That is the plan moving forward. I wanted to let you know that the funds are expected to be bonded in this manner. If I could Mr. President I would ask Chief Morrissey to come up for a moment or Assistant Chief Galipeau; however you want to do it Chief. Brian Morrissey, Chief, Nashua Fire Rescue Good evening. Thank you. I can certainly answer any questions or I can just give you a brief overview, whichever the…okay I will give you a brief overview. The two vehicles we are looking at tonight one is an aerial ladder truck. It will ultimately replace the aerial ladder that is currently stationed at Amherst Street Fire Station. The anticipated frontline service life of an aerial ladder is about 15 years, and the vehicle that then sees some backline service we anticipate anywhere in the neighborhood of 5-7 additional years. The vehicle that ultimately will go away as we replace Ladder 1 is a 1991 vintage vehicle, which currently in the City right now today it is running down at the Spit Brook Road Fire Station in active reserve status. That vehicle is a 1991 so it is 21 years old currently and it is still active in street service. We would anticipate Spec. Bd. of Aldermen - 03/20/12 Page 2 getting the same type of life out of this vehicle. We will have a frontline service life of about 15 years and then an active reserve status of somewhere in the neighborhood of 6-7 years. Ultimately piggybacked on that it will be a replacement for Engine 1, which is also currently stationed at the Amherst Street Station. That vehicle went into service in 2001 and in late 2013 that will have reached its 12 years frontline service life. Again, that vehicle, once it goes out of frontline service, we anticipate about 6 or 7 years of reserve status out of that vehicle also. On a day-to-day basis, our reserve vehicles are available to go in service as we perform routine maintenance or if we have a breakdown or should we have some sort of a more complicated event happen to one of our vehicles, it gives us the ability to keep all 6 stations adequately covered with either an engine or a ladder truck or whatever is necessary in that particular area. Alderman Pressly Thank you. Were these vehicles that this bond is replacing, were they also bonded at the time that they were purchased? Brian Morrissey I do not believe they were. Alderman Pressly Could you tell me how they were funded at that time/ Brian Morrissey What happened previously is there would be some money in the CERF account and then the budget, like the Fire Department, the 532 budget, on the 68 line there would be funds allocated or provided to provide the difference from whatever was in the CERF account to make up the difference of the cost of the new vehicle. Alderman Pressly Is it your understanding that when the life of these bonds ends that to replace them again will have to be bonded or do expect to have it in the CERF account/ Brian Morrissey I really can’t speak that far out. It would probably be in that 20 year range. I really don’t know how we would do that. Alderman Pressly You don’t have a crystal ball? Brian Morrissey I have one, but it is in the shop. Spec. Bd. of Aldermen - 03/20/12 Page 3 President McCarthy Alderman Pressly, if I could I would like to actually, if there are questions about clarifications on the legislation itself those are appropriate now. We are in the public hearing; questions on the legislation would be more appropriate during the Budget Committee meeting later on. Alderman Pressly Thank you. I do appreciate that he has answered them though. Thank you. President McCarthy Are there any other questions regarding just what the proposal is? If not, I will ask for public testimony in favor of R-12-15. If you wish to address the board please come up, give your name and address, and your testimony. Testimony in Favor Geoff Daly, 48 Walden Pond Drive I think it is a very good idea and I think I would like to know if we’re going to follow the Mayor’s original proposal with our garbage trucks utilizing CNG, does the Fire Department intend to look at this usage as well because I believe that may give them a slightly extended period on their engine overhauls based on what we’ve been told will exist with our garbage truck stuff. I’m absolutely in favor of it and I think we should look into the CNG side if it is going to reduce the Fire Department’s overall maintenance costs of those engines. They are in and out of the Amherst Street facility on a very regular basis so those trucks do get beaten up a little bit, and it doesn’t matter whether it is in the middle of the winter or the middle of the summer, they’ve got to hit the start button, they’ve got to get out of there so the engines are really pushed to their limit quite often. I’m absolutely in favor, but I would like to know if we are going to be looking at the possibility of CNG being utilized by the Fire Department throughout the City. Thank you. President McCarthy Is there any other testimony in favor of R-12-15? If not, we will take testimony in opposition to R-12-15. Testimony in Opposition – None Testimony in Favor – None Testimony in Opposition – None President McCarthy I will declare the public hearing closed. Spec. Bd. of Aldermen - 03/20/12 Page 4 UNFINISHED BUSINESS – RESOLUTIONS R-12-21 Endorsers: Alderman-at-Large Brian S. McCarthy Alderman Michael J. Tabacsko Alderman Richard A. Dowd Alderman Diane Sheehan Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire Alderman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja Alderman June M. Caron Alderman Daniel T. Moriarty Alderman-at-Large Jim Donchess Alderman Kathy Vitale Alderman-at-Large Barbara Pressly CHANGING THE PURPOSE OF THE REMAINING ONE MILLION NINE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS ($1,900,000) OF UNEXPENDED BOND PROCEEDS FOR VARIOUS SCHOOL IMPROVEMENTS TO THE CHARLOTTE AVENUE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL HVAC IMPROVEMENTS Given its second reading; MOTION BY ALDERMAN TABACSKO FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-12-21 BY ROLL CALL ON THE QUESTION Alderman Donchess Does this require any kind of public hearing or anything like that? President McCarthy No it does not because a hearing was held when the bonds were let. Alderman Cookson Thank you. I was hoping that somebody might be able to just walk through what it is that we are anticipating to be done at Charlotte Avenue, and how these funds are going to be utilized for that. I noticed that as I reviewed the Construction Projects Committee meeting there was reference to a handout that was delivered, but it was not part of the minutes. I’m not sure what is going to be done. President McCarthy I can describe it briefly. It is generally replacement of the boilers, replacement of the mechanical components of the HVAC systems, not replacing wholesale plumbing, but some plumbing is needed, some building envelope work to make the building to hold heat a little better, and some other …there is also lighting replacement to increase energy efficiency. Alderman Cookson Did I understand that the project in and of itself over at Charlotte Avenue is in the area of over $3 million? Spec. Bd. of Aldermen - 03/20/12 Page 5 President McCarthy It is about $3.5 million. It is very similar to the projects that we’ve just completed at Fairgrounds Elementary and are completing at Ledge. Those have been about $3.5 million a piece… Alderman Tabacsko This is actually a little less. President McCarthy …We believe this one is a little less. Harvey has done some calculations since the last time we met and said they may be able to bring it in a little under that. Alderman Cookson Okay. And I just want to clarify, the only meeting minutes that I had available to me were the meeting minutes from the end of January. The February meeting minutes weren’t available online so if there was additional information during the February meeting it wasn’t available to us online. All of my questions are related to your January 26th meeting. President McCarthy I don’t believe the committee had a February meeting. There was a Joint Special School Board Committee meeting at which the only motion that was made was to pay the invoices that were due. Alderman Cookson Okay. So the meeting minutes that I’m referring to are the most accurate ones? President McCarthy Yes. Alderman Cookson Okay. Are you able to retain the boilers at Charlotte Avenue or are they being replaced? President McCarthy The boilers are being replaced. We had a long discussion about re-using one of the boilers at Broad Street. It turns out there are some substantial problems with that given that the system at Broad Street is hot water, the system at Charlotte is currently steam, so we would have to retrofit the boiler and by the time we got done it was actually a little more expensive to move the Charlotte boiler to Broad Street than it would be to buy a new boiler and install it at Broad Street. The boiler has to actually be physically dismantled at Charlotte, which costs extra, taken to Broad Street, put back together, and then changes have to be made to it to adapt it to that use… Alderman Cookson But we’re not dealing with Broad Street within this Resolution of the $1.9 million. Spec. Bd. of Aldermen - 03/20/12 Page 6 President McCarthy No. Alderman Cookson Broad Street is something that we’re planning for… President McCarthy The discussion was simply because the boiler was available, doing that in the normal maintenance budget for Broad Street at the time. It is not clear whether the changes to Broad Street will require work by Joint Special or whether they will be done as building maintenance at this point. Alderman Cookson Alright, and this $1.9 million doesn’t complete the project it just reallocates or repurposes the money from the… President McCarthy Right. There is another … Alderman Cookson Million dollar bond… President McCarthy …bond request, which will be, we have a hearing on that next week… Alderman Cookson Correct. President McCarthy …and the reason this was brought forth with some urgency was that Harvey has informed us they expect there to be a substantial increase in the cost of some of the HVAC equipment as the construction season gets underway. So we can save several thousands at least by ordering this sooner rather than later. Alderman Cookson I believe in the minutes it indicates that they wanted to kick things off in I think the month of March. That was what was pushing them. President McCarthy Yeah. Alderman Cookson I didn’t see anything that made reference to costs increasing, but it may have been in… Spec. Bd. of Aldermen - 03/20/12 Page 7 President McCarthy There was a general desire to get construction documents out so that we can make sure we can hit the 2012 construction season, but since the last meeting they have also noticed an uptick in the industry… Alderman Cookson Okay. President McCarthy …the likelihood of increased prices as a result. Alderman Cookson Alright. And I know that we are talking about R-12-21, but if you know the resolution that we will be dealing with next week, the $2 million bond, is that a not to exceed because I… President McCarthy Yes. Alderman Cookson …mean based on the numbers we’ve got $1.9 million here, you’ve already said that the project you are anticipating is going to be a little bit less than $3.5 million… President McCarthy Yeah, because we don’t know the exact close out costs of Fairgrounds and Ledge, there was some concern on the part of the Finance Department at the school system that we weren’t quite sure what number we wanted so I had the legislation drafted as $2 million just so that it would cover what that final cost is. I anticipate that to be somewhere around $1.6 million that we would actually let, but we wanted to make sure that we could finish out the project. At some point we will bring in legislation to extinguish the remainder of that authorization once the numbers are finalized. Alderman Cookson What were the rates that we received in order to account for this $1.9 million when we resold the bonds? President McCarthy The recent bonds? Alderman Cookson Yes. President McCarthy I think those bonds were at somewhere just below 3%. We’ve sold some recently at down around 2.97% was that correct? Spec. Bd. of Aldermen - 03/20/12 Page 8 Mayor Lozeau Yes, the last bond sales were about 2.8%. Alderman Cookson 2.8%? Mayor Lozeau Yes. Alderman Cookson So we anticipate when we go to next week’s Special Board of Aldermen meeting those will be sold in a similar timeframe? President McCarthy They would be. The project should be finished next Fall so we would be looking to get out to the bond market quickly to get those sold. Alderman Cookson Right. Okay. Thank you very much. Alderman Deane I had a question; I’ve gone through my Joint Special School Building Committee packet, and in there was a quote from G.H. Philbrick & Sons pertaining to the demolition of the Smith boiler out of Charlotte and the installation of it back into Broad Street. That is not going to happen now? President McCarthy Yes, it is not going to happen. Alderman Deane What happened to the boiler that was stored down at the school district? President McCarthy The one that we had originally bought as a temporary… Alderman Deane Sitting on a trailer. President McCarthy …it is still sitting on a trailer and will ultimately probably be sold. Spec. Bd. of Aldermen - 03/20/12 Page 9 Alderman Deane Where is it located? President McCarthy It is at the Plant Operations Department. Alderman Deane No it is not. It is gone. President McCarthy You would have to ask Mr. Smith where it currently is. Alderman Deane So this Philbrick bid is not going to happen it was just a point of information, is that all it is? President McCarthy That was to get the information on whether it was worth moving the boiler from Charlotte to Broad, and it apparently is not. Alderman Deane So they are going to keep the old boiler and…I guess this is way off the subject matter so I will probably at Joint Special. Thank you. Alderman Pressly Thank you Mr. Chairman. You’ve answered most of my questions about where the other money is going to come from, but the way this reads, this bond was for various school improvements, and I’m wondering are there any other improvements that have not been completed that this original bond was intended to take care of, is there anything else hanging out there? President McCarthy Various means specifically the HVAC replacements at Fairgrounds and Ledge. Alderman Pressly Okay. President McCarthy And those are approximately complete. Alderman Pressly Thank you. Spec. Bd. of Aldermen - 03/20/12 Page 10 President McCarthy Any other questions? Alderman Tabacsko I guess just as further information; at the Joint Special meeting on, it is coming up this week, and one of the reasons for doing this tonight at a special board meeting is that construction schedule, in addition to the costs going up as the season kicks in, construction schedule one of the things we learned between Ledge Street and Fairgrounds was that the date that they get started makes a big difference in the disruption factor at the school. The disruption factor at Fairgrounds was much less than…do I have that right…. President McCarthy Yeah. Alderman Tabacsko …I’m getting the two confused now in my own head, but one was a much less impact on the students and that’s what we’re trying to accomplish with this is to get on that same start. You get started, just they do some of the stuff that doesn’t affect the students before the end of the school year, but then they are all ready to go; as soon as school closes they’ve got the entire summer to really knock out the disruptive part of the project, and then by the Fall they can come back and have their classes with less disruption than… President McCarthy Fairgrounds we were able to do some major work during April vacation while the school wasn’t occupied and we couldn’t do that at Ledge so the construction went further into the school year at Ledge than it did at Fairgrounds. Hopefully we will be able to get this one wrapped up by mid school year next year by starting it at April vacation. Any other questions? A Viva Voce Roll Call vote was taken which resulted as follows: Yea: Alderman Wilshire, Alderman Melizzi-Golja, Alderman Chasse, Alderman Caron, Alderman Moriarty, Alderman Donchess, Alderman Tabacsko, Alderman Sheehan, Alderman Deane, Alderman Vitale, Alderman Craffey, Alderman Cookson, Alderman Pressly, Alderman McCarthy 14 Nay: 0 MOTION CARRIED Resolution R-12-21 declared duly adopted. President McCarthy The record should reflect that Alderman Sheehan and Alderman Vitale entered during the early part of the Public Hearing. Spec. Bd. of Aldermen - 03/20/12 Page 11 ADJOURNMENT MOTION BY ALDERMAN DEANE THAT THE MARCH 20, 2012 SPECIAL MEETING OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN BE ADJOURNED MOTION CARRIED The meeting was declared adjourned at 7:25 p.m. Attest: Patricia Piecuch, Deputy City Clerk