Aldermen, Board of

A special meeting of the Board of Aldermen was held Monday, August 6, 2012, at 7:00 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-at-Large Barbara Pressly led in the Pledge to the Flag. The roll call was taken with 14 members of the Board of Aldermen present; Alderman Tabacsko was not in attendance. Her Honor Mayor Donnalee Lozeau and Deputy Corporation Counsel Stephen M. Bennett were also in attendance. COMMUNICATIONS MOTION BY ALDERMAN WILSHIRE THAT ALL COMMUNICATIONS BE READ BY TITLE ONLY MOTION CARRIED From: Brian S. McCarthy, President, Board of Aldermen Re: Special Board of Aldermen Meeting MOTION BY ALDERMAN WILSHIRE TO ACCEPT AND PLACE ON FILE MOTION CARRIED PERIOD FOR PUBLIC COMMENT RELATIVE TO ITEMS EXPECTED TO BE ACTED UPON THIS EVENING – None UNFINISHED BUSINESS – RESOLUTIONS R-12-48 Endorser: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau ESTABLISHING POLLING TIMES FOR THE STATE PRIMARY ELECTION ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2012 AND THE STATE GENERAL ELECTION ON NOVEMBER 6, 2012 Given its second reading; MOTION BY ALDERMAN CHASSE FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-12-48 MOTION CARRIED Resolution R-12-48 declared duly adopted. R-12-56 Endorsers: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau Alderman Michael J. Tabacsko APPROVING THE COST ITEMS OF A COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF NASHUA, NEW HAMPSHIRE, AND INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AEROSPACE AND AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA (UAW), LOCAL #2232, CLERICAL AND TECHNICAL UNIT, FROM JULY 1, 2011 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2014 AND AUTHORIZING RELATED TRANSFERS Given its second reading; MOTION BY ALDERMAN DOWD FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-12-56 ON THE QUESTION Alderman Sheehan I’m going to recuse myself. This is my husband’s. Thank you. Bd. of Aldermen – 08/06/12 Page 2 MOTION CARRIED WITH ONE ABSTENTION Alderman Sheehan abstained. Resolution R-12-56 declared duly adopted. R-12-57 Endorsers: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau Alderman Kathy Vitale Alderman Michael J. Tabacsko Alderman Richard A. Dowd APPROVING THE COST ITEMS OF A COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF NASHUA, NEW HAMPSHIRE, AND INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AEROSPACE AND AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA (UAW), LOCAL #2232, PROFESSIONAL UNIT, FROM JULY 1, 2011 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2014 AND AUTHORIZING RELATED TRANSFERS Given its second reading; MOTION BY ALDERMAN VITALE FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-12-57 MOTION CARRIED Resolution R-12-57 declared duly adopted. R-12-58 Endorsers: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau Alderman-at-Large Brian S. McCarthy Alderman Michael J. Tabacsko Alderman Diane Sheehan Alderman Arthur T. Craffey, Jr. Alderman Kathy Vitale Alderman Richard A. Dowd Alderman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja Alderman-at-Large Barbara Pressly APPROVING TWO AGREEMENTS REGARDING THE JACKSON MILLS DAM Given its second reading; MOTION BY ALDERMAN SHEEHAN TO AMEND R-12-58 IN ITS ENTIRETY BY REPLACING IT WITH THE GOLDEN ROD COPY PROVIDED WITH THE AGENDA ON THE QUESTION Alderman Chasse Guess what? Can we have the changes that were made from the original please? Alderman Sheehan The two changes were requested by the Hydro company. The first is in the first agreement, number one. They added the language to be added for number one. “This agreement shall become effective following the city’s inspection of the dam and written communication to NHA certifying that the city accepts the dam as is in its current condition.” In the second agreement, number 11. It’s regarding the loss of revenue. It’s a very long paragraph. It protects where any loss revenue is going to and that it doesn’t come to the city. Thank you. Bd. of Aldermen – 08/06/12 Page 3 Alderman Moriarty I have a couple of simple questions, I believe. First I was caught a little off guard on the short notice of the meeting on Monday. I was trying to resolve these outside the meeting, but at any rate, I have two questions. One which is, I don’t know if it’s for the mayor or for the city counsel, on the agreement between the City and CMS, Cotton Mill Square. Item No. 1, “The city shall assign the rights under the NHA agreement to CMS, its successors and assigns.” I’d be curious what are those rights because granted if Cotton Mill Square is willing to put up a million dollars to upgrade the dam, if I were doing it, I would also want to have some sort of feeling of ownership of the dam. Nevertheless, I’m worried about the city assigning the entirety of the ownership of the dam and the rights. So again, what are the rights under the agreement that we are giving up to CMS? Attorney Bennett First to clarify something. Neither this agreement, the one with CMS, or with Nashua Hydro has anything to do with the ownership of the dam. It has no effect on the ownership. The city owns the dam. This doesn’t transfer any rights nor does it transfer any control to CMS. The only thing that CMS is doing is building the crest gate. In fact their involvement ends once the crest gates are installed. The control of the dam is still with Nashua Hydro. We still have a lease with them, an ongoing lease that I believe goes until September of October of 2014. So we’re not transferring any control or ownership to CMS. They will be doing the construction and paying for the construction of the crest gates. What they are being assigned is in the agreement that we have with Nashua Hydro. Nashua Hydro will be compensated for any loss of income. There will be some loss of income when they shut down the operation to install the crest gate and they will be reimbursed for that lost income. CMS will pay for that loss. They are paying for any loss income. Essentially what you have is CMS will be controlling the construction of the crest gates. Once that’s done, our agreement with them is over and done with. Does that address what Alderman Moriarty Pretty much so, yes, thank you. I have a second question. It’s with regard to number five. “The agreement may be terminated by either party…or if the modifications have not been completed within three years of the date of hereof.” So Item 5 says that if the modifications aren’t completed within three years, either party can opt out where previously I forget it was two or three Attorney Bennett It’s three Alderman Moriarty Number three that CMS is not obligated. They don’t have to start them but it does say that once they’ve started that they have to finish which makes sense. So it seems like number five is inconsistent with three. It sounds like they can start the construction and then wait three years and then just back out. Is that true? Attorney Bennett It is not. Alderman Moriarty I’m not saying they would, but legally it seems to imply that it might. Bd. of Aldermen – 08/06/12 Page 4 Attorney Bennett I understand. When you have a provision that’s more specific in a contract than a general one, the specific one will control. Prior to starting the construction, they have to post a bond. Once they start the construction, if they were to stop in that case then it would be completed using the proceeds from the bond they posted. That’s our surety that once they start that it’s finished. So they really aren’t in conflict. Paragraph 5 is in general, either party can stop the project before it starts. But once it’s started there’s a bond in place and the improvements would have to be completed, either by CMS or by the city using the proceeds from the bond. MOTION CARRIED MOTION BY ALDERMAN SHEEHAN FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-12-58 AS AMENDED ON THE QUESTION Alderman Cookson Just two quick questions. One is, I was able to attend part of the presentation that was delivered by the consultants and Mr. Stabile with regard to the crest gates at Jackson Falls. Was it ever explained, and this I don’t know, was it ever explained why you wouldn’t have the crest gates upstream versus downstream of the property? In essence, why wouldn’t you have the crest gates at Mine Falls versus Jackson Falls? President McCarthy Because during the flood conditions the need is to get the water to the Merrimack faster. If you have the crest gate upstream at Mine Falls the best we could do is hold water back in Mine Falls and cause it to flood there. This allows it to flow faster over the Jackson Falls dam which allows for the water level between Mine Falls and Jackson Falls to stay reasonably constant which is what the project requires. Alderman Cookson Is there any anticipation of doing the Mine Falls dam at any point in time? President McCarthy I know of none. I don’t know if anybody else has heard anything. Alderman Cookson Through you to the mayor? Mayor Lozeau It is my fervent hope that we will be able to do the same thing on the dam at Mine Falls. If I can have a little leeway, Mr. Chairman, I’d just take a moment to say that I asked that same question. When we had Hurricane Irene and we lowered at Mine Falls, we actually had the first time where we had some areas that had typically flooded not flood. The difference was how soon we had done some of that. Alderman McCarthy’s explanation is the one that Mr. Levine gave us. It seemed kind of simple to me but it really makes sense for us to be looking at managing both of those dams with the same kind of system. Although there isn’t any benefactor in the wings that wants to do that one, it would be something that I think the city should strive to do. Bd. of Aldermen – 08/06/12 Page 5 Alderman Cookson Thank you. And then, just a general question. Does Mr. Stabile have any outstanding debt with the city with regard to the previous ownership of the ball club? The Nashua Pride? He’s current or paid off any Mayor Lozeau Mr. Stabile, during his ownership with the Pride, was never in debt with the city. He always paid his bills on time. Alderman Cookson Very good. Thank you so much. Alderman Moriarty I attended two of the meetings, and my concern was with downstream of the dam and what affect of it it might have. Certainly if you drop the dam and you let water run down, my question was, would it flood BAE systems for instance. So I asked a couple people. I put an inquiry at BAE and never did get an official answer back but at one of the meetings, I asked that question, and the engineer that gave the presentation, I forget his name, what is it? Mayor Lozeau Mr. Levine Alderman Moriarty Mr. Levine assured us that the models showed that downstream it did not have an effect on it. I just wanted to mention for anybody who was concerned of downstream. It appears to not be a problem. President McCarthy The discussion was around the fact that the cresting of the Merrimack happens later than the Nashua during storm events so there’s no resistance to more water going downstream once it’s past the dam. MOTION CARRIED Resolution R-12-58 declared duly adopted as amended. NEW BUSINESS – RESOLUTIONS R-12-59 Endorser: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau RELATIVE TO THE RE-APPROPRIATION OF FISCAL YEAR 2013 ESCROWS Given its first reading; assigned to the BUDGET REVIEW COMMITTEE by President McCarthy Bd. of Aldermen – 08/06/12 Page 6 ADJOURNMENT MOTION BY ALDERMAN DEANE THAT THE AUGUST 6, 2012 SPECIAL MEETING OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN BE ADJOURNED MOTION CARRIED The meeting was declared adjourned at 7:18 p.m. Attest: Paul R. Bergeron, City Clerk