Aldermen, Board of

A regular meeting of the Board of Aldermen was held Wednesday, December 26, 2012, 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 Deane led in the Pledge to the Flag. The roll call was taken with 13 members of the Board of Aldermen present; Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire and Alderman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja were recorded absent. President McCarthy Alderman Wilshire and Alderman Melizzi-Golja are unable to attend this evening. Also present is Deputy Corporation Counsel, Stephen M. Bennett. The mayor, to say the least, is not feeling well today and decided not to join us. REMARKS BY THE MAYOR – None RESPONSE TO REMARKS OF THE MAYOR – None RECOGNITION PERIOD - None READING MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS MOTION BY ALDERMAN SHEEHAN THAT THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN MEETINGS OF DECEMBER 11, 2012, AND DECEMBER 13, 2012 BE ACCEPTED, PLACED ON FILE, AND THE READINGS SUSPENDED MOTION CARRIED COMMUNICATIONS MOTION BY ALDERMAN CHASSE THAT ALL COMMUNICATIONS BE READ BY TITLE ONLY MOTION CARRIED From: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau Re: Contract Award for Parking Pay Stations MOTION BY ALDERMAN CHASSE TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND IN CONJUNCTION WITH FINAL PASSAGE OF R-12-80, AWARD THE CONTRACT TO CALEAmerica IN THE AMOUNT OF $140,000 MOTION CARRIED From: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau Re: Contract Award for Radio Network Infrastructure Upgrade MOTION BY ALDERMAN SHEEHAN TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND CONTINGENT UPON FINAL PASSAGE OF R-12-81, AWARD THE CONTRACT TO MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS IN THE AMOUNT OF $1,547,460 AND THAT THE PROVISIONS OF NRO 5-90(F) REGARDING THE RECONSIDERATION PERIOD BE WAIVED ON THE QUESTION Alderman Deane I know it’s not usual and customary to speak from your pulpit, but I had one question pertaining to the old equipment that we had. Are we going to get any financial restitution for any of that from Motorola if we trade it in? Do you know off-hand? Bd. of Aldermen – 12/26/12 Page 2 President McCarthy I don’t. If there is a program, we will; but I suspect that the infrastructure we’re retiring in this case at least is old enough that there is no trade-in value. Alderman Deane So really the only thing that would happen to that old equipment would be for us to find a willing buyer who is still operating with that sort of equipment? If we gathered it all, we could probably sell it off. Is that the plan? President McCarthy There may be some slight residual value is there’s another buyer that’s in our position. We’ve been buying replacement parts over the internet from other places that are discarding it. We haven’t been paying very much for it, so the value you can expect is small. Alderman Deane But we’re not alone. I’m sure there’s probably other people. I’m just wondering what the plan is. What we’re going to do with all of this stuff once we replace it. Are we going to try to sell it? Maintain it and throw it on some website and try to sell it all? President McCarthy I’m sure that’s what we will do. Mr. Mansfield is quite familiar with what those websites are. Alderman Deane Then whatever funds we gathered from offloading all of that would go into the general fund? President McCarthy It would. Alderman Deane Okay. Thank you. MOTION CARRIED From: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau Re: Contract Award for Scheduling and Routing Software Upgrades MOTION BY ALDERMAN PRESSLY TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND AWARD THE CONTRACT TO ROUTE-MATCH IN THE AMOUNT OF $138,726 MOTION CARRIED MOTION BY ALDERMAN CHASSE THAT THE RULES BE SO FAR SUSPENDED TO ACCEPT AND PLACE ON FILE AN OPEN LETTER RECEIVED ON OUR DESKS THIS EVENING FROM MR. CUTTER MOTION CARRIED Bd. of Aldermen – 12/26/12 Page 3 Alderman Cookson Prior to public comment, would it be appropriate to identify that we will be taking up a request from the mayor to accept a contract? President McCarthy We are not going to be taking up that request this evening. Alderman Cookson Oh we’re not? Good. Thank you so much. President McCarthy I should explain. There are a couple of remaining questions about that issue which the mayor is looking into and had asked that it not be considered under suspension this evening. Alderman Deane I know it’s not on the table, but I have a couple of issues while people are still looking into things. President McCarthy Since it’s on the table, can we hold that under Remarks by the Aldermen? Alderman Deane Discussion period? I’ll gladly do that. Thank you. PERIOD FOR PUBLIC COMMENT RELATIVE TO ITEMS EXPECTED TO BE ACTED UPON THIS EVENING Stacie Laughton, 243 Main Street, #33, Nashua I come tonight and I would like to thank Alderman David Deane and Alderman Jim Donchess for extending a priority to protect our children in the school system in regards to R-12-87. It seemed like after the tragedy in Connecticut, Alderman Donchess got right on the case to talk about school security in the City. It’s beyond me that in the past, with all the tragedies that have occurred that we haven’t done a whole lot in regards to school security. I just would rise in support of this legislation tonight because protecting our children in the schools, no matter where they are, should always be top priority no matter what the cost. Thank you. PETITIONS – None NOMINATIONS, APPOINTMENTS AND ELECTIONS - None REPORTS OF COMMITTEE Budget Review Committee ................................................................... 12/13/12 There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the December 13, 2012 Budget Review Committee accepted and placed on file. Bd. of Aldermen – 12/26/12 Page 4 Finance Committee............................................................................... 12/19/12 There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the December 19, 2012 Finance Committee accepted and placed on file. Committee on Infrastructure ................................................................. 12/12/12 MOTION BY ALDERMAN COOKSON TO ACCEPT THE REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON INFRASTRUCTURE OF DECEMBER 12, 2012, PLACE IT ON FILE AND AUTHORIZE THE INSTALLATION OF A STREET LIGHT ON BRICKYARD LANE AND AT THE INTERSECTION OF SEARLES ROAD AND EDINBURG DRIVE President McCarthy Before I ask for a vote, Alderman Cookson, I was unfortunately unable to attend the meeting, can you explain, do those street lights fit our normal standard of every other pole that normally apply? Alderman Cookson It is my understanding that they do, but I would defer to Alderman Moriarty, the Ward Alderman who requested the installation. My understanding is the light at Brickyard Lane is in a cul-de-sac and is probably one of the only lights, if not the only light, that would illuminate that area. The intersection of Searles of Edinberg Drive, I am unaware if there is an adjacent light that is lit at that position. Alderman Moriarty On the cul-de-sac, that’s true. There is only one pole so I don’t know how every other would apply on the one off of Searles. I didn’t check to see how far away the nearest one is, but certainly, it is such that … President McCarthy We normally do them at intersections, so it’s more the other one. Alderman Tabacsko I can say, that I looked into that one over on Edinberg and Searles. It was during the last changeover. Somebody asked me to take a look and I think we had spoken at some point and it does fit both the intersection and the every other, just by happenstance. MOTION CARRIED Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee ........................................ 12/17/12 There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the December 17, 2012 Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee accepted and placed on file. WRITTEN REPORTS FROM LIAISONS Board of Public Works Commission .................................................... 11/29/12-12/20/12 There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the liaison reports of the November 29, 2012 and December 20, 2012 Board of Public Works Commission accepted and placed on file. Bd. of Aldermen – 12/26/12 Page 5 CONFIRMATION OF MAYOR'S APPOINTMENTS Board of Registrars MOTION BY ALDERMAN CHASSE TO CONFIRM BY VOICE VOTE THE REAPPOINTMENT OF KATHRYN FOGAL, 105 COBURN WOODS, NASHUA, TO THE BOARD OF REGISTRARS FOR A TERM TO EXPIRE DECEMBER 31, 2015 MOTION CARRIED President McCarthy declared Kathryn Fogal duly appointed to the Board of Registrars for a term to expire December 31, 2015. Fire Prevention Code Board of Appeals MOTION BY ALDERMAN CRAFFEY TO CONFIRM BY VOICE VOTE THE REAPPOINTMENT OF THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUALS TO THE FIRE PREVENTION CODE BOARD OF APPEALS FOR TERMS TO EXPIRE OCTOBER 31, 2015: RONALD A. DEBLOIS, JR., 120 PROCTOR HILL ROAD, HOLLIS; DANIEL GAGNON, 28 FAIRMOUNT STREET, NASHUA; AND JOHN RUDOLPH, 6 FOWELL AVENUE, NASHUA MOTION CARRIED President McCarthy declared Ronald A. Dublois, Jr., Daniel Gagnon and John Rudolph duly appointed to the Fire Prevention Code Board of Appeals for terms to expire October 31, 2015 Oath of Office administered by Deputy Corporation Counsel to Ronald A. Dublois, Jr. Mine Falls Park Advisory Committee MOTION BY ALDERMAN CARON TO CONFIRM BY VOICE VOTE THE REAPPOINTMENT OF EDWARD MORAN, 37 TAMPA STREET, NASHUA, AND DAVID SILVA, 400 SHERBURNE ROAD, PELHAM, TO THE MINE FALLS PARK ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR TERMS TO EXPIRE DECEMBER 31, 2015 MOTION CARRIED President McCarthy declared Edward Moran and David Silva duly appointed to the Mine Falls Park Advisory Committee for terms to expire December 31, 2015. Oath of Office administered by Deputy Corporation Counsel to one board member present. Nashua Airport Authority MOTION BY ALDERMAN VITALE TO CONFIRM BY VOICE VOTE THE APPOINTMENT OF GORDON T. JACKSON, 59 CHEYENNE DRIVE, NASHUA, TO THE NASHUA AIRPORT AUTHORITY FOR A TERM TO EXPIRE AUGUST 31, 2017 MOTION CARRIED President McCarthy declared Gordon T. Jackson duly appointed to the Nashua Airport Authority for a term to expire August 31, 2017. Nashua Housing Authority MOTION BY ALDERMAN SHEEHAN TO CONFIRM BY VOICE VOTE THE REAPPOINTMENT OF SELMA PASTOR, 24 STARK STREET, NASHUA, TO THE NASHUA HOUSING AUTHORITY FOR A TERM TO EXPIRE OCTOBER 14, 2017 Bd. of Aldermen – 12/26/12 Page 6 MOTION CARRIED President McCarthy declared Selma Pastor duly appointed to the Nashua Housing Authority for a term to expire October 14, 2017. Review and Comment Commission MOTION BY ALDERMAN COOKSON TO CONFIRM BY VOICE VOTE THE REAPPOINTMENT OF KEVIN MORIARTY, 22 RAYMOND STREET, NASHUA, TO THE REVIEW AND COMMENT COMMISSION FOR A TERM TO EXPIRE DECEMBER 1, 2015 MOTION CARRIED President McCarthy declared Kevin Moriarty duly appointed to the Review & Comment Commission for a term to expire December 1, 2015. CONFIRMATION OF PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN APPOINTMENTS Recycling Expansion Committee MOTION BY ALDERMAN SHEEHAN TO CONFIRM BY VOICE VOTE THE APPOINTMENT OF THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUALS TO THE RECYCLING EXPANSION COMMITTEE FOR TERMS TO EXPIRE DECEMBER 13, 2013: ALDERMAN JUNE M. CARON, 24 MONTGOMERY AVENUE, NASHUA; ALDERMAN-AT-LARGE JIM DONCHESS, 4 ROCKLAND STREET, NASHUA; ALDERMAN RICHARD A. DOWD, 8 ASCOT PARK, NASHUA; ROBERT EARLEY, 3 DOGWOOD DRIVE, NASHUA; MICHELLE SPEARS, 18 HARBOR AVENUE, NASHUA; AND, EDMOND STEBBINS, 13 STRAWBERRY BANK ROAD, NASHUA MOTION CARRIED President McCarthy declared the aforementioned individuals duly appointed to the Recycling Expansion Committee for terms to expire December 13, 2013. Oath of Office administered by Deputy Corporation Counsel to Robert Earley and Edmond Stebbins. Alderman Chasse I have a question on all these appointments. The ones that are not sworn in at these particular meetings, is there is a special procedure? Does the City Clerk have to chase these individuals down or do they automatically show up. President McCarthy They get sworn in when they are at a meeting or during the day if they can attend. I haven’t seen exactly how it’s done, but they do get sworn in at some point. Alderman Chasse Is there a problem with getting these people to be sworn in. Could I ask the City Clerk? City Clerk Bergeron Most of the time they come right to our office and get sworn in during regular business hours, either by myself or my deputy. On rare occasions we might be asked by a Chairman of one of these Boards of Commissions to attend their meeting and swear them in before the start of a meeting. We do track all the appointments and keep a record as to who has been sworn in and who hasn’t. Bd. of Aldermen – 12/26/12 Page 7 Alderman Chasse Thank you. UNFINISHED BUSINESS – RESOLUTIONS R-12-81 Endorsers: Alderman-at-Large Brian S. McCarthy Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire Alderman Diane Sheehan Alderman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja Alderman June M. Caron Alderman Richard A. Dowd AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND CITY TREASURER TO ISSUE BONDS NOT TO EXCEED THE AMOUNT OF ONE MILLION SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS ($1,600,000) FOR THE FIRST PHASE OF THE RADIO COMMUNICATIONS UPGRADE Given its second reading; MOTION BY ALDERMAN SHEEHAN TO AMEND R-12-81 IN ITS ENTIRETY BY REPLACING IT WITH THE GOLDEN ROD COPY PROVIDED WITH THE AGENDA ON THE QUESTION Alderman Chasse Could Alderman Sheehan please explain the difference between the regular R-12-81 and the amended version? Alderman Sheehan Yes. At the end of the first paragraph, the sentence says the proceeds shall be used for the first phase of radio communication upgrade and the useful life of the upgrade is 10-years, formally that said 5-years. Alderman Chasse Thank you. MOTION CARRIED MOTION BY ALDERMAN SHEEHAN FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-12-81 AS AMENDED BY ROLL CALL ON THE QUESTION Alderman Moriarty Thank you Board President. As most of us were, I attended the special meeting that we talked about this. It sounds like a great idea. There was, I believe, a Finance Committee meeting that followed it, where the discussion of financing of it was. I was not able to attend that. I don’t like the idea of bonding for it. I would rather spend capital improvements or some sort of cash for it. If we knew this was coming for many years, why did it not end up in the budget itself, which we passed. I am just wondering if there is anybody that attended that committee meeting that might be able to comment on all of that. Bd. of Aldermen – 12/26/12 Page 8 Alderman Deane Why was it never in the budget? No one ever moved to do it. This communication issue has been going on for eight or ten years, when Mr. Mansfield first started coming in. I think a lot of it was brushed off to the side, now it’s to the point where we have no choice in matter. I guess you could classify it under poor planning on prior administrations, not necessarily this one as well as prior Boards. It was never put into the budget. It was never funded in any other way. Now we are borrowing money to do the upgrades. That is just my personal opinion. President McCarthy Any further discussion, if not would the clerk please call the roll. Yea: Alderman Dowd, Alderman Chasse, Alderman Caron, Alderman Moriarty, Alderman Donchess, Alderman Tabacsko, Alderman Sheehan, Alderman Deane, Alderman Vitale, Alderman Craffey, Alderman Cookson, Alderman Pressly, Alderman McCarthy 13 Nay: 0 MOTION CARRIED Resolution R-12-81 declared duly adopted as amended. UNFINISHED BUSINESS – ORDINANCES O-12-29 Endorsers: Alderman Diane Sheehan Alderman-at-Large David W. Deane AMENDING A PARKING ZONE ON A PORTION OF LOWELL STREET Given its second reading; MOTION BY ALDERMAN SHEEHAN FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF O-12-29 MOTION CARRIED Ordinance O-12-29 declared duly adopted. NEW BUSINESS – RESOLUTIONS R-12-86 Endorsers: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau Alderman-at-Large Brian S. McCarthy Alderman Michael J. Tabacsko Alderman Arthur T. Craffey, Jr. Alderman Diane Sheehan Alderman Richard A. Dowd ACCEPTING 14 NEW PORTABLE RADIOS FROM THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE Given its first reading; assigned to the HUMAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE by President McCarthy Bd. of Aldermen – 12/26/12 Page 9 R-12-87 Endorsers: Alderman-at-Large David W. Deane Alderman-at-Large Jim Donchess Alderman-at-Large Barbara Pressly Alderman Arthur T. Craffey, Jr. Alderman Kathy Vitale Alderman Diane Sheehan Alderman Daniel T. Moriarty Alderman June M. Caron Alderman Richard A. Dowd AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND CITY TREASURER TO ISSUE BONDS NOT TO EXCEED THE AMOUNT OF TWO MILLION FOUR HUNDRED AND EIGHT THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($2,408,900) FOR UPGRADING THE SCHOOL ACCESS CONTROL SYSTEM Given its first reading; Alderman Deane Are you sponsoring, Mr. Chairman. President McCarthy Am I? No I was not going to. MOTION BY ALDERMAN DEANE TO ACCEPT THE FIRST READING OF R-12-87 BY ROLL CALL, REFER IT TO THE BUDGET REVIEW COMMITTEE AND THAT A PUBLIC HEARING BE SCHEDULED FOR THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2013, AT 7:00 PM IN THE ALDERMANIC CHAMBER A viva voce roll call was taken which resulted as follows: Yea: Alderman Dowd, Alderman Chasse, Alderman Caron, Alderman Moriarty, Alderman Donchess, Alderman Tabacsko, Alderman Sheehan, Alderman Deane, Alderman Vitale, Alderman Craffey, Alderman Cookson, Alderman Pressly, Alderman McCarthy 13 Nay: 0 MOTION CARRIED Alderman Deane Would you read those folks that wanted to co-sponsor the legislation? Could someone read their names again? Paul Bergeron The names were Alderman Pressly, Alderman Craffey, Alderman Vitale, Alderman Sheehan, Alderman Moriarty, Alderman Caron and Alderman Dowd. Alderman Deane Thank you. Bd. of Aldermen – 12/26/12 Page 10 NEW BUSINESS – ORDINANCES O-12-30 Endorsers: Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire Alderman Michael J. Tabacsko AMENDING THE PROCEDURE FOR THE DISPOSITION OF PERSONAL PROPERTY RECEIVED BY THE POLICE DEPARTMENT Given its first reading; assigned to the PERSONNEL/ADMINISTRATIVE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE by President McCarthy O-12-31 Endorser: Alderman-at-Large Barbara Pressly PROVIDING FOR PUBLIC COMMENT PERIODS AT MEETINGS OF COMMITTEES ESTABLISHED BY THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN Given its first reading; assigned to the PERSONNEL/ADMINISTRATIVE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE by President McCarthy PERIOD FOR GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT Jim Cutter, 86 Palm Street, Nashua Open letter to Alderman McCarthy. “Dear Alderman McCarthy, At nearly 50 Aldermanic meetings, I have told you about Building Inspectors/Public Servants approving building permits in error that has given us a big problem. It could have been taken care of except the City Attorney has been using his position in the Legal Department to have your trust when not being honest by putting the blame on the Gilbertsons. Anyone who has listened to me knows I am right. He is making you, Mayor Lozeau and other Aldermen, except Alderman Chasse look foolish. Recently, I went to the Registry of Deeds to find out if the Gilbertsons had ever filed for adverse possession to acquire the 3 foot wide strip of our driveway and clothesline area. I found they had not, which means they have always thought they owned our land due largely to the City approving the building permits. About 45 years ago, I heard a frustrated police officer say, ‘lawyers are liars.’ Recently, I asked a Nashua Police officer if he thought lawyers were liars. He gave me an affirmative. I find in the City Code Book Section 5-34. Powers and duties of division directors. A. Each division director shall be responsible for the efficient operation of his division. He shall perform all the duties and exercise all the powers conferred upon his office by applicable laws, ordinances and resolutions. The City web site has: ‘the City Attorney is the lawyer for the city government. When the City is sued the City Attorney appears in court as defense counsel,’ etc. We are not suing the city and do not intend to. Then, the City Attorney should not be involved with our problem. It is Kathy Hersh, Community Development Division Director who should be the one solving our problem. Please speak to Mayor Lozeau for me. I would like to talk with Kathy Hersh as soon as possible. Sincerely, Jim.” Stacie Laughton, 243 Main Street, #33, Nashua I just wanted to clarify in the last meeting. When I had gotten up here and spoke not in favor of having a special election, in the end I just wanted to mention I do respect your decision and it looks like we are going to go forward with the special election and other than that, I hope everybody had a great holiday and wish everybody a safe new year. Thank you. Paula Johnson, 15 Westborn Drive, Nashua Thank you. Good evening. If I could pass this letter please up to the President so he can view the letter as I read it. Thank you. To the Board of Alderman. I’ll try not to keep my hands moving tonight, although I don’t point at anybody. That’s just the way I talk, I’m from New York. To the Board of Alderman: After receiving the letter from Alderman at Large, Brian McCarthy following his so-called Bd. of Aldermen – 12/26/12 Page 11 inquiry into the alteration between myself and Alderman Sheehan, I have reviewed his letter and I now would like to take this opportunity to fully respond. In short, I find his correspondence nothing more than an attempt by Mr. McCarthy to discredit me and downplay the complaint that I brought to the Board’s attention. I would remind Mr. McCarthy that his assertion that I made facial and physical gestures when speaking to Alderman Sheehan at a public meeting at Main Dunstable school, which I have denied these unfounded and invalid allegations and invite Mr. McCarthy to produce any record in the Board’s custody which would document that I have engaged in such behavior. I strongly suspect that no such record exists. However, for the sake of argument, assume I did make gestures towards Alderman Sheehan or at the past board meetings, I would remind the Board that as a registered voter and active participant of Nashua politics, I have the right to express my opinion and political beliefs. I have never violated meeting procedures nor been sanctioned for abusive conduct. For the Board to now hide behind a false claim that I engaged in rude behavior is poor form and petty at best. In fact, I would suggest the entire tone of the letter is nothing more than an effort to discredit me politically and personally. Alderman at Large Brian McCarthy complains in his letter that I may be exploring a potential run for political office. I see no relevance of that statement in response to my complaint against Alderman Sheehan. Furthermore, what my political plans are or are not is none of his business. It is apparent Mr. McCarthy clearly fears the exercise of my political and constitutional rights as a Nashua citizen. However, I would respectfully request the Board, under the leadership of Alderman at Large Brian McCarthy, cease its attempts to discredit and disparage me, otherwise, I will have no recourse but to examine and exercise all of my constitutional and statutory rights as a resident and voter of Nashua. Finally, with that said I have also been consulting with my attorney regarding this matter. I hope you all have a happy New Year. Thank you. REMARKS BY THE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN Alderman Pressly Thank you. I think you had set aside a time for discussion. Would that be this time? President McCarthy That would be Remarks by Members of the Board. Alderman Pressly Alderman Deane was going to bring up the subject and I had some issues on it too, the communication from the Mayor. My thoughts are this. I think if there is any issue that we are going to be looking at as far as how we proceed in the future, the Web Site is one of the issues that would really justify an invitation to the public to come and let us know what their experiences have been. I don’t know if a public hearing is required by law, but if we are contemplating getting into a new, in particular a three-year agreement, that it would be really appropriate to hear from the public. I would like to move that we schedule some sort of a public hearing prior to any decision as to how we proceed in the future regarding our web site. President McCarthy I’m not sure that I understand that to be a proper motion. Alderman Pressly I’m asking that we have a public invitational meeting or hearing inviting the public to come and comment on the city’s website. Bd. of Aldermen – 12/26/12 Page 12 President McCarthy Understand that the communication that was not introduced had nothing to do with the website per se. It had to do with our interconnect bandwidth to the internet. Alderman Pressly It is still an opportunity. The problems have been with the Website. The Mayor has mentioned that numerous times. I see this as an opportunity, although it is a technical issue it certainly does affect the Website. That is where the problems have come in. I think it is an opportunity to reach out to the public. Today the website is what we use most of the time to communicate with the public, why don’t we have an invitation for them to come and comment on what they like, what they don’t like, what suggestions they would make and to improve our website. President McCarthy Are you making a specific motion? Alderman Pressly Yes. President McCarthy Could you re-state what the motion is? Alderman Pressly I would defer to the comments that Alderman Deane had regarding that since he brought it up. President McCarthy That is not a motion. I need a specific motion. Alderman Pressly I will withdraw the motion for the time being. Alderman Cookson Thank you Mr. President. I too had questions and concerns about the potential discussion this evening about awarding a contract to our vendor of choice, or our previous vendor. It seems to me that while the public may not have full custody of knowledge of what is being proposed, the act of agreeing to a potential contract, a three-year or long-term contract, that is not sent out for request or requesting bids just seemed inappropriate to me. Hopefully, that is one of the reasons why we are not seeing that letter and contract before us this evening. I hope that is at least one of the reasons. In addition to that, I think the idea of increasing the bandwidth is very similar to that of increasing the width of a roadway, freeway or highway and the idea that it provides short-term relief, it will eventually become congested again. Unless we understand the behaviors of those people interacting with that bandwidth, whether it be employees or the public, until we understand how they are using it and why they are using it; if they are using it to send large files to one another, I think there are probably other solutions that we can be looking at. Bd. of Aldermen – 12/26/12 Page 13 President McCarthy The issue as I understand it that brought this to the front at the moment, is the conversion to the new ERP system where some of the functions that under ADMINS were handled in-house, are now actually handled on the vendor’s website which is viewed as possibly causing some bandwidth restrictions when we switch over to the new phases of ERP. There is a very specific issue that is involved here, not just general growth. Alderman Cookson The communication that we received made no mention of that. The communication that we received indicated that there was an employee within the city who mailed a large file that crashed the system. President McCarthy That may have been. Alderman Cookson Or symptoms began to appear after the storm. Nothing was mentioned about an ERP system. President McCarthy I think there are some general problems, but the concern that brought it up was the ongoing conversion of the ERP system. Alderman Cookson Without having any additional communication before us to discuss and to deliberate this evening, I’m glad it did not come before us. I hope we are able to get the answers to the questions but based on Alderman Pressly, Alderman Deane’s comments earlier, there seemed to be more questions that may be appropriate to ask and it may not just be the administration who has those questions. Hopefully, we will have an opportunity to interact and understand what the true rationale is behind this. But without sending it out to bid, I also have a concern about that. I would like to wish everybody a Happy New Year. Alderman Craffey Thank you. I also have the same concerns as my two previous colleagues. I won’t belabor the point. I just want to wish everybody a Happy New Year, safe, joyous and prosperous. Thank you. Alderman Deane I don’t like the way this is going. This is just absolutely wrong. We have a committee, the Finance Committee. As it plainly states, all supplies and contractual services except as otherwise provided herein when the estimated costs thereof shall exceed $10,000, which this does, shall be purchased by a formal, written contract from the lowest responsible bidder after due notice inviting bids. The memo part that this is under, and we had three of them this evening with our agenda, had to do with action that was taken by the Finance Committee. That’s the process. It goes to the Finance Committee. If it is outside the fiscal year with the funding then it comes to the Full Board, as it did, and it was voted on this evening. Using NRO-574-B which states that a contract that extends from the current fiscal year and to succeeding fiscal years and which no funds have been appropriated or otherwise designated for this purpose, shall be approved by the Full Board of Aldermen before the contract shall become binding on the City. That’s fine. That’s our policy, we adopted it. But this has to go to the Finance Committee. I think railroading this proposal up to the Full Board in using NRO-574-B as reasoning to allow it, is just not appropriate. I Bd. of Aldermen – 12/26/12 Page 14 agree we have bandwidth issues. I brought it up. It seemed like as soon as I tried to download something it would get right to the end and just die. It didn’t matter what PC I was using, it was large PDF files I was having problems with and I did ask the Mayor about it. I think this is not good. My other issue, Mr. President, is we have a large contract with Comcast that I think we are going to be voting on. That has to come back to us because it is up for renewal, I believe it’s 10-years. I asked the Mayor and she said they could not provide the service that the City needs. I look at the bandwidth they offer and I see through this contract that we can ramp this up if we choose to do so if it’s not quite enough. It’s not that I don’t think we need to do something, I think we do. I think we are discovering more and more issues with this ERP as we go along. I haven’t heard many good things about it, but this is another issue that has to be addressed. If the employees are struggling with it and they are not able to do their work, then something has to be done about it. I just do not like the process. I would hope that the rest of my colleagues agree. We have adopted policy. It’s all in place. This is nowhere near our standard procedures that we have been using. I think it should go to the Finance Committee and then to the Full Board if it exceeds the fiscal year in which it is approved. With that, Mr. President, I would like to wish you and your family and everybody else a Happy New Year, enjoy shoveling in the morning. My wife gets to use her new snow shovel that I got her for Christmas. Thank you. Alderman Tabacsko I just want to take the opportunity to wish family, friends, colleagues and constituents a very happy, safe and prosperous New Year. Thank you. Alderman Donchess Given what has been said already about the December 26 memo concerning bandwidth, shouldn’t this be accepted and referred to the Finance Committee? President McCarthy It has not been submitted. Alderman Donchess Even though it’s on our desk? President McCarthy Yes, it has not been submitted, it was pulled from the agenda. Alderman Donchess I see it’s not on the agenda. But usually when we have communications on our desk we suspend the rules and accept them. President McCarthy Had I spoken to our legislative assistant after my meeting with the Mayor today, it would not have appeared on your desk either. Alderman Donchess With that said, I wish everyone a Happy New Year. Bd. of Aldermen – 12/26/12 Page 15 Alderman Caron I too would like to wish everyone a happy, healthy 2013. Alderman Dowd For those that were not able to go to the joint school building committee, not since that meeting but beforehand, we had a boiler failure at Elm Street. As you recall we had taken a boiler out of Charlotte Avenue and stored it for future use, perhaps at Broad Street. When that boiler was taken over to Elm Street to use they found numerous failures. Without getting into the details it can’t be used so that boiler will be discarded. The other thing is the bonding for the school security I added my name to it if that is the way we end up wanting to pay for it. We have been, back in my former role on the school board, we have been looking at school security for the past five to seven years. The school board recently revamped their request for proposal from contractors and this was before the incident in Sandy Hook. They have been looking to fund this out of school capital reserve. I would certainly support the bonding as opposed to that because school capital reserve is not being replenished anytime soon and there is not that much money left in it. The other thing I want to mention is there are four new school projects coming up that will need to be bonded and after talking to the Superintendant and Board President of the Board of Education, they want to make sure that we don’t lose sight of the bonding that we have to do for those school projects as well if we end up bonding for the school security. It is very important. We want to make sure we do it right. We don’t want to do anything that is not going to be effective and we also don’t want to go overboard. They are going out for bids and getting quotes on what that current request for proposals is stating. I have taken a look at it. I had some comments back to them. If anybody would like to look at it, it will be available. I want to wish everybody a Happy New Year and safe travels. It is snowing outside. Alderman Pressly Thank you. I would like to speak again to the bandwidth. I thought we were having a discussion on that. President McCarthy We do not have an area for discussion on our agenda, nor can I put one there. Alderman Pressly You did put it there tonight. President McCarthy No I did not. I said to Alderman Deane that he should discuss it during Remarks by Members of the Board. Alderman Pressly May I have the honor of responding. I had mentioned that I would like to have some sort of a public hearing and I do think that is a good idea. I will be looking for legislation, that is probably something that should be done on a regular basis, maybe every couple of years, every number of years to allow the public to come in and comment on how the Website is working for them. I did have another issue to bring up besides that. January 3, there is going to be a joint meeting between the Board of Public Works and this Board on the third floor, and it does not say it in the notification, but I hope the general public and everyone here understands that it is regarding the design for the bridges on the Broad Street Parkway. I don’t know if it has been possible, but I hope that at least the abutters to that, particularly in the residential areas have been notified for that. I would request at least going forward that it be entered Bd. of Aldermen – 12/26/12 Page 16 in all the City calendars and identified as a bridge design meeting so that the general public knows it is a very specific topic. Happy New Year to everyone too. Thank you. Alderman Cookson May I add a comment to Alderman Pressly’s final statement? That joint meeting between Public Works and the Board of Alderman on January 3, at 7:00 p.m., the expectation is at the conclusion of that meeting there will be a recommendation by this Board of Alderman so that the Board of Public Works can take it up in their January meeting. There is an outcome as a result of our attendance at that joint meeting and the outcome is, some sort of resolution or understanding so that the Board of Public Works can make a final decision on how they want to view the aesthetics of the Broad Street Parkway at those three bridges. Alderman Deane I just wanted to respond to Alderman Dowd’s remarks. Having looked at the school capital reserve account, in the past we met with a lot of opposition about taking money out of there because (a) the balance and (b) what I’ve heard at the construction meetings by the Chairman and Alderman McCarthy and yourself about some of the smaller items that they were looking to work out of that fund with for repair and with the balance, I did not think I would have much success using that as a funding mechanism. It seems to me now that there is some opposition to doing some of this, which I guess we will have some debate over. This is not new. It was planned. I do realize there are things coming down the road. I guess we are just going to have to suck it up and take a harder look at what we are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on and where our priorities are. I think if you spoke to people about implementing some of these features, they would be happy about it. If we had to forego doing something else, I’m sure they would not really care. To me it was a priority. It was a priority back in 2009 until we had that $3 million debuckle in the school district we had to address and that is what ended up putting this on the back burner, but back then it was ready to go. Everybody was on board. It was going to be implemented. We had done all the leg work. Everything was done. Then we had that problem and we had to make a decision. Now I guess we have to make another decision whether we want to move forward with it or not and it will take 10 people from this Board and the Mayor to agree, because she has veto power and we will take it from there. That was my reasoning behind the funding. I have only sponsored two bond resolutions in my near 12-years here; one was for the Senior Activity Center and the other was for school access. It will be some good conversation. Thank you. Alderman Sheehan Thanks. I wasn’t going to say anything about it, but I’m going to speak in support of what Alderman Deane said. The whole time my children have been in the Nashua School system, this has been a priority so if we have been studying this for five to seven years, I hope we just take action at this point because we have studied every way from Sunday and I think it’s time to do something. I hope everybody has a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. Alderman Donchess I have a follow-up question for Alderman Dowd on the school security system. President McCarthy I do not want this to get into a debate, but I will let you ask the question. Bd. of Aldermen – 12/26/12 Page 17 Alderman Donchess My question simply is, you mentioned they are putting out something to bid. Are they putting out the Bliss report or the recommendations of the Bliss report or is the bid package they are putting together scaling back the Bliss recommendations, that is unclear to me. Alderman Dowd I guess the finding of the scaling back would be in somebody’s personal view, but it has been changed because a lot of things have changed in school security since the Bliss report originally came out. They are working with Bliss to formulate the new RFPs. It is also being vetted by the head of Emergency of Preparedness here in the City and the Police Department. President McCarthy I just want to comment on the same topic. The reason I didn’t sponsor the legislation has nothing to do with not supporting security in the schools, it was to do with the funding mechanism. I do want to say that the issue around security in the schools is very important to me and that is actually one of the reasons why I opposed the plan in 2009, because it was not the plan it was a wish list of items to purchase. When that plan was presented to us I asked two questions: First one was because it called for having external locks on the buildings and having buzzers and such, I picked one of the schools and I said at that school, who is the person responsible for answering the door during the day when a parent comes to meet with a teacher and pushes the buzzer at the front of the school. There was no answer to that question because we did not have a plan. Security has to start with a plan on how you are going to implement it; the locks, the video cameras, the buzzers and the buttons are tools to implement the plan, but you need the plan first and we did not have one. That plan I don’t believe even included the interior locks on classroom doors, which in the Sandy Hook case turned out to be one of the most important features of the security system there. What was going to be implemented in our plan was basically, the system that did not hold up the assailant for more than a couple of seconds at Sandy Hook, so I’m hoping we are going to put better thought into how we implement that than has been done elsewhere. The other question I had asked at the time was, what incident that happened in the last five years would have been prevented by the system you have on the drawing board and there was no answer to that question either. We didn’t know what it was we were protecting ourselves against, we did not know how we were implementing the protection, we just knew we needed to buy a bunch of stuff to do it. That was under the previous school administration. I have to say that when Mr. Conrad got back, and with that he said, yeah, we need a better plan. We need to understand the operational aspects of, who is responsible for what in the schools to make this work. I am happy to see that those issues, I think, have been addressed and I look forward to hearing about them. I was of the opinion that we would probably pay for this out of the school capital reserve fund and I do share Alderman Dowd’s concerns that we do have some other school projects coming up. While we can stagger them a little bit, we should do them. As we found with Ledge, Fairgrounds and Charlotte Avenue when we put them together we can in fact get some savings in terms of what we have to spend. I hope we keep that in mind as we examine school spending. I do not think there is anything outrageously expensive we need to do, but we do need to keep up with our normal maintenance. It has been a long time since some of those schools were visited, even the ones that we have done relatively recently are getting a little old and require re-visitation. With that said, I want to wish a Happy upcoming birthday to Alderman Vitale and Alderman Deane and Happy New Year to everyone. Committee announcements: None Bd. of Aldermen – 12/26/12 Page 18 ADJOURNMENT MOTION BY ALDERMAN DEANE THAT THE DECEMBER 26, 2012 MEETING OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN BE ADJOURNED MOTION CARRIED The meeting was declared adjourned at 8:35 p.m. Attest: Paul R. Bergeron, City Clerk James B. and Mary E. Cutter 86 Palm St., P.O. Box 69 Nashua, NH 03061 Phone 889-4246 December 26, 2012 Brian S. McCarthy, President OPEN LETTER. Board of Aldermen Nashua, NH Dear Alderman McCarthy, At nearly 50 Aldermanic Meetings I have told you about Building Inspectors/Public Servants approving building permits in error that has given us a big problem. IT COULD HAVE BEEN TAKEN CARE OF EXCEPT THE CITY ATTORNEY HAS BEEN USING HIS POSITION IN THE LEGAL DEPT. TO HAVE YOUR TRUST WHEN NOT BEING HONEST BY PUTTING THE BLAME ON THE GILBERTSONS. ANYONE WHO HAS LISTENED TO ME KNOWS I AM RIGHT. HE IS MAKING YOU, MAYOR LOZEAU AND THE OTHER ALDERMEN EXCEPT ALDERMAN CHASSE LOOK FOOLISH. RECENTLY, I WENT TO THE REGISTRY OF DEEDS TO FIND OUT IF THE GILBERTSONS HAD EVER FILED FOR ADVERSE POSSESSION TO ACQUIRE THE 3 * WIDE STRIP OF OUR DRIVEWAY AND CLOTHESLINE AREA. I FOUND THEY HAD NOT, WHICH MEANS THEY HAVE ALWAYS THOUGHT THEY OWNED OUR LAND DUE LARGELY TO THE CITY APPROVING THE BUILDING PERMITS. ABOUT 45 YEARS AGO, I HEARED A FRUSTRATED POLICE OFFICER SAY, "LAWYERS ARE LIARS". RECENTLY, I ASKED A NASHUA POLICE OFFICER IF HE THOUGHT "LAWYERS WERE LIERS" AND HE GAVE ME AN AFFIRMATIVE. I find in the City Code Book Section 5-34. Powers and duties of division directors. A. Each division director shall be responsible for the efficient operation of his division. He shall perform all the duties and exercise all the powers conferred upon his office by applicable laws, ordinances and resolutions. The City web site has, "The City Attorney is the lawyer for the city government. When the City is sued the City Attorney appears in court as defense counsel." etc.. WE ARE NOT SUING THE CITY AND DO NOT INTEND TO. Then, the City Attorney SHOULD NOT BE involved with our problem. It is Kathy Hersh, Community Development Div. Director who should be the one solving our problem. Please speak to Mayor Lozeau for me. I would like to talk with Kathy Hersh as soon as possible. Sincerely, pc. Donnalee Lozeau, Mayor Stephen M. Bennett, Deputy Corporation Counsel  PAULA I. JOHNSON 15 Westborn Drive Nashua, NH 03062 December 26,2012 To the Board of Aldermen: After receiving the letter from Alderman-at Large Brian McCarthy following his so-called inquiry into an altercation between myself and Alderman Sheehan, I have reviewed his letter and now would like to take this opportunity to fully respond. In short, I find this correspondence nothing more than an attempt by Mr. McCarthy to discredit me and downplay the complaint I brought to the Board's attention. I would remind Mr. McCarthy that his assertion that I made facial and physical gestures when speaking to Alderman Sheehan at the public meeting at Main Dunstable school, which I have denied these unfounded and invalid allegations and invite Mr. McCarthy to produce any record in the Board's custody which would document that I engaged in such behavior. I strongly suspect no such record exists. However, for the sake of argument, assume I did make gestures towards Alderman Sheehan or at past board meetings, I would remind the Board that as a registered voter and active participant of Nashua politics, I have a right to express my opinion and political beliefs. I have never violated meeting procedures nor been sanctioned for abusive conduct. For the Board to now hide behind a false claim that I engaged in rude behavior is poor form and petty at best. In fact, I would suggest the entire tone of the letter is nothing more than an effort to discredit me politically and personally. Alderman-at Large Brian McCarthy complains in his letter that I may be exploring a potential run for political office. I see no relevance of that statement in response to my complaint against Alderman Sheehan. Furthermore, what my political plans are or are not is none of his business. It is apparent Mr. McCarthy clearly fears the exercise of my political and constitutional rights as a Nashua citizen. However, I would respectfully request the Board, under the leadership of Alderman-at Large Brian McCarthy, cease its attempts to discredit and disparage me, otherwise, I will have no recourse but to examine and exercise all of my constitutional and statutory rights as a resident and voter of Nashua. Finally, with that said 1 have also been consulting with my attorney regarding this matter. Paula Johnson