Aldermen, Board of

A regular meeting of the Board of Aldermen was held Tuesday, February 25, 2014, at 7:30 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chamber. President David W. Deane presided; Deputy City Clerk Patricia Piecuch recorded. Prayer was offered by Deputy City Clerk Patricia Piecuch; Alderman Diane Sheehan led in the Pledge to the Flag. The roll call was taken with 15 members of the Board of Aldermen present. Her Honor Mayor Donnalee Lozeau and Corporation Counsel Stephen M. Bennett were also in attendance. REMARKS BY THE MAYOR Thank you, Mr. President, I do. I would begin this evening by making a correction. In the Chamber of Commerce breakfast where we had a Conversation with Mayor, that followed my State of the City address and the Finance Committee, I was talking about the subject of interest that the city collects on our money and I was trying to explain just how bad it’s gotten and I made a point which I think most people understood. But I dropped a zero that is rather important to add back on. So, since 2007, I had the correct number; in 2007, we collected 3.71 million dollars in interest on our money. Today, we collect $650,000 on that money. So the point is still the same but there’s a big difference between $65,000 and $650,000 and in an effort to keep our Treasurer healthy, I wanted to make sure that we have that number accurate. That’s an easy thing to do. My apologies but I wanted to set that record straight. I would also take a moment to extend my deepest sympathies to Georgi Hippauf. I know many of you in the community know Georgi. She is somebody who has been dedicated to the French-Canadian heritage of Nashua and has done a lot of remarkable things in this city, has been very engaged and involved. She lost her husband of 40 years this past week and I just wanted to bring it to your attention and to send out our sympathies. In addition, I would do the same relative to George Crombie. Some of you certainly knew Mr. Crombie, others of you may not have. Mr. Crombie served as the Director of Public Works for a time before my watch and was instrumental in a lot of the rehabilitation of our parks and things like that and we lost him this week as well. I wanted to thank him for his years of service and dedication to our community. I think we are better because of the work that he’s done and extend our sympathies to this family. With that, I would thank you all for your kind attention. RESPONSE TO REMARKS OF THE MAYOR Alderman Wilshire I didn’t know that Mr. Crombie passed away. He was very instrumental when I was the Ward 7 Alderman in rehabbing almost every park in Ward 7. He did a great job for the city and will be missed. Thank you. RECOGNITION PERIOD – None READING MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING MOTION BY ALDERMAN McCARTHY THAT THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN OF FEBRUARY 11, 2014, BE ACCEPTED, PLACED ON FILE AND THE READING SUSPENDED MOTION CARRIED COMMUNICATIONS MOTION BY ALDERMAN DONCHESS THAT ALL COMMUNICATIONS BE READ BY TITLE ONLY MOTION CARRIED Bd. of Aldermen – 02/25/14 Page 2 From: Michelle Spears on Behalf of the Recycling Expansion Committee Re: Recycling Expansion Committee’s Report of Findings and Recommendations MOTION BY ALDERMAN DONCHESS TO ACCEPT AND PLACE ON FILE ON THE QUESTION Alderman Donchess Of course the report is clear and pretty understandable. The part I wanted to comment on is the sentence and the portion on the first page that says the committee agrees that the city should not provide these services, meaning extending any recycling services to the condominium projects. I did sponsor the legislation that created this committee. I think the committee did a thorough job, but I did not agree with the conclusion that the city could not provide these services. I was hoping that one thing that the committee would do would be to give the Board of Aldermen and the Board of Public Works just a sense of what it would cost to do a one site pickup at some condominium projects. At the beginning of the committee’s work, the department of public works did a very good job in presenting background information regarding solid waste pickup, regarding the landfill, recycling. They did a very through presentation at the beginning. Based upon the information that was generated I do believe that if there were a single site at the five or ten largest condominium projects in the city, the city could do a once per week pickup of a dumpster. The city does have equipment which picks up dumpsters for recycling around city buildings and schools, could do a once a week pick up of a single dumpster for a very modest cost. Therefore, I was disappointed that the committee didn’t look into that and didn’t at least give us a perspective on what that would cost. When recycling was begun in the 80s it began and ran as a pilot program for quite some time. I believe that a pilot program for five or ten condominium projects could teach us a lot and reduce the flow into the landfill. In any event that is my perspective, Mr. Chair, and I hope at some point the city will look at what it would cost to run such a pilot. Alderman McCarthy I have been part of groups that have discussed the same topic at various times in the past. While I generally agree that we could do it, the problem would be we would have equipment that is quite specialized to do that that has not much other application. I think it’s no secret that our pickup at the schools is not in fact terribly efficient. We have looked at ways to do that over the years. I think there is an opportunity there to look at and understand what the cost is of the equipment to be able to do the condominium pickups, the school pickups and perhaps there are some other places in the community that we could pick up from. We have sites such as the hospitals, colleges, etc., that have very large volumes of recyclables that we might be able to take a look at. I would suggest that we pursue some further investigation of what does it take to do that kind of recycling and is it advantageous to us. I don’t know whether we would have to charge for that service. I certainly think every pound of recyclables we get from the condominiums is one less pound of trash that we put in the landfill. In that perspective, I think we’re winning. If we can do that by also making some revenue on other recyclables which we are also diverting form the landfill, I think there may be an opportunity there for us to provide better service at no total cost to the city. President Deane I was of the understanding that we bought dumpsters because they were sitting down at the landfill, front loader dumpsters. We have a truck that does that that now picks them up at the schools. Those baby blue roll off three bin recyclable containers were to be a thing of the past because of the way the recycling had changed where we could comingle everything. That’s correct, isn’t it Mayor? Bd. of Aldermen – 02/25/14 Page 3 Mayor Lozeau Yes, we did buy frontload dumpsters and the truck to pick them up at the schools. President Deane Does that include recycling for the frontload truck as well or just the trash? Mayor Lozeau No, it can be recycling. I’m not certain if they’ve been doing the recycling in the frontload or how they’ve been doing it. I didn’t ask that question, but it certainly can be done. President Deane It’s something to look into. If we own the truck that picks it up from the front. Alderman Caron I sat on this recycling committee. One of the things that the group talked about was that these condos are all private. We were looking at how would we take the responsibility of putting our city trucks on private property with having some issues because some of those condo streets are very small and you’re dealing with bigger trucks. One of the issues that we talked about is before we decide to do condos what about the rest of the city residents and getting them all onboard to recycle. We were hoping that if the condos did this that they would not be bringing this to the landfill but taking it other places. I think there’s a little bit of question as to the liability that the city would have by going there. I think that on the whole the committee really worked hard to get some of those bigger condos to work together and maybe come up with a solution of having one person do that for them. Of course there are some small condos where there’s no place to put the dumpsters. It’s a two-way street. There could be further discussion about it, but I think that the committee as a group did a very good job especially with the public works giving a lot of information for us considering recycling. I don’t totally disagree with Alderman Donchess but that was one of the biggest issues, the fact that we were looking on going on private property. Alderman Donchess I agree that the committee did a very thorough job at looking at the possibility of creating a consortium or a cooperative of the condo projects which maybe they will work together. If that works, great. I did think that the issue about this liability question was not very valid. You wouldn’t send a big truck into a place where it wouldn’t fit. Obviously you would have to do some survey work in advance and plan this. The idea that the city’s liability is greater on private property than on the public streets, where doe that come from? If a city truck runs into a car that’s parked on a condominium street, ya, there’s potential liability. If a city truck runs over a pedestrian or hits a vehicle on the road, it’s the same liability or hits a parked car on the side of a street. But for the size of some of the streets, and that could be looked at in advance, I don’t see what the difference is in liability or risk in driving and hitting something on private property as compared with the public streets which actually have a lot more traffic. Alderman Moriarty Maybe we’re getting a little ahead of the discussion but I would like to ask everybody to consider that I’m of the mind to philosophically choose not to actively grow the size of city government. As long as we can have the recycling accomplished and reduce the burden on the landfill, if the condominiums want to handle this on their own, more power to them. Bd. of Aldermen – 02/25/14 Page 4 MOTION CARRIED PERIOD FOR PUBLIC COMMENT RELATIVE TO ITEMS EXPECTED TO BE ACTED UPON THIS EVENING - None PETITIONS – None NOMINATIONS, APPOINTMENTS AND ELECTIONS Joint Convention with the Library Board of Trustees MOTION BY ALDERMAN CHASSE THAT THE RULES BE SO FAR SUSPENDED AS TO ALLOW FOR THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN TO MEET IN JOINT CONVENTION WITH THE LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES FOR THE PURPOSE OF ELECTING A TRUSTEE WHICH WAS INADVERTENTLY OMITTED FROM THE AGENDA MOTION CARRIED President Deane called for nominations. Trustee Barrett nominated David Pinsonneault for a term to expire March 31, 2021 MOTION BY ALDERMAN WILSHIRE TO CLOSE THE NOMINATIONS MOTION CARRIED A Viva Voce Roll Call vote was taken on the appointment of David Pinsonneault to the Library Board of Trustees for a term to expire March 31, 2021, which resulted as follows: Yea: Alderman McCarthy, Alderman Dowd, Alderman Schoneman, Alderman Chasse, Alderman Caron, Alderman McGuinness, Alderman Sheehan, Alderman Soucy, Alderman Donchess, Alderman Moriarty, Alderman Siegel, Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja Alderwoman Brown, Alderman Wilshire, Alderman Deane Arthur Barrett, Jr., Pauline Desautels, David Pinsonneault, Kathleen Veracco, Mayor Lozeau 20 Nay: 0 MOTION CARRIED President Deane declared David Pinsonneault duly appointed to the Library Board of Trustees for a term to expire March 31, 2021. Oath of Office administered by Corporation Counsel. MOTION BY ALDERMAN SOUCY THAT THE CONVENTION NOW ARISE MOTION CARRIED REPORTS OF COMMITTEE Finance Committee ............................................................................ 02/11/14 There being no objection, President Deane declared the report of the February 11, 2014 Finance Committee accepted and placed on file. Bd. of Aldermen – 02/25/14 Page 5 Committee on Infrastructure Public Work Session ............................ 02/03/14 There being no objection, President Deane declared the report of the February 3, 2014 Committee on Infrastructure Public Work Session accepted and placed on file. Committee on Infrastructure ............................................................... 02/12/14 There being no objection, President Deane declared the report of the February 12, 2014 Committee on Infrastructure accepted and placed on file. Human Affairs Committee ................................................................... 02/20/14 There being no objection, President Deane declared the report of the February 20, 2014 Human Affairs Committee accepted and placed on file. Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee ....................................... 02/10/14 There being no objection, President Deane declared the report of the February 10, 2014 Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee accepted and placed on file. WRITTEN REPORTS FROM LIAISONS – None CONFIRMATION OF MAYOR'S APPOINTMENTS – None UNFINISHED BUSINESS – RESOLUTIONS R-14-004 Endorsers: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire Alderman-at-Large Diane Sheehan Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja Alderman June M. Caron Alderman Richard A. Dowd Alderman-at-Large David W. Deane Alderwoman Pamela T. Brown Alderman-at-Large Jim Donchess RELATIVE TO THE ACCEPTANCE AND APPROPRIATION OF $63,125 FROM THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE INTO POLICE GRANT ACTIVITY- “FY2014 VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN GRANT PROGRAM” AND TO AUTHORIZE THE TRANSFER OF $50,000 FROM DEPARTMENT 194 – “CONTINGENCY”, ACCOUNT #70120 – “CONTINGENCY, POLICE GRANTS” Given its second reading; MOTION BY ALDERMAN WILSHIRE FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-14-004 MOTION CARRIED Resolution R-14-004 declared duly adopted. Bd. of Aldermen – 02/25/14 Page 6 R-14-005 Endorsers: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire Alderman-at-Large Diane Sheehan Alderman Richard A. Dowd Alderman June M. Caron Alderman-at-Large Brian S. McCarthy Alderman-at-Large Jim Donchess Alderman Ken Siegel Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja Alderwoman Pamela T. Brown Alderman-at-Large David W. Deane RELATIVE TO THE ACCEPTANCE AND APPROPRIATION OF $100,000 FROM THE NEW HAMPSHIRE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION INTO GRANT ACTIVITY “SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL – CHARLOTTE AVENUE” Given its second reading; MOTION BY ALDERMAN SHEEHAN FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-14-005 ON THE QUESTION Alderman Siegel I have a question for Alderman Sheehan. I looked at the safe routes, the school grant that was done, the final one, and it mentioned that the total project cost was $136,506. I know that we’re voting on accepting the $100,000. Where is the other $36,506 for the project coming from? Alderman Sheehan We haven’t gotten that far because we’re just accepting the grant right now. My plan would be that we would use funding that we have available in the appropriate department because we do street work and sidewalk work and such. Alderman Siegel The reason I ask that is I have a note as a consequence of some other legislation that you’ll see later from Wayne Husband with regard to available funding. I was asking for funding for $8500 and I’m going to quote. It says: “There’s no funding in any of the accounts in the Division of Public Works to fund this that I am aware of. Any legislation should identify the funding impact and the funding source.” Now admittedly this is not a related piece of legislation. I just want to know if we’ve identified. I’m not sure what the process is or if we have to do the project up to the $135,506 but I believe the grant, not I believe it was stated in the grant that the city was going to put that money in so we have to identify the funding source for it. We had an original funding source. I don’t know if it’s still there, if the money was set aside. The original funding source said that there would be some money from drainage and some money from sidewalk and conduit funds. Now that grant application, I believe, Mayor correct me if I’m wrong, I think it was filled out in July, 2013 and submitted. I don’t know when it was approved or when the money came back in. I just don’t know if that money is still there because I see this e-mail to me. I think I’d be fine if I knew that money was set aside, but I’m getting a mixed message here. Alderman Sheehan I defer to the Mayor. Bd. of Aldermen – 02/25/14 Page 7 Mayor Lozeau Typically what we do with the safe route to schools grant is it’s not something that happens in a single fiscal year. It’s spread out over a period of time. The funds are available within our sewer budget for drainage work and things like that. The sidewalk money that we normally use in the rest of the city is also available for some of those matching funds. I believe that the school maybe willing to put some of the funds from their capital into that as well. It’s typically been a mix of things. I would anticipate as your colleague to your right can tell you, a safe route to school grant sometimes can take as much as six years to actually get it complete. We are confident and have told the state that funds are available that match $36,000. It will be budgeted in our next fiscal year. None of that work will be done prior to the start of the next fiscal year. Alderman Siegel So that’s anticipating funds will be available in the next fiscal year. Mayor Lozeau That’s correct and more than one fiscal year. Alderman Siegel There is no impact on this fiscal year, is that what I’m hearing? Mayor Lozeau That’s correct. Alderman Siegel Thank you, Madam Mayor. Alderman Schoneman There’s been a great deal of discussion about this grant particularly in Ward 3 that I represent. The feeling was that there were many students walking to Mt. Pleasant School. I think many of the parents feel that those routes are more dangerous than perhaps some other and there’s more students. I’m going to support this but to vote for it now doesn’t indicate that I would have supported it from the beginning necessarily. I think that the Mt. Pleasant parents have some very legitimate concerns for their students. I don’t know any Mt. Pleasant parents who would not want to accept this grant for Charlotte Ave. There’s no one I think that feels that any student in the city shouldn’t have a safe route to walk. I just want to say now as we’re voting to accept this that I’m deeply concerned about Mt. Pleasant School and the kids that have to walk there. It’s a 100 percent walking school. Thank you. Alderman Sheehan I share your concerns as well. There’s nearly the same number of potential walkers at Charlotte Ave as there are because it has a larger school population and only half of them take the bus. Most of them are driven as a result of having no sidewalk. We have a crosswalk that walks them across and many of the students that go to that school approximately half are actually Ward 3 families because just the geography there’s actually five elementary schools that are served in Ward 3. The nice thing about looking at something different for Mt. Pleasant is as we have seen with Bicentennial, safe routes to school can take a very long time. Finding a different funding source for what you and I had conversations about getting done to ensure a safer route to school could happen in a faster fashion. I Bd. of Aldermen – 02/25/14 Page 8 had a discussion with the Mayor regarding that and potentially looking at community development block grants and finding some eligible work perhaps as a funding source so it can happen sooner because it is a very urgent situation. That’s a concern for all of us as well. Alderman Schoneman I know that the grant does take a long time. I think there are sources of funds that are more speedily available. I just want to make sure that we do focus on that. My understanding is that approximately ten percent of the students at Charlotte Ave. walk. I don’t want to get into a debate about how many kids or don’t walk. I think those kids, however many there are, are vital and many of them do come from Ward 3. But I think the percentage is higher at Mt. Pleasant, and I look forward to finding some solutions for that. Alderman Dowd When I was first elected alderman there was a lot of concern about the safety of the students when they get out of school and when they come to school. We started working on how to best solve that working with the city. It took a long time to put together the funding to do something about this. It is solving a safety issue for young students and it has the support of the neighbors around the school. Alderman McCarthy My understanding is that this is funding that these grants are given out in rounds and it’s an ongoing program. May we assume that the Ward 3 alderman is working with the school administration and the administration in general to make sure that we get an application in for the next round of funding for safe routes to school? Alderman Schoneman My understanding is that grant program is going away. We’re working on finding some other sources, but if there’s grant money available that we can apply for, I’d be happy to pursue that. President Deane My understanding is it’s being rolled over into another part of DOT. From what I’ve been told, Alderman McCarthy, the Mt. Pleasant people was told that the Mt. Pleasant area was ineligible for safe routes to school funding. I’m looking into that. I find that hard to believe w hen you have to submit an application in order to have the application rejected and it’s a long, tedious process. I’ve gone through all of the requirements that you have to go through. You have to have engineering done, you have to work with the NRPC. You’re probably well aware of it. I think we all care and have an interest in the safety of the children no matter what part of the city they are in. Alderman Melizzi-Golja The safe route to schools per se is no longer in existence but it has been rolled over into another grant. I want to say the acronym is TAP and I can’t think of what it stands for but if you go to NRPC’s website you will find all of the information. I believe the information related to the first round of grant applications is going to be available in the next couple of months. I was just on there looking at what was going on. There is going to be funding available, but it will no longer be identified as safe routes to school. That information to start applying is going to be available soon. They are working on it so you will find it on their website. Bd. of Aldermen – 02/25/14 Page 9 Alderman Schoneman We are, and I am and moms and parents of Mt. Pleasant School are very supportive of this grant for Charlotte Ave. They just want to do what they can for their children as well so I fully support this. Alderman Melizzi-Golja In reference to what safe route to school is about, I know we look at the number of children we have at each school who currently walk. When you look at some of the activities what safe route to school is promoting, they want the individual school’s safe route committee to consider, it’s not just about how many kids there are that are walking to school or riding their bikes. It’s also how do we increase that number. At Bicentennial one of our ongoing concerns has been we have a large number of students who could walk. We have a much number of students who do walk. Part of that is because parents don’t feel safe because of roads and sidewalks and the parents who are speeding to get their kids to school. That’s the reality. That’s part of the education that goes on with safe routes to school. It’s not just about looking at the number of students that do walk but what’s the potential for having more children engage and walking and riding their bikes as well as educating the neighborhood in their role in making it safe for students to walk. I think all of us are constantly talking to our constituents about the people speeding through the neighborhood are the people who live in the neighborhood. That’s always the concern we hear about kids walking safely to school. Thank you. Alderman Donchess I was hoping to ask a question which is somewhat related to the subject and maybe Alderwoman Melizzi- Golja could answer. I read about the walking buses that are available in some places. I don’t know if there’s grant money or how they get organized. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about, someone a monitor or something picks up kids at their house and they all walk to school together. Maybe Alderman Dowd would know, both of you have served on the school board. Is there anything done in Nashua to try to promote that or do you think there’s more that could be done or how could that be expanded? Alderman Melizzi-Golja I do know when I was involved in the PTO at Bicentennial as well as when I was on the school board and just interacting with the constituents and the parents there, that was something that was considered. For whatever reason there wasn’t enough interest in doing that. It was decided not to pursue it. I have lived other places where I know that’s been done. Some of it my understanding has to do with are people always going to be available, who is going to be the bus driver and the aid on the bus. If you’re walking ten students to school, you probably don’t’ want to do it alone. You want an aid if you’re the driver. Some of those things came into the mix as well as if Johnny is at his grandmother’s Monday, Wednesday and Fridays, he’s only here Tuesday and Thursday. It’s those sort of things. You would have the same responsibility of where am I dropping this student off and where I am picking them up and making sure children are going where they are supposed to be going. I know a long time ago it was discussed at Bicentennial and it was decided not to formalize the practice. There is a similar practice that happens but it was never formalized. Mayor Lozeau Because the subject came up, I thought you may all be interested in knowing that we are looking at a partnership with the YMCA and our public health department and other non-profits to try an initiative at at least one school. We’re looking at that right now. We’re going to call it “walk stops.” I didn’t know that there were imaginary buses in other communities. We thought a walk stop might be a nice idea, play off of a bus stop. In working with the non-profits that already have staff and volunteers that are serving some of these students, we think there’s an opportunity there. That initiative is something that we’re working towards to launch in the new school year, sooner if possible. We’re looking at which schools we Bd. of Aldermen – 02/25/14 Page 10 might do that at. Some of them might be the schools where all the kids walk, some might be a school where we want to get more kids to walk that could walk. That analysis has just begun but I thought you might be interested. MOTION CARRIED Resolution R-14-005 declared duly adopted. UNFINISHED BUSINESS – ORDINANCES O-14-001 Endorsers: Alderman-at-Large David W. Deane Alderman June M. Caron ELIMINATING THE PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE AND THE SERVICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR CENTRAL BUSINESS SERVICE DISTRICT Given its second reading; MOTION BY ALDERMAN CARON FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF O-14-001 MOTION CARRIED Ordinance O-14-001 declared duly adopted. O-14-005 Endorsers: Alderman-at-Large Jim Donchess Alderman Ken Siegel Alderman Daniel T. Moriarty AUTHORIZING A STOP SIGN ON POLLARD ROAD AT ITS INTERSECTION WITH NOTTINGHAM DRIVE Given its second reading; MOTION BY ALDERMAN DONCHESS FOR INDEFINITE POSTPONEMENT OF O-14-005 ON THE QUESTION Alderman Siegel I just want to let you know the reason for the indefinite postponement was I canvassed some of the additional residents on Pollard Drive and there was not support for this so just make it go away. MOTION CARRIED Ordinance O-14-005 declared indefinitely postponed. O-14-006 Endorser: Alderman Ken Siegel RELATIVE TO ELECTRONIC DEVICES UTILIZED BY THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN Given its second reading; MOTION BY ALDERMAN SIEGEL TO AMEND O-14-006 IN ITS ENTIRETY BY REPLACING IT WITH THE GOLDEN ROD COPY PROVIDED WITH THE AGENDA ON THE QUESTION Bd. of Aldermen – 02/25/14 Page 11 Alderman Chasse I’m going to make this a blanket one for the next two years. When you get an amended one, golden rod, blue copy, anything, you might as well give the spiel of the difference between the original and the golden rod copy. This is for the people that are watching on TV so they understand basically what we’re doing. Alderman Siegel Thank you, Alderman Chasse. I wasn’t sure whether to do that either before the motion, I was assuming that it would carry, or after the motion would have been made for final passage. The original ordinance proposed had a section 1 that was modified that would not allow the individual aldermen to be able to purchase their tablets exclusively. The concept was that they would just be like any other piece of property and would be disposed of appropriately if need be. In the Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee there was a good deal of discussion about that one item. There were some valid points that were made by in particular I believe Alderman Soucy and Alderman Dowd. It seemed to me that the best course of action given those valid points was to voluntarily make the amendment of my own ordinance and to just leave that in place as it was. That’s the only change. After that in PAA there was no objection to the change in Section 2 or Section 3 so that ended up carrying unanimously That’s the change that you are going to be looking at in the golden rod copy. MOTION CARRIED MOTION BY ALDERMAN SIEGEL FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF O-14-006 AS AMENDED MOTION CARRIED Ordinance O-14-006 declared duly adopted as amended. O-14-007 Endorsers: Alderman-at-Large David W. Deane Alderman Richard A. Dowd Alderman-at-Large Brian S. McCarthy Alderman Paul M. Chasse Alderman June M. Caron Alderman Michael Soucy Alderman Ken Siegel Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja Alderwoman Brown Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire Alderman-at-Large Diane Sheehan REDUCING THE SIZE OF THE JOINT SPECIAL SCHOOL BUILDING COMMITTEE Given its second reading; MOTION BY ALDERMAN DOWD TO AMEND O-14-007 IN ITS ENTIRETY BY REPLACING IT WITH THE GOLDEN ROD COPY PROVIDED WITH THE AGENDA Alderman Dowd It changes the wording from 9 members to 10 members, 5 each from the Board of Aldermen and 5 members of the Board of Education. It’s probably the most popular motion we’ll have all year. If the amended version passes, I’m going to make a motion to refer the amended motion to the Board of Education so they can take it up. They did approve the number of 8. They are expecting that they will get it back for the number of 10. Then we’ll table at the full Board level. Bd. of Aldermen – 02/25/14 Page 12 Alderman McCarthy I wanted to ask a question of corporation counsel. We had discussed the other day the origins of the Joint Special Committee. I wasn’t convinced that we had any absolute requirement to refer this to the Board of Education a second time. I was wondering if we could hear what the final opinion on that was. Attorney Bennett The original Joint Special was set up by this board who established the makeup at that time. I don’t believe there’s any absolute requirement that the Board of Education agree with this Board when they amend it. I think it was more of a courtesy than a requirement. President Deane Alderman McCarthy, do you want to be courteous or do you just want to pass it? Alderman McCarthy I just wanted everybody to know what they are voting on. MOTION CARRIED MOTION BY ALDERMAN DOWD TO RE-REFER O-14-007, AS AMENDED, TO THE BOARD OF EDUCATION AND TABLE AT THE FULL BOARD LEVEL ON THE QUESTION Alderman McCarthy I will vote to be courteous but I certainly hope that between now and when this comes back we do not have a Joint Special meeting at which we can’t’ get a quorum. President Deane You’ll have to check the Vegas odds on that one. Alderman Dowd I would implore the Board of Education to take this up as quickly as possible and refer it back here. MOTION CARRIED NEW BUSINESS – RESOLUTIONS – None NEW BUSINESS – ORDINANCES O-14-011 Endorsers: Alderman-at-Large Jim Donchess Alderman-at-Large David W. Deane Alderman Ken Siegel Alderman David Schoneman Alderman Michael Soucy REGARDING FINANCE COMMITTEE APPROVAL OF CONTRACT AMENDMENTS Given its first reading; assigned to the FINANCE COMMITTEE by President Deane Bd. of Aldermen – 02/25/14 Page 13 O-14-012 Endorsers: Alderman-at-Large Jim Donchess Alderman-at-Large Diane Sheehan Alderman Richard A. Dowd Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire Alderwoman Pamela Brown Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja Alderman-at-Large Brian S. McCarthy Alderman Sean M. McGuinness Alderman Ken Siegel ALLOWING RESIDENTS OF MULBERRY STREET TO PURCHASE OVERNIGHT ON-STREET PARKING PERMITS Given its first reading; assigned to the COMMITTEE ON INFRASTRUCTURE by President Deane MOTION BY ALDERMAN SIEGEL THAT THE RULES BE SO FAR SUSPENDED AS TO ALLOW FOR THE FIRST READING OF AN ORDINANCE RECEIVED AFTER THE AGENDA WAS PREPARED MOTION CARRIED O-14-013 Endorsers: Alderman Ken Siegel Alderman David Schoneman Alderman-at-Large David W. Deane Alderman-at-Large Diane Sheehan Alderman-at-Large Jim Donchess Alderman-at-Large Daniel T. Moriarty Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja Alderwoman Pamela T. Brown Alderman Richard A. Dowd AUTHORIZING THREE SCHOOL ZONE FLASHING SPEED LIMIT SIGNS AND TRANSFERRING $30,000 TO FUND THEIR PURCHASE AND INSTALLATION Given its first reading; assigned to the COMMITTEE ON INFRASTRUCTURE and the BUDGET REVIEW COMMITTEE by President Deane PERIOD FOR GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT Jim Cutter, 86 Palm Street Open letter to Alderman Deane. We are thankful Alderman Chasse asked to hear Attorney Bennett’s reason why the city should not enforce the 1949 building permit, ordinance Article 9, Section 36 for 88 Palm Street. I was not surprised to hear Alderman Chasse received a copy of the July 11, 2012 Infrastructure Committee meeting minutes of 26 pages because Attorney Bennett was able to get the committee away from why we have a problem. In preparing for this meeting, I have reviewed the committee minutes three times to be sure that Attorney Bennett had never spoken about Article 9, Section 36. The legal department cannot deny the fact building inspectors approved permits when they should have rejected them. Our problem can easily be corrected by changing the building permits to show the actual dimensions of 51 feet instead of 53.7 feet which is actually 53 feet, 8 inches along Palm Street. We would like Mayor Lozeau to enforce the 1950, 1971 building permits for 88 Palm Street as she is required by the City Charter, Section 45 and RSA 45:8 supervision. Sincerely. I also have an enclosure which answers what Attorney Bennett brought up at that meeting. He said where is that three feet. I’ve been saying its two rods. I did a layout of the rods which was the way that everything was measured back in the 1800s. It shows clearly the two rods and the gap or they call it a goral which is on the north side of our property not on the Gilbertson’s side. Thank you very much. Bd. of Aldermen – 02/25/14 Page 14 Doug Mecedo, 10 Buck Street I’ve got two concerns is the overnight parking. I’m all for it and everything but there is definitely a nuisance on Ash Street. You can park on either side of the street and during the snow season so far I know we’ve got 28-29 inches, if not more, and it’s literally a nuisance. You cannot get down that street. I would like somebody to look into this because trying to get down that street, the plows are not getting anywhere near the sidewalk. They just made one pass down it and that’s it. When people park on either side of the street next to each other, you cannot get down that street. We have tried to contact the law enforcement. They make no effort even coming out there. I’ve made numerous calls out there and no effort has been taken from them. I’m just trying to ask somebody to look into it to see about putting a non-parking on one side of the street and removing those spots because it’s definitely a nuisance. Because I live on Buck Street and if I come down Hollis Street turning onto hat street, you can’t get down that way. You have to literally go down to Palm and then down and around onto Kinsley and then onto Vine and onto Buck. You have to go backwards, reverse almost. I just would like someone to look into that if possible. Also the other issue is coming off of the interstate off of Route 3 and coming onto Exit 5E onto the street of Main Dunstable Road where it hooks up next to Lake Street, when you’re coming off of West Hollis and Kinsley there’s that little coming around, there’s no stop sign. I’ve already been hit in my new vehicle. Here’s no stop sign that’s at that intersection of four streets coming into each other. There’s only two stop signs. One coming off of the highway off of Main Dunstable Road as well a stop sign that’s on Lund Road that’s right next to Lake Street. President Deane There’s a three-way stop there. Mr. Mecedo Okay 3 stop signs but there’s not the fourth one when you’re coming onto that street off of West Hollis and I’ve already been hit because they come around that corner. You’re coming to a stop but if they come around that corner and still speed down that way, they’re not stopping. You’re already going, they are coming around the corner and you’re getting nailed and then I’m at fault because they had the right- of-way. That’s not okay because they have no way coming around that corner knowing that you’re already going. They come flying around there. I don’t live over that way but somebody should definitely look at putting a stop sign over there. I don’t know how many accidents are over there, but I would like someone to definitely look into that because that’s got to be another nuisance because that should lie onto the city because there’s not a stop sign there. Someone should have already put a stop sign there. That’s it. Thank you. Amy Tyree, 11 Atherton Ave, #4. I’m a proud member of the Mt. Pleasant Elementary PTO, a PTO that is dedicated to supporting our children and school by providing affordable field trips and playground equipment, outstanding programs, building school spirit and unity with events, spirit days, donations and popcorn Friday. We are so thankful for our remarkable faculty and staff for teaching and encouraging our children to become leaders in our community and providing them the opportunity to dream big. We are committed to supporting families to thrive, children to learn, businesses to succeed and visitors to stay. I’m glad the Mayor highlighted these commitments during last week’s State-of-the-City Address and let me explain why. Last Friday I personally witnessed two children in the crosswalk who arrived to school late almost get hit by a car speeding by Mt. Pleasant on Manchester Street. A car coming from the Main Street direction had stopped for the children but the car coming from the other direction was blowing by the school at a speed that definitely appeared to be higher than 20 mph. Luckily the car that had stopped for them witnessed the same thing, and the driver thankfully got out of her car and stopped the oncoming traffic. Bd. of Aldermen – 02/25/14 Page 15 Alderman Sheehan That was me. Ms. Tyree She got out of her car and stopped the oncoming traffic from the other way to allow the boys to safely cross the street in the crosswalk. This is one such example of far too many instances where the student’s safety was compromised. The Mt. Pleasant PTO has identified student safety while traveling to school as a primary issue needing attention. After extensive data collection, which I’ve given to you, an analysis of the surrounding neighborhoods and Mt. Pleasant and Pennichuck areas, the need to immediately implement safety traffic measures to protect the children in our ward is clear. As a result the Mt. Pleasant and Pennichuck PTOs have comprised the current walking conditions and the needs to improve these hazardous circumstances. Objectives include speed radar signs, school zone signs, crosswalks at necessary locations, posting speed limit signs in the surround neighborhoods and flashing lights with the speed limit for Mt. Pleasant Elementary School and Pennichuck. Another major issue we are facing is the snow plowing of sidewalks in parking spaces around the school, across the street from the school, behind the school and the streets surrounding the school. We appreciate the difficult job the Department of Public Works faces concerning roads during a snow event to ensure safety for all Nashua residents. Given that we all agree student safety is of primary concern to us in the city, we wish to explore with the Department ways we might prioritize clearing of critical traffic zones for our children to ensure that they are not forced to walk in the street and face oncoming traffic. Ideally the following provisions would help ensure student safety: to plow the snow in neighborhoods on route to school, at the school, to the corner so children, parents and families can get to school safely far in advance by the time the first students and parents arrive to school. Make sure that Abbott and Manchester Streets be plowed after every snow storm to staff and parents can actually park their cars correctly because we are a unique school where this staff doesn’t have parking. They have to park in the same spots that the parents have. They have the same issues. It is hard. I have a two-year old son. When it snows and the snow banks are high, I can’t get him out. I have to get him out by Manchester Street where the traffic is coming on because my car door will not open. It’s very dangerous. Also we need access on Abbott Street in case there’s an emergency. We don’t have it. T he snow is building up. You should be able to fit three cars safely, we’re not finding that to happen. Once again while we appreciate the very difficult job that the department faces after each weather event, to ensure the safety of our students the 72 hours standard to have sidewalks plowed is intolerant with placing student safety among our priorities. Would any of you wait three days to plow your sidewalk? I don’t think so. Neither should the students of Mt. Pleasant and Pennichuck. Everyone needs to get to work and operate our city and go to school so we need to have that happen. The parents of Mt Pleasant and Pennichuck need immediate attention to these matters. We welcome your immediate feedback and stand ready to assist the department however we can to ensure we avoid the high potential for student casualties as they navigate often unmanageable roads and sidewalks trying to get to school each day. Thank you. REMARKS BY THE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN Alderman Wilshire I would just like to take a moment to recognize the Nashua Housing Authority and their Section 8 management assessment program. As you know they administer hundreds of Section 8 units in the city. Their HUD score for their management of this program was 100 percent. They are recognized by HUD as a high performer. I’d just like to congratulate the Board and the staff of the Housing Authority for their efforts. Thank you. Bd. of Aldermen – 02/25/14 Page 16 Alderman Melizzi-Golja I’d just like to thank the speakers who came this evening. I think all of us recognize especially around Mt. Pleasant it’s been an ongoing problem. We really do need to look at how we’re going to address that so in the winter students are safe as they walk to school. Thank you. Alderman Siegel With regard to Mt. Pleasant just so you know we just introduced some legislation under suspension for first reading. What that legislation was was authorizing three school zone safety flashing with radar. Two of them are on Manchester Street specifically to address St. Christopher’s and Mt. Pleasant. The other one is on Shady Lane to address New Searles. So it’s not everything you want, but we hear you and we want to let you know that we’re trying to do something. Alderman Moriarty I have a comment about this year’s CDBG funds. I ‘d like to voice my displeasure at the department managing them. I was on the Human Affairs Committee the last term. The first year, 2012, there were 9, 10, 12 or so non-profits that had applied. It was a great experience. Actually the reason I requested to be on Human Affairs was for that very reason, to be part of that process and to meet many of the non- profits in the city. They came in and they presented their case. We went out and visited them on site. The requests exceeded the amount of available money that we could grant. Not all those 12 or 14 non- profits got money but those that did got about 80 percent of what they requested. The following year I was really surprised to find that the total requested grant dollars did not exceed the amount available which sort of shocked me because basically here’s free money and no one wants it. I just found that hard to believe that there are not non-profits in this city that could use that money. I complained at the time and I was very nice, I thought. I attempted to be nice to the director, the manager of that department, and said maybe this coming year can you try to put a little more effort in getting the word out. Then I also sort of shook my finger at my fellow Human Affairs Committee members to say maybe we all should put a little more effort in trying to get the word out. I’ve actually tried to get the word out. I said you guys have to start applying for this. And here we are again in 2014, we have $600,000 in CDBG money and we have $62,000 in requests. We have $600,000 in federal grant money coming to us and we have $62,000 in requests. That’s ridiculous. Now I understand that of the $600,000 not all of it gets programmed to the non-profits because about 20 percent of it goes to the Community Development Division here in the City of Nashua to pay for the staff that administers the process, the applications and all that stuff. And another 20 percent of the funds is also held off for our Community Development Division in order to administer the actual execution of the project because there’s a lot of requirements - the Davis Bacon Wage and Rates, and all kinds of stuff. These non-profits don’t have the staff to manage all of this. The City of Nashua takes of that $600,000 at least half of it in administrative costs. Then that leaves $300,000. Some of that $300,000 goes to local stuff like the parks department. There’s a lot of things that we do that aren’t non-profits. They’re community development things but they’re not non-profits. I understand that of the $600,000 that we get in federal grant money only about $100,000 or $200,000 of it is actually available to the non-profits but still we only have $60,000 in requests. So one of two things we should think about. One the staff that’s managing this department is not doing a good enough job of getting the word out even though the statement clearly says here this year only three proposals were received despite having advertised in the Telegraph, posting on the city’s website and emailing past and potential applications directly. So they make the statement they tried. Either they aren’t trying hard enough or maybe we just need few staff in that department now that we only have three non-profits to handle this. That would allow us another that much dollars that we could put towards the parks and the stuff that the city could use or just stop the program entirely at the federal level and save the taxpayers $600,000 a year when only $62,000 of it even goes to non-profits. Thank you for listening. Bd. of Aldermen – 02/25/14 Page 17 Alderman Wilshire I thought last year was an anomaly. It was a low year for applications and this year again. However, I think the Human Affairs Committee over the last I’m going to say 14 years I’ve been on the committee, minus the two year absence, has done a really, really good job of funding the non-profits in the community. They know this money is out there. They all know the money is out there. We’ve done a really good job at helping these organizations take care of their brick and mortar projects. You went around with us, Alderman Moriarty, and you saw some of the work that we did. I think that the Urban Programs Department did reach out more so this year after what happened last year. They even e- mailed and talked to past applicants. There just wasn’t a need at the time to ask for funding. Some organizations don’t’ come every year for the funding. They don’t have bricks and mortar projects every year to do. I don’t think anyone in the department wasn’t doing their job. I think they do a great job over there. You can bet you that at some point, maybe next year, we’re going to have three times as many projects as we do funding available. I don’t think it’s from anyone’s lack of trying. I really don’t. I’m very much in touch with the non-profit community here. They know this money is available. Alderman Donchess I would like to thank Ms. Tyree for coming in to talk about some of the problems in the Manchester/Concord Street area pertaining to the children coming to school and the safety measures that should be taken to improve the situations. First we have Alderman Siegel’s legislation and also co- sponsored by others, but I think he did most of the research, pertaining to setting up sort of a speed monitor on the two sites near Manchester Street. I know, Mr. President, you were involved with that as well. So that’s a good first step but other steps need to be taken. To that end, Mr. Tribucki of the neighborhood came to the Infrastructure Committee talking about similar problems on Concord Street for children crossing there where there has been a couple of close calls. I believe we have a meeting in Mayor Lozeau’s office tomorrow to talk about some of the issues that Mr. Tribucki has raised with respect to the Concord Street crossings. I do appreciate that Ms. Tyree came in to give us some specific steps that could be taken. I hope that the City and the Board will move forward on improving the safety on both Manchester and Concord Street. Alderman Sheehan I’d like to thank the speakers for coming in too. I couldn’t figure out where I knew Ms. Tyree from but it turns out it was from the middle of the road the other day. The other thing that was brought up earlier was Lund and Lake Street at Kinsley and that whole section. I’m bleeding because I split my lip earlier when I left if it’s freaking anybody out. It’s freaking me out too. That area right now basically there aren’t police officers visible a lot of time so people are whipping around the corner. You come off the stop sign and quite a few people have approached me and asked if we could look at that through Infrastructure and see if there isn’t something better to that. The other thing I wanted to touch on quickly was the Community Development Block Grant. The thing to keep in mind is that many years ago they used to be used up almost entirely by the city, and the non-profits were really getting much of it. There’s two big projects going on in this city right now that typically would have used it. One is the Soup Kitchen. That’s a bricks and mortar issue and the clinic for Harbor Homes. Neither one of those wanted to the use Bacon Davis for their whole project even though this would have only funded a small portion of it. I think that is the difference that we’re seeing in this year. Ms. Schena went over the heroic efforts that they made to try to get more people to apply. I just want to encourage people to apply if they have a project, but we shouldn’t just be applying for the need to apply. I think we’ve done a really good job at getting a lot of these places up to speed and people are caught up. Once you’re house if fixed, it’s kind of good for awhile. I asked and Review & Comment still has a big activity. I think that’s still where people are looking. I will hold my remarks to that because this is weird. Bd. of Aldermen – 02/25/14 Page 18 Alderman Caron I too was a little frustrated, Alderman Moriarty, when I only saw three applications. But I also reached out to a few agencies and unfortunately they did not qualify because federal government requires certain things that have to be done. Some of these agencies don’t have large staff. They just don’t have the capability of doing that. But I agree with you if we could get more people on board, but I think that Carrie and her group did a very good job trying to call and notify people as to what it is. Maybe with all of this that we’re talking about and the money being there next year, we’ll see an upsurge and have more money than we don’t have on hand to give out. As a member of the Review & Comment, I will say this: we have 25 agencies that are looking for money. From the way one of the commissioners divided up the costs, we’re not going to fulfill everybody’s request. It’s like a balancing act on both sides. I appreciate that because I felt that frustration as well. Thank you. Alderman Chasse This is for the Mayor. That beautiful intersection at Lund and Lake, is that still on the docket for the to-do list. It was on there once upon a time to reconstruct, reconfigure that. On capital improvements? Mayor Lozeau I don’t know if it’s on the drawing board. I know that when I came here some of the problems that were being talked about with that intersection of who had the right-of-way was causing a lot of angst. Just adding the signs that it was a three-way stop had some great success because then people had to look up and see who did have the right-of-way versus who had to stop. It’s not a high accident area. I will certainly look into it and find out if it’s on the plan. I’m just not certain off the top of my head whether it is. Are you talking about sight distance? Alderman Chasse I believe it was on the A, B, C list. Mayor Lozeau The capital improvements committee. Alderman Chasse It was there once upon a time. I don’t know if it got dropped from the list, but I know there was talk of they were going to look at it and see how they could reconfigure it. I was just wondering if you know of any work that’s been done on it. President Deane I don’t ever remember seeing it on there. Alderman Chasse I know it was on there. President Deane In the last six or seven years it hasn’t been in capital. Bd. of Aldermen – 02/25/14 Page 19 Alderman Chasse It was on when I first came on. President Deane What year was that? Alderman Chasse You expect me to go back that far? Alderman McCarthy It’s on there this year. President Deane What did it get for a rating? Alderman McCarthy I don’t remember the rating it got, but it was reviewed. Alderman Chasse I know it had a C when it first started. I just wonder if it ever came to the top of the class. Alderman Soucy I’m very familiar with that intersection because I pretty much grew up in that area. Yes, there is three stop signs. What I find unique the traffic coming off of Main Dunstable Road, the vast majority of that traffic is going to make a hard left onto Lake Street or a 45 degree angle onto Lund Road. That’s the road without a stop sign. Now everybody else coming off of Main Dunstable, Lund or Lake would assume that because they are making a left that they would have a stop sign too. I’ve had many near calls myself. I don’t know if it’s going to be addressed to be reconfigured but I think a stop sign at least on Main Dunstable Road might alleviate some of those problems. Alderman Chasse Let me take it up with traffic control or somebody else. Mayor Lozeau I’ll be happy to look into it. Alderman Chasse Would you pls. Mayor Lozeau I’d be happy to. Bd. of Aldermen – 02/25/14 Page 20 Alderman Chasse Maybe come up with your best solution. If it takes stop sign or a sign saying that those people have the right-of-way, anything, but I’m not standing out there directing traffic. Alderman Schoneman I, too, want to thank the speakers tonight and Ms. Tyree for coming out. Thank you very much. I commend the PTO at Mt. Pleasant and at Pennichuck too who live in Ward 3 who are so concerned about the safety for their children. And not just for themselves or for their families but for all pedestrians. Concord Street is a tough street to cross as is Manchester. I also want to thank my colleagues here for taking an interest in addressing some of these issues. Thank you. Alderman Dowd With the cleaning of the sidewalks as the interface to the Board of Education and the School Department, I know that it’s a challenge getting the sidewalks cleared. I’ve talked to the Mayor about it. It’s the same people that do the cleaning of the sidewalks that do the plowing. They plow first and with some of the storms we’ve had, they are working 18, 20 hours. They have to rest or you’d be driving those sidewalk plows up on people’s lawns. Even in the City of Manchester I noticed the other day they are still cleaning the sidewalks on the roofs of the school. It’s not a unique problem for Nashua. I know the superintendent is really concerned about that. We’ve already caused the school’s calendar to move into June because of snow days. From planning purposes, I know in my ward and I’m sure all over the city, this year has taken a real toll on streets. We’re going to have some repaving issues coming in the spring across the city. I know that we’ve tried to find money in the past to do more paving. I know last year in my ward we got one street done that was in bad shape and that was a good street to get done but I think this year we’re going to have more of a problem. Tinker Road is getting really chopped up and there’s a couple of places that have totally failed. We’ve put down so much sand we could build our own beaches. It’s going to be a major clean up in the spring so there’s going to be some funding there and I hope we have funding set aside to do that. Alderwoman Brown This Thursday is a Ward 4 informational meeting. We’re holding it at the Nashua Public Library at 7:00 p.m. We’re going to have an informational/crime watch discussion. The other Ward 4 state reps are attending: Mary Gorman and Dave Cote. Also we’re asking people to bring old books, CDs or DVDs to donate to the library because March is their big fundraiser when they sell books. I just wanted to invite everybody and just a reminder to bring some books. President Deane I’d like to send my regards out to Georgi Hippauf. She’s a very interesting lady. I knew her husband somewhat. He was a very interesting fellow. As painful as this winter has been for everybody, I belong to this weather service and this guy has been pretty good. I distribute my information onto the public works director. The month of March is going to be awful. Just letting you know now; it’s going to be terrible. This guy has been pretty much right on. With awful weather comes nice things though, Mayor. The Parks and Recreation Department has had some of the most superb hockey ice in my neighborhood anyways this year. It’s been beautiful. The kids have been out there. Nothing better than hearing a puck hit a trash barrel. The kids are all over there; they are making the best of the winter months along with the basketball. They’ve done a great job maintaining that. Along with moving all the snow and everything, they’ve had some stellar ice this year. I know all the kids are appreciating it because they are all over there so I’d like to thank them for that along with the basketball program that they run throughout the city that’s soon to turn to the college March Madness. But that’s moving forward so I’d like to thank them for that. I’m getting a lot of calls about potholes. I’ve seen some potholes this year I’ve Bd. of Aldermen – 02/25/14 Page 21 never seen before. Those two on Amherst Street, finally they put some cones in them. They filled them today. The one on Manchester Street they filled. Mayor Lozeau We had four crews out today. President Deane You could have had 40 crews out. There’s so many of them. People have to understand, you enjoy the 50 degree weather and then we get the rain and it drops down to what it is. There’s cracks in the roads and everything underneath there is unstable. You’re driving vehicles over it and you’re pushing more cold, more frost into the ground. What goes down must come up. That’s what has happened to the weakest spots in the road. I do agree, Alderman Dowd. I’m glad you’re on the budget committee because we’re going to find some cash to do some paving because the city is in dire need of quite a bit of it. I have noticed, Mayor that the test patching that we did with Hudson Paving seems to be holding up in the areas that I’ve seen anyway. Where they went and cut those problem areas out like on East Dunstable Road by Robinson Road. We had a lot of troubled areas up on Concord Street. There were some spots that would always deteriorate right away. It was mill and filled. It was expensive but those areas seemed to have held up this winter and for the last couple of years. It’s two or three years now for some of those patches. There are no birthdays. Committee announcements: Alderman Moriarty Planning & Economic Development Committee, Tuesday, March 4, at 7:00 p.m. Finance Committee, Wednesday, March 5, 7:00 p.m. Alderman Donchess The Infrastructure Committee meeting is tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chamber. Alderman McCarthy Question for the Chair of the Planning & Economic Development Committee. Do we anticipate that the Business & Industrial Development Authority will join us as requested? They did review the resolution at their last meeting. I was led to believe by the vice chair that they had not been contacted with that request at that point. Alderman Moriarty I intend to. Their chairman, I hear, is in Florida but I’ll work with Tom Galligani. Alderman McCarthy Their vice chair is around and capable of scheduling that for him. Alderman Moriarty Certainly I did not intend to exclude him. Bd. of Aldermen – 02/25/14 Page 22 ADJOURNMENT MOTION BY ALDERMAN CHASSE THAT THE FEBRUARY 25, 2014 MEETING OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN BE ADJOURNED MOTION CARRIED The meeting was declared adjourned at 8:57 p.m. Attest: Patricia Piecuch, Deputy City Clerk  Current Walking Conditions 1. Orange Street — 30 mph sign is no longer there and needs to be replaced 2. Orange Street/Lock Street — crosswalks painted on the ground are white. There are no signs posted for the crosswalk. 3. Speeds are not consistent on the streets surrounding the school: Lock Street — speed is 25 mph Concord Street — speed is 30 mph Orange Street — speed is 30 mph Whitney Street — speed is 25 mph Manchester Street — speed is mph 4. French Street to Abbott Street — there are no crosswalks or posted signs 5. At the intersection of Mt. Pleasant Street and Abbott Street behind the school — there are no crosswalks or posted signs. 6. There are no slow/speed school yellow blinking lights at all 7. Manchester Street has 6 crosswalk signs going in either direction. One 20 mph school zone sign if coming from Main Street. 8. Abbott Street — One 20 mph school zone heading off Manchester Street. Two 20 mph school zone signs if you are coming from Main Street 9. Merrimack Street — One 20 mph school zone sign 10.Laton /Concord — There is a painted crosswalk with no signs at all 11.Ayer Street — One 20 mph school zone sign going down towards Manchester Street 12.Concord/Orange —- 2 crosswalk signs 13.Concord/Hall — One 20 mph school zone heading towards Greeley Park. Two more 20 mph school zone signs before you reach Greeley Park; one in each direction. Four crosswalk signs between Hall Avenue and Swart Terrace.  What We Want: Crosswalk signs going in all three directions at intersection of Lock and Orange Street. Orange painted crosswalks there as well. Possibly a raised speed bump Plan put in place for snowstorms for a reasonable plan for plowing sidewalks on routes to school. There is a fund in the city that can be used for this. More police and parking enforcement present at pick-up and drop-off times. There should never be a time that the four sidewalks surrounding Mt Pleasant are not cleared from snow. Widen road Abbott Street Signs, crosswalks painted behind Mt Pleasant at the corner of Abbott and French Street, and Abbott and Mt. Pleasant Streets Speed radar signs: one located on Manchester Street and one located on Concord Street Flashing lights stating the speed is 20 mph on Manchester Street; 1 in each direction Raised speed bumps. One located at the corner of Mt. Pleasant and Manchester Street and one located at the corner of Manchester and French Street. Crosswalk signs at Concord and Laton.