Aldermen, Board of

A regular meeting of the Board of Aldermen was held Tuesday, January 12, 2016, at 7:30 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chamber. President Brian S. McCarthy presided; City Clerk Patricia D. Piecuch recorded. Prayer was offered by City Clerk Patricia D. Piecuch; Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire led in the Pledge to the Flag. The roll call was taken with 14 members of the Board of Aldermen present; Alderman Moriarty was recorded absent. Mayor James W. Donchess and Corporation Counsel Stephen M. Bennett were also present. REMARKS BY THE MAYOR Mayor Donchess It’s my second day in office and we have our first snow storm and so we have an all call so to speak with 73 pieces of equipment and hopefully things will go well and the storm will not last too long. Last night we had the Ward 9 meeting and I thought it went really well. I’d say we had 80 – 85 people come. Alderman Siegel, Alderman McCarthy, Alderman Wilshire and Alderman O’Brien came and I thought the discussion was really good and people offered some good ideas. A number of the Aldermen had some interesting thoughts as well and I thought it was really a good night. I’m looking forward to the next one in Ward 1 tomorrow and then Ward 6 on Thursday. That’s all I have for tonight, Mr. President. RESPONSE TO REMARKS OF THE MAYOR – None RECOGNITION PERIOD – None READING MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING MOTION BY ALDERMAN WILSHIRE THAT THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN MEETING OF DECEMBER 22, 2015, BE ACCEPTED, PLACED ON FILE AND THE READING SUSPENDED MOTION CARRIED COMMUNICATIONS MOTION BY ALDERWOMAN MELIZZI-GOLJA THAT ALL COMMUNICATIONS BE READ BY TITLE ONLY MOTION CARRIED From: Sarah Marchant, Director of Community Development Re: Waiver of ZBA Application Fee MOTION BY ALDERWOMAN MELIZZI-GOLJA TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND REFER TO THE PLANNING & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE MOTION CARRIED From: Former Mayor Donnalee Lozeau Re: Clarification of CTAB Process re: Process Regarding Minutes and Attendance MOTION BY ALDERMAN O’BRIEN TO ACCEPT AND PLACE ON FILE MOTION CARRIED Board of Aldermen – 1/12/16 Page 2 From: Former Mayor Donnalee Lozeau Re: Contract Award for AVL Monitoring Services and Equipment MOTION BY ALDERMAN COOKSON TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND AWARD THE CONTRACT TO MOTION-LINK IN AN AMOUNT NOT-TO-EXCEED $57,070 MOTION CARRIED From: Former Mayor Donnalee Lozeau Re: Project Status Update MOTION BY ALDERMAN WILSHIRE TO ACCEPT AND PLACE ON FILE MOTION CARRIED PERIOD FOR PUBLIC COMMENT RELATIVE TO ITEMS EXPECTED TO BE ACTED UPON THIS EVENING – None PETITIONS – None NOMINATIONS, APPOINTMENTS AND ELECTIONS REPORTS OF COMMITTEE Finance Committee............................................................................. 01/06/16 There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the January 6, 2016 Finance Committee accepted and placed on file. WRITTEN REPORTS FROM LIAISONS - None CONFIRMATION OF MAYOR'S APPOINTMENTS UNFINISHED BUSINESS – RESOLUTIONS – None UNFINISHED BUSINESS – ORDINANCES – None NEW BUSINESS – RESOLUTIONS – None NEW BUSINESS – ORDINANCES O-16-001 Endorser: Alderman-at-Large David W. Deane INCREASING THE LOWEST PURCHASING LIMIT FOR SMALL PURCHASES FROM $1,000 TO $5,000 Given its first reading; assigned to the PERSONNEL/ADMINISTRATIVE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE by President McCarthy MOTION BY ALDERMAN WILSHIRE 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 Board of Aldermen – 1/12/16 Page 3 O-16-002 Endorsers: Mayor Jim Donchess Alderman-at-Large Brian S. McCarthy Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire Alderman-at-Large Daniel T. Moriarty Alderman-at-Large Mark S. Cookson INCREASING THE EXEMPTION FOR SOLAR ENERGY SYSTEMS Given its first reading; assigned to the PERSONNEL/ADMINISTRATIVE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE by President McCarthy PERIOD FOR GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT - None REMARKS BY THE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN President McCarthy With the Board’s indulgence I would actually like to speak first. I had the pleasure of attending Mayor Donchess’ first Ward meeting last night and there were some very positive comments on what we ought to be doing in Nashua. I would like to ask each of the committee chairs over the next few weeks on any of the nights that haven’t been hogged by the administration to schedule committee meetings to first of all elect a clerk but secondly, I’d like to see us have some discussion of what things we would like to achieve from the members of the Board in each of the committees. I know there are some agendas that people have and what I’d like to do is try to get some discussion going of that now so we can figure out what is needed to facilitate those things and what we need for information and support from the staff and I will try to work those things out with the Mayor. I would just like to see that happen sooner rather than later so that we can start an agenda for this Board to be able to be a little bit more proactive than it may have been in the past and not just react to legislation when it comes in. Alderman Lopez I’d like to start by clarifying because I had some public questions about how I answered the role on Sunday. I think one of the more important parts for my Ward is to increase inclusion so on occasion I would answer the role in the language of the different constituents that I have. Additionally, I think one of the major concerns that I hear from Ward 4 is with regard to housing equality, housing access and affordability and then basic access to transportation; making sure the sidewalks are clear so people can get to and from work, making sure the bus in running in a timely manner and going to locations and making sure that parking is available for both people shopping downtown but also for the residents. Alderman O’Brien I would like to send my condolences to former Chief Gross who has tragically passed away. I had the pleasure of working with him in my capacity as a Deputy Chief on the fire department and I found him to be an outstanding gentleman and a soul that will be sorely missed. I also found out that we just lost retired firefighter Danny Moreau and my condolences go out to his family. Thank you Mayor Donchess for the Ward 9 meeting, I did enjoy myself and thank you to Alderman Siegel for hosting us, I appreciated it. Alderman LeBrun I am looking forward to getting started on the committee’s I’ve been assigned to. They are all committees that mean an awful lot to me. Board of Aldermen – 1/12/16 Page 4 President McCarthy As my Ward Alderman I would like to talk to you about snow plowing. Alderman McGuinness I enjoyed the inauguration the other day and Mayor Donchess I look forward to working with you. Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja First of all, welcome to our new members around the horseshoe. I guess as snow plowing goes I’ll call my Ward Alderman who is Alderman McCarthy. Alderman Schoneman Welcome to the new members here and I look forward to working with all of you and I am looking forward to working with Mayor Donchess. Alderman Siegel I’d like to thank Mayor Donchess for the meeting that we had last night, it was very well attended and there was a lot of good information. Also thank you to my colleagues on the Board for attending and providing some good insights. I look forward to working with everybody. Alderman Caron I would like to thank Patricia and her staff for the good job they did at the inauguration on Sunday. We did have a few little glitches but basically the whole thing went very well and for your first time being totally in charge, I think it went wonderfully and thank you Alderman Cookson for allowing your daughter to come and do the pledge. It was a pleasure having her participate. I welcome all of you New Hampshire Alderman to this great horseshoe and I look forward to working with you, Mayor Donchess in a different capacity that we did 30 years ago. Hopefully we can get done early before the snow gets any worse. Alderman Dowd Also, welcome to the new members of the Board, I hope we have a very good year going forward. I was at the Board of Education meeting last night. Sandra Ziehm was elected the President and Howard Coffman was elected the clerk. Also I convinced them to name five members to fill out the Joint Special School Building Committee. You will recall that we couldn’t do the organizational meeting after the inauguration because they hadn’t elected five people yet so filling out that committee will be Mr. Hallowell, Mr. Farrington, Mr. Mosher, Mrs. Ziehm and Mrs. Oden. We will have a meeting on the 28th, an organizational meeting before we have the other meetings scheduled. Also at that meeting last night the Board of Education took a vote and decided that they would close the public schools on February 9th for the Presidential Primary because of the anticipated number of people to turn out. Alderman Cookson Welcome to the new members, I look forward to working with you over the next two years and continuing to work with those that are returning. To the Inauguration Committee and to Patricia, I wanted to say thank you for asking my daughter to say the pledge, it was very thoughtful of you and very much appreciated and I think she had fun and she was very well behaved on stage. Board of Aldermen – 1/12/16 Page 5 Alderman Clemons I am very excited to be here and I’m looking forward to working with all of you and I think Nashua; hopefully we can move in the right direction together in the next two years. Alderman Wilshire I would like to welcome the new Mayor and the new members of the Board. I look forward to working with all of you. Nice job to those who worked on the Inauguration Committee, it was very well done and everyone had a good time. Also, my condolences go out to the family of Bob Valade, who I have known for many years. We both worked at the Department of Health and Human Services. I considered him a good friend and he will be missed. My condolences also go out to the family of Don Gross. President McCarthy I would like to remind our legislative assistant to remind all of you that prior to our next meeting we will have the photography session for the Board at 6:30 p.m. so please try to be here on time so that we can get that organized. It’s still pretty tough to photo shop people in later. The process is a sight to behold. Committee announcements: Alderman Siegel The Substandard Living Conditions Committee will be holding a meeting next Tuesday, January 19th at 7:00 p.m. Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja The Planning and Economic Development is also going to be having a meeting next Tuesday if we can figure out space for that at 7:00 p.m. Alderman Clemons As there are two pieces of legislation now pending, I have not set a date for the Personnel & Administrative Affairs Committee meeting but I will reach out to the members and we will schedule a date that works for everyone. ADJOURNMENT MOTION BY ALDERMAN WILSHIRE THAT THE JANUARY 12, 2016, MEETING OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN BE ADJOURNED MOTION CARRIED The meeting was declared adjourned at 7:48 p.m. Attest: Patricia D. Piecuch, City Clerk