Aldermen, Board of

A regular meeting of the Board of Aldermen was held Tuesday, May 24, 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; Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja led in the Pledge to the Flag. President McCarthy Before I ask the Clerk to take the roll, Alderman Dowd is participating by telephone and under the terms of the state law that allows him to do that, he needs to explain why he can’t attend, if he can hear us, and who he is with, if anyone. Alderman Dowd stated the reason he could not attend, confirmed that he could hear the proceedings and stated who was present with him. President McCarthy Acknowledged that those present could hear Alderman Dowd as well. The roll call was taken with 14 members of the Board of Aldermen present; Alderman Richard Dowd was not in attendance but participated in the meeting via telecommunication; Alderman Deane was recorded absent. Mayor James W. Donchess and Corporation Counsel Steven A. Bolton were also present. President McCarthy Before we begin I am going to recognize Alderman Wilshire to make a motion so we can accept procedural motions without the roll call vote. MOTION BY ALDERMAN WILSHIRE THAT THE RULES BE SO FAR SUSPENDED AS TO ALLOW FOR THE ACCEPTANCE OF PROCEDURAL ACTIONS WITHOUT OBJECTION A Viva Voce Roll Call was taken, which resulted as follows: Yea: Alderman Wilshire, Alderman Clemons, Alderman Dowd, 13 Alderman Caron, Alderman Siegel, Alderman Schoneman, Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja, Alderman McGuinness, Alderman LeBrun, Alderman Moriarty, Alderman O’Brien, Alderman Lopez, Alderman McCarthy Nay: 0 MOTION CARRIED REMARKS BY THE MAYOR Mayor Donchess We have two contracts on the agenda that have been recommended by the Finance Committee. The first is the contract for the LED Street Light Conversion Project with Siemens in the amount of $1.5 million. This project, which will replace all of the existing lights with LED lights, will enable the city to Board of Aldermen Page 2 May 24, 2016 save about 40% of the electric bill devoted to street lighting. That bill is $830,000 so it will help the city realize a savings of over $300,000 a year. At one point there was a proposal that we do a sole source project at a cost of $2.1 million and as a result of the decision to go out to bid with this we reduced the price by $600,000 so that’s good news. The other contracts that are on the agenda are the contracts for the administration of our medical benefits. These have not come to the Finance Committee or the Board of Aldermen before just through custom but technically since they are larger contracts they should come before us. As you know we have a self-insured system of medical payments except for catastrophic claims but the individual claims, the medical claims that are made by employees are administered by these three carriers. What is before us is the contracts to approve the administrative services rendered by Anthem, Harvard and the Hartford. The Finance Committee is recommending that you approve those contracts. A few good things have happened. On Sunday there was the dedication of the Child Victim Statute at the Holocaust Memorial, it was a wonderful ceremony. Mr. Fred Teeboom was responsible for the entire memorial as well as this sculpture. The Holocaust Memorial is a great addition to Nashua and the only one of its kind in the State of New Hampshire. Mary Zhu, one of our Nashua students, won a second award at the Intel Science and Engineering Fair which is a big award. She did a project in behavioral science. In addition, the Granite State Challenge Team from Nashua South won the State of New Hampshire and that was the first time that has happened. The students on that team are Dody Eyd who came here before to be honored for another accomplishment that he had; Nisha Davacia, Sam McIntyre and Noah Telerski were the team members and the coaches were Neil Claffey, Katherine Poulin and Greg Montine. They did a really good job representing the city. Finally, Mr. President, coming up of course we have the Memorial Day parade on Monday and hopefully as many of the Board members can join us to march in the parade as possible. One week from Friday the Silver Knights open on the 3rd. RESPONSE TO REMARKS OF THE MAYOR – None RECOGNITION PERIOD – None READING MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the minutes of the Board of Aldermen meetings of May 5, and May 10, 2016, accepted, placed on file and the readings suspended. COMMUNICATIONS There being no objection, President McCarthy declared that all communications be read by title only. From: Mayor Jim Donchess Re: LED Street Light Conversion Project MOTION BY ALDERMAN COOKSON TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND AWARD THE CONTRACT TO SIEMENS INDUSTRY, INC., IN THE AMOUNT OF $1,455,694 Board of Aldermen Page 3 May 24, 2016 A Viva Voce Roll Call was taken, which resulted as follows: Yea: Alderman Wilshire, Alderman Clemons, Alderman Cookson, 14 Alderman Dowd, Alderman Caron, Alderman Siegel, Alderman Schoneman, Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja, Alderman McGuinness, Alderman LeBrun, Alderman Moriarty, Alderman O’Brien, Alderman Lopez, Alderman McCarthy Nay: 0 MOTION CARRIED From: Mayor Jim Donchess Re: Approval of Contracts for Administrative Services to Anthem BlueCross and Blue Shield, Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare and The Hartford MOTION BY ALDERMAN O’BRIEN TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND AWARD THE CONTRACTS TO ANTHEM BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $1,140,000; HARVARD PILGRIM HEALTHCARE IN AN AMOUNT NOT-TO-EXCEED $225,000; AND THE HARTFORD IN AN AMOUNT NOT-TO-EXCEED $0.15 PER $1,000 OF AD&D INSURANCE PER MONTH A Viva Voce Roll Call was taken, which resulted as follows: Yea: Alderman Wilshire, Alderman Clemons, Alderman Cookson, 14 Alderman Dowd, Alderman Caron, Alderman Siegel, Alderman Schoneman, Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja, Alderman McGuinness, Alderman LeBrun, Alderman Moriarty, Alderman O’Brien, Alderman Lopez, Alderman McCarthy Nay: 0 MOTION CARRIED There being no objection, President McCarthy suspended the rules to allow for the introduction of a communication received after the agenda was prepared From: Stephen Dookran, P.E., City Engineer Sonia Shahnaj, P.E., Senior Staff Engineer Re: R-16-038, Authorizing the Mayor to Enter into an Amendment to the Railroad Agreement With the State of New Hampshire and Pan Am Railways for the Purpose of Replacing a Railway Highway Crossing on East Hollis Street – Request for the First and Second Reading at the May 24, 2016, Meeting There being no objection, President McCarthy declared that the communication accepted and placed on file Board of Aldermen Page 4 May 24, 2016 PERIOD FOR PUBLIC COMMENT RELATIVE TO ITEMS EXPECTED TO BE ACTED UPON THIS EVENING Mr. Fred Teeboom, 24 Cheyene Drive Mayor Donchess, thank you very much for your kind comments. I’m not sure any of you attended the commemoration last Sunday but I invite you all to go to the memorial and take a look at the latest sculpture, it’s very impressive. O-016-011 – Reducing the Taxation for Certain Chartered Public Schools. One of the truly most incorrect and inappropriate statements that I ever heard made before the Board of Aldermen was made on May 10th and I refer to the minutes on page 12, referring to the charter schools Alderman Clemons said “I think that they syphon money off of the district for the benefit of the few and then the rest of the population is left behind.” The Academy for Science and Design is a top scoring school on NECAP in New Hampshire and it is rated the 50th best school in the entire United States by Newsweek Magazine. Let’s look at the figures. The average cost for students in the public schools K-12 in Nashua is $13,000 per student. The cost per teacher is almost $89,000 per teacher. There are 1,005 teachers in Nashua for 11,500 students in K-12 and that’s from the Board of Education data. This means that there is a load of $11,500 divided by 1,005 teachers or 11.4 students per teacher. There are 257 Nashua students in the Academy of Science and Design. The entire enrollment is 525. That saves 257 divided by 11.4 is 22.5 teachers that you don’t have to hire because they are at the Academy of Science and Design; otherwise they would have to be educators in the Nashua system. 22.5 teachers at a rate of $89,000 per teacher is $2 million. You add to that the 45% overhead it doubles the teachers cost. The savings just for the Academy of Science and Design is $2.9 million that the taxpayers don’t have to pay. If you look at the 464 Nashua students at all of the regional schools; Manchester, Derry; there are about 10 or so, all of it is in the Board of Education data, that would save $3.6 million and if you multiply that by the 45% overhead that amounts to $5.2 million that Nashua taxpayers do not have to pay because those students do not go to public schools. Let’s look at it another way, the state pays Nashua $40.1 million in education aid and that computes to $3,400 per student in education aid and if you multiply that times the 275 students who are at the Academy of Science and Design, that’s a savings of $2.62 million. Look at all of the charter schools, there are 464 students and multiply that by $13,000 and the state aid of $3,400 you end up with $4.4 million. No matter how you look at it the savings are enormous. In O-016-011 we are talking about a tax reduction of $80,000 for the Academy of Science and Design and $145,000 for all the other charter schools; that compares with up to a $5 million savings? This is a no brainer. You can see that the Nashua taxpayers are going to get tax relief, you get better schools and you should fully support O-016-011. The other thing that I wanted to talk about is R-16-015; the expendable trust fund for pensions but there is no such thing as an “expendable” trust fund. Now this came before at a cost $2.3 million and now it is $350,000. It wasn’t needed at $2.3 million and it isn’t needed in the form of $350,000. Here are the facts. The fiscal ’17 budget covers the additional $350,000. Look at account 52150 on page 21. A question was asked by Alderman Schoneman of CFO Griffin on May 18th and CFO Griffin said “yes, we funded it.” Why do you need to override the spending cap in 2016 when it’s already funded in 2017, it makes no sense, unless you have an ulterior motive. (inaudible) This account 52150 is funded at $21.67 million, its $350,000 above last years’ funding as I mentioned earlier. Then there is account 5175 just for the schools alone, they got an additional $800,000. Then there is account 89725, that’s another $500,000 in transfers and it’s attached to the city retirement fund. Then there is 7025, trust funds, the city retirement trust fund which was set up in the year 2000, then there is a trust fund 7076 which is the school retirement trust fund. I think I still have $300,000 in it, I think it was $700,000 a month ago. There is funding for pensions all over this budget. Many mentioned the savings set aside in the fund balance, there is no such thing as savings set aside in the fund balance but there is a term called designated fund balance. The designated fund balance is recommended in the CAFR report. They recommend that the CFO set aside some delegated money but that set aside has no legal authority because it doesn’t have Board of Aldermen Page 5 May 24, 2016 the legal authority from the Board of Aldermen; it’s just an artificial designation by the CFO. If you are going to set aside savings then take the end of year surplus and escrow that money into one of these expendable trust funds; 7025 or 7076. Now, talking about surplus, there has been a consistent $1 million surplus in the pension fund; in the 52150 fund; it’s been consistently underfunded by $1 million. Look at the profile in 2017 if you look at 5150, it looks like it’s about $1 million ahead this year. It was just like last year. This was recognized by the very champion of the current plan B, Alderman Siegel, who two years as a freshmen Alderman said he did this fantastic analysis and he came up with a $400,000 savings and guess what? Those are $400,000 savings in the very same pension but not the regular budget for. This entire Board voted unanimously to cut $400,000. You surely do not need to override the spending cap with 10 votes required. Six votes I hope hold out. I think Mayor Donchess did an outstanding job and held to his pledge of sticking with the cap. Alderman Siegel and some others want to override the cap. They say why is there a cap? There is a cap because citizens want you to cap and prioritize your budget not override it even when it’s not necessary to override it. There is no emergency here. CFO Griffin admitted that the $350,000 is funded and the whole discussion degraded into well, we have to override the cap so we have another $350,000. The fact that it overrides the spending cap in 2016 to spend the money in 2017, 2018 or 2019 is craziness. Plan B, just like plan A makes no sense, Alderman Siegel. I should also mention that Alderman O’Brien is beneficial of this legislation because he gets a very generous pension. His pension is about the same as the highest salary he ever made. Alderman Siegel Point of order, that’s out of line, it has nothing to do with any legislation. Alderman McCarthy Please don’t refer to any personnel, Mr. Teeboom. Mr. Teeboom It’s got to do with the pension. Alderman McCarthy He does not receive any additional pension benefit whether or not this legislation passes. What he will receive is set by law. Mr. Teeboom That’s correct, I certainly don’t deny that but there are funds for that. There are accounts all around starting with the state law. The Trust Fund Board is inundated with union representatives. On a persona note, on April 26th, Alderman Siegel named himself Prometheus who is a God and a Greek… Alderman Siegel What are you talking about? Board of Aldermen Page 6 May 24, 2016 Mr. Teeboom I suggest you take a look at the April 26th Board of Aldermen meeting discussing this pension funding. It’s appropriate that I respond to that. It says “I look at myself as Prometheus, and Prometheus by the way is a protector of mankind and creator of mankind. He said he worried that… Alderman Siegel What does this have to do with the legislation? Mr. Teeboom We are discussing O-016-015, you brought it up. Alderman Siegel I discussed it in the context of being Prometheus feeling like his liver was being pecked out on a cliff which I feel like I should revisited that analogy, Mr. Teeboom. Mr. Teeboom He said “like an eagle I would swoop down and peck out his liver.” Alderman Siegel, I wouldn’t mind pecking out your liver if you offered me a glass of Chianti. Alderman Siegel I wasn’t talking about you, Mr. Teeboom. Mr. Teeboom You mentioned my name. PETITIONS – None NOMINATIONS, APPOINTMENTS AND ELECTIONS – None REPORTS OF COMMITTEE Budget Review Committee .................................................................. 05/16/16 There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the May 16, 2016 Budget Review Committee accepted and placed on file. Budget Review Committee .................................................................. 05/18/16 There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the May 18, 2016 Budget Review Committee accepted and placed on file. Finance Committee .............................................................................. 05/18/16 There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the May 18, 2016 Finance Committee accepted and placed on file. Board of Aldermen Page 7 May 24, 2016 Human Affairs Committee .................................................................... 05/09/16 There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the May 9, 2016 Human Affairs Committee accepted and placed on file. Planning & Economic Development Committee ................................... 05/03/16 There being no objection, President McCarthy declared the report of the May 3, 2016 Planning & Economic Development Committee accepted and placed on file. WRITTEN REPORTS FROM LIAISONS - None CONFIRMATION OF MAYOR'S APPOINTMENTS Conservation Commission William S. Parker (New Appointment) For a Term to Expire: December 31, 2018 1 Rockland Street Nashua, NH 03064  Tabled until 6/14/16 UNFINISHED BUSINESS – RESOLUTIONS R-16-015 Endorsers: Mayor Jim Donchess Alderman Ken Siegel Alderman-at-Large Brian S. McCarthy Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire Alderman Richard A. Dowd Alderman June M. Caron Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr. ESTABLISHING AN EXPENDABLE TRUST FUND FOR STATE EMPLOYER PENSION COSTS AND APPROPRIATING $2,230,000 FROM FUND BALANCE ASSIGNED FOR THIS PURPOSE INTO THE EXPENDABLE TRUST FUND Given its fourth reading; MOTION BY ALDERMAN SIEGEL TO AMEND R-16-015 IN ITS ENTIRETY BY REPLACING IT WITH THE GOLDEN ROD COPY PROVIDED WITH THE AGENDA ON THE QUESTION Alderman Siegel I want to go over the changes in the “plan B.” The major objection that I heard from several of my colleagues on the Board was the feeling that an expansion of the spending cap limits was an unfortunate by-product in that transferring the entire $2.23 million in one lump and divvying it up amongst three different years while potentially a desirable outcome for dealing with the pension issue had the undesirable side effect of expanding the spending cap. I thought about it and came up with an alternate plan which was to recognize that we have a known additional pension obligation of $350,000 and for this year we have the fund balance that was designated for that purpose and that it would make sense to transfer that over and leave years two and three unfunded in anticipation of the new numbers. The plan modifies the title of the legislation to have it change to $350,000 and it modifies the amount and the year so we transfer just that amount this year and years two and three will be at the discretion of the Board in future years as we address the pension overhang that we will have to address. After this discussion if this amendment passes we can discuss the greater Board of Aldermen Page 8 May 24, 2016 problems. A Viva Voce Roll Call was taken, which resulted as follows: Yea: Alderman Wilshire, Alderman Clemons, Alderman Cookson, 13 Alderman Dowd, Alderman Caron, Alderman Siegel, Alderman Schoneman, Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja, Alderman McGuinness, Alderman LeBrun, Alderman O’Brien, Alderman Lopez, Alderman McCarthy Nay: Alderman Moriarty 1 MOTION CARRIED MOTION BY ALDERMAN SIEGEL FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-16-015 AS AMENDED BY ROLL CALL ON THE QUESTION Alderman Siegel Let me deal with some of the issues that were raised both in the Budget Review Committee and just recently in public comment. This idea that this money is something that is already accounted for; on its surface one could say yes, we have a budget in front of us but you have to look and see what happened in order to make that happen. I would particularly like to focus on the Capital Equipment Reserve Fund which has been hacked down by $700,000. So, yes, we made a budget but what we are doing is playing a dangerous game of kick the can. We can play that game, for that matter why not just have no Capital Equipment Reserve Fund amount. At a certain point there is a threshold by which we are cutting our own throat. You can bleed out from a little razor cuts just as well as you can bleed out from just slicing your aorta. I believe that this is a fairly significant problem so with the money I am going to propose eventually that we help to restore our Capital Equipment Reserve Fund because we cannot allow the maintenance work in this city that our reserve funds to go down to the point where we are not replacing our equipment. It is a fallacy that this has been accounted for or that there is some ulterior motive, in fact, I am specifically going out of my way to demonstrate that this has absolutely nothing to do with the desire to expand the spending cap. If the amount was $100,000 or $1 million then that would be the amount. It is the exact amount specified by CFO Griffin and in fact, we have an estimate for years two and three that we are going to have a $2 million additional pension problem. Clearly, we aren’t going to solve that with any existing money in the fund; we can solve it partially but not completely so there will be other changes and again, when the time comes which is in Budget not before this committee, I will try to make some suggestions which hopefully can constructively address that problem. This is not about playing some weird fiscal game. Frankly, I think it’s a flaw in the spending cap legislation the way it was crafted that we have this expansion, for example, you can’t level fund a budget and say I’m going to take from this account and move it here and have the same amount of money but now you need 10 votes to do that. I was never quoted as having any desire to override the spending cap and my reference to Prometheus has to do with the agony involved in trying to get a budget through and the feeling that we have revisited this before. While Mr. Teeboom would like to classify himself as the eagle that pecks out my liver, I would not discredit the eagle with that analogy because that is not what I had in mind, unfortunately I don’t believe that there is any other bird that I can think of and be in polite company but he is not who I was referring to. I certainly didn’t refer to myself as Prometheus, the giver of fire to the humans which is what he really was; sorry to correct you on that. Nonetheless, getting back to the legislation, I believe this is important to pass because this is a real problem. Again, we have this issue in the budget; it’s a very clear hole. I’m not looking to put this into random areas, for example, beautifying the city, additional salaries; I was very explicit in this legislation. It was there to plug the pension hole. Board of Aldermen Page 9 May 24, 2016 Now, because of the timing of how this legislation was debated, a budget had to be put forward before this legislation had its final determination. Nonetheless, that hole exists in the Capital Equipment Reserve Fund and I believe if this were here that hole would not be the same size but we would still have to do something. I strongly urge my colleagues to adopt this recognizing that this is a solution to a real problem and that problem is going to manifest itself on us not doing proper replacement of our capital equipment. Alderman Schoneman I appreciate all the work that Alderman Siegel did in concert with CFO Griffin to work this out and I think there are clearly serious issues and I don’t take them personally. When we had the last full Board of Aldermen meeting we talked about an amount that could be suitable that would be less than $2.2 million and I said I would consider it and I have. The $350,000 sounded attractive for a couple of reasons but in the end I have to maintain my opposition to it for a couple of reasons. One, it is a spending cap override of fiscal ’16; I cannot count on that spending cap override. The fiscal ’17 problem for pensions has been solved. I totally recognize the Capital Equipment Reserve Fund that has been created but I don’t share the same view that we cannot do anything about CERF in this budget. I think there could be 10 votes to increase the Capital Equipment Reserve Fund as necessary if there were 8 votes to reduce a line somewhere else. It is about prioritization. In an effort to keep all city spending within the spending cap for fiscal ’16, ’17 and on I am going to continue to oppose this legislation and when fiscal ’18 and fiscal ’19 rolls around we will address those issues when the time comes. Alderman Siegel I appreciate the views of my colleague. I would point out that we have a $2 million overhang in the following two budget years as estimated by CFO Griffin. That could get worse but that is the current estimate from the state. In looking at the current budget, you can’t just say well where can I find that $350,000 and plug it in here and call it a day. You have to think where can I find this in the next two years because it isn’t going away. It’s all well and good to just say we will do an across the board cut but anyone who has actually done a real budget knows that is impossible. The second that you start defining those areas where there are fixed costs that are non-negotiable, then you are back making decisions and trade-offs. You just don’t get to make a blanket statement about cutting it across the board; that’s a very naïve way to do budgets. This is looking forward and seeing what the rolling effect is is. It’s easy to focus on the Capital Equipment Reserve Fund because that problem is going to multiply itself. We’ve already seen what happens when we neglect our maintenance. If I take that $500,000 and put it towards the pension well guess what, that’s a spending cap override but are we going to sit in dogmatic debate and say oh my God, I can’t override the cap or what is the threshold over which we say alright, now it’s so bad that I am willing to do something, I am going to override this religious conviction because my arm is hanging off and I guess I better apply a tourniquet; is it a $3 million pension overhang, a $5 million, a $7 million overhang? At a certain point these kinds of arguments fall by the wayside and they become silly. You have to view the world as it is and not how you wish it to be. What we are proposing does not affect the dollars out of the taxpayer’s pocket and that is ultimately what we are talking about. Are we taking more money from taxpayer’s to do this, if we were I would not have put this legislation in place. That is the point; to cap the amount of money that flows out of the taxpayer’s pockets. I would serious urge everyone to be very careful in consideration of that and consider that as a key point in all of this. Alderman Schoneman It’s clear that moving money from inside of the budget to outside in an expendable trust fund does not affect taxes. If the cash is already there you spend it from account A or B but it doesn’t affect the tax rate but what is does do is that if we were to take that gap of $350,000 and apply it to the Capital Equipment Reserve Fund in the fiscal ’17 budget then that would increase the budget and it would ultimately result Board of Aldermen Page 10 May 24, 2016 in an expense to taxpayers. I don’t think it’s a religious conviction but it’s a promise to taxpayers for us to hold the line. As time goes on we will have discussions around this horseshoe and set priorities and come to conclusions. A Viva Voce Roll Call was taken, which resulted as follows: Yea: Alderman Wilshire, Alderman Clemons, Alderman Dowd, 9 Alderman Caron, Alderman Siegel, Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja, Alderman O’Brien, Alderman Lopez, Alderman McCarthy Nay: Alderman Cookson, Alderman Schoneman, Alderman McGuinness, 5 Alderman LeBrun, Alderman Moriarty MOTION FAILS MOTION BY ALDERMAN SIEGEL FOR INDEFINITE POSTPONEMENT OF R-16-015 ON THE QUESTION Alderman Clemons I’m disappointed with the way the last vote went. I kind of look at this situation as the miser who has millions of dollars and lives in a mansion that has a leaky roof and mold growing everywhere and doesn’t pay his taxes. The idea is the miser sets his budget and says I am not going to spend more than $30,000 this year, even though he lives in a house that leaks every time it rains and he sleeps in a room that has mold and that affects his health. But he wants to continue to be a millionaire so he keeps that money in his account rather than spending a little bit of it to fix his house and have a better quality of life and to pay his taxes. I look at this situation as something that’s similar. We have an obligation from the State of New Hampshire that says we have to pay for these pension costs. There is no way around it. We have millions of dollars set aside to pay for these pension costs and yet a minority of this board is holding hostage that money against the will of the majority so that we can take it from a need that is going to make the quality of life for our citizens in this city better. I really have a problem with that. Like Alderman Siegel said, at what point do we take that ideology and look at the reality and say this is something we just have to do? We have the resources, we have the funds. Let us not forget that all that money that is sitting aside, we have already taxed people on. Our citizens have already paid taxes for this purpose. Essentially what we are telling them is even though we’ve already taxed you and put your money aside, we’re going to tax you again for what the state is telling us what we have to pay. I don’t think that’s right. You folks can hide behind the Spending Cap and say I made a pledge to this, but in reality what you’re doing is you’re double-taxing people. You can use the Spending Cap as a way of saying I pledged I wouldn’t override the Spending Cap but in this situation you are double taxing people. Alderman Siegel One, I don’t believe Nashua is a leaky house. We’re not a miser millionaire. In fact the taxpayers of Nashua deserve us to be very careful with their money so I respect that. I respect my colleagues on the board that voted both for and against it. I believe they did in good conscience; I appreciate that. I want to make that very, very clear. This is done. We argued it. We went through and it’s not a minority of the Board holding the majority. It’s exactly the way the rules work. It takes 2/3; we didn’t have it. We’re done. That’s the way it goes. Alderman Schoneman Board of Aldermen Page 11 May 24, 2016 I just wanted to add a comment to Alderman Siegel’s excellent answer. There is no double-taxation. I just want to be very clear on that too. Monies that were raised are still available to be spent. They are spent within the budget as opposed to on the outside of the budget. If anything is done to make room in the budget for more spending then that does become an additional tax. I fully agree that the taxpayers of Nashua are a miser millionaire. That money is not floating around out there. It’s a very tight budget. Alderman Clemons We have millions of dollars set aside. We have a need, and we’re not spending the money. Alderman Schoneman We are spending the money. We are meeting the obligation. It’s coming from the funds that have been earmarked previously. Alderman O’Brien I would like to thank Alderman Siegel for his comments. I do agree with you that we did kick the can. Unfortunately this problem is not going to go away. With the state, it’s a new biennium that’s coming up. After people get elected in November, I really don’t see them putting any type of money at this particular time back to alleviate this problem. By our inaction today, it’s going to prove out in the future, whether we help the taxpayer or hurt the taxpayer. The end result if we are liable for $2 million next year, where we could have made that $1.6 million if we voted to alieve the taxpayers a little bit of burden, we missed that opportunity and we’re going to have to live with that. I thank Alderman Siegel for putting this. It was well thought. It was an attempt to try to soften the blow of eventually what’s going to happen. We’re going to be held liable for this debt. Thank you, sir, for having the foresight to come forward and try and help to alleviate the pain that may come with this. Thank you. Alderman Schoneman Again, this legislation does not alleviate any sense of the responsibility that exists, whether it’s $2 million next year from one fund, Fund A or Fund B; it’s still $2 million of taxpayer money. This would not have shrunk that obligation in any way whatsoever and we cannot have that implication. A Viva Voce Roll Call was taken, which resulted as follows: Yea: Alderman Cookson, Alderman Caron, Alderman Siegel, 11 Alderman Schoneman, Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja, Alderman McGuinness, Alderman LeBrun, Alderman Moriarty, Alderman O’Brien, Alderman Lopez, Alderman McCarthy Nay: Alderman Wilshire, Alderman Clemons, Alderman Dowd 3 MOTION CARRIED Resolution R-16-015 declared duly indefinitely postponed. Board of Aldermen Page 12 May 24, 2016 R-16-027 Endorsers: Mayor Jim Donchess Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja Alderman June M. Caron Alderman Richard A. Dowd RELATIVE TO THE ACCEPTANCE AND APPROPRIATION OF $11,822 FROM THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY AND THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE DEPARTMENT OF SAFETY INTO EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT GRANT ACTIVITY “2016 EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERFORMANCE GRANT (EMPG)” Given its second reading; MOTION BY ALDERMAN WILSHIRE FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-16-027 ON THE QUESTION Alderman Moriarty Does this go into the department that Director Kates is involved with? Alderman Wilshire Yes. Alderman Moriarty I just want to give credit where credit is due. Back in 2011, some of us might remember the storm in October. That’s when I was first running for alderman. My Facebook was lit up with people wishing there was some sort of centralized department of emergency management, some sort of director who could do things. I’ve sort of kept my eye on that department and Director Kates. He’s just done an absolutely great job. A Viva Voce Roll Call was taken, which resulted as follows: Yea: Alderman Wilshire, Alderman Clemons, Alderman Cookson, 14 Alderman Dowd, Alderman Caron, Alderman Siegel, Alderman Schoneman, Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja, Alderman McGuinness, Alderman LeBrun, Alderman Moriarty, Alderman O’Brien, Alderman Lopez, Alderman McCarthy Nay: 0 MOTION CARRIED Resolution R-16-027 declared duly adopted. Board of Aldermen Page 13 May 24, 2016 UNFINISHED BUSINESS – ORDINANCES O-16-011 Endorsers: Alderman Don LeBrun Alderman Ken Siegel Alderman David Schoneman Alderman Tom Lopez ADOPTING PROVISIONS FOR REDUCED TAXATION FOR CERTAIN CHARTERED PUBLIC SCHOOL FACILITIES  Tabled at Full Board Level – 5/10/16 NEW BUSINESS – RESOLUTIONS R-16-035 Endorsers: Mayor Jim Donchess Alderman Ken Siegel Alderman-at-Large Daniel T. Moriarty RELATIVE TO THE RESCINDING OF AUTHORIZED UNISSUED DEBT Given its first reading; assigned to the Budget Review Committee by President McCarthy R-16-036 Endorser: Mayor Jim Donchess Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire Alderman June M. Caron Alderman-at-Large Mark S. Cookson Alderman Tom Lopez Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr. Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja UPDATING THE FINANCIAL STANDARDS FOR THE CITY’S WELFARE GUIDELINES Given its first reading; assigned to the Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee by President McCarthy R-16-037 Endorsers: Alderman Richard A. Dowd Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire Alderman June M. Caron Alderman Ken Siegel Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr. Alderman Tom Lopez Alderman-at-Large Brian S. McCarthy AUTHORIZING THE TRANSFER OF UP TO $1,146,336 FROM THE SCHOOL CAPITAL RESERVE FUND INTO CAPITAL PROJECT ACTIVITY “SCHOOL HVAC IMPROVEMENTS” FOR THE PURPOSE OF IMPROVING HVAC SYSTEMS AT VARIOUS SCHOOLS Given its first reading; assigned to the Budget Review Committee by President McCarthy Board of Aldermen Page 14 May 24, 2016 R-16-038 Endorsers: Mayor Jim Donchess Alderman June M. Caron Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire Alderman Richard A. Dowd AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO AN AMENDMENT TO THE RAILROAD AGREEMENT WITH THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE AND PAN AM RAILWAYS FOR THE PURPOSE OF REPLACING A RAILWAY HIGHWAY CROSSING ON EAST HOLLIS STREET Given its first reading; MOTION BY ALDERMAN WILSHIRE THAT THE RULES BE SO FAR SUSPENDED AS TO ALLOW FOR THE SECOND READING OF R-16-038 A Viva Voce Roll Call was taken, which resulted as follows: Yea: Alderman Wilshire, Alderman Clemons, Alderman Dowd, 12 Alderman Caron, Alderman Siegel, Alderman Schoneman, Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja, Alderman McGuinness, Alderman LeBrun, Alderman O’Brien, Alderman Lopez, Alderman McCarthy Nay: Alderman Cookson, Alderman Moriarty 2 MOTION CARRIED Resolution R-16-038 given its second reading; MOTION BY ALDERMAN WILSHIRE FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-16-038 A Viva Voce Roll Call was taken, which resulted as follows: Yea: Alderman Wilshire, Alderman Clemons, Alderman Dowd, 13 Alderman Caron, Alderman Siegel, Alderman Schoneman, Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja, Alderman McGuinness, Alderman LeBrun, Alderman Moriarty, Alderman O’Brien, Alderman Lopez, Alderman McCarthy Nay: Alderman Cookson 1 MOTION CARRIED Resolution R-16-038 declared duly adopted. NEW BUSINESS – ORDINANCES – None PERIOD FOR GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT Mr. Jim Cutter, 86 Palm Street Article 9, Administration, Section 36, plat. It was passed November 23, 1949, as a means to prevent land theft and states all applications for building permits shall be accompanied by a plan showing the actual dimensions of each lot. On May 13, 1971, the building permit was approved for 88 Palm Street by the building inspector for 53.57 feet. It was not the actual dimensions and took a 2.57 foot wide strip away Board of Aldermen Page 15 May 24, 2016 from our driveway and curtilage. I have told the Gilbertson’s they are trespassing by taking a strip of our driveway. It is evident they never read the 1949 plat ordinance. They only listened to the building inspector instructions. Since I do not have the authority, they do not believe me. The city needs to send a letter to the Gilbertsons explaining their 1971 building permit should have had the actual dimensions of 51 feet. Anything more than that is trespassing. Thus the fence, etc., should be removed soon. Sir George Peter Knight I represent chendie bracelets. I’m here to talk you about a few key points on what I feel we should be spending our government funds on in this town. First our sidewalks is about safety. Our sidewalks should be fenced in. I was at Hampton Beach and I saw a gentleman crossing on the crosswalk and get struck by a car. The gentleman was going about 35 mph. Hampton Beach is a party area. He wasn’t looking and the guy got a concussion. In our town in Nashua, which I did just legally move here about two months, we should invest in sidewalks that have fenced in areas. We should make it as though the fence was as high as the tallest person, which would make sense. We should also invest in crossing guards to assist people with crossing. The lighting in this town, I feel like in the night, obviously my name is “Knight”, when our citizens and patrons are walking and conducting their normal activity they are walking in the town. IN the nighttime people can get mugged, robbed. They could use track of their personal belongings and not find them because of the night. I did hear about the LED lights and how you spent money on that and that is great. I want to mention solar. We all know solar is free, the sun is free. We can use it; it’s our habitat. We can use the water, we can use the sun. We can use anything that gets naturally replenished. This is what I feel is our biggest asset, using things that are natural and can revitalizing our community. Solar lights, solar panels, I was in New York three months ago. Time Square is huge. It was lit up. I was walking in Time Square and said I have to mention this at the next meeting. If I’m walking in this town and I can see at 3 o’clock in the morning in New York, this is something that is good. The solar panels will light up the whole community. They are inexpensive. When you are parking and driving your car on the side of the road. On the actual Main Street, the side of the road has a curb that stands up flat. I’m popping my tire, I’m scuffing my tire. Why are we doing this? We’re scuffing the tire because we designed a curb vertical. Our curbs should be diagonal, to the ground up. That’s the biggest thing. The main thing is we should have a way of safeguarding our kids. Our kids are going to school and they are reading their books. A bullet travels at 2000 yards. We should be able to have a way of safeguarding the kids. Our schools should have bulletproof glass. Thank you so much. REMARKS BY THE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN Alderman Lopez For Mr. Teeboom’s awareness, I didn’t receive an invitation to the Holocaust upgrade, but I was actually in the park a couple days ago looking at the lights. It’s definitely an improvement. I would encourage any member of the public who has the chance; it’s across from Shaw’s, next to Rotary Common. It’s a really nice space; it’s really well designed. If definitely an area that’s worth reflecting on. I also wanted to complement Alderman Siegel on his focus tonight. He was trying to, in my mind, address a very important need. He was trying to do it while balancing a lot of other opinions. I think he did a great job. I think he did it with a lot of dignity, and I appreciated the effort. Alderman O’Brien I’ll second what my friend, Alderman Lopez, said about Alderman Siegel. I said it earlier, but again a very tough issue. We’re going to face it again. It will be interesting to watch the $2 million. I appreciate your attempt to try to make it less painless for the taxpayers at this time. Board of Aldermen Page 16 May 24, 2016 Alderman Moriarty This issue has been easy to see coming, the issue of the pension downshifting. It’s been in the books, it’s been planned, it’s been calculated. Every time a salary contract crosses our desk, it’s on page two. It’s listed in there. We have the out years, the percentage increases. It’s all been in black and white for four years, and I’ve been saying this for four years that this is going to happen. The fact that we’re between a rock and a hard place is our own doing except I voted consistently no for four years now. Today, after four years of being on the losing end of 14 – 1 votes, for once I’m actually going to enjoy this victory. Alderman Siegel First of all I’d like to thank my colleagues for their kind words and also for the ability for me to have my liver regrow and not get pecked out. Being the CO of a liquor company, I guess I can find a more enjoyable way to destroy my own liver. With regard to whether or not this was coming or not, this legislation and all of my efforts have everything to do with the overhang from the state. That isn’t something we could have anticipated unfortunately. I suppose years ago when we decided not to fund it at the state level, we could have anticipated we might run into problems, but this is a burden that we’ve been handed that we have no control over. So I won’t agree that it was something that we could see coming per se, so we part company on that. Thank you. Alderman Caron On a lighter note, May is “Older American’s” month. The senior center has put out a contest to see if they can get 300 new members by the end of December. I kindly, if you look in your mailboxes, you will all find a membership form. For those of you who are under 50, which is a lot of you, I’m sure you know someone who might be interested in going to the Senior Center. As the staff keeps telling me, it’s not about bingos and playing cards. It’s about kickboxing and yoga and bodybuilding and a lot of other wonderful things that they do at the Senior Center. But I agree with my colleagues, Alderman Siegel went above and beyond trying to get this resolved and next year is another year. Thank you. Alderman Dowd I just wanted to thank Alderman Wilshire for running the budget meetings while I was on the mend. I watched the meeting last night. I thought it went extremely well, and I want to congratulate her for a great meeting. Hopefully by Thursday I will be back on my feet and able to resume all of my activities. Thank you. Alderman Clemons I just want to take a moment to say thank you to all the veterans who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. Hopefully we all take a moment to remember on Monday those folks and the families that they left behind. Thank you. Alderman Wilshire I would like to send my condolences to the family of Stephanie Eason-Poisson, who passed away earlier this week at a young age, I might say. Also on June 13, Chief Justice Broderick has asked to come in to talk to the Human Affairs Committee and the Board about an initiative called “Change Direction New Hampshire.” The purpose is to kind of change the culture and the way people think about mental illness and wellness and mental health issues. I hope you all join us on June 13. Committee announcements: Board of Aldermen Page 17 May 24, 2016 Alderman Siegel Substandard Living Condition Committee is going to be meeting this Thursday in the Chambers at 7:00 p.m. Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja On Tuesday, June 7, PEDC will be meeting. We will be discussing the feasibility study for the performing arts center. President McCarthy This Thursday evening is Construction Projects and Joint Special also at Nashua North. The planetarium rededication at Nashua South is tomorrow afternoon at 2:30 p.m. Alderman Clemons Monday, June 6, at 7 PM is the Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee. Alderman Dowd If you could just remind them of the change times for the construction projects and joint special. President McCarthy We have Constructions Projects at 7:00 p.m. and Joint Special at 7:15 p.m. Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja For people who are going to be staying local this weekend the sculptors from the Sculpture Symposium will be down in the Nimco building on 1 Pine Street Extension. They are there from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. They will be there and it’s not like you have to have some special pass to get in. The Sculpture Symposium will be ending June 4. The closing ceremony will be here behind city hall at 1:00 p.m. Alderman Wilshire I wanted to mention the Taste of Downtown on June 1st. I believe tickets are still available at Great American Downtown and at some of the downtown merchants. It’s always a good event. Board of Aldermen Page 18 May 24, 2016 ADJOURNMENT MOTION BY ALDERMAN WILSHIRE THAT THE MAY 24, 2016, MEETING OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN BE ADJOURNED A Viva Voce Roll Call was taken, which resulted as follows: Yea: Alderman Wilshire, Alderman Clemons, Alderman Cookson, 14 Alderman Dowd, Alderman Caron, Alderman Siegel, Alderman Schoneman, Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja, Alderman McGuinness, Alderman LeBrun, Alderman Moriarty, Alderman O’Brien, Alderman Lopez, Alderman McCarthy Nay: 0 MOTION CARRIED The meeting was declared adjourned at 8:45 p.m. Attest: Patricia D. Piecuch, City Clerk  City ©ff Washua Public Works Division Engineering Department 9 Riverside Street 9 Riverside Street Nashua, NH 03062 Fax (603) 589-3169 MEMO Date: May 23, 2016 To: Brian S. McCarthy, President of Board of Aldermen From: Stephen Dookran, P.E., City Engineer Sonia Shahnaj, P.E., Senior Staff Engineer Cc: Mayor Jim Donchess Lisa Fauteux, Director of Public Works Re: (R-16-038) Authorizing the Mayor to enter into an Amendment to the Railroad Agreement with the State of New Hampshire and Pan Am Railways for the purpose of replacing a railway highway crossing on East Hollis Street Request for the first and second reading at the May 24, 2016 meeting The original three-way Agreement was executed in August 2015, but the work did not proceed essentially due to financial hurdles involving the Railroad as they were unable to allocate funding to purchase materials needed for the project. Since NHDOT does not have a policy of paying upfront, the Railroad and the NHDOT requested the City to bear the upfront cost of the materials approximately in the amount of $130,000.00. The City will be fully reimbursed by NHDOT for this cost after the project is complete. The timing is critical for the following reasons: 1. According to the NHDOT, who is administering the Federal funds, if the project is not completed in the 2016 Federal funding year which ends in September 2016, the funding will no longer be available for this project. In order to complete this project by September 2016, the construction must begin no later than middle of July 2016. 2. The project is about 95% funded by FHWA and the remaining 5% is City's share. Should the resolution be referred to committees for recommendations, the current schedule for aldermanic meetings will put final approval too late for the project and the City will be in jeopardy of losing Federal funding in the amount of $606,299.87. 3. The City must make payment to the Railroad without delay for the Railroad to order the materials with long- lead time to start construction by the July 2016 deadline. The crossing on East Hollis Street has been in a deteriorated condition for many years and interim repairs have not held up. This project will not only include the needed repairs but also upgrading the crossing to meet Federal railroad safety standards. In addition to the improvements associated with railroad crossing, the project includes improvements to curbing, sidewalk, new pavement and striping at the intersection. Administration Street/Traffic City Parks-Recreation Solid Waste Wastewater Business Office Department Engineer Department Department Treatment Plant (603)589-3140 (603)589-4750 (603) 589-3120 (603)589-3370 (603)589-3410 (603)589-3560