Budget Review Committee

BUDGET REVIEW COMMITTEE OCTOBER 30, 2012 A meeting of the Budget Review Committee was held Tuesday, October 30, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chamber. Alderman-at-Large Brian S. McCarthy, Chair, presided. Members of Committee present: Alderman-at-Large David W. Deane, Vice Chair Alderman-at-Large Jim Donchess Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire Alderman Richard A. Dowd Alderman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja Members not in Attendance: Alderman-at-Large Mark S. Cookson Also in Attendance: Alderman-at-Large Barbara Pressly Robert Hallowell, Board of Education President Mark Conrad, Superintendent of Schools Daniel Donovan, CFO, Nashua School District PUBLIC COMMENT - None COMMUNICATIONS MOTION BY ALDERMAN WILSHIRE THAT THE RULES BE SO FAR SUSPENDED AS TO ALLOW FOR THE INTRODUCTION OF A COMMUNICATION RECEIVED AFTER THE AGENDA WAS PREPARED MOTION CARRIED From: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau Re: Resolution R-12-75 Alderman Deane I think we should state it’s pertaining to R-12-75, which is relative to the transfer and reduction of $86,711 from public works full-time payroll accounts, and the mayor is asking the committee to consider indefinite postponement which is killing the bill. MOTION BY ALDERMAN DEANE TO ACCEPT AND PLACE ON FILE MOTION CARRIED UNFINISHED BUSINESS – None NEW BUSINESS – RESOLUTIONS R-12-74 Endorsers: Alderman Richard A. Dowd Alderman Michael J. Tabacsko Alderman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja Alderman June M. Caron RELATIVE TO THE TRANSFER OF $85,000 FROM DEPARTMENT #194 “CONTINGENCY”, ACCOUNT #70112 “CONTINGENCY, EDUCATIONAL PRIORITIES” INTO VARIOUS SCHOOL ACCOUNTS Budget Review – 10/30/12 Page 2 MOTION BY ALDERMAN DOWD TO RECOMMEND FINAL PASSAGE ON THE QUESTION Alderman Deane Thank you. I understand the premise behind this legislation. We just approved the budget 79 days ago. I’m wondering, though some of the good fortune the school district may have whether or not these funds would be available as the fiscal year goes on. I might also point out to the Committee that under NRO-5- 130(h) when proposed legislation to transfer re-appropriate, a particular appropriation or portion thereof, has had it’s first reading, so it’s funds shall not be expended or transferred while the legislation is pending. I understand what this is about, but to the advantage of the NRO that I just read, these funds in this contingency account cannot be utilized until this is disposed of. My feeling is, I don’t believe there is a sense of urgency that the school district could probably find this money. If they don’t we can always take action on it down the road because the money is basically just sitting aside in the account waiting for us to dispose of this piece of legislation. That is my position on it. It’s not that I don’t support the needs or the issues that they have with transportation services, salary and educational supplies that were needed above and beyond, I just I would like to see how they do as the fiscal year goes on. If they cannot cover this cost, then we have the money in contingency, basically, already set aside pertaining to the first reading of R-12-74. Alderman Dowd I might ask that we allow the Superintendant and the Chief Financial Officer and perhaps the President of the Board of Education to explain the urgencies. President McCarthy Mr. Conrad and Mr. Hallowell would you like to join us. Mr. Donovan. Anyone else who wants to contribute? Mr. Conrad You have the requests we afforded to Alderman Dowd as our liaison and it is actually fairly complex because of a number of factors that were happening. Let me briefly summarize the request and talk about the impact of appropriating these funds now. We are holding off on them as well. There are two factors that came about for us in our budget after the bottom line had been established by the Board of Alderman. They occurred over the course of the summer. One was a letter from the Commissioner of Education based on a question that both I and the Superintendant of Schools from Manchester had posed to her around the obligation of the district to provide transportation to Charter Schools. As you may know the Academy for Science and Design had moved from Merrimack to Nashua late in the spring and many of us had a reading of the legislation, I thought was clear, but other legal opinions have prevailed. Others have confirmed the Commissioner’s finding that, Public Schools are responsible for providing transportation for students who are residents of their town to Charter Schools within their town. We had over 125 Nashua students attending the Academy for Science and Design, so in short order based on the request from the Academy we had to identify how we were going to transport 125 students. Over the last seven or eight years we have been reducing the number of buses we had in excess of any reductions in population of students as we have been pressed for resources and look for ways to become more efficient. The only resolution we had to that was to lease two additional buses for the year through our contract with First Student. That was over $80,000. That was the first impact on our budget Budget Review – 10/30/12 Page 3 we didn’t anticipate. The second was around class sizes. We have talked about class sizes and our concerns there. Typically at the elementary level over the course of the summer we are actively reviewing our class sizes across different schools as children come and go. We are actively moving teachers around up and down grade levels or from one building to another based on what we are seeing for class sizes. We are very concerned we would reach a point where we just would not be able to meet the very high minimum requirements for class sizes at the elementary level so the Board approved an additional teaching position. They allowed us to determine where to deploy that position. We deployed it to the fifth grade at Ledge Street Elementary School. There were a couple of accounts which through good fortunate and good planning were in excess that were able to identify funds. In the end, the Board had to re-purpose $50,000 in funds that had been set aside for classroom furniture and equipment which was unexpended since it was the beginning of the year in order to meet those needs. With the request tonight, in the requests we have made we have asked for $10,240 to go back in the transportation and $39,760 to go back into teacher salaries. Those two lines total $50,000. That would enable the Board to put money back into the furniture and equipment account so that we can get allocations out to the schools and they can purchase furniture in the classrooms to replace some of the furniture that is falling apart. That would be the first impact of approving those funds now. The second request was to place an additional $35,000 into curriculum materials which would be a partial allocation towards the purchase of Grade 7 math books and/or help us support additional resources for our new elementary science curriculum. I would note that when we responded back to initial questions from the Board of Alderman on what our priorities were as a district, should additional funding become available, I think it was in response to a question from Alderman Donchess, we had said three areas: additional teaching positions, curriculum materials and additional technology. In the request we have addressed two of those three priorities. That is a very short explanation of how we got to our request. Any questions? Alderman Donchess We set aside these funds to help the School Department address the challenges they had explained to us in the areas of curriculum, class size and technology. This was specifically designated for school use. Since that time, as Mr. Conrad has pointed out, the need for additional transportation money did come up. I definitely support the transfer. May I ask a budget question not directly related to this requested transfer? President McCarthy You can ask it. Alderman Donchess When we met the other night up, I will reiterate again what many people said, that the presentation by the students was very interesting and enlightening about many things that are going on at Ledge Street and elsewhere. We talked about some of the challenges the school department is facing, which are considerable over the next two-and-a-half years, between now and spring 2015. One of those challenges as you mentioned both during the budget time and since, including the other night, is the necessity to implement the so-called core curriculum. Do you have any sense of what the total cost of the Core curriculum implementation that should be done by 2015, what that cost might be? I am interested in seeing how that transition will be made. Mr. Conrad Not yet. But we will. Let me give a brief background. Our Board has started to ask those same questions and we have been holding off on responding to that because, with a common core just coming Budget Review – 10/30/12 Page 4 into place there were not a lot of materials out there. This year we are going re-focus our budget process more strongly in our strategic plan. Probably the biggest focus of the strategic plan is on the common core. I would expect we will be bringing back to our Board more detailed budgets for what we see over the over the next three to five years for curricular materials. To give you a sense of that cost for each subject area, we generally estimate about $100,000 per grade level per subject area. We budgeted $100,000 for example for Grade 6 math books at the middle level. Those costs come in a little less than anticipated, about $70,000 a grade level, $68,000. Those textbooks seem to be less expensive than most books generally are. I think $100,000 is a good number. If you look at math at the middle level across six grades, kindergarten through grade five, that’s $600,000. Then you multiple that by four core subject areas. You have over $2 million and that is at the elementary level before you begin to look at middle and high school levels. We are talking millions of dollars overtime, not hundreds of thousands of dollars. That will be one of the challenges as you noted we will face in the coming years. The other piece which will complicate it, is conversations about whether or not to access content through technology rather than through textbooks. If you look at what we did in math, we felt it best to go out and purchase textbooks. If you look at what we have done in science at the grade six level, we are accessing National Geographic curriculum which costs $900,000 a year across all three schools. However, we need an iPad for each student to provide it. The Board had approved about $150,000 toward iPad purchases for grade six science. This question is going to be actively asked across a number of years as technology changes. I think you have to assume at least $100,000 per grade level, per subject as we look at this overtime. President McCarthy Does that actually include kindergarten? Do we have the same curriculum expenses at kindergarten that we do in the other. Mr. Conrad I can’t say they would be the same, you do have some curriculum expenses certainly. President McCarthy It sounds to me overall, that when we overhaul four subject areas across 12 grades we are probably looking at somewhere between $5 to $10 million total cost. Mr. Conrad In my early years in the district as a business administrator, we would have an annual allocation applied to $600,000 for curriculum materials. Overtime that dwindled with budget pressures. We have held off on replacement materials as the common core has come along. We have to be careful to note that its not simply the common core that is going press us to replace materials, but it’s the fact that the materials we have are also long overdue. In some cases, our middle school social studies textbooks are literally starting to fall apart. President McCarthy When you say we are looking at iPads, for example, are we talking about getting iPads to be used in the classroom by students, or assigning a device to a student on a semi-permanent basis? Budget Review – 10/30/12 Page 5 Mr. Conrad In the case of the iPads for science, we are looking at having a set of iPads in each science classroom that a student would take out for the time they are in that classroom. I think there are other discussions going on, or will be, about concept of bring your own device or one-on-one computing, but not in this case. President McCarthy I would like to look at that from a couple of perspectives: (1) I suspect it would be cheaper in the long run, particularly if you have a lot of content online so that we don’t have to buy paper textbooks. It doesn’t take many inch-and-a-half textbooks to pay for an iPad. Also, in places like science, it doesn’t take very long for an inch-and-a-half textbook to become a paperweight that’s obsolete. Mr. Conrad Here is the issue with that. This really came about in the Race-to-the-Top grant, which I think in the end will provide us with a lot of information to move forward with in very positive ways. We asked Rick Farenkoff what it could cost to upgrade our network so that you could have one-on-on computing in a wireless environment. He came back with an estimate of $2.2 million. That was not simply the cost of adding wireless points, but having to upgrade the backbone of the network for the speeds you would need to do that. Increasingly, I think we are become conscious. We haven’t always planned well with this so we are becoming more conscious of the need to think about the impact in the infrastructure you need behind those iPads that you purchase for the science classroom. President McCarthy I encourage you make sure we look at that and understand it. We have spent a lot of money on textbooks, since I’ve been on the Board. We are not caught up and probably never will be. It changes fast. Today it’s common core, next year it may be some other new standard. If we don’t have to replace physical media every time we make changes in the curriculum, I think we are a lot better off. Mr. Conrad I agree. It’s really fascinating to me that the cost of content just continues to drop. When you can implement that Grade 6 science curriculum for $9,000 across 3,000 students, that is very inexpensive. Last year it was free. President McCarthy If I can get 99 cents from every Smartphone user in the world for something, I don’t have to charge very much. Alderman Dowd To go over the why now versus later, two of these items are legitimate items that were not known when the budget was passed; the busing issue as was explained by Mr. Conrad and the teacher to alleviate the class size so that we are meeting the minimum standards. I’m sure everybody has heard the discussion that we should be even lower than that. You have also heard that in order to pay for these, because both had to be implemented by the beginning of the school year that accounts such as furniture have been tapped to pay for this and there is a lot of furniture in the school district that was budgeted to Budget Review – 10/30/12 Page 6 be taken care of right away so that kids aren’t sitting on broken chairs and we have enough chairs and other things that are being replaced. But they are not able to do that now because they have to watch the budget. If we pass this this evening and the Full Board passes it, they will be able to then allocate those funds to where they were originally proposed and will be able to buy the material that should have been purchased at the beginning of the school year. Alderman Deane I have a question to the Chief Operating Officer. The school district does a lot of transfers. Is that correct? Daniel Donovan We tend to do more transfers in the second half of the year. Now with the new system and the two-digit numbering we will do fewer. Alderman Deane Because you have been able to add four-digit underneath that to cover a wide variety? Daniel Donovan Exactly. Previously we would move every item. A lot of times, for example, is the way that principals would budget. They would budget a lot of items into one account. When they went to make purchases they had to move money to make the purchases. With Lawson now and the two-digit account coding, that’s not going to be an issue because they are not required to move it any longer. That is where most of those transfers came from. Alderman Deane I haven’t gotten a new budget book. It’s been 79 days since I have asked for one. I was told I was going to get one. Tomorrow will day 80. It’s not posted on the City’s website either. The proposed one is. Something went terribly wrong, whether some data got lost or the form letter on the front was not done or what it is. The last number I record was $95,628,047. Does that sound familiar? Daniel Donovan Yes it does. Alderman Deane I am just trying to understand how, with that kind of money, on top of whatever else, that these costs can’t be covered until the end or we can see as the dust settles if adjustments need to be made or whether this contingency could be left there to be used for another purpose that might arise. I understand the legislation that Alderman Dowd brought in and I understand Mr. Conrad’s explanation of why he approached Alderman Dowd to bring the legislation in, I just think it’s really early to be tapping into these funds where there might be a possibility where there could be some funding remaining at the end to help cover these costs, which I believe Mr. Chairman is a lapsing account, this contingency line that we have? Budget Review – 10/30/12 Page 7 President McCarthy Yes. Alderman Deane It’s not like the fiscal year ends and the money goes away. President McCarthy It lapses into the fund balance at the end of the year. Alderman Deane So, we could make it a non-lapsing account? President McCarthy We would have to do a transfer and that would be considered a supplemental appropriation. Alderman Deane This is considered a supplemental appropriation? President McCarthy This is a transfer because it’s transferred within existing line items in the operating budget. Creating a non-lapsing account would require at least a supplemental appropriation. Daniel Donovan I think I understand Mr. Deane’s issue. The only thing that would make it easier, if you keep in mind we did have those. We had $124,000 by hiring the teacher and $84,000 for the bus. We had $124,000 we needed right away. Basically, since we had $74,000 between the portable rentals and the software that the state picked up, it’s the Delta. The Delta is a $50,000 number. That is the only amount that we have in the budget for furniture. There might be some small furniture amounts in each of the individual schools where they put a small amount in there, but that is the only amount we have. Typically, I’m not going to raid another account or make a transfer from another account this early in the year. Basically, what it would do if we didn’t pass this and waited until later, we would not buy any furniture until late in the year when it became evident if there are excess funds, where they came from. Alderman Deane What did you have for excess funds this year? Daniel Donovan At the very end of the year probably about $750 or so. Budget Review – 10/30/12 Page 8 Alderman Deane $750,000? Daniel Donovan Most of that was labor related. Alderman Donchess Of course one the purposes here is to improve the curriculum at seventh grade level. Given the challenges that our community and our students face in the area of math in science, I think improving those curriculum and improving test scores and performance and learning and ability in the math and science areas as quickly as we can is important. That is one of the reasons I think this transfer is appropriate at this time. President McCarthy The motion is to recommend final passage. MOTION CARRIED R-12-75 Endorser: Alderman-at-Large David W. Deane RELATIVE TO THE TRANSFER AND REDUCTION OF $86,711 FROM PUBLIC WORKS FULL-TIME PAYROLL ACCOUNTS • Also assigned to the Board of Public Works; Tabled 10/18/12 MOTION BY ALDERMAN DEANE TO RECOMMEND FINAL PASSAGE ON THE QUESTION Alderman Deane I found this rather ironic, Mr. Chairman, that a position was created. This was all done while the budget was in process. This was known about. One person was forced to retire and then they laid off the other one. They knew this was going on. If you look at their minutes, you will see non-public session that was released. They didn’t release page one for some reason, but they released page two. If they are going to do this reorganization as the Mayor recalled in her September 17 memo, this individual who worked at the landfill, I went in my proposed budget and it states here, he was a solid waste foreman. Well a solid waste foreman in the 2013 budget shows there are two people. I took that amount and divided it by two and came up with an annual salary, outside of overtime, of $57,965. That is what a solid waste foreman makes as stated in this memo, that is where this person most recently worked. Then I looked at this position at $86,640, that’s a $28,675.77 a year raise. I guess I will have to ask the Financial Services Department, were funds were paid out pertaining to accrued time. I don’t know if they were paid out of these positions once the people were released and the budget was approved. There was a substantial balance in one of the accounts in the Street Department. In the Park Department there was not as the year went on because the position was manned. If we have this new position that is going to take the place of two positions, then we have some cost avoidance. I thought that was rather interesting as I just got this memo, and the Mayor states further, if the Board of Public Works makes operational changes and is able to reduce anticipated expenses in a budget line, it is appropriate to allow that board the Budget Review – 10/30/12 Page 9 flexibility to transfer that money, within the department, to fund identified priorities that did not get necessary funding. That could be as simple as purchasing equipment or supplies or adding additional paving or sidewalk work, thereby moving projects up on the ongoing list. This is fine. My question is, when you have somebody with 25-years of service, who is vested in the pension plan, whose final year salary goes from $57,965 to $86,640 there is a substantial impact on the pension plan. I wonder if that was looked at. If that’s the case, is it the administrations plan to say, we’ve gone from only offering existing benefits to one, we reduced the benefits to those two that have now departed, is the health insurance savings and all that other benefit cost, is that going to be afforded to them to spend on other things to help with their ongoing list of priorities? This is one of the things, I think, when we had the operating budget in front of us, they knew full well what they were doing. It’s not like the people they were doing it to didn’t know about; one of them maybe, but the other one, it had been going on for quite a while. I think it should have been brought to our attention what their plan was. Then, for them to create a position with no funds in it, saying that doesn’t have to be done, I totally disagree with. We have done the breakdown of different positions within a division that are funded out of different areas which clearly shows that in the budget book. In this case, we are told that doesn’t need to be done anymore. I am not going to bother asking the Legal Department. I’ve given up on that idea. I guess my unanswered questions are, how much of this salary money, if any of it, was used to pay down accrued time to either of these employees who are now gone? The transfer pertaining to the summer help, that could be done and the Mayor skillfully points out: Finally, at the Board of Public Works meeting, as I understood the sponsoring Alderman, that’s me, indicated that his intent, with this legislation, was only to transfer and reduce available leftover money, and not impact the ability of the division to pay the divisional operations manager. However, the legislation transfer more money than is available or “leftover”. My other interest was that, on the back of the legislation, the Chief Financial Officer signed off on it. Why would he do that? If he knew there was error or there wasn’t enough money, why would he sign off on it? The date of the legislation when it was signed off by Legal was September 20. President McCarthy It’s not up to the Financial Officer to define the purpose of the legislation. There is enough money in the account to transfer that. There isn’t enough money in the accounts to transfer that amount out and also to pay the salary that we have established for that position. Alderman Deane If you look at the breakdown of the 100% out of the balance of the monies that were left, if you took 40 from Parks and 40 from Streets and then 10 from Solid Waste and 10 from Wastewater, that is being done on a salary rate of $86,000 and my base salary rate was on the $74 which did not include his pay increase. Still, if you breakdown the $86,000 evenly over those four different departments your numbers, I think, would be substantially different. I have a good idea where this is going, so I don’t want to labor anybody on this any longer. Thank you for giving some time to speak to my legislation. MOTION FAILED MOTION BY ALDERMAN WILSHIRE FOR INDEFINITE POSTPONEMENT MOTION CARRIED NEW BUSINESS – ORDINANCES – None Budget Review – 10/30/12 Page 10 TABLED IN COMMITTEE R-12-69 Endorsers: Alderman-at-Large Jim Donchess Alderman-at-Large David W. Deane Alderman-at-Large Mark S. Cookson Alderman-at-Large Barbara Pressly Alderman Arthur T. Craffey, Jr. REGARDING ACCOUNTING FOR THE COSTS OF THE MAIN STREET PROJECT • Tabled 9/18/12 • Also assigned to the Board of Public Works; Tabled 9/20/12 President McCarthy I have had some discussions with the Mayor based on the discussion we had at our last meeting. I do not have anything to present to the Committee at the moment. Unless anyone has a desire to table that, I will try to get a communication out for next meeting. Alderman Donchess Mr. Chair, you will try to put together that form we were talking about for the next meeting. President McCarthy I’ve talked with the Mayor about the things I think should be in it. She is going to come back with a formula we can look at and we will get to were we agree on that. Alderman Pressly I came tonight hoping to speak to that. If you are working on something, would it be possible to have something included in there about the maintenance of the planters, they look like miniature parks. The large areas have planting in them. The Mayor has mentioned that there have been so many new parks added, that it probably will require a new employee. President McCarthy What we are talking about is a methodology for attributing previous expenditures to a particular project, not about budgeting for maintenance of them in the future. I think we need to do that, and it’s an interesting topic that we should discuss, but it is not in the context of trying to figure out how much we spent to put the new sidewalks on Main Street. Alderman Pressly I see it as it is going to be an expense to do that. There are plantings in there. I would just like to have the chance to talk about it of find out a little more. How are those planters going to impact the snow removal? I believe we purchased some instruments to plow the sidewalks. It seems to me it is going to be more labor intensive to try to plow around those planters. Budget Review – 10/30/12 Page 11 President McCarthy I will be happy to talk to her about what the right venue is to have a discussion of maintenance issues. That may be more appropriate for Infrastructure than Budget. Let me find out and I will get something back to the Board. GENERAL DISCUSSION Alderman Donchess Alderman Deane the fact that there is no past budget book out yet. I’ve been thinking about that too. Because we did make some amendments to the budget it would be nice to have the final budget we could refer to. I was going to ask you to see if that could be done sometime in the near future. President McCarthy I believe it is pending and may happen this week. What we asked for was to get the amended budget in the new format rather than just an amended copy. There are only about 10 line items that changed in the book. They were working on trying to get the budget format changed to the new one. I had a quick discussion with the Mayor last week and I believe it is forthcoming. I will check with her tomorrow. Alderman Pressly I wanted to bring up something and since the meeting has not gone too long, if you will indulge me. What I am concerned about is related to the subject that we are going to keep on the table, but it has to do with communication. From my point of view, any relationship, whatever it is between two individuals, between groups, open, honest and direct communication is critical. What has been happening is rather interesting, and it might be a reflection of the technology, and bear in mind I’m the least informed on technology of the group, I can open the door and that’s about it. I think there is a solution. I have run into a situation, and I brought it up directly to the Mayor at other venues, I have been extremely involved in particular issues and have not been informed when the product is being presented. I have been trying to think how we could solve that. Maybe the rest of you have had the same issue. In the first instance that I pointed out to her, she acknowledged that she just invited two Aldermen to come to it; she invited the President of the Board and the Ward Alderman to come to an event in her office. It was something that we had approved legislatively, we had funded legislatively and I was terribly disappointed. It came up again having to do with the VFW. As you know, we are closely related to them, we march in the parades, they have the honor guards at all our ceremonies. I received notification five hours before the event and was able to go to it, and learned at that time that a memo had been sent through the Mayor’s office two weeks prior to that. A last minute memo had come through and they said, we should send this to the Aldermen, so we had about a five hour notification of it. The third thing came up with something that showed up in the Union Leader, as ideas sought to improve people’s lives in Nashua’s Tree Streets. Again, I knew nothing about it. I asked Alderman Craffey if he knew anything about it. He was quite upset, he knew nothing about it. I don’t know if this is a project we funded or not. There seems to be a pattern where we are not informed. That does not mean that all of us can attend these things, I know we are all busy, we have personal schedules, but if we don’t know it’s existing we cannot put it into our schedules and try to go. Also, it is embarrassing to find out after-the-fact that something you have been keenly involved in or attended their meetings and then were not invited to the presentation. The first one that the President and the Ward Alderman were invited to, the press was invited also. Budget Review – 10/30/12 Page 12 President McCarthy That invitation was not extended from the Mayor’s office. Those invitations were made by the Chairman of the Design Jury, as I understand it. Alderman Pressly My understanding and the Mayor said that she had asked that those two people be included. I have to feel, having worked with that group, they would have been very pleased to have had every member of the Board of Alderman. I don’t know if anyone was able to go because it was daytime. Were you able to go? President McCarthy I was, in fact, able to attend that. Alderman Pressly May I then explore a little more? Where does the Mayor have these events in her office? That large table does not allow for a stand-up group. President McCarthy That’s where the meeting was held. Alderman Pressly It was. So all these people stood around the table? President McCarthy There were not that many people there. It was primarily the Chairman of the Design Jury, the Mayor and the recipient of the award. Alderman Pressly The award that a lot of us wanted to attend. If you recall, that was a project that was citywide. There were a lot of people involved. They had all their work displayed on Main Street. We talked at length about what a great project it was. In fact, I have sponsored legislation to try to use that same technique to get a band shell. Using the traditional technique that has been used by the city before, we did not get a good design. I have been thinking, not knowing much about technology, my understanding is that previously invitations used to be written or somehow extended. Today it’s all done by clicking a button. In talking with the VFW people, they just have a poster. They just push buttons and it goes out and whoever receives it can either sit with it or they can push some more buttons and send it out. I know I am planning to do it personally, and maybe each one can do it, to ask department heads, ask different groups that when they have any public event where there is public participation and a press notification, that you also get an email. If I understand it correctly, it does not take any extra time, it’s just a matter of letting these organizations, in the case of the City, to let the Health Department know that when they are having an event like this that they should include the Board of Aldermen. Two political people were there and commented on it. I called both of them asking them where do we go wrong. One of them read about it in the newspaper, which of course is a good way to do that. I’m not saying that I catch Budget Review – 10/30/12 Page 13 everything, it’s hard to keep up on everything. The other person got a personal invitation. The person was a State Rep. I believe the Board of Alderman should get a blanket invitation to these things or at least be informed of what is happening. I think it is poor public policy to be exclusive. If you have invited the press, if you have had a big event and if a lot of people want to come, you take it to a larger room. I’m wondering how we can solve this simply and easily. One thing would be we could have Sue Lovering, anytime she gets something she could communicate with the different Department Heads and different agencies and ask that all the Board of Alderman get sent this information; or each one of us can call all these Department Heads. I was going to do it, but I thought before I do it personally I would ask the others. The negative side of this is a lot of people don’t like all these emails. If they get a lot of emails telling them about events, it might be a nuisance. Maybe it should be just a special group of people we could check in with our staff and say, yes I do want to be informed of every event, particularly events that we have funded. I think that’s the part that is a little bit insulting. We as an elected body vote to give money to these various groups. By the way, the Mayor had contributed some public money to this that we found out about at the last minute. I do not think there is any intentional error, I just think it is a policy that I think should be changed. I am prepared to do what I need to do to make sure that I get informed directly, but I would much prefer that the whole Board of Aldermen be informed. I don’t know how you feel about it, but I think if we are asked to fund a project and the Press is invited to a project to see the end result and to understand how the money we funded was spent, I feel that we also should be on the information list. I would like to know how you feel about it. I’m planning to do it for myself but would like to hear how the rest of you feel. Do you want to know when these events are taking place so that you can go if you are able to? Alderman Dowd Alderman Pressly, have you had a direct discussion with the Mayor on this subject before? The other thing to ask that question that you just asked, it probably should be at a Full Board not just the segregated group of the Budget Committee. Alderman Pressly In answer to the first part, I have brought it up to the Mayor at a public meeting. I think she was very defensive, she thought I was criticizing her, which I’m not. It’s a problem to be solved. It’s a communication problem to be solved. I would be happy to bring it up to the Full Board. The other thing would be just to sponsor legislation. At a Full Board meeting it’s hard to have a friendlier discussion and to find out how people feel. I think I can solve this problem for myself by using my own skills. I’ve been in touch with the VFW. I’m going to get on their list. I can contact other groups and certainly through the Department Heads, I can contact each one. The criteria that I have used that seemed appropriate was, if it is any event involving public participation or if it’s an event which the Press has been invited to cover, those would be the criteria that I feel I should be informed so that I can do my job. President McCarthy I think it is more complicated than that. In the case of the VFW event that you mentioned, that event, was in fact a fundraiser for the VFW, was it not? I have told our legislative manager that if invitations are sent to her she can forward those to the Board and she can put them on the Civic calendar. But, having our staff go out and look for what are fundraising events for nonprofits outside of the City is probably not a reasonable use of taxpayer dollars. As a result, I have not asked her to do that and I probably will not. If organizations want to talk to the Board, they need to know that they can contact the office. All they have to do is address it to Board of Aldermen, 229 Main Street, Sue gets it and she can forward it onto the Board. But I am not going to have her run around looking for things to do. I can tell you, I get enough invitations to fundraisers from nonprofits in the city that: (1) I wouldn’t want her spending that Budget Review – 10/30/12 Page 14 amount of time doing that, and (2) most of them know how to find us if they’re looking for us. The events that are within the City, if the Health Department is having an event, that might something we get invited to. I think we should ask ourselves why State Reps would get invited and not Aldermen to events like that, I’m not sure why that happens. Alderman Deane Point of interest. Was that the Wellness Clinic they had. President McCarthy I don’t know what event. Alderman Deane There was a Wellness Clinic here, too, I believe. President McCarthy The Wellness Fair was an employee event. Alderman Deane The item that Alderman Pressly is talking about, when I went through the Account of Expenditures or Chart of Accounts or whatever it is called now, I saw a contribution check made to the VFW for what I believed to be around $2,000. Sorry to interrupt. Alderman Pressly We had been working on the Tree Street area and I think there were a lot of people that would have liked to have gone to this had they known about it. Alderman Melizzi-Golja I believe the event you’re talking about the healthy nutrition and shopping opportunities in the Tree Street area. I believe, although, our Health Department was involved in it, it was actually sponsored by another community group that came in and collaborated with our Health Department and another group that wants to establish a program here in the City. I believe that’s the event you a referring to. Alderman Pressly I am not suggesting that we should expect to be invited to every fundraiser. We all have our own favorite charities. President McCarthy I generally, do expect to be invited to every fundraiser and my expectation is rarely disappointed. Budget Review – 10/30/12 Page 15 Alderman Pressly They must have your number. I thought of the VFW Post, primarily because I think the city does have a relationship with them, very definitely. Two of the Mayor’s staff were at the same event that I went to. I consider that an arm of government. I intend to do something about it for myself. I don’t know how the rest of you feel, but if you would like me to talk to them also, or get something out to every department in the city to let them know. In the case of the tree streets, it was a public event, they had the Press there, some political people were there, but we were not informed and neither was the Ward Alderman. I think it is a “communication” problem that needs to be solved. I don’t know what to do when the Mayor has a private event in her office. I don’t even think that is ADA compliant, that I know of. That room used to accommodate 40 or 50 people standing. I can’t accommodate more than 12 or 13 people. It was just very disappointing that events that I cared about, had asked her personally about. In fact, Mr. President, I think you were there when I’ve discussed my interest in that group with her and the hope to use that technique other places. I think communication is really important. I appreciate the fact, Mr. President, that President of the Board might be at the top of everybody’s list. The rest of us are not. President McCarthy I have been getting those invitations since the first stipend check after I took office. They seem to know what day those checks come out and time their requests for when they know we have resources. Alderman Pressly Meaning, you think they are looking for public money or personal money. President McCarthy The fundraisers we get invitations for, we get them because there is an understanding among the nonprofits that many of the Aldermen support many of the causes that they work for and that they are likely to get participation from the Aldermen. I don’t know how they got my name. I get the invitations not through here, but generally at home in the mail and I think they are pretty good at finding us. When you talk to those groups, my suggestion would be, tell them if they want to get something to the Board to send it to the Legislative office and it will be put on our calendar and we will get notified about it. Alderman Pressly To further comment, I’m not suggesting that we go out and recruit getting emails from the nonprofits. I think the VFW that is the color guard at our events, that we march in their parades, they are another arm of government. President McCarthy They are not. They are a not-for-profit organization. They do not have any special status that is different from any of the 30 or 40 other organizations that we give money to support out of the budget or out of whatever in the course of a year. Alderman Pressly So you don’t think the parades for the City and the Honor Guards are connected to what we do? Budget Review – 10/30/12 Page 16 President McCarthy We pay for those parades. Alderman Pressly In my mind they are connected to government in ways that other nonprofits are not. President McCarthy I think there is a relationship that may be different in how we interact with them, but it is not different on the surface in terms of how the two organizations are related. They are a nonprofit. We are a government entity, just like every other nonprofit that works with the city. Alderman Pressly I understand the technology. When something like this comes in either to the Mayor’s office or to our office, it is pretty easy to push a button and send it to everybody. It seems to me that would be a pretty simple thing to do and I will take care of it for myself. Thank you. President McCarthy I would suggest, when you find those organizations, that again, you tell them to include the legislative office and what they send out. Then it will get to the entire Board. If they are sending out email they can send it to our office and it will get to us. Alderman Wilshire I’m not sure anyone is leaving us out intentionally. I certainly get a lot of invitations to a lot of things, almost more than I can handle as far as different events throughout the city from nonprofits. When they did the whole CNG thing a year or so ago, when they opened the gas station I went to the ribbon cutting for that. I don’t know how we missed the VFW one, but I don’t think it was addressed to the Board of Aldermen. I don’t know that the administration necessarily knew that we didn’t get that invitation. That’s a tough call. Alderman Pressly It is a difficult call, but I think communication is key and I think what motivated me to start to look out for this and to watch it was just so many cases right in a row, in particular the one I had asked specifically about and had asked to be included in and was not. That is still a difficult thing for me to deal with. But I think if you have an event that has been widely across the city, had all this public involvement, people were asking for many weeks, when are we going to do something about that design contest and then have an exclusive group huddling around the table in the Mayor’s office, I just think its inappropriate. In a way, it’s related to R-12-69. As far as getting information about the Main Street program which has to do with cost accounting, are we entitled to know the details of how the sidewalk plan came about. Are we allowed to know who composes these teams that are working on these major projects that we are expected to fund. I think it all has to do with transparency and communication. Budget Review – 10/30/12 Page 17 Alderman Donchess Regarding the Design Competition. I had hoped we would get a brief public presentation from the winners just to see who they are and to just get their perspective on why they had included various aspects into the design competition. I did mention it to someone at some point that would be a good idea, but at this point I cannot remember to whom and when. I think it would have been nice to have a short opportunity for the Board of Aldermen and the public to see and hear from the winners of that competition. PUBLIC COMMENT – None REMARKS BY THE ALDERMEN – None POSSIBLE NON-PUBLIC SESSION – None ADJOURNMENT MOTION BY ALDERMAN DONCHESS TO ADJOURN MOTION CARRIED The meeting was declared closed at 8:04 p.m. Alderman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja Committee Clerk  Sficmtdee l£ozeau MAYOR To: \Budget Review Committee From: Dmmn^^Lozeau Date: October 30, 2012 Re: R-12-075 I would like the Budget Review Committee to consider indefinite postponement of R-12- 075, "Relative to the Transfer and Reduction of $86,711 from Public Works Full-Time Payroll Accounts" for the following reasons. First, there is simply no reason, during the budget year, to reduce departmental operating budgets. During the course of a budget year, all departments occasionally transfer money within the two-digit accounts in the department to meet ongoing operational needs. For example, if a department ends up spending more on postage than it expected, money can be transferred from a different two-digit line within the department's budget which the department believes can cover it. (The one exception to this is that a department cannot transfer money into payroll accounts without approval of the Board of Aldermen.) This ongoing ability to manage a budget is crucial in maintaining day-to-day operations. Furthermore, if the Board of Public Works makes operational changes and is able to reduce anticipated expenses in a budget line, it is appropriate to allow that board the flexibility to transfer that money, within the department, to fund identified priorities that did not get necessary funding. That could be as simple as purchasing equipment or supplies or adding additional paving or sidewalk work, thereby moving projects up on the ongoing list. The legislation suggests that the Parks and Recreation Department use some of the funding for seasonal help. The AFSCME Collective Bargaining Agreement includes a limitation on the amount of summer help the city can hire. The CBA contains language that prohibits the Public Works Division from increasing the number of summer and temporary positions (excluding pool instructors and lifeguards) over the 2009 season levels. If there is a concern with the length of time the summer help are employed, the CBA also contains language that they can be employed no later than October 31, although the city does lose many of its summer help employees before that date, as they often go back to college. 229 Main Street • PO Box 2019 • Nashua, NH 03061-2019 603.589.3260 • fax 603.594.3450 • NashuaMayor@NashuaNH.gov  f * Finally, at the Board of Public Works meeting, as I understood the sponsoring Alderman indicated that his intent, with this legislation, was only to transfer and reduce available leftover money, and not impact the ability of the division to pay the divisional operations manager. However, the legislation transfers more money than is available or "leftover." The FY13 budget included $71,291 in payroll for a Parks and Recreation Operations Manager. $10,935 was paid in FY13 through 8/19/2012 for the employee in that position, leaving $60,355 "remaining." For the rest of FY 13, the Divisional Operations Manager will require $28,658 from that account, leaving $31,697 remaining. However, the legislation requests a transfer and reduction of $42,775 which would leave a shortage of $11,077. Similarly, the FY13 budget included $73,226 in payroll for a Street Operations Manager. $10,234 was paid in FY 13 through 8/19/2012 for the employee in that position, leaving $62,992 remaining. For the rest of FY 13, the Divisional Operations Manager will require $28,658 from that account, leaving $34,334 remaining. However, the legislation requests a reduction of $43,936, which would leave a shortage of $9,602. I have also included the memo I had provided the Board relative to this new position. I appreciate the Committee's consideration of my request.  ^Ööwialee Ifozeau MAYOR To: V. Board of Aldermen From: .ozeau Date: September 7,2012 Re: DPW Reorganization ! thought you might appreciate an update relative to a recent reorganization at the Division of Public Works (DPW). The Board of Public Works (BPW) has eliminated the two department Operations Manager positions, one at Parks & Recreation and one at Streets. They have created a new position for an Operation Manager for the full Division instead. The BPW determined that a Divisional Operations Manager would better suit the needs of the Division. The new Division Operations Manager will work closely with the Director, Superintendents, City Engineer, and Foremen to provide better coordination of divisional projects, such as Main Street improvements and the Broad Street Parkway. Responsibilities will include such things as a daiiy progress review of city crews in the field and assist in the achievement of divisional goals, efficient procurement and use of city resources, inspect, respond and provide solutions to residents' concerns and play a key role in seasonal operations like snow removal and parks. The position will be a Grade 19 with a starting salary of $86,640.77, and for FY 13 it will be funded as follows: 10% Solid Waste, 10% Wastewater, 40% Parks & Recreation and 40% Streets. The funding for the position reflects the anticipated breakdown of the work to be performed by department. We are excited to promote Andy Patrician to this position. Andy has been with the city for 25 years and during that time he has worked in Parks and Recreation, Streets, and most recently as a Solid Waste Foreman. He has a broad knowledge of Public Works and brings exceptional customer service, operational skills, and proven leadership to this position. 229 Main Street PO Box 2019 - Nashua, NH 03061-2019 603.589.3260 • fax 603.594.3450 • NashuaMayor<gJ4ashuaNH.gov