Budget Review Committee

BUDGET REVIEW COMMITTEE MAY 11, 2026 A meeting of the Budget Review Committee was held Monday, May 11, 2026, at 7:00 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chamber and duly noticed in two places, including the City’s website, in accordance with the requirements of RSA 91-A:2 II. Alderman Richard A. Dowd, Chairman, presided. Let’s start the meeting by taking a roll call attendance. Members of Committee present: Alderwoman-at-Large Shoshanna Kelly Alderman-at-Large Alicia Gregg Alderman Derek Thibeault Alderman Paula Johnson Alderman Tim Sennott, Vice-Chair Alderman Richard A. Dowd, Chairman Members not in Attendance: Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien Also in Attendance: Lisa Fauteux, Public Works Director Dan Hudson, City Engineer Jon Ibarra, Superintendent of Streets Michael Rush, Superintendent of Fleet Bryan Conant, Superintendent of Parks David Boucher, Superintendent of Wastewater Jeffrey LaFleur, Superintendent of Solid Waste Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator Carolyn O’Connor, Assistant Director DPW Finance & Admin. Matt LeBlanc, Assistant DPW Director Ryan Lones, Operations Manager Dawn Enwright, CFO ________________________________________________________________________________________ ROLL CALL COMMUNICATIONS - None UNFINISHED BUSINESS - None NEW BUSINESS – RESOLUTIONS - None NEW BUSINESS – ORDINANCES - None TABLED IN COMMITTEE MOTION BY ALDERMAN THIBEAULT TO REMOVE FROM THE TABLE R-26-028 MOTION CARRIED R-26-028 Endorsers: Mayor Jim Donchess Alderwoman Vengerflutta Smith Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr. Alderman-at-Large Alicia Gregg Alderman Thomas Lopez Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire RELATIVE TO THE ADOPTION OF THE FISCAL YEAR 2027 PROPOSED BUDGET FOR THE CITY OF NASHUA GENERAL, ENTERPRISE, SPECIAL REVENUE AND GRANT FUNDS DEPARTMENTAL REVIEWS OF THE PROPOSED FY27 BUDGET FOR THE CITY OF NASHUA Dept. # Revenues Appropriations Budget Review Committee – 05/11/2026 Page 2 DIVISION OF PUBLIC WORKS 160 Administration & Engineering 183 183 161 Streets 187 187 163 Fleet 191 192 177 Parks 195 195 178 Recreation 199 200 168 Solid Waste 202 203 169 Wastewater 207 208 *** Due to technical difficulties - Dept 160, Administration & Engineering and a portion of Department 161, Streets were unable to be recorded. *** Alderman Johnson .. and the four wheelers up and down that whole area. So I was concerned when I took a walk up there that they were getting into the landfill .. Lisa Fauteux, Public Works Director You did good. Alderman Johnson We don't want that to happen and have any problems there because that's a liability on the City and also there could be some damage there. I think there was in the past a couple years ago off Pioneer/Musket. So I just want to bring - since you brought this up, I wanted to bring this up, too, with the fact that because when I got to the crest, I took the pictures and you can see - I guess the fence was rolled back and there was also a sign “trespassing”. There was also trespassing signs going up and one of them was taken down - one of the orange signs. So I hope that – well we don’t want anybody in the landfill running around. Lisa Fauteux, Public Works Director No, we certainly don’t. Unidentified (male) We’ll make sure it’s secured. Alderman Johnson Yeah, so that's why I wanted to bring it to your attention .. Lisa Fauteux, Public Works Director Okay. Alderman Johnson .. since we brought it up here. Lisa Fauteux, Public Works Director Thank you. Alderman Johnson Thank you. Budget Review Committee – 05/11/2026 Page 3 Chairman Dowd Any other questions on Streets? Seeing none, we’ll move on to Fleet. That’s Department 163, Page 191 for Revenues and 192 for Appropriations. STREETS Lisa Fauteux, Public Works Director And we should probably start with vacancies. Michael Rush, Superintendent of Fleet Yes. Lisa Fauteux, Public Works Director Yes. So we have only we have a Mechanic 2nd Class opening right now and that's been vacant for about 4 months? Michael Rush, Superintendent of Fleet Probably about 4 months. Lisa Fauteux, Public Works Director So and we're hoping to fill that. We've had pretty good luck as of late filling mechanic vacancies but these positions are really important. Not only do they take care of our 364 pieces of equipment but they take care of equipment Citywide. Everything really but Police and Fire. So we take care of the School Department, Public Health, City Hall, all of that. So with that, I'll turn it over to Superintendent Rush. Michael Rush, Superintendent of Fleet Michael Rush, Fleet Superintendent. So Divisional highlights for the Fleet Department. This is this past year and will continue into the future with these projects. So we've updated our fleet diagnostic software pretty significantly over the last couple of years. This enables us to make most of the repairs in house and cut down on that 3rd party cost, subcontracting stuff out. We try to keep that in house as much as possible. We're also expanding the use of our Fleetio Software. This collects all of our data to our vehicles which is also tied into our GPS systems that collects engine data as well as hours, mileage, and soon to be fuel which is another integration that we're looking for coming up in the future here. We are currently still using anti-corrosion efforts to extend vehicle life. This is to try to keep that salt off of all of our metal pieces so that we can extend the vehicle life and try not to have the salt do too much damage, which is a big cost. We're also participating in the design of the DPW Garage and the Maintenance Facility that will be coming about in the upcoming months and those are our fleet highlights. Getting into our Appropriations starting on page 194. Full Time Wages - that's contractual. That has gone up $7,942. Overtime line has crept up to $975. The charge back, which you'll see in all the departments, is a new procedure code. Fringe Benefits also contractual up $34,125. Vehicle Repairs and Maintenance up $11,100. Fuel for unleaded fuel – gasoline. That's a bid based on historical data. That is up slightly $38,672. We also had a pretty hard winter so fuel usage was up slightly. Recently, the fuel contract did go out. Amy Girard was able to secure a pretty good fuel price for the City for the next year. So for fuel and diesel fuel, that price is already set so there should be some savings there. Diesel fuel is up slightly - $14,500 for that budget line. The less internal/external fuel billings - slight change there at $17,341 that's fuel related. Vehicle Parts and Supplies - that's up slightly $2,260. Computer Software - up slightly $3,000. The software line pays for all of our diagnostic software. That's our Fleetio Tracking System. All of our diagnostic tools require updates every year and licensing. That's where that cost comes from. I'm happy to answer any questions you have on the changes in the Fleet Department. Chairman Dowd I would imagine that a wash bay is high on your list of nice things to have because as you said, the salt corrodes the Budget Review Committee – 05/11/2026 Page 4 vehicles, the vehicles have to replace sooner, and that's a huge expense to the City. Questions? Alderman Thibeault? Alderman Thibeault Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can you just explain to everybody what - wow, it's louder - can you just explain to everybody what the chargeback means please? Because you said it was on everybody - everybody had that line item. So might as well just explain what it is. Michael Rush, Superintendent of Fleet Oh the year end payroll partial .. Alderman Thibeault Yeah. Michael Rush, Superintendent of Fleet .. charge back? Alderman Thibeault Yeah. Carolyn O’Connor, Assistant Director DPW Finance & Admin. Would you like me to take this? Michael Rush, Superintendent of Fleet Please. I’ll defer to Carolyn O’Connor. Carolyn O’Connor, Assistant Director DPW Finance & Admin. Carolyn O'Connor, Assistant Director of Finance. It's a different procedure that the City is now using. In the past, Financial Services didn't have us budget that in. It's taking into account to budget for the carryover when we have so many days in the new fiscal year and in the previous fiscal year that we worked. So it's to budget that in so that we'll charge that back. Alderman Thibeault Okay. Great. Thank you. Chairman Dowd Any other questions? For Fleet? No? Alright, thank you. We'll move on to Parks. That's Department 177, Revenues on 195, Appropriations on 195. PARKS Lisa Fauteux, Public Works Director Beginning with vacancies, we have an Equipment Operator and the Stellos Stadium Attendant. Both positions have been - the Stellos Stadium Attendant has only been vacant for about a month and the Equipment Operator's been vacant for 3 weeks. So we do expect to fill those positions pretty quickly. Bryan Conant, Superintendent of Parks Yes, we do. Superintendent of the Parks Department Bryan Conant. Just some highlights that we'd like to bring up. Rotary Pool - we're looking to reconstruct this year. We've actually gone under contract with H and L Turner to come up with some bid specs. Budget Review Committee – 05/11/2026 Page 5 Holman Stadium Updates and Repairs. Some have happened already. There's new lights over there, a new fire suppression system as well, and we've gone under contract with Wright Pierce to come up with some bid specs to do some more structural repair. We're looking to do some upgrades to Los Amigos Park, put in a splash pad at Jeff Morin Park, and rehab the Greeley Park wading pool which just went out to bid. We're also looking to renovate Labine Softball Field. I'd like to go over some of the budget requests. Right now, they're on page 197. You can see Full Time Wages - we're asking for an increase there. This is to account for three additional Groundsmen I positions. Two of which will be funded through the General Fund. One will be funded through the TIF. Lisa Fauteux, Public Works Director Just one correction. That's 2 positions in the General Fund, only one in the TIF. Bryan Conant, Superintendent of Parks Excuse me. We're looking to increase overtime by a little over $19,000 to accommodate for those three extra positions. Wages. Temporary wages have gone up. Last year we could offer $17 an hour. With this increase, we're offering a pay scale of $17 to $20. Fringe Benefits are contractual. Pool Repairs and Maintenance. We're looking to increase by $15,000. This is to - just this past year, we had the pump at Crown Hill and the splash pad go down. The pump at Crown Hill cost us a little over $12,000. These things are expensive. We have three City pools, the wading pool, and a splash pad. Building Grounds and Maintenance. We're looking for an additional $25,000. This is really to cover light repairs to the current lighting infrastructure that we have. That's why I'm asking for that increase. Vehicle Repairs and Maintenance is being moved over from Account 61799. So it's all going to be one. We're looking for an increase in Conference and Seminars of $1,500. That's to allow myself and the staff to go to educational seminars whether it's just continuing ed or pesticide credits as well. We have those licenses in house. Pool Supplies. We're looking for an increase of $10,000. We use this line item to buy different materials to make sure our water quality is where it needs to be to make sure the pools are operating and functioning. We're asking for an increase in our tire line as well for $4,000. That is just really to cover the increase in cost of materials and I'd be happy to answer any questions on these budget proposals. Alderman Thibeault Thank you, Mr. Chair. So when I saw pool supplies, I was thinking to like floaties and like noodles and stuff. Good to know that that's not what that is. But my question – so, myself, Alderman Gouveia, and Director Fauteux, and Ms. Myers, and even yourself Superintendent Conant - we worked last year to change the pricing of the fields as far as like how much. Is that under Parks? Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator It's under Recreation and Parks .. Alderman Thibeault Under Recreation? Okay. I’ll get back to that question. Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator And we have made those changes. Alderman Thibeault Budget Review Committee – 05/11/2026 Page 6 Okay. I was just curious. I'll be curious like if we - have we made money on that? So I'll get back to that when we get to Recreation but yep I'm good, but thank you. Bryan Conant, Superintendent of Parks Thank you. Alderwoman Kelly Thank you. So I heard you were requesting three new Groundsmen and it's kind of a weird dual question but I also noticed that you list that you do some of the plowing. So like some lives with Streets, and some will live with you guys, and then with the grounds. What would the Groundsmen be doing? Are they doing some of that as well? Bryan Conant, Superintendent of Parks Groundmen I, that's entry level in Parks Department. It's very labor-intensive role. We need that. To be perfectly honest with you, we need more of a labor force. But to answer your question what else does the Parks Department do? We're responsible for eight inner city plow routes during the winter. We also plow snow at 13 elementary schools. Alderwoman Kelly So does the rest of the Department pick up the other? Lisa Fauteux, Public Works Director The Street Department, Solid Waste, and others. Some from Wastewater do the rest of the City. Alderwoman Kelly Okay, yeah. That's it for now. I’m good. Chairman Dowd Any other questions? Seeing none. Thank you. Bryan Conant, Superintendent of Parks Thank you. Chairman Dowd So the Rotary pool’s the one you're going to be completely re-doing this year? Bryan Conant, Superintendent of Parks Yes, Alderman Dowd. Chairman Dowd Yeah, alright. That’s good. Okay, next is Recreation Department 178, Revenues on page 199, Appropriations on page 200. RECREATION DEPARTMENT Lisa Fauteux, Public Works Director And we have no vacancies in Recreation, so we'll turn it over to Lauren Byers. Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator Budget Review Committee – 05/11/2026 Page 7 Lauren Byers, Communication and Recreation Administrator. We're going to start with our highlights, which we are elevating and we'll continue to elevate our Summer Fun offerings which is more important now with the cost of everything. We find our events are drawing larger and larger crowds every year. We want to look at multi- day trips for our community because other communities around us have been very successful and we thought that might be something fun for our residents to get involved in. We would like to do more senior programming and we're going to hopefully start working more closely with the Senior Center to see where there are gaps in the community where we can fill that for our seniors. We do operate three City pools every summer and that is a project and we're currently hiring. So if anybody knows of anybody, we would appreciate them sending them our way but it's a big operation and our kids do a great job every year. Biddy Basketball. We are the biggest program in the State. We have 800 to 1,000 kids that play in our league every year. Then our Program and Permitting for City fields and public places. We just made a change to that as Alderman Thibeault pointed out. We are more rightly charging for our field use now. They are heavily utilized. Most are used seven days a week in season which runs from May through October. It's very difficult to maintain at that level of use and these fees will start permitting us to put a little more money back into those fields for our residents and those that lease to use them. Alright. Alderwoman Kelly Thank you. I have lots of questions but nothing that's pertaining to the budget. I want to know how old you have to be to work at the pools. Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator You have to be - well the older the better to work at the pools but minimum of 16. Alderwoman Kelly Okay, not Elsa yet. Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator Close. Alderwoman Kelly So you said that we raised the fees and I remember we had a long discussion about this but you’re level funding the revenue on that. Is that because you think we raise them but people will use them less or you just didn't account for it? Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator No. Do you want me to answer this? Lisa Fauteux, Public Works Director Yeah. Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator Yeah, so we - I don't know – I didn’t - its level funded but it's - we will be raising more money. We are bringing in substantially more money. Alderwoman Kelly Can I get an actual from like where you are - maybe by the end of the season? Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator Yeah, I can. Budget Review Committee – 05/11/2026 Page 8 Alderwoman Kelly Thank you. Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator I can do that. Alderwoman Kelly I’m good. Chairman Dowd Okay. Is that an action item that you asked for? Alderwoman Kelly Yes, I asked if I can get an actuals. Chairman Dowd Just make sure it’s on minutes. Alderwoman Kelly Sure. Action item is to get the actuals maybe by the end of the budget season because I bet .. Chairman Dowd I’m trying to work with Donna to ensure that anytime anybody asks for .. Alderwoman Kelly I appreciate that. Chairman Dowd .. anything that we get it as an action item and it gets answered. Alderwoman Kelly Absolutely, love that. Alderman Thibeault Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I'm going to bring this up because we've talked about it privately. So Babe Ruth Baseball is one of the programs the City has had for 60 years whatever - 70 years - 50 years, something like that. Before I was born and it looks - and maybe before Alderman Dowd was born but you guys are looking to maybe either move that to more of a private program like the Cal Ripken, Little League, or just do away with it altogether. So is that not in the budget at all this year or is it still going to be planned in the budget for where .. Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator So that’s funded out of our Recreation supply line. Alderman Thibeault Okay. Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator Budget Review Committee – 05/11/2026 Page 9 So, that is the money is there. Alderman Thibeault Oh, so it's still there even though we may not have it in next Spring? Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator Correct. So with the prices going up on everything that we purchase - for example, basketballs I think were $3,000 more dollars this year for our Biddy Program. So it will certainly be utilized if the program's not there but the money is there for the program. Alderman Thibeault Okay and is that going to be done in the Fall still this year or is it done or are you trying to move it before then? Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator The Cal Ripken and Little League groups are – Little League already has a junior level team and actually Babe Ruth and Cal Ripken are the same organization. Alderman Thibeault Right, correct. Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator So Cal Ripken has been trying to expand under their umbrella. So what we determined was the youth - the kids that use this would have the same opportunities they have now with more involvement as far as players so it would be a better pool of people playing more people and the price would be about the same. So they'd be getting a higher quality product for the same amount of money and nobody would be cut. Alderman Thibeault How much money would we save on not having that program? I know we charge only $20 .. Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator Yeah. Alderman Thibeault …per kid but we obviously we buy the supplies. Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator We do. Alderman Thibeault Do we break even on that or? Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator No. Alderman Thibeault Okay. Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator Budget Review Committee – 05/11/2026 Page 10 No, we do not break even on that. Alderman Thibeault So I guess how much money would we save by no longer having that twice a year? Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator I don't know off the top of my head. I could look .. Alderman Thibeault Okay. Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator .. into that for you if you'd like me to do that? Alderman Thibeault Yeah, I'd be curious. I mean it's obviously it's not $100 grand .. Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator No, no. Alderman Thibeault But it's probably not $500 either. It’s probably .. Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator It’s more than $500 .. Alderman Thibeault Okay. Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator .. but less than $100,000. Alderman Thibeault Yeah, that would be nice to know that because I mean that's something that we could carve out of the budget next year I would assume, right, or unless we're .. Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator No. Alderman Thibeault .. putting it towards something else? Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator Yes. Alderman Thibeault Oh, okay. Budget Review Committee – 05/11/2026 Page 11 Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator Well so what I would like to say to that is our Babe Ruth Softball Program is expanding - greatly expanding. Alderman Thibeault Okay. Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator So that money could very well rightly be utilized to continue that expansion because it's very, very popular right now. Alderman Thibeault Okay, so moving out of baseball .. Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator And that's a wonderful thing. Alderman Thibeault .. but into softball. Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator Right. So we would twilight the baseball and let it go to the groups that can carry it and do a better job than we can and then in doing so, we can now fund the softball program to where it should be for the girls. Alderman Thibeault Okay. Thank you. Alderman Sennott Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just wanted to circle back to the field fees for a moment. Depending on the day and how you want to look at it, I've been blessed and cursed with a lot of friends who are involved in the adult softball pickup leagues who also know about this fun little second job that I have. So probably after leaving your office and screaming at you, they came and screamed at me about the increase in field fees. I know a lot of them have been frequent flyers for many, many years. So I was just wondering after they get it all out of their system do you find that a lot of our frequent year over year users are coming back anyway? Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator Yes. Alderman Sennott Okay, good. Alderwoman Kelly I just had one follow-up. You mentioned Summer Fun which is one of my favorite things that we do in the City and that you want to expand it and I get that. I think a lot of things are budgets are tighter than ever so things that are reasonable and in your City are huge. But I did notice that you made that comment that it's level funded. So are you going to be able to make changes or you're just talking about changes as more of like a brainstorm? Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator We are very good at stretching a dollar. So we buy in bulk. We think way, way ahead of time - months and months and months in advance. So we get really good deals on what we offer and we do a lot in house. We work at the Parks Department so we do a lot of things together so we don't have to pay for them. So we can still expand, you know, we Budget Review Committee – 05/11/2026 Page 12 manage. You'll hear from me though if it changes. Alderwoman Kelly Sounds great, thank you. Chairman Dowd Just for the transcriptionist when you answer a question, please give your name again because they're not going to know who's talking. Any other questions on Recreation? Seeing none, we'll move on to Solid Waste Department 168, Revenues on 202, Appropriations on 203. Lisa Fauteux, Public Works Director Alderman Dowd, I did want to just point out that we didn't go through the Recreation Budget. If everybody is comfortable with us. It's a fairly small budget but we're happy to go through it if you'd like us to. Alderman Sennott We did just kind of jump on .. Lisa Fauteux, Public Works Director Or we could just – or we can move forward. Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator That’s alright. Lisa Fauteux, Public Works Director Or we can move forward. Alderman Thibeault We should probably go over it. Chairman Dowd Yeah, let's just go over it. Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator You want me to go real quick? Chairman Dowd Quickly, yup. Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator Lauren Byers, Communication and Recreation. Full-Time Wages are mostly contractual. We are adding a Superintendent of Recreation. Over time, we added a little bit more money to our overtime because most of our events are at night or on the weekends as you can imagine with recreation. So we just need to make sure that we can staff them appropriately. Temporary and Seasonal Wages. A very small increase as well. We're going to be offering a stipend to our lifeguards to encourage them to work weekends this year. So just a little bit more money to go a long way there. Again, we're back to that charge back line, which I'd rather not talk about. It has to do with the transition of the Fiscal Budget Review Committee – 05/11/2026 Page 13 Year. Fringe Benefits – contractual. Conference and Seminars. All three of us in the Department, we belong to the New Hampshire Park and Recreation Association. The costs go up a little bit each year and we also like to send two people to the conference. A little bit of money there. Employee Training and Certification. That is for our lifeguards. So we must register them with the Red Cross and they do slightly increase those fees each year. So we're just looking for a small increase there - $125. And then Other Contracted Services. Our events have gotten so big that we do need police details at all of them now and those costs have gone up as well. So we just needed to add a little bit of money there so that we can - for safety reasons for our events. Alderman Thibeault Thank you, Mr. Chair. So have we had a Superintendent of Recreation before? Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator That's me. Alderman Thibeault Okay. So it's .. Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator I do two jobs. So I do the communication for the Division and they didn't call me Superintendent but I've been doing that job for four years. Alderman Thibeault So if you hire a Superintendent of Recreation then you go back to doing…? Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator Just Communications. Alderman Thibeault Just communications. Okay. Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator That was at my request. Yeah. Alderman Thibeault Okay. Thank you. Chairman Dowd Other questions? No? Alright, now we’ll move on to Solid Waste. SOLID WASTE DEPARTMENT Lisa Fauteux, Public Works Director In terms of vacancies, we have one equipment operator at Solid Waste. That person works in the landfill and that has been vacant for five months and is something that's needed to stay within our compliance with our permit. So hopefully we'll find somebody in the near future and with that, I'll turn it over to Superintendent LaFleur. Jeffrey LaFleur, Superintendent of Solid Waste Jeff LaFleur, Superintendent of Solid Waste. Some of the highlights of our position at the Public Works there is Phase IV Budget Review Committee – 05/11/2026 Page 14 Landfill opening. We'll be opening that this year. Finally. It was a seven year project for me and we're actually going to get to open it and put some trash in our new landfill. Also going on is some construction of the setback barrier wall. That's the barrier wall between the residents of Nashua. We have to have a 500 foot setback before we can place any trash and as you guys all know, I have a lot of residents real close to me. So we have to continue building this wall per DES permitting. Landfill Gas Collection. We do that every year. That's to catch any of the emitted odors out in the landfill and we have to meet that with our Title V Air Permitting. Trash Recycling, Soft Yard Waste Pickup. That's what we do. That's why we're here and the Recycling Center Operation - same thing. The residents come in, they drop their stuff off for us. Solid Waste Adjustments, Full-Time Wages. I'm requesting a half a salary for a new Solid Waste Technician. That's the guy that goes out and tunes our wells every year. He's actually told me 6 to 8 months in advance that he's going to be retiring this year. This is a very specialized position that I need someone that knows how to tune wells properly, help with our emissions out there, and actually know how to raise wells, and place wells out in the landfill. He does all of our inspections at all our closed landfills also. So the replacement will be doing some training. Right now, I'm just requesting for a half increase on that. Overtime Wages. That's contractual. That's just our normal whatever we usually pay going out. Wages and Temporary Seasonal Help. A lot like what Mr. Conant said, we have a scale to entice temps to come in and work for us during the year. I’m actually a little bit more because they do a lot of physical labor on the back of the trucks. I'm ranging from $20 to $22 an hour. I don't start everyone at $20. Their first year, they come in at $20 an hour. If they do well, I'll raise them up the following or subsequent years. Fringe Benefits. That's contractual also. Architect and Engineering Services went up. I’m requesting $60,000. I have a lot of permits, a lot of groundwater monitoring, and DES is changing the rules it seems like daily for me so I'm had having to do a lot more outside engineering services to do these reporting for me. Vehicle Repairs and Maintenance. That's a small increase per Fleet guidance - you know, parts and stuff like that. Like all the other departments have been requesting. The new DES Disposal Fee. I came in a few months ago requesting $280,000 for this. This is our $3.50 per ton charge that DES is making us budget for. I budgeted it and hopefully I'll get most of that back but you know, we have to charge like the commercial contractors that are coming in. Tires - same thing. Purchasing guidelines from our Fleet guy. He's telling us that we can see an increase in that. Principal and Interest. Those are the normal ones. Capital Improvements - $1.25 million. No I'm sorry, it's $2 million but $1.25 increase. I have to do gas expansions every year so I budget about $500,000 for that. My other project this coming season is the new access road up to Phase IV Landfill. It'll give us a quicker emergency response if there's ever a landfill fire out there. That'll also go up over our closed MSW landfill so I have to have that engineered properly and get DES blessing to go up over our landfill. Yeah, I could answer any questions. Alderwoman Kelly Oh, thank you. Were you done? I didn’t mean to .. Jeffrey LaFleur, Superintendent of Solid Waste Yeah, no, it’s fine. Alderwoman Kelly .. you did the drop off. Lots of little questions but I'll start with the big one. I had the humbling experience of going to a landfill up north that is about to close. I know we talk about our phases and I'm sure you talked about it but can you remind me of how far we are from like we will no longer have space? Budget Review Committee – 05/11/2026 Page 15 Jeffrey LaFleur, Superintendent of Solid Waste With the opening of our Phase IV Landfill - oh, sorry. Jeff LaFleur, Superintendent of Solid Waste. With the opening of our new Phase IV Landfill, we have about 40 plus years of air space. Alderwoman Kelly And is there any additional expansion or that's it? Jeffrey LaFleur, Superintendent of Solid Waste As far as right now, that'll be it but there's potentials that we could try to go in other sections of the landfill but that's not something that I want to tackle. This one took me 7 years. Alderwoman Kelly Sorry .. Jeffrey LaFleur, Superintendent of Solid Waste ..Took 7 years of my life away. Alderwoman Kelly .. I'm lying asleep at night thinking about it. Jeffrey LaFleur, Superintendent of Solid Waste But right now, that's going to be pretty much the full area. We're actually going to be filling in between the two valleys. So there isn't much more as I said earlier, there's residents all around us so we’re looking at .. Alderwoman Kelly We're only getting bigger. Jeffrey LaFleur, Superintendent of Solid Waste Yeah, exactly. Alderwoman Kelly Okay, so within - that's interesting. I'll shift to something a little bit different if I could? Chairman Dowd Follow up. Alderwoman Kelly Under your performance measures, you are showing your trash per tons and I actually appreciated the trend here that we went from like 51,000 almost 52,000 tons down to like 35. I know that's an actual but do you want to talk to that trend? Is that some of the things that we tackled by trying to get construction waste not to come in? Jeffrey LaFleur, Superintendent of Solid Waste That's exactly what that is. When we increased the cost of per ton by for C and D, we dropped off a lot. A lot of big contractors are going elsewhere where they can do it cheaper which is helping us out greatly. Alderwoman Kelly Budget Review Committee – 05/11/2026 Page 16 Okay, that's great. One more follow-up if I could? Chairman Dowd Follow up. Alderwoman Kelly You mentioned that disposal fee which was tied to that as well and that you're being charged for 3.5 per ton. Are we confident we'll be covering that with the increase in fees when people do dispose that waste? Jeffrey LaFleur, Superintendent of Solid Waste Jeff LaFleur, Superintendent, Solid Waste. Yes, I did a calculation. We usually use about 80,000 tons a year for our capacity analysis in the landfill. So I just multiplied the $3.50 x that 80,000 tons. So I'm very confident. We rarely reach the 80,000 tons but that's a capacity analysis that we use and we feel confident that we won't reach over that. Alderwoman Kelly Okay, I'm good for now. Thank you. Alderman Sennott Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I had a revenue related question and I apologize if maybe you mentioned this or I've just spaced it from previous budget years but the stickers that you sell for the landfill is that a revenue item for you or no? He's laughing so I’m guessing no. Jeffrey LaFleur, Superintendent of Solid Waste Jeff LaFleur, Superintendent of Solid Waste. It’s $5 a permit and we sell about 14,000 of them. So it's $75,000 right around there. Yes it's a revenue but the residents can come in and bring anything they want in there. Alderman Sennott Sure. Jeffrey LaFleur, Superintendent of Solid Waste So it's a very good price for $5 a ton. Alderman Sennott I guess as a follow-up. Chairman Dowd Follow up. Alderman Sennott Where is that captured on the revenue lines? Jeffrey LaFleur, Superintendent of Solid Waste I believe that's our General Fund, right? It just goes into our General Fund. Alderwoman Kelly There’s one that says refuse disposal – no that’s not it. Budget Review Committee – 05/11/2026 Page 17 Alderman Sennott What’s…? Alderwoman Kelly That’s not it. I thought I found it. Alderman Sennott Okay. Alderwoman Kelly I would ..(inaudible) but I didn’t know so. Chairman Dowd Other questions? Alderwoman Kelly At the concern of going down a rabbit hole, I know the price for recyclables was a conversation we've had the last couple of years. I see in your revenues that you have level funded that at $220,000 in terms of sale of recyclables. How are we doing there and is that pretty accurate? Jeffrey LaFleur, Superintendent of Solid Waste That's the cost that we receive for selling our totters - our recycling totters. Alderwoman Kelly Oh. That's not the cost of recycling to us? Jeffrey LaFleur, Superintendent of Solid Waste No. The cost of recycling is actually a charge to us. That’s under .. Alderwoman Kelly Right and that’s been trending .. Jeffrey LaFleur, Superintendent of Solid Waste Yeah. Alderwoman Kelly .. that way. Jeffrey LaFleur, Superintendent of Solid Waste It’s been trending very high. Sorry. Jeff LaFleur, Superintendent Solid Waste. I kept talking. That's actually very high. We offset it with us taking in glass from Casella. So its level funded but if the glass ever kind of goes away, the funding that I budget for will be very tight. If you remember one year I came back and had to ask for some supplemental funding for recycling. We're doing all right this year. We're very close but that's with the addition of us taking in some glass from Casella, which I can use for daily cover which was approved by DES. Alderwoman Kelly Thank you for that. I would love as a follow-up item if you could just let me know where you're at with cost of recyclables. Budget Review Committee – 05/11/2026 Page 18 Jeffrey LaFleur, Superintendent of Solid Waste As far as ton? Alderwoman Kelly Yeah. Jeffrey LaFleur, Superintendent of Solid Waste Jeff LaFleur, Superintendent Solid Waste. Right now we're around $100 a ton. Alderwoman Kelly Ooof, okay. Jeffrey LaFleur, Superintendent of Solid Waste Yeah, it's expensive. Alderwoman Kelly All right. Thank you. Alderman Johnson Thank you. What would you say the percentage of the community is in the recycling? Jeffrey LaFleur, Superintendent of Solid Waste As far as the total residents or the residents that we collect? Alderman Johnson The residents that you collect. Jeffrey LaFleur, Superintendent of Solid Waste The residents that we collect, I would say we're close to 80 to 90% of people doing some recycling out there. Alderman Johnson May I continue? Chairman Dowd Follow up. Alderman Johnson Yeah, because I was on the Board when we put in the one arm bandit. I voted for that and then we started the recycling program with the totters and everything. First we started with the little bins and then we added the bigger totters - is it totter, whatever. Lisa Fauteux, Public Works Director Yes. Alderman Johnson The bins. So we did that whole thing and everybody was getting upset with us because we were taking manpower away but we really weren't because we were having a lot of problems with people getting injured. So we did that to prevent that Budget Review Committee – 05/11/2026 Page 19 and I think the program worked pretty well over all these years, except I feel bad for the guys on the back of the truck that have to every stop get off to dump the recycle bins where you don't have the truck that pick up the big bins with the one arm bandit. Jeffrey LaFleur, Superintendent of Solid Waste So are you asking how many of the totters are out there or recycling in general? Alderman Johnson Recycling in general. Jeffrey LaFleur, Superintendent of Solid Waste Then we're at the 85 to 90%. If you were asking about totters, we're probably about 50% maybe 60%. Alderman Johnson Okay. So we have an idea to see which way the community is basically going. I know I have a lot of recycles that go out every two weeks. Thank you. Chairman Dowd So current world events I'm reading lately increase the revenues from plastics being recycled. Have you seen anything there? Is it trending or is it strictly because of the conflict? Jeffrey LaFleur, Superintendent of Solid Waste I prefer not to comment on it. No – I. We do single stream recycling so it goes to a murph and they're the ones that do the sales and everything. Yes we get a percentage, you know. They kind of - the way we go out to contract is if they make enough money, they give us some back so it fluctuates. Right now, we're not seeing any real gain from the recycling at $100 a ton. At one point, we were making money on it so you can kind of do the math that way that we're paying quite a bit. Chairman Dowd Any other questions? Alderman Sennott Yeah, I was just going to cycle back. I saw Director Fauteux out flipping papers. Wondering if you had found where that 75-ish is captured? Carolyn O’Connor, Assistant Director DPW Finance & Admin. Yeah, sorry. It's so simple but I couldn't remember exact wording. Refuse Disposal Fees. Alderman Sennott Oh, okay. Carolyn O’Connor, Assistant Director DPW Finance & Admin. Yeah, so it's just in that larger number. Alderman Sennott Alright, perfect. Thank you so much. Chairman Dowd Do we know whether that covers the cost of the stickers and the manpower issues that – just curious. Anyway, any other Budget Review Committee – 05/11/2026 Page 20 questions? None. Then we'll go on to Wastewater Department 169, Revenues on 207, Appropriations on 208. WASTEWATER Lisa Fauteux, Public Works Director Lisa Fauteux, Director of Public Works. We'll start with vacancies. Wastewater has actually quite a few vacancies. It's very difficult to find folks to work in this field. I will say that all of these positions are required by our permit. They're actually listed in our permit so these are not positions that we could leave unfunded. We have an Analytical Chemist that has been vacant for two months. In fact, I think we have a potential candidate for that position. We have three Collection System Operator positions that have been vacant. We're actually talking about maybe doing something a little bit different with that group just because it's been a real struggle to fill those positions. We have a Wastewater Operator on 2nd shift that's been vacant for three months - not that long, and a Mechanic 1st Class that's been vacant for about 10 months, and an Industrial Pretreatment Coordinator that's been vacant for a very long time - over a year. We have quite a few vacancies so if you know anybody that wants to work in the wastewater field, we'd love to talk to them. It's a great field but unfortunately, we do have a lot of vacancies. With that, I'll turn it over to Superintendent Boucher. David Boucher, Superintendent of Wastewater Thank you, Director. David Boucher, Superintendent of Wastewater. I'll go over the highlights. The Phase I facility upgrades. This is a series of projects around the wastewater facility to maintain, upgrade, and replace some equipment that is due for replacement due to age. It's upgrades to our pump station, septage receiving facility, replacing large valves, and gates throughout the facility. Also working on some drainage issues that we have in our lower half of our facility. The loading dock and tank coating project. We have a loading dock. We have some concrete tanks around the loading dock that have lost their concrete surface material, so that material would be broken off, resurfaced, and then recoated. The loading dock itself has some metal structures that would be sandblasted and coated. The Class A Biosolids Upgrade. This is further drying of our existing bio solids. It's the sludge that is removed from the wastewater and treated at the wastewater facility. We're looking at drying it further to explore more disposal options. With the regulations that the EPA has put on, it's getting harder to dispose of the product. Currently, we land apply it on farmlands throughout New Hampshire. The regulations - it's harder to get permitted lands to discharge on to so we're looking at further drying it with the type of equipment we’d use or amend the product to get it dryer. That would open up the applying it somewhere else but we’re looking at that. Then I can go on to our Appropriations which starts on page 210. The Full Time Wages, Overtime, Longevity, and Fringe Benefits. The first four, those have increased due to contractual obligations. I have the Architects and Engineers Services. I’ve got an increase there. We just received our new discharge permit so we can discharge in to the Merrimack with that. There are some new requirements that the EPA requires us to do some studies, additional samplings. So we need assistance from engineering services to help us with that. The Water. There’s an increase in that - the usage. This is due to historical usage. We saw an uptick in our usage within the facility. Disposal Services. This is the cost to dispose of the biosolids at the wastewater plant. We’ve got an increase there. Vehicle Repairs and Maintenance. There's an increase there due to part cost increase. Then the Telephone Voice and Telephone Cellular. We have a slight decrease there. Mostly due we had an upgrade in all our pump stations over the last several years and with that, we converted everything to fiber optic. The Postage and Delivery. We have an increase there. That was due to historical usage. This line is mostly for mailing out our sewer bills. Laboratory Supplies. There’s an increase there. Increasing because of our new permit requiring us to do additional samplings. Same with Miscellaneous Supplies, we have to purchase additional equipment for the lab to do these additional testings. The Principal and Interest. This is for the debt obligations on past capital projects and capital improvements. This is for our future capital projects which are all found on page 212. Be happy to answer any questions. Budget Review Committee – 05/11/2026 Page 21 Alderman Thibeault I got a couple questions. Thank you, Mr. Chair. First off, I just want to thank everybody for coming in tonight. I appreciate you guys going over this and answering our questions. First thing, can you remind everybody what towns and cities, other communities that the Wastewater Department - I guess, supports? David Boucher, Superintendent of Wastewater Yes. So we receive all of Nashua's wastewater and we receive the Town of Hudson's wastewater through a municipal agreement. A portion of Merrimack down off of Amherst Street - the Pennichuck Square area, and part of Tyngsborough but it's only where the mall is. Alderman Thibeault Okay. David Boucher, Superintendent of Wastewater A small area there. Chairman Dowd Follow up. Alderman Thibeault Thank you. Can you just explain a little bit about what capital improvements you're planning for this year coming up, please? David Boucher, Superintendent of Wastewater Yes. So some of the capital projects are overseen by the Engineering Department and that's maintaining the collection system whether it's redoing piping, lining piping in the roads, replacing the damaged infrastructure as a catch basin grates, manhole grates. In the facility, we have some projects that are coming up. Let me put on my glasses here. I have a Sludge Storage Tank Project which is a part of the process of the wastewater facility. They are holding tanks for the sludge before it is processed that has aerators and equipment in there that has to be replaced. We have the Phase I upgrade which is a series of projects through there. A SCADA upgrade. The SCADA system is the program we use to manage all of our equipment, control our open and close valves, start and stop equipment, and our operators to see all the equipment to make sure it's running. We have the - let's see, secondary clarifier upgrades. We have the infrastructure in our holding tanks. They're settling tanks - huge settling tanks. So some of that infrastructure steel has to be sandblasted, recoated, and some of the concrete inside the tanks has to be redone and coated, and we have the exterior dock project as well. Alderman Thibeault Follow up? Chairman Dowd Follow up. Alderman Thibeault Thank you, Mr. Chair. This could go to either you Superintendent Boucher or Mr. Hudson over there. So I know that over the years we've been replacing some of the piping that was from the 1800s. How much do we think we have left that really that needs to be updated to modern times? Dan Hudson, City Engineer Budget Review Committee – 05/11/2026 Page 22 City Engineer Dan Hudson. Well that's a good question. I mean I think we've been through about a third of the system. We need to continue to look and see. We started with the worst stuff, the oldest stuff so as we progress further and further, the amount of repairs we see should be getting less. However, we're still seeing that what we inspect, we need to line about a third of what we inspect. So there's still a significant amount of work. I mean it is paying benefits. Dave’s seeing less flow at the treatment plant. So certainly, we're sealing up pipes, keeping out some groundwater, and it's having a positive effect in terms of the amount that comes into the plant to be treated. Again, we're avoiding potential catastrophic issues later with collapses by catching them and lining them. So I think the program still has value and we're proposing to continue on at kind of current rate for now. Alderman Thibeault Okay, awesome. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Alderwoman Kelly Couple of questions. Thank you. Can you go back a page for me? It's just a little one but it perked my interest. You said the Postage and Delivery has been underfunded historically but it's how you send the bills. So has it always been $50,000 a year but we just weren't always keeping up or are more people getting paper bills? David Boucher, Superintendent of Wastewater Oh, thank you. Dave Boucher, Water Superintendent. There is an increase in cost and postage however, there was an oversight from last year. So we're catching up on that. Alderwoman Kelly Okay, great. David Boucher, Superintendent of Wastewater We’re just trying to align ourselves with the historical usage. Alderwoman Kelly Do we ever incentivize the paperless bills? David Boucher, Superintendent of Wastewater Well that's done out of the Billing Department so I’ll let the Director talk to that. Alderwoman Kelly Just saying. Chairman Dowd Ms. Enwright? Dawn Enwright, CFO CFO Enwright. We'll be talking about that on Thursday's meeting when we talk about the Finance Department. Alderwoman Kelly Okay, perfect. Thank you. Alderman Thibeault A teaser. Alderwoman Kelly Budget Review Committee – 05/11/2026 Page 23 And then this is just more .. Chairman Dowd Yes, follow up? Alderwoman Kelly Thank you – sorry. Just more of a clarification for people who are listening. Your capital improvement projects are out of the Wastewater Treatment Fund on page 19, correct? It's not out of our CERF or any of the capital improvements that we talk about as Aldermen, correct? David Boucher, Superintendent of Wastewater Capital? I'm sorry, I didn't? Alderwoman Kelly Your Capital Improvements are funded by your Wastewater .. David Boucher, Superintendent of Wastewater That is correct. Alderwoman Kelly .. Treatment Fund, correct? David Boucher, Superintendent of Wastewater Yes, that is correct. Chairman Dowd Enterprise Fund. David Boucher, Superintendent of Wastewater Thank you. Alderwoman Kelly Didn’t want people to get confused. That’s all. Thank you. Chairman Dowd Any other questions? One thing I wanted to point out is when we acquired the property of Burke Street, one of the items involved was getting a piece of land for the wastewater expansion and of course when we sold it and we did make a profit on Burke Street, it didn't include that piece of land because we kept it for the wastewater. Have you utilized any of that land yet or is there an anticipation of using that piece of property? David Boucher, Superintendent of Wastewater Currently, no we're not using that property but it is there in case we do need it for expansion. Chairman Dowd Okay because we had no other place to expand in any other direction. David Boucher, Superintendent of Wastewater Budget Review Committee – 05/11/2026 Page 24 Correct. Chairman Dowd If there are no other questions. Director Fauteux thank you very much for coming in and explaining your budget. Lisa Fauteux, Public Works Director Thank you for having us. MOTION BY ALDERMAN THIBEAULT TO TABLE R-26-028 MOTION CARRIED PUBLIC COMMENT Bill Ferriero My name is Bill Ferriero. My home is 35 Indian Rock Road. I wanted to talk about the budget, the design of the new garage - the $3 million bond that was approved some number of weeks ago. So there was a memo from Mr. Cummings to the Aldermen that showed the basis for $3 million and there's like this 1, 2, 3 - there's like 6 items on his little list here that adds up to $3 million. So the first one is on the top - very first one. HKT Architects - $650,000 - 650000 - $650,000 for the architects. Okay, good. This is the contract and the proposal from HKT Architects to the City. This is $550,427 - $550,427. $650,000 in the bond – 550, 650. So the bond is inflated by about $100,000 beyond the architect's proposal. So how is that possible? Well, maybe the architect has some additional scope as part of this design that's gonna - beyond that 550 - that's going to come close to 650 – 655 here. So how to figure that out? So I chose to ask the Director if that was the case because the proposal from HKT had her name on it. She was the addressee so she has a lot of insight into this. She knows what’s going on. So I asked is there additional scope beyond the 550? Why is the bond 650 and she said no Bill. You're wrong. There is no additional scope. This is the only scope that this architect has is 550 - $550,426. Why would you approve this? Why would you allow the City to be able to borrow $100,000 more than the architect asked for? Why would you do that? I understand this is not a question and answer type thing but maybe one of the Alderman will step up and talk about why they approved that. I’ll just do something quick. The presentations tonight you all did very well but… Alderman Thibeault 30 seconds. Bill Ferriero …there's way too much emphasis on comparing your proposed budget to your previous budget. Nobody should be emphasizing that. What you should be emphasizing is what your proposed budget is compared to your actuals. Your actuals for this year and if you say well I don't know my actuals yet, it's only middle of May. You do. You can estimate your actuals very easily. You can do that because you do the same stuff every year. You know very well what your actuals are. That should be what your emphasis is. Thanks for letting me talk. Chairman Dowd Anyone else for public comment? Laurie Ortolano Laurie Ortolano. I just want to piggyback off of what was said. I wasn't going to speak but, you know, it seems to me when we bond things we often add additional money and I saw that on Mulberry Street. I think the Board needs to pay more attention to the reasons that additional money is added. I mean Mulberry Street we inflated - we went ahead and made a higher offer because we wanted the property and it turns out when the whole thing went belly up, there were no other offers. Nobody was sitting in the sidelines waiting to buy that property because it's something I checked on. So maybe going into a blighted area and making a bigger offer was not a good idea but then on top of it, we moved it from the $750 to a $900,000 bond to have extra money to do stuff but then we were going to bond another $4.5 million to do all Budget Review Committee – 05/11/2026 Page 25 this renovation work. I think there's a tendency to inflate these bonds and not enough care is given to what's going into that inflation. So I'm just going to say to everyone I think you should look at that more closely. Thank you. Chairman Dowd Anyone else for public comment? Seeing none. GENERAL DISCUSSION Alderman Thibeault Thank you, Mr. Chair. I mean I just want to say that if we don't need the bond, we don't sell the rest of the bond. That's usually how it works. So I mean, you know, that's how I look at that piece. Then as far as the actuals, we all got the actuals here up until march 31st. So we can do the math ourselves to figure out. I mean we've been asking questions in the last meeting we had with whoever was here – Education - we were looking at the actuals and we could tell if 75% been used, that's probably pretty close to what's going to be used. If only 20% has been used, then we ask those questions. It's also online. The same thing we have here is online. So anybody - any citizen can go and look up the actuals and know exactly what the actuals are and could ask those questions of the departments they want to. So it's all there. There's no trickery, there's no hiding, and the actuals are a little - yes you can estimate but there's things that come up due at the end of the fiscal season. So those aren't maybe up there yet. I think Director Cummings explained that last time when he said, you know, we have some of these things that get paid for at the very end of the fiscal year so yes it looks like we're under our budget but by the time the fiscal year is done, we're at our budget. So I mean that's how it is. I don't know how else to explain it. So, thank you. Alderwoman Kelly Yeah, I have a separate thing but I just want to say actuals are kind of one marker - an idea of where things are going but to your point, so many things hit at different times. I thought where the Public Comment person was going was what we need to know is do you have what you need to run your department and meet the needs of the City in whatever way we've grown since the last time you were here because I feel like that is the most appropriate way for us to look at your budget. But I was going to ask just a procedural thing. Yes, it is an action item. I really appreciated your presentation. I actually agree that I love when it's in front of me because sometimes it's hard to read off the screen. So if we have any future departments coming if they could bring it, print it out for us. It's just much easier to follow along. Worse when we don't have it yet. Thank you. Alderman Johnson Thank you very much. I want to agree with you two speakers. You know, that's fine. You don't have to – you can laugh about it because you know what here's my problem and I said it last week too. We got the actual after the budget. So we can't sit down with this budget book and take a look at everything altogether. We have to spread everything out and it's not easy sometimes to spread everything out to try to take what is the proposed - and plus the fact, we did not get the actual salaries. We got the proposed but I had to ask for each one of those. Okay. And I just think that this year if I had my way, I would stop everything and make these books be reprinted so everything's in the book so you could see everything eyesight because to me to give this Board, this Committee, and the full Board a summary book to me that's not transparency and that's not helping us to make the sound decisions that we have to make here because we've got all these papers. A matter of fact today, I came in just to get the book because a loose leaf. There's not enough room here and then to put all the other papers. I'm not a computer person. I can barely see the screen that's why I've asked every time to please have the presentation be here for some of us and I'm glad that Alderman Kelly has asked for it now too. But I agree. I get it that you can ask for more on a bond and if you don't need it, you don't use it but why when people speak about this, you're not listening to the public who pay the bills. We all pay taxes but they have the right to speak, like you have the right to speak, and we're supposed to be representing them and their best interest to make sure the taxes don't go up high enough that people can't afford it because it can get to a point that people can't afford their homes, and taxes aren't going to get paid, and they're going to be liened. Liened on homes that they've paid off their mortgages that you're supposed to own but the City owns it because they lien your property. I don't think that's funny. I don't think that's right. We all work hard for our property and some people don't know what their salaries are who work for the City. I found that really odd especially when it's tax time. You just did your taxes. You don't know what your salary is and you're a Director. Budget Review Committee – 05/11/2026 Page 26 Please, that's insulting to the public who are paying the bills here. Thank you. Alderman Sennott Just to pile on. I know the information's out there but, again, I'll reiterate till I'm blue in the face. I mean even outside of this fun second job. This is what I do for a living. This wouldn't be accepted in the private sector. I've spoken to my Corporate Controller and my CFO. Neither of them would have, you know, I showed them a page and they said no. No, we'd send it back. The information's out there. Sure. I know how to get it. Sure but I said during our last meeting, I'll continue to say information is only as good as how accessible it is to the end user. I just don't want to diminish that fact. I don't want that fact to fall on deaf ears and sometimes it feels like it is. Thank you. Alderwoman Kelly I appreciate that you point out that this is your area of expertise. We have had them like I geeked out about marketing a couple of weeks ago but as someone who is that is not my expertise, I have seen this budget book get more and more information and more ability to see what's happening as I've been an Alderman. So if there are suggestions that you have, I would happily work with you to come up with what we think can even make it even better budget book and I think we can talk to the Mayor's office. They've always evolved when we've asked them to but if there's metrics that we're missing, I think we should know that and if there's things that you think should be in this budget, then we should talk about it. Chairman Dowd I have asked the Budget Committee to feed back to me and to President Wilshire what you want to see in the budget book for ‘28. Alderwoman Kelly Yeah. Chairman Dowd It's a little late in the process to start over again. Alderwoman Kelly Yeah, I’m not suggesting that. Chairman Dowd But I haven't heard one person come back to me and say what they want. Alderwoman Kelly Is there a deadline? I figured we have a year. Chairman Dowd In writing what you want to see in the budget going forward. I don't want to take any input now. Please give it - write it down and let us know what you want to see in that ongoing budget book. Alderman Johnson Thank you very much for allowing me, excuse me, to speak again. I mentioned it last week, which is in the minutes but when we did the budgets and I sat on this Board on the Bernie Streeter, these budgets were totally complete. Everything was in that budget book. You didn't have to look any further and we didn't have internet back then. So everything was paper. So I agree with my colleague from Ward 7. I mean corporate would never allow this to go out like this and I've been complaining. I hate to say the word “complaining” but maybe I should be saying I've been bringing this to everybody's attention that this isn't easy to work with when you're looking at numbers, and you're trying to figure out the budget for the City, and suggestions. I'll be more than happy tonight to make suggestions. I'll even see if I have an old budget book Budget Review Committee – 05/11/2026 Page 27 sitting around the house. I know when we thought we were moving to Florida I threw a lot of stuff out but this is so incomplete that it's really shameful because we're a corporation here in the City, and we're supposed to be professionals, and this is far from it in my opinion. Thank you very much. Alderman Thibeault Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll back up Alderman Dowd but because he's been saying it right along. I mean I was one of the first one to complain about the budget book. So I mean I'm with you on that but we got what we got right now and we got to try to get through these meetings with what we have. When people say I don't have the actuals, they're online. They've been online the whole time so. I get it. Some people aren't computer savvy or whatever but it's not like they're being hidden and I get it. We're all spread out here. Even here where I got a bigger desk, I'm still got things over here and so I get it. I get all that but you know when someone speaks and doesn't say the right information or says something wrong, I feel the need to correct it because I don't want people out there to believe things. If we have a bond and we haven't sold the whole thing, it's not obviously not going to impact the taxpayer. We just don't sell the rest of it. So that's all I'm doing is correcting that and there's been lots of wrong information giving out in Public Comment at times and I think we owe it to our people out there, our constituents, to make sure we correct the record on what's being put out there. I'm laughing because I was smiling because of the way the presentation was being done not necessarily on the information given. I was listening to it. I heard it. I just didn't agree with it. So I get it. The budget books are not good. They're not good. I will say it out loud but they're not going to be reprinted for this budget season. We only have a few weeks left so we're going to have to deal with what we have to deal with. I mean complaining about it, it's not going to get the books fixed by the time we have the big hearing, right? I mean I don't know are you getting them reprinted? That's more cost, right, to the City. So I mean I don't think we're going to do that but I don't know. I'll leave it up to Budget Chair to decide if that's going to be done. REMARKS BY THE ALDERMEN - None ADJOURNMENT MOTION BY ALDERMAN SENNOTT TO ADJOURN MOTION CARRIED The meeting was declared closed at 8:38 p.m. Alderman Michael B. O’Brien, Sr. Committee Clerk  City of Nashua Division of Public Works City of Nashua Division of Public Works The Division of Public Works provides the leadership and framework necessary to build and maintain a safe and sustainable City infrastructure that will be utilized by many future generations of Nashua residents Division of Public Works Who We Are The Division of Public Works employs 183 people and is divided into eight departments: Administration Engineering Street Fleet Parks Recreation Solid Waste Wastewater Division of Public Works Who We Are Lisa M. Fauteux, Director of Public Works Carolyn O’Connor, Assistant Director Public Works Matt LeBlanc, Assistant Director Public Works Lauren Byers, Communications & Recreation Administrator Dan Hudson, City Engineer Jon Ibarra, Street Superintendent Mike Rush, Fleet Superintendent Bryan Conant, Parks Superintendent Jeff Lafleur, Solid Waste Superintendent David Boucher, Wastewater Superintendent Ryan Lones, Operations Manager  Division of Public Works Division of Public Works FY27 PROPOSED BUDGET $78.3M $2.3 , 3% $6.9 , 9% $2.6 , 3% $4.3 , 5% $0.9 , 1% Admin/Engineering Streets Fleet $46.7 , 60% $14.6 , 19% Parks Recreation Solid Waste Wastewater Division of Public Works Divisional Highlights Engineering  Paved 8 Miles & Crack Sealed 30 Miles of Streets  Sidewalk Repairs  West Hollis Street Corridor  Walnut Street Oval  DPW Garage Support  Division of Public Works Administration/Engineering Budget Adjustments FY 2026 FY 2027 Dollar Line Item Account Appropriation Request Increase/Decrease Full Time Wages 51100 $1,434,795.00 $1,450,043.00 $15,248.00 Overtime 51300 $12,500.00 $11,000.00 $(1,500.00) Wages Elected Officials 51500 $15,062.00 $15,514.00 $452.00 Yr End Payroll Partial 51990 $5,952.00 $5,952.00 Week Chargeback Fringe Benefits 52 $505,587.00 $565,570.00 $59,983.00 Vehicle Repairs & 54600 $1,000.00 $2,500.00 $1,500.00 Maintenance Bldg Grounds & 54280 $10,000.00 $15,000.00 $5,000.00 Maintenance Page 185  Division of Public Works Administration/Engineering Budget Adjustments FY 2026 FY 2027 Dollar Line Item Account Appropriation Request Increase/Decrease Mileage Reimbursement 55307 $10,250.00 $7,250.00 $(3,000.00) Other Contracted Svcs 55699 $15,000.00 $18,000.00 $3,000.00 Computer Software 71228 $47,995.00 $51,500.00 $3,505.00  Division of Public Works Divisional Highlights Street  Disc Golf Park  DPW Garage Site Work  Fire Training/Landfill Waterline  Los Amigos Park  Jeff Morin Park  Infrastructure Maintenance- Striping, Potholes, Plowing,  Sweeping, Sidewalk Repairs  Division of Public Works Street Budget Adjustments FY 2026 FY 2027 Dollar Line Item Account Appropriation Request Increase/Decrease Full Time Wages 51100 $2,690,291.00 $2,715,506.00 $25,215.00 Overtime 51300 $1,056,478.00 $1,102,107.00 $45,629.00 Longevity 51600 $7,500.00 $9,600.00 $2,100.00 Yr End Payroll Partial 51990 $9,038.00 $9,038.00 Week Chargeback Fringe Benefits 52 $1,193,930.00 $1,314,848.00 $120,918.00 Water 54141 $20,000.00 $15,000.00 $(5,000.00) Signing &Striping 54275 $162,000.00 $337,000.00 $175,000.00 Telephone- Cellular 55118 $14,100.00 $14,400.00 $300.00 Page 189  Division of Public Works Street Budget Adjustments FY 2026 FY 2027 Dollar Line Item Account Appropriation Request Increase/Decrease Medical Supplies 61142 $570.00 $800.00 $230.00 Salt 61514 $545,000.00 $575,000.00 $30,000.00 Sand 61521 $16,000.00 $20,000.00 $4,000.00 Traffic Signal Materials 61556 $26,500.00 $36,500.00 $10,000.00 Vehicle Parts & Supplies 61799 $5,000.00 $5,000.00 Equipment 71000 $5,000.00 $10,500.00 $5,500.00 Division of Public Works Divisional Highlights Fleet  Update Diagnostic Software  Expand use of Fleetio  Expand Anti-Corrosion Efforts to Extend Vehicle Life  Participate in Design of DPW Garage & Maintenance Facility  Division of Public Works Fleet Budget Adjustments FY 2026 FY 2027 Dollar Line Item Account Appropriation Request Increase/Decrease Full Time Wages 51100 $1,115,755.00 $1,123,697.00 $7,942.00 Overtime 51300 $31,125.00 $32,100.00 $975.00 Yr End Payroll Partial 51990 $3,489.00 $3,489.00 Week Chargeback Fringe Benefits 52 $387,245.00 $421,370.00 $34,125.00 Vehicle Repair & 54600 $370,000.00 $381,100.00 $11,100.00 Maintenance Fuel Unleaded 61300 $595,900.00 $634,572.00 $38,672.00 Fuel Diesel 61307 $338,500.00 $353,000.00 $14,500.00 Page 194  Division of Public Works Fleet Budget Adjustments FY 2026 FY 2027 Dollar Line Item Account Appropriation Request Increase/Decrease Less Internal & External 61390 $(525,498.00) $(542,839.00) $(17,341.00) Fuel Billings Vehicle Parts & Supplies 61799 $11,300.00 $13,560.00 $2,260.00 Computer Software 71228 $35,000.00 $38,000.00 $3,000.00  Division of Public Works Divisional Highlights Parks  Rotary Pool  Holman Stadium Updates and Repairs  Los Amigos Park  Jeff Morin Park  Greeley Park Wading Pool Rehab  Renovate Labine Softball Field  Division of Public Works Parks Budget Adjustments FY 2026 FY 2027 Dollar Line Item Account Appropriation Request Increase/Decrease Full Time Wages 51100 $1,593,435.00 $1,734,227.00 $140,792.00 Overtime 51300 $271,207.00 $290,950.00 $19,743.00 Wages Temporary/Seasonal 51400 $123,760.00 $138,320.00 $14,560.00 Yr End Payroll Partial Week 51990 $7,894.00 $7,894.00 Chargeback Fringe Benefits 52 $729,169.00 $813,105.00 $83,936.00 Pool Repairs & Maintenance 54250 $20,000.00 $35,000.00 $15,000.00 Bldg Grounds & Maintenance 54280 $279,644.00 $304,644.00 $25,000.00 Vehicle Repair & Maintenance 54600 $60,000.00 $123,150.00 $63,150.00 Page 197  Division of Public Works Parks Budget Adjustments FY 2026 FY 2027 Dollar Line Item Account Appropriation Request Increase/Decrease Conference & Seminars 55400 $3,000.00 $4,500.00 $1,500.00 Pool Supplies 61114 $5,000.00 $15,000.00 $10,000.00 Tires 61705 $10,000.00 $14,000.00 $4,000.00 Vehicle Parts & Supplies 61799 $45,000.00 $(45,000.00) Division of Public Works Divisional Highlights Recreation  Elevate SummerFun Offerings  Explore Multi-Day Trip Opportunities for Community  Enhance Wellbeing Program Partnership with the Senior Center  Staff & Operate 3 City Public Pools  Biddy Basketball  Program & Permit all City Fields & Public Places  Division of Public Works Recreation Budget Adjustments FY 2026 FY 2027 Dollar Line Item Account Appropriation Request Increase/Decrease Full Time Wages 51100 $167,950.00 $272,976.00 $105,026.00 Overtime 51300 $8,000.00 $12,000.00 $4,000.00 Wages Temporary/Seasonal 51400 $196,754.00 $201,000.00 $4,246.00 Yr End Payroll Partial Week 51990 $500.00 $1,672.00 $1,172.00 Chargeback Fringe Benefits 52 $94,596.00 $128,187.00 $33,591.00 Conference & Seminars 55400 $925.00 $2,125.00 $1,200.00 Employee Training & 55421 $3,875.00 $4,000.00 $125.00 Certification Other Contracted Services 55699 $1,400.00 $2,400.00 $1,000.00 Page 202  Division of Public Works Divisional Highlights Solid Waste  Phase IV Landfill Opening  Ongoing Construction of the Setback Barrier Wall  Landfill Gas Collection  Trash, Recycling, Soft Yard Waste Pick Up  Recycling Center Operations  Division of Public Works Solid Waste Budget Adjustments FY 2026 FY 2027 Dollar Line Item Account Appropriation Request Increase/Decrease Full Time Wages 51100 $2,558,475.00 $2,713,646.00 $155,171.00 Overtime 51300 $369,208.00 $378,600.00 $9,392.00 Wages Temporary/Seasonal 51400 $280,000.00 $328,000.00 $48,000.00 Fringe Benefits 52 $1,159,544.00 $1,264,845.00 $105,301.00 Architect & Engineering Svcs 53107 $317,000.00 $377,000.00 $60,000.00 Vehicle Repairs & 54600 $557,812.00 $579,365.00 $21,553.00 Maintenance DES Disposal Fee 55520 $280,000.00 $280,000.00 Tires 61705 $92,000.00 $101,060.00 $9,060.00 Principal 75100 $1,485,000.00 $2,189,000.00 $704,000.00 Interest 75200 $650,799.00 $1,511,183.00 $860,384.00 Capital Improvements 81100 $750,000.00 $2,000,000.00 $1,250,000.00 Page 205 Division of Public Works Divisional Highlights Wastewater  Phase I Facility Upgrades  Loading Dock & Tank Coating Project  Class A Biosolids Upgrade  Division of Public Works Wastewater Budget Adjustments FY 2026 FY 2027 Dollar Line Item Account Appropriation Request Increase/Decrease Full Time Wages 51100 $3,624,536.00 $3,765,055.00 $140,519.00 Overtime 51300 $306,072.00 $328,000.00 $21,928.00 Longevity 51600 $10,200.00 $13,000.00 $2,800.00 Fringe Benefits 52 $1,332,855.00 $1,446,898.00 $114,134.00 Architect & Engineering Svcs 53107 $325,000.00 $350,000.00 $25,000.00 Water 54141 $68,000.00 $78,000.00 $10,000.00 Disposal Services 54221 $1,200,000.00 $1,500,000.00 $300,000.00 Vehicle Repairs & 54600 $93,600.00 $100,900.00 $7,300.00 Maintenance Telephone Voice 55109 $10,650.00 $5,450.00 $(5,200.00) Telephone Cellular 55118 $22,550.00 $17,500.00 $(5,050.00) Postage & Delivery 55607 $16,415.00 $49,100.00 $32,685.00 Page 210  Division of Public Works Wastewater Budget Adjustments FY 2026 FY 2027 Dollar Line Item Account Appropriation Request Increase/Decrease Laboratory Supplies 61149 $52,265.00 $75,000.00 $22,735.00 Miscellaneous Supplies 61299 $78,570.00 $85,000.00 $6,430.00 Principal 75100 $5,392,441.00 $6,065,983.00 $673,542.00 Interest 75200 $2,323,003.00 $2,443,017.00 $120,014.00 Capital Improvements 81100 $5,528,000.00  Division of Public Works Contact Information City Website: https://www.nashuanh.gov/386/Public-Works-Division Nashua Public Works @NashuaDPW Email: DPWRequest@nashuanh.gov Phone: (603)589-3140