Finance Committee

REPORT OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE MARCH 17,2010 A meeting of the Finance Committee was held on Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at 8:15 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chamber. Mayor Donnalee Lozeau presided. Members of the Committee present: Alderman-at-Large David W. Deane, Vice Chair Alderman-at-Large Ben Clemons Alderman-at-Large Barbara Pressly Alderman Kathy Vitale Alderman Arthur T. Craffey, Jr. Alderman Paul M. Chasse, Jr. Also in Attendance: Lt. Fisher, NPO Karen Smith, Business Manager, NPD Brian Sojka, NPD Officer Reidy, NPD COMMUNICATIONS From: Robert Gabriel, Purchasing Manager Re: Purchase of Mid-Size Unmarked Police Vehicles Requested by Nashua Police Department (Value: $119,750) Account: 331-68045-6613-6267 Recovery Act Grant 2009 - Vehicles $24,125 Account Balance Remaining After Purchase: $107,450 Account: 331-68045-6613-6271 JAG Grant 2009 - Vehicles $24,125 Account Balance Remaining After Purchase: $2,649 Account: 531-68020-6610 Unmarked Patrol Cars Group 1- NPD $71,500 Account Balance Remaining After Purchase: $575 MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND AWARD THE CONTRACT TO MACMULKIN CHEVROLET IN THE AMOUNT OF $119,750. FUNDS ARE AVAILABLE IN ACCOUNT NOS. 331-68045-6613-6267 ($24,125), 331-68045-6613-6271 ($24,125) AND 531-68020-6610 ($71,500) ON THE QUESTION Alderman Deane Where do we stand in our vehicle replacement schedule? Mayor Lozeau Are you talking relative to the unmarked vehicles? Alderman Deane Yes. Lt. Fisher The three vehicles that in essence are being replaced are three detective unmarked vehicles which are two Chevrolet Impala's and a Ford that are the trade-ins. The three Chevrolet Impala's will in essence replace those. Then an unmarked vehicle for professional standards and an unmarked vehicle for the problem oriented policing unit. Did that answer your question? Alderman Deane No. You have a matrix of vehicles in, vehicles out. What else do we have remaining this fiscal year that needs to be replaced? Finance - 03/17/10 Page 2 Karen Smith For this fiscal year, we've already replaced our regular patrol cruisers. These are the detective vehicles that Lt. Fisher has addressed for the budgeted items, if that's your question. He is correct that the three vehicles that were budgeted are being replaced. And then he also answered the question that the other two are grant items. So, there are no additional cruisers or unmarked vehicles to be purchased with budget funds. Mayor Lozeau That's why I wasn't certain, Alderman Deane, whether your question had to do with the cruisers. That's why I asked if it was unmarked. Alderman Deane Are we back on schedule from a couple of years ago where we didn't do the replacements on some of these? Karen Smith We can never be back on schedule. Once you're off track, unless you buy additional vehicles within a year, you can't get back on schedule. We did have at one time, Mayor Lozeau had purchased a portion of those vehicles, kind of mid-cycle, but we are still behind schedule. I don't know if Brian Sojka could add to that as far as how many vehicles we're still behind. Do you have that information with you? Mayor Lozeau Relating to the cruisers or the unmarked vehicles? Alderman Deane The cruisers. Both. Mayor Lozeau Alderman Deane, with all due respect, I don't know that they're prepared to answer that question accurately tonight. Mr. Sojka I believe the marked are 2-3 cars behind right now. I believe in the next year to two years, we may be back to our regular rotation again. Alderman Deane Look at that. He surprised us all. He was prepared. Mayor Lozeau It's not that he isn't prepared, Alderman Deane, with all due respect. It's that sometimes I don't want people to feel that they have to answer something with certainty if they are not prepared to do that. I'm trying to be respectful of what they are here for this evening. Alderman Deane So am I, Mayor. So am I. I feel I should be able to ask a question. This is a lot of money. Mayor Lozeau And, I'm happy to let you ask the question. I just want to be make sure that we're clear about what it is about. Alderman Deane It just doesn't appear that way at times. That's all. Thank you very much. MOTION CARRIED Finance - 03/17/10 Page 3 From: Robert Gabriel, Purchasing Manager Re: Purchase of Unmarked Police Vehicle Requested by Nashua Police Department (Value: $25,990) Account: 331-68045-6613-6267 Recovery Act JAG Grant 2009 - Vehicles Account Balance Remaining After Purchase: $81,460 MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND AWARD THE CONTRACT TO ALLEN MELLO DODGE IN THE AMOUNT OF $25,990. SOURCE OF FUNDING IS ACCOUNT NO. 331-68045-6613-6267 ON THE QUESTION Alderman Deane I believe when you folks were here last with the marked cruisers we had spoken about this type of vehicle. You had gone down to Tyngsboro to look at the vehicle. Are we buying this as somewhat of a prototype to see how it works out? Lt. Fisher In essence, yes. This vehicle is going to go to the motor vehicle unit. It will let us test and evaluate it. The motor vehicle unit doesn't transport prisoners so we don't have to buy a cage and some of the ... Alderman Deane Added extras. Lt. Fisher This will let us test it for durability, things like that, and how it handles without having to invest what we normally invest in a marked cruiser. Alderman Deane It will be interesting to see what your maintenance and operation findings are on the vehicle in the end. Thank you. Alderman Clemons We're getting into a situation where Ford might not be making a Crown Vic in '011. That's my understanding. This is an alternative. Are there any other alternatives out there besides the Dodge? Lt. Fisher There's two other. Brian and I are scheduled to look in two weeks they are having an "unveiling" so to speak down in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Conference which allegedly will be able to look at what the new Ford looks like. I think on the Ford Website last Thursday announced it nationally. It's a substantially different car than the Crown Victoria. At the 24 th of this month, there's a Chevrolet Caprice unveiling. And then the last week in April, April 28 th , there's another show where we're supposedly be able to look at and touch that car. This has all popped up in the last three or four days. When Alderman Deane asked this question last time, we're really just looking at the Dodge in anticipation of what Chevrolet might do. There's a lot supposition articles written. So we are aggressively Finance - 03/17/10 Page 4 looking at what the next generation is. And the Mayor is really up to speed on this too. She's asked the exact same questions. I think we're doing what we can right now to try to find out number one, what the next police car is going to be and obviously, number two, how much it is going to cost us. Alderman Clemons Right. Thank you. Alderman Pressly Could you explain the difference between the two vehicles? Lt. Fisher The charger that we're looking at, specific to this motion, is a four-door car. It's fairly similar in its capabilities to the full size Ford. My personal experience, when I drove it, it has better driving manners than the full size Ford, but the outward visibility isn't where I would like it to be for our police officers. It sits down a little bit further. They average about two miles per gallon better in gas. Supposedly if Tyngsboro is pretty up front with their maintenance schedule, it looks about the same maintenance schedule that Mr. Sojka experiences in the garage for the Fords. Alderman Pressly It seems to me that it would be easier to get all of them the same model just for maintenance and familiarity in driving and all? What made you get a different model? Lt. Fisher That's specific to Alderman Deane's question about what we are looking at. The Dodge we know is planned to keep going for awhile. So one of the things we thought we could do is buy this. They are about the same amount of money too. We can bUy this, get to use this, see if we like it, and then have some better decision-making. The Chevrolet platform we use that for the detectives. It's a front wheel drive. They aren't quite as expensive. They aren't quite as much car, if that's the right word for it, than the Ford Crown Victoria is. The Crown Victoria's are rear drive platform. It does better for patrol-type work. The detective vehicles, the Chevrolets, are front wheel drive. They're not driven as hard. We are going to take a look at whether we would have to re-tool if we picked up the different vehicle. That's another one of the costs that both the Mayor has asked about and, I think, Alderman Clemons was alluding to. Are we going to have to re-tool, get new cages. Only our marked cars, about 20 of cars, have cages in them. They're like cage - behind the officer so you can transport prisoners. Detective vehicles don't have those. We don't really have substantial two different cars. They're really two different purposes and then we tool the car and equip the car specific to its purpose. Alderman Deane I didn't know if Alderman Pressly was aware of the fact that it was a year or so ago that Ford announced that they were going to discontinue the Crown Vic line. That was why the discussion about the other types of vehicles that were out there and they have obviously been researching that. Alderman Pressly Thank you. I was curious about that. Finance - 03/17/10 Page 5 Mayor Lozeau Basically as Alderman Deane said, what they have is going to be gone. There's three potential replacements for that. They are trying to figure out which one works the best and is most cost effective, in a nutshell. Alderman Clemons After looking at the new Ford model that is coming out and the Chevy model that is coming out, and looking at the pricing and reviews and that type of thing, would we anticipate to continue using for next year's replacement the Crown Vic's and look at maybe a test model for one of those two if that seems appropriate or if we're fairly confident with the Dodges, at that point, we'll be going with that? What do you see in the future as far as what direction we're going to go? What's the plan? Lt. Fisher Any departure from where we are is going to cost us more money. I think we'll have to take a look at that. I can only guess, and we don't want to go out there, but I can bet that people are going to be scrambling to try to scoop up those last few Fords because they are in the same boat we are. They have cages that were expensive. They might have bought the last generation light bar that only fits the Ford and things like that. I think there's going to be some scrambling. We're going to have to take a hard look at that. I'd also be interested in the quality of these other vehicles. If this is some whiz-bang thing, it's a lot safer, it's better, it's more fuel efficient, we'll have to take a hard look at it and see what the proposals are going to be. The Chief asks us these questions all the time, as does the mayor. They are great questions, and I look forward to it. We're trying to do our homework so I can have a better answer for you next time we talk about this. MOTION CARRIED From: Robert Gabriel, Purchasing Manager Re: Purchase of Ballistic (Bulletproof) Tactical Vests Requested by Nashua Police Department (Value: $41,753. 45) Account: 531-46030-6372 Police Department - Protective Clothing Account Balance Remaining After Purchase: $126,489 (2 Digit) MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND APPROVE THE PURCHASE WITH RILEY'S SPORT SHOP IN THE AMOUNT OF $41,753.45. FUNDS ARE AVAILABLE IN ACCT. NO. 531-46030-6372 ON THE QUESTION Alderman Chasse The 15 vests that were bought in 2005, what was the warranty on them? Officer Reidy Five years, sir, and it expires in May of this year. Alderman Chasse Is that a standard life span for them? Five years? Officer Reidy Yes, sir. Finance - 03117110 Page 6 Alderman Chasse You don't have to "sir" me. I've had my days in the service. The new ones you're buying is there a five year life span for them also? Officer Reidy That's correct, five years. Alderman Chasse And you're taking the old ones and using them for training? Officer Reidy That's correct. Alderman Chasse They only have a five-year life span. Have they been out there before by somebody else prior to us? I'm surprised. Why only five years? You really don't use them every day do you? Officer Reidy The company warranty them for only five years. Quite honestly, once you wear these vests, its best described as putting a garbage bag on afterwards. The officers, in a tactical operation, they may be in these vests for anywhere from 8 to 16 hours. It gets extremely hot and the officers sweat in these vests and they take quite a beating. The carriers for these vests really break down over time. So, five years on a tactical vest, you're at the end of the life expectancy for that vest. Mayor Lozeau And those that are tactical, they're mandatory to wear every day. Officer Reidy Every day. That's correct. Alderman Pressly I was wondering if we would have a fashion show tonight. Officer Reidy If I had known, we could have brought one in for you. Alderman Pressly Is one person assigned to one vest? Officer Reidy Yes, these are individually issued and individually fitted. Mayor Lozeau They did just describe how they use them. Wouldn't you hope, Alderman Pressly? Alderman Pressly That's why I asked. Alderman Deane Do they make a lot of noise when you put them in the dryer? In the washer? Officer Reidy Unfortunately, we can't put them in the dryer. Finance - 03/17/10 Page 7 Alderman Deane They have to air dry? Officer Reidy Yes. When we do these operations, sometimes it is in the rain and snow. These things get soaks. The new vests that we are purchasing, the new standards that the National Institute of Justice came out with is that the ballistic panels have to be waterproof now because when water got into the ballistic panels, it would degrade it. The new standards now says it has to be waterproof. A lot of these operations in the rain or snow, we would have to air dry these as much as two days to get these tactical vests dried again. The new standards help eliminate that. Alderman Deane That's still Kevlar technology? Officer Reidy Troyon and Spectra are the two products that are in the ballistic package. MOTION CARRIED From: Robert Gabriel, Purchasing Manager Re: Contract Award for CTV Studio Lighting (Value: $33,500) Account: 305-6013 Cable Access Special Revenue Fund Account Balance Remaining After Purchase: $91,801 MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND AWARD THE CONTRACT TO BARBIZON LIGHTING IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $33,500. SOURCE OF FUNDING IS ACCT. NO. 305-6013 ON THE QUESTION Alderman Pressly As the liaison to this group, I would like to tell you that the new setup is just really great. They will be having an open house probably within a month or so. I hope everybody will come. It really is wonderful. I trust you've been there, Mayor. Mayor Lozeau Yes. I should tell the committee that one of the things we're looking at before the contract is signed is looking at whether or not we can use green lighting and that sort of thing. It's going to depend on affordability and that sort of thing, but we're looking at what our options might be for that. Alderman Pressly I think they've done a lot to know what they've spent and what they have. They certainly got good value for what they purchased, in my opinion. Mayor Lozeau Thank you. They've done it on budget, on time. It's all good. It would just be a bonus to get the lights that are green. MOTION CARRIED Finance - 03/17/10 Page 8 From: Robert Gabriel, Purchasing Manager Re: Contract Award for Upgrade of Aeration Blowers, Aeration Tanks & Secondary Clarifiers Design Phase Services (Value: $171,141) Account: 792-53032-3747 Capital Improvements - NWTF Account Balance Remaining After Purchase: $578,749 MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND AWARD THE CONTRACT TO WOODWARD & CURRAN IN THE AMOUNT OF $171,141. FUNDS ARE AVAILABLE IN ACCT. NO. 792-53032-3747 MOTION CARRIED From: Robert Gabriel, Purchasing Manager Re: Contract Award for CSO Drop-Over Structure Project Construction Phase Services (Value: $89,600) Account: 792-01310-3791 Construction - CSO Drop Over Structures Account Balance Remaining After Purchase: $0 MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND AWARD THE CONTRACT TO S E CONSULTANTS IN THE AMOUNT OF $89,600. SOURCE OF FUNDING IS ACCT. NO. 792-01310-3791 ON THE QUESTION Mayor Lozeau This is the item that we took up at the last Finance meeting. This is now the oversight of that work. MOTION CARRIED MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS THAT THE RULES BE SO FAR SUSPENDED AS TO ALLOW FOR THE INTRODUCTION OF A COMMUNICATION RECEIVED AFTER THE AGENDA WAS PREPARED ON THE QUESTION Mayor Lozeau I put on everybody's desk tonight a memo from Director Hersh that was given to me relative to Pine Street. This communication deals with giving you a snapshot of the Labine building and some decisions that had to be made. The funding that we're talking about here is coming from the Neighborhood Stabilization dollars. It was the cost associated with saving the bricks and keeping them from going inside, about cleaning up the site, about moving the fence in to get the streets open. We needed to get approval from the Neighborhood Stabilization oversight administrators which is the CDFA, the Community Development Finance Authority for them to allow us to dedicate funds. We wanted to make sure that we could use the dollars from that project for this, rather than having to use city dollars. They just approved that on Friday, and this memo reflects that information. At the next finance meeting, you'll have the official memo from me that will be placed on file with the city clerk and provided to the committee. Alderman Deane When we accepted that $1.5 million, it gave you sole authority over the money, right? Did it not? Finance - 03/17/10 Page 9 Mayor Lozeau Except for if we purchase things; it will come back to the board. I don't believe we can purchase properties. That was an item that came up and I'm not sure that legal has provided me with any different information than what I'm under the impression of. And that is, should we buy a project, land or building or anything like that under this. I believe it still comes under the jurisdiction of the Board of Aldermen to purchase property. I will check. Alderman Deane Was this building underinsured? That's what I've been told. The owners of the building did not have enough insurance on the building. Is that true? Mayor Lozeau I wouldn't want to speak on behalf of the owners and whether they consider themselves over or under insured. I can tell you that there was not enough funds for the owners to rebuild the building. Alderman Deane So if we get into a situation now where somebody else has a fire and they are underinsured, is the city going to go bail them out too? This is wrong. Although I understand the historical significance of the building and the neighborhood and all that has been stated about it, I can't support the city spending any money on this project. I think it's wrong. If they weren't insured properly to the replacement value amount of the structure, we shouldn't be involved. We should not be throwing money at something because somebody has a financial problem. And that's what this does. Mayor Lozeau I would disagree, Alderman Deane, and for these reasons. First of all, I don't think we are throwing any money at this project. To characterize it as throwing money at something really doesn't do justice to what's going on here. I think the city is investing in this project. We received $1.5 million that was designed specifically for us to invest in stabiliZing our neighborhoods. It isn't about a fire happening and somebody was underinsured and we're bailing them out. Those owners didn't need the city to play any role at all. They had enough money to take that building down and then do what they wanted with their property. They could have chose to rebuild it through another source. They could have went to a financial institution. They could have partnered with somebody. They could have done a lot of things. If you look at this project, we have a few options. One is we can do absolutely nothing and let the owners do what they want to do and let that corner be developed or not developed in a manner the owners of the property want to see happen. Or, we could look at it and try to leverage dollars from the city to have some role in how we develop that area, which as you know, is an area that we have targeted over the years, before I got here and since I got here, as an area that needs some redevelopment. We've looked at the Bronstein Apartments and what we could be doing there. Other tree streets, about what we could do about density. This money was targeted for that. It just so happens that this building had a fire. It is right along the area where we talked about investing these dollars. In addition, as you know, it's along the Broad Street Parkway. Now while the Broad Street Parkway isn't going to effect that building, that certainly is a building that when you go into that neighborhood lays out what people's opinion is of that neighborhood just in how it is designed. So from my perspective, the first option is look at restoring the building. If we can do that with a private developer and keep it on the city's tax rolls that's how I would like to invest our money. If we can't do that, I would like to own that site because this site isn't just that triangle where that building is. This is an additional three parcels that abut this. Having some ability to have ownership and how that site is developed and how that plays into key Finance - 03/17/10 Page 10 pieces in this neighborhood that we're looking at, I think is crucial. And whether it's that building rebuilt or something different, I think putting the city in the driver seat for that is really important at this juncture. And that's what this does. Does that mean if a building burns down somewhere else in the tree streets, we're going to run in there and buy it? I think it depends on what the property is and what we bring to the table. Frankly, I'm concerned about some of the buildings that are being purchased by some of the other non-profits that receive funds where they are investing more dollars in than the value of the property on a building that is not historic in nature. But those aren't our funds to deal with. I think we have an opportunity to spend our funds very wisely and in a very key location here. I think from my perspective the ability to control that site and how it is developed, especially as we're looking across and meeting with the Housing Authority about Bronstein, knowing about what we're doing in the Millyard. We're hopefully going to purchase the building on the other corner for the Broad Street Parkway. It's all being able to look at this from a distance. And when you layout the maps and you start looking at those pieces and you see what Batesville has done that's now Pond View, we have a great opportunity here to do something. I think we ought to make sure we do everything we can to do that. I feel very strongly as you can tell about that. Alderman Deane I appreciate your opinion, as always, Mayor. Let me give you my vision of the money. The $1.5 million we received. I was under the impression that we were going to be looking in that area that was pretty much laid out for these properties that were in foreclosure, looking at the costs of them and wondering whether they should be demolished or should they be repaired. These are the residential properties up through the tree streets area. That's what I thought the money was going to be used for. It's just rather ironic that we're sitting on a piece of legislation to buy another building across the street for $250,000 in the same neighborhood and tearing it down. We purchased other property on the other side of this Labine building and torn that down. We purchased property in the Millyard and tore that down that didn't have to be torn down. Now we have these emergency stop work orders because of this, and I'll say it, I guess it's an underinsured property that now the city has taken a vested interest in because of the Broad Street Parkway and the neighborhood vision and everything else. I really struggle with the money be used like this. I know the building has historical significance. I understand all of that, but so did the buildings in the Millyard that got torn down for no good reason. Those had historical significance. So does the Gate City Fence or the Forest building that runs from one end to the other, where a portion of that is probably going to have come down. That has historical significance. That whole area is changing, and then you have this fire and you have a building that is constructed to fall in upon itself that was probably in pretty much disrepair to begin with. That fire just about destroyed the whole thing. Whether they tear it to the ground it and reconstruct it or whatever they choose to do as private owners ... Are other people in the neighborhood going to be afforded the same opportunity with their properties? I just don't get why. I object to the fact that somebody's underinsured and the city is dolling out this money to make up the difference. Alderman Clemons The fact that these folks were underinsured, I don't think really plays into this because as you pointed out, Alderman Deane, the purpose of the grant that you thought it was was to redo properties that were in foreclosure. My argument there would be the same as yours. Why are these properties in foreclosure? Why can't they pay their bills? You can use the same argument. I don't think it has anything to do with it. I think the money that we have needs to be leveraged in the most effective use. In this case, this opportunity presented itself. That building is a very historical building. It sort of is the catalyst of the neighborhood in the sense that when you drive up there, that's what you see. I think that restoring that building and getting it back to an even better state than it was before it burned down is the right thing to do. Whether or not the owners had the proper insurance on there or not, I don't think really matters. Because I think that even if they did, this would still be something that we would want to do. Finance - 03/17/10 Page 11 Alderman Pressly I don't think the insurance has anything to do with it either. I think the issue is the building. We now know that the building is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic places. Although it is not listed, it is eligible which means it is eligible for tax credits. It's what in preservation circles they call an anchor building. It's sort of the building that holds a whole neighborhood together. If you loose that, you lose far more than just that one building. I'm totally out on that limb with the Mayor. I think that this building really everything should be done to save the building for the neighbors' sake, for the whole community sake. Often times if you really invest and show the people what a great building and an area is, it has a wonderful ripple effect. I do support this. I do have a question though. Where do we go from here with it? Has it been decided yet? Are they going to sell it to the city so the city can then ... Mayor Lozeau We've made an offer. We're hopeful to have an agreed to price and then we'll move forward with that. Alderman Pressly I think that is the thing to do. When you have a situation like this, you mentioned it, Madam Mayor, at one meeting, and we've talked about it in some circles, we need to identify these buildings throughout the city before there's a fire or before something happens to damage them. It would be important and possibly the Historic District Commission is that vehicle. But, we need to identify all the buildings within the historic district have been surveyed. They are on file and they are registered for the quality of what they are. But outside the district boundaries, they have not been identified. There are single buildings throughout the city that have been listed on the National Register by themselves. I would hope as a result of this that someone will take on that effort to identify all the historic buildings throughout the city so that we're prepared. We probably need to also take a look at their condition and how valuable or maybe not of value they are to a neighborhood so if again an emergency like this happens we have everything lined up. We've also started to put together a list of contractors and engineers that specialize in historic buildings. I'm sure all of you know that any professional has a tendency to favor or disfavor different techniques. We're finding that there are engineers within driving distance of Nashua that are recognized and are considered preservation engineers so if something like this happens again, we're ready to move really quickly on identifying the building, knowing a bit about it. So, I totally support this, and thank you. Mayor Lozeau I want to make it very clear that the insurance does not have anything to do with this. The owners did not need help from the city to take care of their building. I'm hoping to leverage these dollars because $1.5 million is not going to rebuild this building. I don't want to leave anybody with the impression that when we do this and when we do the purchase and sales, presto-change-o, we're going to have a building built back up and it's going to be that building. can't tell you that that is going to be the case. So we're trying very hard to have a reasonable purchase and sales that doesn't eat up what funds that we can leverage. We have a RFP prepared and ready to go out. I'm hoping that will be out in the next day or so to get out there and have people respond to it to make sure that there's people interested in working with us to get this job done. Alderman Pressly, the buildings that you talk about, where in that place where that if an owner choose to have enough insurance to rebuild, that's their choice. If they have enough insurance to take it down, that's their choice. If there's mortgage is paid, and they have no insurance, that's their choice. So the city's role is somewhat limited on what we can do. In addition to categorizing, as you're describing, all of our buildings and having some kind of information about all of them, what I wanted to find out is if there's something else the city could Finance - 03/17/10 Page 12 do to have some kind of insurance policy that we might look at that maybe building owners could contribute to so that in a crisis we might be able to have dollars that could be used to help if they are underinsured or to help if we do want to save it or whatever that might be. Some of you are very familiar with the building in Railroad Square that had the car accident. It would have been quicker and easier for the owners to go in and knock that building down and have either a blank space or start over or whatever. We have tried to work with them to try and save the building. Frankly, while in the long run the city is likely to benefit from that building, they are being replaced and rebuilt and structurally sound, we are very much on the short end of the stick right now. It looks horrible. It's wiping out a sidewalk and parking meters. We're losing income from those parking meters, and I'm very concerned about how long it's taken. But the process for them to go to the historic district and bring their plans in has really taken a toll. I'd like to see if we could find a way for certain buildings ... anyways, that's a whole other story. I think the dollars that are being used here are being well spent. Alderman Chasse I'm looking at both sides of the coin, and I have to agree with both of you. What I don't like is we get this in front of us tonight, and I don't have time to sleep on it. You're asking me to make a decision. It says in the bottom line "Given the immediacy of the situation, and per City Code Section 5-90G, you authorized the expenditure of $50,000" so they could secure the building. Is the building not secure right now? Mayor Lozeau The decision tonight for this night is to accept and place on file this communication that you received. I made the decision under the NRO. Alderman Chasse So you've already gave the $50,000. Mayor Lozeau Committed, that's correct. Alderman Chasse Did I hear you say we put a purchase and sales on it? The City of Nashua is looking to buy this particular building? Mayor Lozeau That's correct. Alderman Chasse Are we going to pay to put it back up? Mayor Lozeau We're putting an RFP out. I'm hoping to get a private person to come in and want to renovate and rebuild that building. Our dollars can be used to leverage the costs so it is affordable for somebody to do that. What I don't want to do is I don't want to get in a situation where we end up ... For instance, we looked at whether or not we should be partnering with one of the other agencies that received these same dollars to pool our money and build a building again. I didn't want to do that because I didn't want it to be a non-profit and not on the tax rolls. The stages Finance - 03/17/10 Page 13 are this: First a decision had to be made to not demo the building completely. That required a decision to be made about the cost associated with the stopping the demo - tarping the building, moving the fence, getting the street open, saving the bricks, not dumping the bricks in the building, that sort of thing. I had to make that decision. I did that. That's what before you tonight. The next step. Alderman Chasse That's not my question. My question is at the end when it is all build, said and done, who's going to own the building? Mayor Lozeau Not the city. Alderman Chasse Are you going to turn around and sell it? Mayor Lozeau My hope is that we will take ownership of the site as it is. Find a private developer to come along and develop that building and they will own it. We will sell it back to them or we will give it to them, depending on how the dollars work. We will take these neighborhood stabilization dollars and we'll leverage them as they were intended to be leveraged. As Alderman Deane was mentioning, if we bought a foreclosed property or an abandoned property, renovated it, I have said to the board since the beginning when we accepted these dollars, I do not want to be a landlord. I don't want to be in a business of owning property. So, all I'm trying to do is secure it long enough to determine whether or not we can find somebody that can then be able to take their own dollars, leverage it with what the city has on the table, and put that building back on the market and use it again. If that doesn't happen, and that building has to come down, then the city will own those four pieces of land that we can then decide what we are doing. Are we selling them, are we using them? What are we going to do with that. That's Plan B. Alderman Chasse I can see other things happening out there. Let's say somebody's house burns down and I agree with Alderman Deane. They will say: "I need help. I'll go see the city." I know it's a historic building. I understand it's a historic building, but ... Mayor Lozeau The owners don't need help from us though. Alderman Chasse I know they would have destroyed the whole thing. I understand that. I understand that it would have been a vacant lot and they could have done whatever they want and you want another house to go up or you want something else to go up because you want tax revenue from it. I understand that perfectly well. I'm just saying I think we're opening a can of worms here because other people are going to say they can't get help from the city because it's not a historic building. Finance - 03/17/10 Page 14 Mayor Lozeau Let me tell you again. Nobody is helping anybody with anything. The owners don't need our help. We did not step up and say: "Poor you, you don't have enough money." The argument that you are making, fundamentally needs somebody to go: you helped them, you put money on the table for them. And, we are not putting money on the table for them. We are putting money on the table because we applied for money. We asked for money for neighborhood stabilization. We said you've got this money, we'd like to apply for it and we'd like to use it in the neighborhood strategically to develop that neighborhood in ways that we think meet with our Master Plan and better serve the community. If this fire would not have happened and this opportunity - I shouldn't call it an opportunity because it's too bad that the fire happened. I would have liked to leave the building perfectly alone. It was owned property, it paid taxes, it wasn't a problem. But when the damage happened and we had an opportunity to say we can use these funds and leverage it, nobody needed our help. This benefits the city. This benefits the neighborhood. This isn't an individual homeowner that didn't have the money and please come help me. That's not the can that we are opening. I understand that it may appear that way, but I can tell you unequivocally that it absolutely not the case here. It just isn't. And the buildings that came down in the Millyard that maybe didn't need to come down, all I can say it didn't happen on my watch. I put a lot of time into looking at some of these things. As a matter of fact, under the new plan for the Broad Street Parkway, we're not going to have to take down the Nimco building. And the Gate City building, we're only going to take a portion off the back. There are things that we're being careful about. Alderman Chasse It's okay. I'm only voting to put this on file anyway. You've already spent the $50,000. Mayor Lozeau I know but I just wanted you to have some comfort in knowing the approach I took and why. Alderman Pressly Would it be fair to say that the $50,000 that has been spent will be part of the return and leverage package so over time that will be reinvested in other properties? Mayor Lozeau Potentially. We have to look at how these dollars will be used, how many are on the table. I don't' want anybody under the impression that we are putting this money out there and that it all comes back to us. Any money that comes back goes back to the CDFA, not back to the city. Alderman Pressly Okay, but that is basically the goal of all this type of money, to be able to respond to circumstances, be it this building or another building, step in, do what needs to be done for the community and then hopefully get the property back on its feet and then use this money another time. Mayor Lozeau The key word here is stabilization. Neighborhood stabilization. If somebody said to me you have to come up with a million dollars of city dollars to put in there and rebuild or leverage, I'd say I'm sorry, I can't do that. If you haven't paid attention, I have school troubles; I have roads that aren't. ... I have plenty to that I could not justify doing that. But because these funds were Finance - 03/17/10 Page 15 available and are specifically targeted for this purpose, I think it would be a mistake for us not to utilize it this way. Alderman Pressly I just said before and I will say again, that we should do whatever it takes to save this money and this neighborhood. Thank you. Alderman Deane You cited 5-90G, and in 5-90G, it states: "The written finding, specifying in detail the reason for the contract, the need for immediate action, and the contract terms and amounts, shall be addressed to the Board of Aldermen and filed with the City Clerk, in which event award of the contract may be made immediately by the Mayor without aldermanic approval, and shall be presented to the Finance Committee at its next meeting for review." This wasn't given to the Board of Aldermen. Was it filed with the city clerk's office? Mayor Lozeau Alderman Deane, this memo is not from me. It's to me from Director Hersh. What I said as we started is I know I have to take that action. Write the memo and file it, and I intend to do that. I simply could not do it between the time I got the information and the time I had for the finance committee tonight. So, in my world the next finance committee meeting isn't tonight's meeting. I was just trying to be courteous giving you this information as quickly as I could. So, I will take those actions, as Mr. Gabriel pointed out to myself and Director Hersh that there is a process that needs to be followed, and it will be. As I said to Mr. Gabriel, I just assume get the memo from Director Hersh out to the members so they know they have a full explanation. My memo will be significantly shorter than this and will be filed with the Board and the City Clerk's Office. Alderman Deane But the $50,000 has already gone, right? Mayor Lozeau No giggling, Alderman Chasse. I get to make that decision and I did make a decision. Yes. Alderman Chasse It's all about the money. Mayor Lozeau Actually in this instance, it's all about the time. They did a heck of a job getting those streets open for us quickly and saving those bricks. We had to make a decision and I made it. Actually in this instance, it's all about the time. They did a heck of a job getting those streets open for us quickly and saving those bricks. We had to make a decision and I made it. Alderman Deane These are a portion of the NROs that need to be looked at, I think. When I look at that, maybe I'm just not looking at it broadly enough. But I always looked at 5-90G as we had a sewer collapse. There's a hole in the street. Yes, go down and fix it. I always looked at 5-90 where if we had something that posed an immediate threat to the neighborhood. Ya, there's falling bricks but there was a fence around the building that they had to put up. Ya, there was probably Finance - 03/17/10 Page 16 issue with the fire department with their response time getting to different neighborhoods because of that being closed off. You could use those as examples in this neighborhood, but I think this is a far stretch using this portion of the NROs to spend $50,000 to try to save a building that is in absolute disrepair and % of it is inside the basement. Like I said to you earlier, Mayor, I looked at when we got that $1.5 million, I looked it when it was called neighborhood stabilization money where you go through these areas similar to what they did - remember the old Myrtle Street project when they did the little urban renewal down there? They dropped the bulldozer blade and just leveled that whole neighborhood because it was in such disrepair. I looked at this money as being used for going in and taking care of some of the blight. Whatever is happening here that we're not privy to, except for what you've told us this evening, we don't work here, whatever is going on with these builders and the owners and these other people to save something, it looks like it is in absolute disrepair to me. I understand the historical significance that Alderman Pressly brings up, and your issues with how it is a pivotal portion of the neighborhood and all this other stuff. What did it have in it? The Social Club. Mayor Lozeau It isn't necessarily what was in the building. It is where the building is. .. Alderman Deane It's just ironic that ... Alderman Clemons People lost their homes... Alderman Deane We're buying a building across the street from it and tearing it down. Pardon me. Alderman Clemons People lost their homes in that building in that fire. Alderman Deane I understand that Alderman Clemons. Alderman Clemons There are hundreds of members of the Club Social that no longer have a place to go. Alderman Deane That's not true, Alderman Clemons. Alderman Chasse That's not true. Alderman Clemons And lots of.. Finance - 03/17/10 Page 17 Alderman Deane They have re-established themselves. Mayor Lozeau Alderman Deane, with all due respect. .. Alderman Clemons There are patrons in that store that no longer have a place to shop. They have to shop somewhere else. Getting that building rehabbed and trying to get those businesses back in there, yes, I agree with the mayor. I think we should do it, and we should try to do it as fast as we can. If we can get people back into their homes or maybe it will be something different. I don't know. But the building was a central piece of the neighborhood. The neighborhood that I live in. And yes, I have an interest in that. I want the building there. I want it back and I would like to have it be similar to what it was before. Alderman Deane There's going to be significant changes to that neighborhood. It will never be the same as the next couple of years go on. This isn't a battle I'm going to win. Enjoy spending the money. I won't support any part of it. I was under the impression the money was going to be utilized for other purposes. And, I understand what you're saying, Mayor. Believe me, it's nothing personal. You had to make a decision and that's what you chose to do with it. That's fine too. Mayor Lozeau I don't take it personal. I didn't envision the money being used for this building. It just happened that we had that money and what happened to the building happened. I can tell you that the $1.5 million would not be able to do some of what you described with coming in and doing the projects and things like that. Some of the abandoned and foreclosed properties that I'd like to have seen taken out, you'd be surprised. Well you wouldn't be because you're in the business. When you start rehabbing a house, taking it down, it always costs more than you expect. The other thing that I think that has been missed here tonight that I think is important to say is that the owners have actually been in a hardship waiting for us to do our due diligence. They have dollars that have not been released from their bank and from their insurance company because they are waiting for us because without an appraisal, we can't spend this money. I already told you if it was $50,000 straight city dollars, I would not have made the same decision that I made. To me it was an emergency knowing that it would be gone and that decision could not have been revisited. No, it wasn't a sewer collapse which we have done more than once here. But it was the building is going to be gone in three hours, do you want to try to keep it because if you do 1'11 tell you it cost an awful lot of heartburn for these owners who went out of their way to say and they are just regular Joes that just happened to invest in this building a long time ago. It was a lot easier for them to just be done. So, I don't' want to mitigate what they've had out there either. Alderman Pressly I've been trying to think about how to discuss this debate and one thought comes to mind. One man's trash is another man's treasure. We all have different ideas how to spend the money. Although I would support fixing sewer collapses, I think this is really important, and I appreciate what you have done. Finance - 03/17/10 Page 18 Alderman Chasse This is just on a piece of paper to file? Alderman Deane It wasn't the piece of paper, Alderman Chasse. It was the content. MOTION CARRIED TO SUSPEND THE RULES From: Katherine E. Hersh, Director, Community Development Division Re: $50,000 demo costs for 43 Pine Street MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO ACCEPT AND PLACE ON FILE MOTION CARRIED UNFINISHED BUSINESS - None NEW BUSINESS - RESOLUTIONS - None NEW BUSINESS - ORDINANCES 0-10-15 Endorser: Alderman-at-Large David W. Deane RELATIVE TO ANNUAL UPDATES OF THE PURCHASING MANUAL .. Also assigned to Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO RECOMMEND FINAL PASSAGE AS AMENDED IN THE PERSONNEL/ADMINISTRATIVE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE PRIOR TO THIS MEETING ON THE QUESTION Alderman Chasse Did we scratch out "and then provided to the finance committee"? Alderman Deane That's left in there. Alderman Chasse It's still in there, right? Alderman Deane Absolutely. Mayor Lozeau I'm actually going to move to amend, unless someone does, to take that language out. Alderman Chasse That's up to the endorser. Finance - 03/17/10 Page 19 Mayor Lozeau Well, it's not just up to the sponsor. As a member of the committee, anybody can, if you're a member of the committee or if you're a sponsor. Alderman Pressly I don't have the ordinance in front of me. What's in there now and what is it that you want to change? Mayor Lozeau In the meeting prior to this meeting, the committee took it up and allowed me to speak and raise a concern that I had. The language was to say that under the provision of the purchasing manual that the procedures, rules and regulations shall be collected in a purchasing manual which shall be reviewed and updated annually and then provided to the finance committee. The committee and the sponsor agreed to an amendment that now reads "which shall be reviewed annually and updated as necessary and then provided to the finance committee." I had asked that committee to consider striking the language "and then provided to the finance committee." The reason that I had asked that was because I am concerned about legislating through ordinance items of the staff shall provide to committee members. We had a lengthy discussion in the prior committee about who knew that we had a purchasing manual, who didn't. We talked about the orientation, as you know, Alderman Pressly. My concern is that members have this. It is my intention to have the updated manual on the website by the end of the month which I said to the committee. My problem is legislating receipt of something that anybody can get should they choose to get it. I think it is a legitimate concern to say we have to even know it's there to have it, and I can understand that. But you would be surprised how many locations and ordinances and resolutions where it tasks staff or the mayor to do things that we lose track of or didn't know we were suppose to do, or whatever the case may be. I think that there's a shared responsibility here for having the information to do your job. Alderman Pressly Have you made a motion to do that? Mayor Lozeau Yes, I just made that motion in my conversation. It's open to amendment right now. It's a little different than the legislative procedure at the state. MOTION BY MAYOR LOZEAU TO PUT A PERIOD AFTER "AS NECESSARY" AND STRIKE THE LANGUAGE "AND THEN PROVIDED TO THE FINANCE COMMITTEE" ON THE QUESTION Alderman Pressly As a member of the finance committee, I support the legislation as drafted. I know I want a copy and so with all due respect, I would not support your amendment. Sorry, Madam Mayor. Mayor Lozeau No apologies necessary. Finance - 03/17/10 Page 20 Alderman Vitale I would have to agree with Alderman Pressly. I think in this case, having the information given to the finance committee is more important, if I could put it that way. I don't know any other way to insure that we do get it at this point other than it's on the website. I know I can go to the website, if my printer is down, I can't print it out. It doesn't do me any good to have it at my house looking it up. I like the hard copy. Mayor Lozeau I don't disagree. Anybody that asked for it, we'd give it to them. I'm happy to withdraw my motion. There's no point having that argument when the consensus of the group clearly is to have it in there. So, I will withdraw that amendment and leave it as it is with the motion to pass with the amendment that I read earlier. MOTION WITHDRAWN MOTION CARRIED TO RECOMMEND FINAL PASSAGE AS AMENDED IN THE PERSONNEL/ADMINISTRATIVE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE PRIOR TO THIS MEETING DISCUSSION Alderman Deane reviewed the warrant and it appears to be an increased use in credit cards. He asked if the city had new credit cards and all departments now have them. Mayor Lozeau responded no. Alderman Pressly asked if they could find out who had credit cards and what limits and boundaries they had. Mayor Lozeau said she would be happy to provide that information. In response to Aldermen Deane's request, Mayor Lozeau stated she would provide him with a copy of the credit card policy. Alderman Deane remarked that this is the first time he's picked up on a number of citizen bank 4700 accounts. He hadn't seen that in the past. He also asked about contacting Comcast about the city's contract and opening the contract for renegotiating the services being brought into city buildings. He asked the Mayor if she thought that would be worthwhile. Mayor Lozeau remarked it is always worth an effort to look at something if the city can save dollars. She believed they were 5 years into a 7-year contract. It's in the contract that Comcast cable would be included at no charge to the city. It's the internet services that have grown in service since the contract was signed. The Mayor has reached out to Comcast to ask them about that. They are looking at what the dollars are. She doesn't know if they will be willing to open the contract. Alderman Deane said it was quite an eye-opener to see the cost of the T-1 line go into the police department and the difference in cost from the Comcast line. He knows the city has gotten rid of quite a few of the T-1 lines. Mayor Lozeau believed the city had less than a half a dozen T-1 lines. Alderman Deane said even when the fibers went in, the city was still stuck with quite a few of the T-1 lines. He asked if Mr. Barker had that information. Finance - 03/17/10 Page 21 Mayor Lozeau said she could get that information for Alderman Deane. Mayor Lozeau stated that Alderman Deane has been voting against the warrant. She was curious why and wanted to make sure he wasn't seeing something that the rest of the members were missing. The warrant is funds that the city has already obligated itself to. It's a process by which they make sure that a service has been rendered and then is paid for. Alderman Deane They might have been services that have been rendered and money that had been budgeted and then appropriated to the certain vendors but when I look through some of the expenditures that are being made, he doesn't agree with what has been done with the money and way it is being spent, and not necessarily in city hall. Alderman Deane still has not received an answer on a contractual clothing allowance, where the City is buying items at an apparel store in Manchester. He doesn't have problem putting uniforms on police officers; he has a problem buying them suits. He also looks at the school district paying mileage out to all these people, and that's their right, but Aldermen Deane sees spending trends and some just don't see what's going on in the real world. He really struggles with what they are spending money on. Alderman Deane said he could pull out 90-100 items out of a warrant. He would love to ask these people if it were their money if they would be spending it this way. Mayor Lozeau has been concerned about it, and she doesn't necessarily disagree with some of the points Alderman Deane raised. The clothing allowance are in the union contracts. Some other items are likely in the budget. She suggested Aldermen Deane bring his concerns to her attention while she's putting her budget together, she can ask those questions. But when it gets to the warrant, the suit has already been bought. The vendor has no idea whether or not we agree that the suit should be bought. He should be paid and that's what the warrant represents. Alderman Deane said there were two settlements in the warrant for legal services provided through Risk that exceeded $10,000. Normally when there is any sort of settlement, legal payments, it always comes to this committee. Finance hasn't had any non-publics to discuss those settlements, one going back to 2001. Mayor Lozeau thought some of the ones they had last year in this committee could be the ones that are just getting paid out now, but she'll look into those. Alderman Deane remarked under 308 area, WC, there's Marvel Plate Glass. Perhaps that was a typo. Alderman Deane will peel out the ones he has concerns with for the next warrant and send them to the Mayor. He also has a problem with the link sent electronically. Mayor Lozeau said they are looking at that. Alderman Pressly asked when the appropriate time was to question the expenditures? Alderman Deane said when they receive the warrant, the expenses have already been made. Mayor Lozeau said you have to pay payroll. Alderman Pressly asked if you have question on policy, then it should be brought up at the next budget process? Mayor Lozeau reiterated her previous suggestion to Alderman Deane. If a member raises a concern to her, she can bring it up during her budget process. She said after her first finance meeting, she asked every division director to take responsibility for their section of the warrant. Before I received it, I wanted their signatures on it. Each director has signed their respective piece of the warrant, to say they had incurred those expenses and they should be paid. She Finance - 03/17/10 Page 22 used the school deficit as an example, stating if the teachers worked last week and this week there's no money to pay them, the city still has to pay them. Alderman Deane notices a lot of food purchases with petty cash reimbursement. A few years ago, they took all those food lines out of the budget. It seems petty cash is being used as a way around it for reimbursement. Mayor Lozeau replied that she provides a lot of food in her office for meetings and things like that. In some departments she feels it is appropriate, depending on who is doing what. She used the example of the time there was a crew out on a sewer collapse in 20 degree weather, working on day, she supported the superintendent buying them pizza. WARRANT MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO APPROVE WARRANT #17 IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF $9,113,264.12 OF WHICH $2,126,741.37 ARE ACCOUNTS PAYABLE, $5,170,172.65 ARE PAYROLL AMOUNTS, $45,059.85 ARE PREPAY AMOUNTS AND $1,771,290.25 ARE WIRE TRANSFERS MOTION CARRIED POSSIBLE NON-PUBLIC SESSION ADJOURNMENT MOTION BY ALDERMAN CHASSE TO ADJOURN MOTION CARRIED The Finance Committee meeting was adjourned at 9:40 p.m. Alderman-at-Large Ben Clemons Committee Clerk  City of Nashua Planning and Zoning 589-3090 Community Development Division B!Jilding Safety Code Enforcement 589-3080 589-3100 City Hall, 229 Main Street, PO Box 2019 Urban Programs 589-3085 FAX 589-3119 Nashua, New Hampshire 03061-2019 www.gonashua.com Page I of2 MEMORANDUM TO: M·ayor Donnalee Lozeau ! ''-' FROM: Katherine E. Hersh, Director'"~J'.~~ SUBJ: $50,000 demo costs for 43 Pine Street DATE: March 12,2010 As you are aware, a fire broke out in the early morning hours on Sunday February i h at 43 Pine Street. At your directive, staff has spent a considerable amount of time uncovering every stone to save the Labine building, built in 1900. Its location at the comer of Ledge and Pine Streets Inakes it a visible and critical component of the neighborhood, especially with the construction of the Broad Street Parkway. The Labine building is Nashua's only example of a true turn-of.. the-century flat-iron building. We sought and received approval from CDPA to spend the City's Neighborhood Stabilization Program grant funds to acquire and rehabilitate the building. The approval came not a moment too SOOH, since demolition oftlle structure was well underway. The City, through our Risk Management Departluent, -has worked closely with the owners of the property. The owners share our desire to save this historic building, but do not have the resources to do so. The City had three structural engineers look at the building immediately after the fire. All three recomn1ended that the third floor of the entire building needed to be ren10ved at minimum to determine if the remainder of the building was structurally sound enough or needed to be demolished as well. Once the third floor was removed, the City toured the building with a structural engineer and determined that n1uch of the relnainder of the building could remain. The demolition of the Labine building at 43 Pine Street was originally contracted by the owners, 45 Pine St. LLC, with Dempro Construction. The scope was to demolish the entire building and femove all the Inaterials, leaving a flat safe site. Once the City received approval to use Neighborhood Stabilization funds for the acquisition and rehabilitation of 43 Pine Street from CDFA, the City approached the owners of the building, who agreed to halt demolition. The owners gave the City permission to discuss the demolition with Dempro Construction, who had begun work and was on site.  City of Nashua Community Development Planning and Zoning 589-3095 589-3090 Community Development Division Building Safety Code Enforcement 589-3080 589-3100 City Hall t 229 Main Street. PO Box 2019 Urban Programs 589-3085 FAX 589-3119 Nashua, New Hampshire 03061-201 9 www.gonashua.com Page 2 of2 Due to the expedient nature of the situation, public safety concerns, and that the demolition contractor was on the site, I spoke with you and received permission to go forward with the halting of the construction on February 24th and negotiate with the contractor. I contacted Tim Dunne of Dempro Construction, the demo company, and asked them to change the scope of their work. The initial scope allowed hiln to do the majority of the work with cranes and other heayy equipment. However, rather than demolishing the building and removing the material, we asked hiln to carefully remove the third floor bricks without damaging the first and second floors. Afterwards the debris that was left from the wood framing inside the building needed to be removed. The new scope of work was far nlore labor intensive and time consUlning. Tim Dunne had originally planned to sell all the brick, which he had estimated at a value of $100,000. However, he left all the bricks that were removed from the building on site. He cleaned up the entire site and had a number of people working through the weekend to allow the City to re-open Ledge and Pine Streets on Monday. He also Inoved the fence for the City, which was not in his original contract. Jennlfer Deshaies and I found Thn Dunne to be very responsive and accommodating to the City. M.r. Dunne took a risk that he ulight not get paid, and has nothing in writing frOlu the City as we did not have tilne to process a contract prior to the work being done. Also, given the nature of the situation and the tiule sensitivity due to safety concerns, it was not feasible to go out to bid and follow the normal purchasing procedure. Given the inl1uediacy of the situation, and per City Code Section 5-90 G, you authorized the expenditure of $50,000 to pay Dempro Construction from Neighborhood Stabilization funds to secure 43 Pine Street without demolishing the entire building. It took a couple of additional weeks to have all the paperwork and written approvals in place, which is why I was not able to h provide this memo to you in time to be placed on the March 1i Finance agenda. Thank you.