Finance Committee

REPORT OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE APRIL 7, 2010 A meeting of the Finance Committee was held on Wednesday, April 7, 2010 at 7:00 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 (after roll taken) Alderman Arthur T. Craffey, Jr. Alderman Paul M. Chasse, Jr. Members not in attendance: Also in Attendance Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire Michael Gilbar, Chief Financial Officer/Comptroller Lt. John Fisher, Div. Super., Bureau Command, NPD Karen Smith, Business Manager, NPD Brian Sojka, Supervisor, Fleet Maint. Div., NPD COMMUNICATIONS From: Donnalee Lozeau, Mayor Re: 43 Pine Street MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO ACCEPT AND PLACE ON FILE ON THE QUESTION Mayor Lozeau Thank you. Is there discussion on this motion? Alderman Deane Thank you. Umm when I looked through 590G it requires the written findings specifying in detail the reason for the contract, which I believe part of umm your first paragraph and some of your second paragraph because of the danger to the community from the falling parts of the building the need for immediate action, which is kind of in there. In the contract terms and the amounts, I didn’t get a copy of the terms or the total amounts. I know there was an amount of $50,000, but I don't know what the terms of the contract were. That was the $50,000 went to. Mayor Lozeau Okay. I will make sure that you get a copy of the term of the contract. Alderman Pressly Thank you Madam Mayor. As you know I totally support this project and my colleague to the left has an Finance Committee 2 April 7, 2010 opposing point of view, but I think what the issue seems to be is the process, and so as irritating as it is to follow the process that is part of our job, and so this this communication keeps coming up all sorts of places, and so if there are any questions on the way the procedures, if we could clear that up and put this to rest I would be very happy. Mayor Lozeau Well Alderman Pressly I have to tell you it’s not an irritation to me to follow a process… Alderman Pressly Okay. Mayor Lozeau …at all. Alderman Pressly Okay. Mayor Lozeau As a matter of fact some of what got me into trouble right now where you are seeing this coming up again is because I actually was ahead of the process… Alderman Pressly Oh good. Mayor Lozeau …by giving you the information that I gave you. Alderman Pressly Okay. Mayor Lozeau The way the timing worked, what I wanted to make sure what happened was that you had the information as soon as I had it. Sometimes in the Finance Committee meeting like when I am aware of a sewer collapse umm or a problem like that, I may say to the committee I haven’t done the memo yet, but I want you to know that this is coming. That was the spirit in which the last one was offered. I would argue that I’m not out of compliance with this. I think it is fair for Alderman Deane to raise the issue about whether or not the contract should have been attached to that. I’m certain it was just an oversight of the folks that were trying to get this together so I will make sure that that’s handy and readily available. Alderman Pressly Thank you. Finance Committee 3 April 7, 2010 Mayor Lozeau You are very welcome. Alderman Pressly Further comment. Mayor Lozeau Certainly. Alderman Pressly I would just like to say I really respect the research that my colleague does. He is very good on the rules, and I appreciate, I feel I’m sitting next to the city library. What he doesn’t have in his head he has under his desk so I value, I rely on him to do the research so if ah if these details can be cleared up and get on with this project it would be wonderful. Mayor Lozeau Well I, I would like to think Alderman Pressly that you’ll come to rely on me for some of the research as well. Alderman Pressly Thank you. I do. Alderman Deane Do we own this building? Mayor Lozeau No we do not. Alderman Deane I saw an ad in the paper today for rehabilitation work, accepting bids from contractors who have financial background and backing for rehabilitation of the property. Are we in a contract with the owners to go out and do this or how is that, how is this process working on the renovation? Mayor Lozeau It’s working the same way that I’ve described multiple times, Alderman Deane, and I will lay it out again. The intention of the city has always been not to own that building as a developer, and to get it back on the tax rolls. So what is happening is the RFP is going out so we can see if there are private entities that will respond to that so that when we do purchase the building from the current owners of which we’ve made an offer, and I believe that they have now accepted, we will be prepared to turn it around very quickly ah to somebody else for ownership and redevelopment. Finance Committee 4 April 7, 2010 Alderman Deane So we’re gonna buy it and sell it to somebody who will rehabilitate it, and are we going to be using ah, is there gonna be any balance of the CDFA to spend on the rehabilitation or is that being used up in the purchase? Mayor Lozeau The Neighborhood Stabilization money that you’re referring to is one of the umm items that we’re putting on the table in an effort to get it redeveloped, so if the developer needs all that money in order to get the building redeveloped, it’s on the table for that. If they don't there will be money available for other projects. Alderman Deane So what are we using if, so whatever is left in this account? Mayor Lozeau It is a million four. Alderman Deane There is a million four so ... Mayor Lozeau Minus the fifty thousand. Alderman Deane So there is a million three fifty, so if we, are we gonna use, we’re gonna use that million three fifty to buy the building? Mayor Lozeau No. Alderman Deane No. That is where I’m kind of confused because it said the city received a verbal approval from CDFA to spend the grant on acquiring and rehabilitating this building. Mayor Lozeau Right. It’s two pieces, acquiring and rehabilitating. Alderman Deane So we’re not gonna acquire it? Finance Committee 5 April 7, 2010 Mayor Lozeau No. Alderman Deane, we are going to purchase the building. As I told you, an offer has been made, the owners have accepted it… Alderman Deane What money… Mayor Lozeau ...The money that is left should we, should the Board of Aldermen agree to the purchase, which right now the agreement is assessed value ah with some slight change to it because of the appraisal that came in so I don't want to give you a number and be incorrect this evening. Umm that will happen. We are hopeful that we, once we own the building the RFP that you saw advertised today, we’ll have responses in so we can do a quick turn around. I would like to get this done. That potential buyer will then take, buy the building from us, which may be a dollar for all I know, have access to the Neighborhood Stabilization dollars for the costs associated with the rehab, and then get the project completed. So that money will be used however we need to use it in order to accomplish the end goal. If nobody comes along and can privately develop, that we are likely to own the building and take it down, and then that will leave a substantial amount in the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. I’m you know I’m sorry if I have not been clear, but I have for a very long time tried to keep us all on the same page with where we are heading. Alderman Deane Thank you for the explanation. I appreciate it. Mayor Lozeau Your welcome. Alderman Clemons I would just like to say that I appreciate the process that ah that you have used thus far, and I think that umm it’s a balance between what the, what some folks wanted in the city was to tear that building down and use it for other, the land for other things, and some of us want to umm see if we can keep the building up, and I think that this is ah a very good compromise at trying to do umm ah the right thing, and if no one can come along and do it ah in an equitable way then we go with plan B, and I think that is fair for everybody. So I appreciate the process and ah I wanted to let you know that Mayor. Mayor Lozeau Thank you. I appreciate that as well. Further discussion on this item? Seeing none all in favor of the motion say eye, all those opposed nay, and the motion carries. MOTION CARRIED Finance Committee 6 April 7, 2010 From: Robert Gabriel, Purchasing Manager Re: Purchase of Financial System (ERP) Reporting Software (Value: $16,490) Account: 722-64040 Computer Software – City-Wide “ERP” System Account Balance Remaining After Purchase: $6,926,119 MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND AWARD THE CONTRACT TO COMPUTER HUT IN THE AMOUNT OF $16,490. FUNDS ARE AVAILABLE IN ACCT. #722-64040 ON THE QUESTION Alderman Deane I had a question on umm, it’s nice to see that a local company was the lower bidder. Mayor Lozeau You are going to see that more than once tonight. Alderman Deane Umm under the note section below the 4 bidders “special exceptions may be required in utilizing the NGIN funds pursuant to 584 special purchase procedures and further leeway may be required under NRO-5-90A authority to the Finance Committee, which states that said committee any waive compliance and any provisions of this article when the best interests of the city would be served.” Do we have to exercise waiving any of these umm NRO's for approval here? Mayor Lozeau I don’t believe we do. I’m not… Alderman Deane Does Mr. Gilbar know or does… Mayor Lozeau He … we don’t, that note that is attached to the memo we don't need to exercise that this evening do we? Michael Gilbar No. Mayor Lozeau Exactly. Is there further discussion on this item? Alderman Pressly I know that this has already been approved and you are planning to go ahead. I always worry about these people being able to use it. Ah is there a training involved or are the people ah that are going to be this system, ah I have just encountered so many times where when you change or upgrade or doing something to a computer system it can take a while for people to adjust to it. Finance Committee 7 April 7, 2010 Mayor Lozeau I understand. One of the reasons that we’re moving forward with this component is there are people in the city currently using crystal reports. You’ll see them on the website for our financial reports. They look a little different than how you would see our budgets, and this is an effort to get more licenses for more people to be trained in using crystal reports because that is a significant component of the ERP program. So we are trying to get a bit ahead of that in laying that out. So training is absolutely a part of it and it is a way to take the edge off of some of the bigger components that they are going to be learning as they move forward with the ERP. So it is a piece we can do now, it’s a piece that is already engaged and staff is already using it. Alderman Pressly Further question. Mayor Lozeau Certainly. Alderman Pressly So this is one piece of that, of the large project that’s already, that was approved last year? Mayor Lozeau That’s correct. Alderman Pressly That I know very little about. Mayor Lozeau That’s okay. You will get to know about it. Alderman Pressly I hope so. Thank you. Mayor Lozeau Your welcome. As a matter of fact, Alderman Pressly, one of the things that we are looking at is trying to find an opportunity to have a discussion with some of the Aldermen again about it for those of you who have not had such a close understanding. Alderman Pressly That would be wonderful. That would be wonderful. Thank you. Mayor Lozeau We just have to get through some of these other items that are before us right now … Finance Committee 8 April 7, 2010 Alderman Pressly And I think it is important … Mayor Lozeau …that are taking up a significant amount of attention. Alderman Pressly I think it is important for the employees to understand it that have to live with it day-to-day. Thank you. Mayor Lozeau Mhmm. Further discussion on this item? Alderman Craffey I thank you Mayor. Umm is this for 50 licenses or 25? I see on the second page that, that they ask for 25 full licenses and then also let me know if there is a need for 25 more like 50+? Mayor Lozeau We were, we were trying to make sure that we could afford it, and that it made sense for us right now, so their site licenses so they’re not attached to a person, so there’s 50 licenses. Alderman Craffey I thank you. Mayor Lozeau Your welcome. Alderman Clemons I just note for the record that Alderman Vitale arrived. Mayor Lozeau Thank you. Further discussion on this item? Seeing none all in favor say I, all opposed nay, and that motion carries. MOTION CARRIED Mayor Lozeau I recognize the clerk for a further communication and a motion please. Finance Committee 9 April 7, 2010 From: Robert Gabriel, Purchasing Manager Re: Purchase of Full Size Marked Police Vehicles Requested by Nashua Police Department (Value: $69,657) Account: 331-68045-6613-6267 Recovery Act JAG Grant 2009-Vehicles $46,438 Account Balance Remaining After Purchase: $35,022 Account: 531-68025-6610 Marked Patrol Cars Group II-NPD $23,219 Account Balance Remaining After Purchase: $361 MOTION BY ALDMERMAN CLEMONS TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND AWARD THE CONTRACT TO M-H-Q MUNICDPAL VEHICLES IN THE AMOUNT OF $69,657. SOURCE OF FUNDING IS THROUGH ACCTS. #331-68045-6613-6267 ($46,438) AND 531-68025-6610 ($23,219) ON THE QUESTION Mayor Lozeau Thank you. Discussion on this motion? Alderman Pressly Thank you Madam Mayor. Um with all the vehicles coming up tonight, do they all come under this resolution from last year, the acceptance of ah it’s on the back page of this, the acceptance of ah some public money to do this? Mayor Lozeau Correct, they’re… Alderman Pressly So is it fair to say that all of vehicles coming under ah approval tonight ah are being paid for by this fund? Mayor Lozeau All the vehicles that are before you tonight are being paid for through grant funding. Alderman Pressly Great. Mayor Lozeau Umm this first one, umm are 3 vehicles, the second one are the motorcycles. They are, umm, it is clear to umm the Police Department that these are not, currently we have like, I will just give you an example. We have 22 cruisers. Umm this will get us to 24 cruisers, but they understand that 24 will not become part of the normal rotation, the 22 will be. These 2 extra cruisers are directly related to a grant. Umm the Police will talk to you a little bit about that. Umm, and when the time comes that those 2 vehicles will be retired, there won't be an expectation that they would be replaced… Alderman Pressly Oh okay. Finance Committee 10 April 7, 2010 Mayor Lozeau …unless they were grant funds again. Alderman Pressly So are they going to be used differently. Mayor Lozeau They are. Alderman Pressly Okay. Mayor Lozeau They’re, the ones in this one are particularly, two of them are for direct patrol, umm which I’m going to invite the police up. I think that they’d probably rather share this news with you than me, but it’s a particular program that the grant is, Lieutenant Fisher? Alderman Pressly Okay. And then I would like to know what, if there is any money left in this grant money after these purchases tonight? Mayor Lozeau They have ah … Alderman Pressly They are going… Mayor Lozeau …earmarked all their funds for specific purchases. Would somebody like to maybe set up the ah discussion? Lt. Fisher? John Fisher Thank you Mayor. If I could ah set the table specific to Alderman Pressly's ah questions. The grant that we are taking this money from is a recovery grant, and one of the other programmatic pieces of the recovery grant is an overtime component that is paying ah police for extra patrols, and these 2 cars are going to be specifically used for those extra patrols. Ah the patrols need to be specific to areas where we have either have had some traffic issues, some crime issues, umm ah an issue that was raised by one of the crime watch groups, some other methodology umm and that these patrols would be used specific to that. These vehicles are going to bused for that, and as the Mayor referred to, they are not on our replacement schedule. Finance Committee 11 April 7, 2010 Mayor Lozeau Mrs. Smith. Karen Smith If I could add on to answer your question, there will be a balance in this account of $167,000. Alderman Pressly I’m sorry. Karen Smith A hundred and sixty seven thousand total on the grant. Alderman Pressly For the grant, okay. Karen Smith Yes, and ah when we’re discussing the grant, but this evening, the purchases would include the grant and we have 1 item that is a budget item, which is the K-9 vehicle to specify that there is 1 vehicle that there is not grant funded. Umm you should have received a memo umm a correction from last month's finance meeting when that question was posed, I’m just correcting that there was 1 vehicle. We did order 10 vehicles back umm quite awhile ago, our main vehicles were purchased, but there was 1 K-9 vehicle that was treated differently because it fit closer with the description on these particular vehicles so when we did the bid we put it collectively on this one. So tonight there are 3 vehicles, 2 are grant and 1 K-9 vehicle is budget, and then there’s the motorcycles, which are also grant. Mayor Lozeau Thank you Mrs. Smith. Further question Alderman Pressly? Alderman Pressly So, but it’s just the 2 automobiles that once they become obsolete they will not be replaced? What about the… Karen Smith That is correct. Alderman Pressly Okay. Is this gonna pose a problem? I have no idea how long a vehicle like this should last, and ah if you get used to this and you lose them ah won't there be a big gap in your service? John Fisher Well that is a good question, but the bottom line is it umm, we’re not, that’s not going to be part of it. I mean I don’t know what’s coming down the pike. I mean I would love to see ah these types of funds be Finance Committee 12 April 7, 2010 given to our city because it really helps us keep our crime rate down, it helps with the patrols, and in an ideal situation, I would really like to see this continue, but umm one of things that we needed to get right out there is that we’re not, in our meeting with the Chief and Brian through the Mayor, ah we’re not gonna be doing this. This is not something that can be part of our budget. We don't have, I don’t know in brief we don’t have this kind of money to do this. Umm so this is an additional thing that I would love to say can keep going, but we’ll have to see how it goes. Mayor Lozeau Well there’s something to be… Alderman Pressly But how long? Mayor Lozeau …well Alderman Pressly, these vehicles will last significantly longer than the cruisers they are looking at, anywhere from 10 years or better because they are not gonna to be driven 24/7 the way cruisers are now. Alderman Pressly Okay. Mayor Lozeau ..Umm you know I think that all of us are hoping that the grant sources see some success here in some of our high accident areas or high crime areas that they may be more likely to ah be interested in supporting programs like this that are targeted for specific things, and over the years that happens a lot with the police. There will be initiatives that come along umm and they get funded because of that so.. Alderman Pressly Okay. Another question. I presume then you have to keep pretty good records as far as what success, what do these vehicles do to help the crime rate and what success you have with them to prove in ten years or so that we need more? John Fisher What we do is we, actually we keep work specific to the police work. I mean the cars are nifty and they are a nice tool, but the actual police work is done by police officers, detectives, and umm each, each of these patrols has a component that has documentation of the number of people spoken to, the number of arrests, the number of tickets. Umm we have those for each of our patrols, and we keep that and use it like the Mayor said you know hoping to be able to prove our success. Umm and to be honest with you so far, and we’ve had these for a few years, and it has worked out well umm which helps, it helped us in this grant because they saw that previously we keep good records and that we have some success with these patrols. Alderman Pressly Thank you. Finance Committee 13 April 7, 2010 Mayor Lozeau Further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor of the motion say I, all opposed say nay, and that motion carries. You are welcome to stay while we go under your next item. MOTION CARRIED From: Robert Gabriel, Purchasing Manager Re: Purchase of Police Motorcycles Requested by Nashua Police Department (Value: $30,498.80) Account: 331-68045-6613-6267 Recovery Act JAG Grant 2009 – Vehicles Account Balance Remaining After Purchase: $4,523 MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND AWARD THE CONTRACT TO NASHUA HARLEY-DAVIDSON IN THE AMOUNT OF $30,498.80. FUNDS ARE AVAILABLE IN ACCT. #331-68045-6613-6267 ON THE QUESTION Alderman Pressly I would just like to say I appreciate the picture. It would be nice if we had a picture for all of the cars too. There is a picture of the motorcycle in our packet, which is not included with the other vehicles so thank you. Mayor Lozeau Lieutenant Fisher, umm before I recognize some of the other questions, I want to make sure that I didn’t misspeak. It occurred to me that it was, ah the motorcycles that you look to 10 years on, and I know that we talked about the, these 2 special cruisers a moment ago. I knew that you were looking for a longer life. Was I right when I said up to 10 years? Lieutenant Fisher Well I’d defer… Mayor Lozeau I just want to make sure we have it clear. John Fisher I mean we’ve gotten 10 years out of specialty use vehicles. If you look at the K-9 vehicle that we are replacing, it’s a 2002, but you know what I would probably actually defer this question to the head of the vehicle fleet, Brian Sojka, who could probably give us a better idea about how long we can expect this. Brian Sojka Ah on 2 directed patrol vehicles, we’re looking to at least keep them until 5 years, hopefully much longer. We’ve never done this before so we’re giving it just because of what the vehicles are going to be used for, ah we’re saying of at least 5 years. Plus we could go to 10. Ah we really don't know at this point, it’s still too early. Finance Committee 14 April 7, 2010 Mayor Lozeau I just did not want to put you out on limb. I knew that I had a 10 year figure in my head, and it was the bikes and not the cars. I just wanted to make sure. Brian Sojka Right and the motorcycles are at least 10 years… Mayor Lozeau Okay. Brian Sojka ….because it’s a seasonal thing with these. Mayor Lozeau I knew that there was the not the 24/7 or the seasonal vehicles so I just wanted to make sure that I explained those correctly. So at least 5 on the cars and 10 on the bike. Alderman Chasse Just a couple of quick questions. You’re trading in a ‘95 Harley? Brian Sojka Yes. Alderman Chasse How many miles roughly on that? Brian Sojka Ah 23,107 miles. Alderman Deane That is unbelievable. Alderman Chasse And we’ll only getting $3,400 for it? Wouldn't it be better to sell it outright? Are you allowed to sell those outright, put it out ah I don't know, raffle it off. I am sure that you can make more than $3,000 raffling that thing off. John Fisher Normally Brian knows about this, but I had this side conversation with Nashua Harley Davidson. Actually it was ah Mr. Gabriel pointed out the same thing, and asked me that question. We had a lengthy discussion about that. Umm this, if I could have brought this tonight it probably would have illustrated Finance Committee 15 April 7, 2010 better. This thing has taken a beating. It has been used for training umm obviously it was ridden. It has been ridden for patrols. Ah, but it has gone down quite a few times. Umm these are hard miles, this isn’t 23,000 like umm like you would have on a typical motorcycle. You know like ah Mr. Gabriel would ride on his. You know there is probably 50,000 miles on his motorcycle, but these are bad miles. These are around town. These have had several clutches on them. Umm this particular has ah has taken a beating, and ah I ah when I talked to Nashua Harley about it, they said you really think you can get more for that go ahead try to get it from somebody else because this is, this is all we’re gonna do and this is, you know I talked to the guy specifically about that. That is a great question. Alderman Chasse Yeah because ah for $3,400 I would have bought it. John Fisher Yeah you know I don’t know that you want to jump in on this one, but alright. Mayor Lozeau There would be another picture… John Fisher They’ll have it. Mayor Lozeau …I think we frown on letting… Alderman Chasse Now are Harley’s ah, I know they had a reputation of leaking oil. Did they cure that problem? Brian Sojka On the most part yes… Alderman Chasse On the most part. John Fisher …but there are still some issues with them. They haven’t fixed the problem completely yet. Alderman Chasse That is due time. They’ll get it done. Thank you. Finance Committee 16 April 7, 2010 Mayor Lozeau Thank you. Alderman Vitale I was just wondering how many motorcycles does the department have in total? John Fisher I will let you talk about that Brian. Brian Sojka Ah three. We have 3 motorcycles. Alderman Vitale Are they all 3 out on the road in weather like today? Brian Sojka If they need to be used yes. Those 3 bikes are available to be used right now. Alderman Vitale When you say available to be used, are they used under different circumstances than just the cruisers? Why do they go out at certain times? John Fisher Talk about that operationally. If I can talk to the operational side of that umm number 1 we have to have the people available. Umm the new motorcycles one of the things that we will be coming to you for is a preview, and this is really not fair, but ah actually I do think I have had this conversation with Mr. Gabriel. We are going to have MDT's on the motorcycles for the first time, but that is a purchase we’re looking at down the road umm with some of the grant funds. Umm currently you can’t write a report from one, you can't transport a prisoner. We have to have extra people. We’ve a certain number of patrols in the city that have to be covered and a certain number of then overlapping vehicles, and then if you have the extra you can use them, you can use them on the motorcycle. Umm but as umm Mr. Sojka pointed out, you know if we need them they can be used. When we have a parade they will be, it is frequently they are out there or if we have the extra people they are out there. That’s usually when you will only see, we don't have enough staffing to kind of get that many people out there because with a balance of needing you know walking patrols on Main Street or bicycle patrols, those things, those operational things are reserved for the person who is working ah supervising that day. But when… Mayor Lozeau We are not buying them for parades Lt. Fisher. Finance Committee 17 April 7, 2010 John Fisher No. No. Mayor Lozeau I just want to be clear. John Fisher The advantage, I mean there is an operational advantage of a motorcycle too. It is a lot lower profile. They are primarily used for motor vehicle enforcement. The people who are using them during the season are the motor vehicle unit and they provide, they do a lot of enforcement with those routinely. The motorcycle folks will, let’s put it this way I mean I saw the statistics from last year and there is no one that will touch them numbers wise as far as just a number of citizen contacts the number of motor vehicle stops that those folks have. Alderman Vitale Do umm… Mayor Lozeau Alderman Vitale.. Alderman Vitale I’m sorry. Mayor Lozeau That’s okay. Alderman Vitale Umm do all of our officers get licensed for a motorcycle or no? John Fisher No. Umm the umm our motorcycle instructors are Harley Davidson instructors. The officers who are selected have to go through an application process and a testing process and they have to have been a motorcycle rider previously, and it’s not easy. Umm you have to volunteer for it and apply for it and then be selected for it, and then be trained on it, and then keep your certification current. That’s on you. Alderman Vitale Okay. Mayor Lozeau And part of this work Alderman Vitale will be, as he talked about the 3 that are out there, so 1 is going to go away for the trade, the 2 that are currently used will move into training, and then that will leave 2 new Finance Committee 18 April 7, 2010 ones on the street. So it used to be 1 for training, 2 for the streets and sometimes they would have to use more than 1 for training, but now it will be 2 for training and 2 on the streets. Alderman Vitale Okay. Thank you. Alderman Deane I just heard some very compelling arguments against even buying these things if we are not gonna, if we get better value with somebody in a cruiser than we do in one of these, and you know the only time I see these out is like on Kinsley Street or that portion of South Main Street where people go by the drugstore and a little giddyup on the gas pedal and the guys sit up there and they, they bag them, but it’s, it’s almost like that a cruiser, you’ve got a value for your dollar with a cruiser because this has so many different negatives to it. Like you mentioned earlier you can't ah, can’t bring a prisoner on the back back into the station. I don’t think that would work out too good, but could you use this money to purchase another cruiser? Brian Sojka Well, if you are speaking operationally would the grant allow that I would say I don't know. We’d have to submit for a re ah, they would have to take a look at that. We have to ask to use the money differently than we asked for it to be used for. This grant came before the Board of Aldermen and ah and the money was earmarked for this. I should say that the reason the sectors have to be covered is you need that versatility. Umm we also need motor vehicle laws to be enforced and it’s, the motorcycle is a very effective tool for that. It also can get in places that cars can't. Umm and you can do some things with the motorcycles. The folks that ride them are very good at it, but primarily they are used for the motor vehicle enforcement. You do see them parked at high traffic areas, you do see them at corners where we are having stop sign issues, and people don't pick them up as easily as they pick up a police car. It’s a little bit umm better tool for that purpose. Mayor Lozeau Alderman Deane that was one of the questions that I had asked some time ago too about are we better off using some of these grant dollars to, instead of buying 13 cruisers this year with city dollars, can we look at buying 10 with city dollars and 3 with grant dollars, and the answer is because we budget for a certain amount of cruisers… Alderman Deane We can’t supplant… Mayor Lozeau …we can’t supplant. We could buy additional, which we are doing with those other 2, but we can't, now because these umm bikes excuse me have not been budgeted for for quite some time, there was an opportunity here to buy those bikes. I think if we are looking at straight city dollars for these, I think that they’d be going through another year with the same bikes they had umm because I don't see a way around that, umm but because they had this opportunity that is why they looked at it. Alderman Deane I umm I remember when we bought these motorcycles, and we traded motorcycles back in when we got Finance Committee 19 April 7, 2010 these. We got more money when we traded those in than we paid for them. That is why it’s kind of, I was telling the Mayor that this afternoon, it is just kind of disheartening to see that we are getting $3,400, and I would try to, I would tend to agree with Alderman Chasse and just not even bother. I would hold onto it and sell it. I would put an ad in the paper and sell the thing. I think that you would get more money for it. This, this ah, you got to understand this Nashua Harley Davidson they don't want it so they just you know here is your $3,400. I know that you stated it’s probably in pretty rough shape from people ah, awful expensive piece of equipment for somebody to be learning how to… Brian Sojka It’s, it’s the only way though, it’s the only way to teach umm police officers how to drive them. You, there’s a very rigid way, there is a different way you drive these motorcycles or drive something like a motorcycle in a police fashion, and regardless of which motorcycle you choose umm the training is fairly rigorous for these, and they are good tools and they have been used a long time. They are wear tested, but I remember when that happened with the motorcycles before, and, but that was also a different time in the economy and it was also a different time for Harley Davidson. I mean those were, those were unbelievably hot issue, hot items. There were guys at work that were buying them, and now I am going on a war story here. There were guys at work buying them, keeping them for a couple of years, and selling their own Harley Davidson's for more money, and then standing in line to get a new one because you couldn’t get them. But, there has been one on the bulletin board for sale at work that is 3 years old for $10,000. It’s been there since the middle of the winter, and they are just not moving. If you jump on craigslist, if you jump on craigslist and watch and see if any of them go, it’s they are not what they were back then. They were such a hot item to have a … Alderman Deane Police package. John Fisher A police package umm Road King was just you know was like being a ‘63 Corvette, it just you know it’s value was just raised just because it was so rare. Now they are all over the place, and just not what they were. Mayor Lozeau Further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor of the motion say I, those opposed nay. The motion carries. MOTION CARRIED Mayor Lozeau Thank you. Karen Smith Thank you. Mayor Lozeau I recognize the clerk for unfinished business. UNFINISHED BUSINESS – None Finance Committee 20 April 7, 2010 NEW BUSINESS – None DISCUSSION – None WARRANT MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO APPROVE WARRANT #18 IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF $18,027,338.94 OF WHICH $2,257,162.79 ARE ACCOUNTS PAYABLE, $6,669,303.71 ARE PAYROLL AMOUNTS, $58,528.13 ARE PREPAY AMOUNTS AND $9,042,344.31 ARE WIRE TRANSFERS ON THE QUESTION Mayor Lozeau Thank you. That is the motion. Is there discussion on the motion? Alderman Deane Mayor I was ah, I was looking through some of those Title 1 grants, and what I was finding in there was a lot of, from the school district, I was finding most of them, one of them was, I guess I can send it to Mr. Conrad or whatever, one of them all the expenditures made out of it were miscellaneous, and then another Title 1, which totaled up around $40,000 and another one was all mileage reimbursement. So should I send my questions to ah Mr. Conrad at the School District? Mayor Lozeau That would be my suggestion. Alderman Deane Sounds like a good deal to me. I will do that. Mayor Lozeau I would say that I know that a lot of Title 1 teachers move from school to school. That would require some reimbursement. Alderman Deane There is a lot of mileage reimbursement in the school district. Mayor Lozeau Okay. Alderman Deane Thank you. Mayor Lozeau You are welcome. Further discussion on the item, on the motion? All those in favor say I, those opposed Finance Committee 21 April 7, 2010 nay, the motion carries. MOTION CARRIED Mayor Lozeau We have no non-public session this evening. ADJOURNMENT MOTION BY ALDERMAN CHASSE TO ADJOURN MOTION CARRIED The Finance Committee meeting was adjourned at 7:40 p.m. Alderman-at-Large Ben Clemons Committee Clerk