Finance Committee

REPORT OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE JULY 15, 2015 A meeting of the Finance Committee was held on Wednesday, July 15, 2015, at 7:09 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chamber. Mayor Donnalee Lozeau, Chair, presided. Members of the Committee present: Alderman-at-Large Daniel T. Moriarty, Vice Chair Alderman-at-Large David W. Deane Alderman Ken Siegel Alderman-at-Large Jim Donchess Alderwoman Pamela T. Brown Alderman Paul M. Chasse, Jr. Also in Attendance: Ms. Kathy Hersh, President, City Arts Nashua Mayor Lozeau I am going to recognize Kathy Hersh, the President of City Arts Nashua and I am going to preface my recognition by saying that we had a public arts presentation last week where we invited an artist by the name of Jerry Beck who we are talking about working with the city to a presentation hosted by the Art’s Commission and City Arts Nashua to just talk about this. The Board of Aldermen was invited to that meeting as well. As some of you recall we had a vote by the full Board of Aldermen on the recommendation of the Downtown Improvement Committee on public art in the downtown that came by way of a communication to the full Board and that was voted on. Tonight we have a contract on the agenda for that and I thought it would be a great opportunity to do a quick look at what we are talking about as far as the deliverables in the contract. Ms. Kathy Hersh, President, City Arts Nashua I am very pleased to be here. As we know, great cities have great public art. They have sculptures and all kinds of wonderful things and we define our great cities in many ways by their public art and by their architecture. I think that is a fabulous thing but that’s not what I am here to talk about, it’s a kind of art that I am here to talk about tonight. I am here to talk about public art that generates interest and excitement in a community that is energetic and creates…its innovative models where communities use public art to generate energy and enthusiasm for their community. Public art has the power to create dynamic places and spaces in our communities and downtown is a perfect place to do that. As the Mayor mentioned, Jerry Beck was here last week and he is the founder of The Revolving Museum which is a museum in Lowell that’s been around for 30 years. Jerry and the revolving museum have spent 30 years facilitating the creation of temporary public art by the community. He loves to work with the community to create public art. Jerry will tell you that art is the expression of our creative selves and every single one of us has a creative part to us even if we don’t think like that. Jerry brings out the artist in all of us, that’s the type of programs that he likes to do and they are very successful at bringing more involvement and awareness to a neighborhood or a downtown. The first few slides I have are from Jerry and this was a festival that he put together with the community. Lowell is the second largest city in the United States from the standpoint from the Cambodian population. He worked with them and it really represented their culture and he worked with kids to do that. So this dragon is actually made from CD’s and people put their messages on those CD’s and then they created this dragon. Whenever Jerry shows this picture I am always fascinated by the dragon but he’s really showing it for the projection that’s on that tower in the background. It’s not just a projection, it’s an entire film. That stack has got a whole video on it that changes and it was the kids in this community who created what that video would be. When you do an event like this you always need to Finance Committee – 07/15/15 Page 2 make sure that you have music. For example, we are doing a dedication of a sculpture on Saturday and after listening to Jerry I ran around and said, oh, I didn’t think about music for that. There’s much more to all of the things that we do that are our creative side. Jerry loves to work with light and these temporary sculptures and they are created by the community. This is his Wheel of Revolution. All of these pieces are made by people with different levels and one of the things that this does is when you have something like this in your downtown or your neighborhood what happens is that the kids say mom, dad, let’s go and see that. Grandma and grandpa come and we all have to go see the Wheel of Revolution. It brings other people downtown. These are in the planting beds in Chicago, we were there in 2007. The bicycles were bolted onto these vertical poles in all of the planting beds and there is a little sign in the front that says who made it. It’s clearly a changing public art so I don’t know what came before or after the bicycles. It made me want to walk up and down other streets. When we were there, there were some cool globes over on the lakefront and this was a project of a non-profit and they wanted to draw attention to global warming and other environmental issues so they had 100 of these globes that are 5’ in diameter and they got an artist for each one and a sponsor for each one and they were all painted based on what some environmental issue that was important from their standpoint. This one was sponsored by the world’s largest laundry mat which is a business in Chicago and they use solar power in their business. As you can see these are right there and accessible. People can walk up to them and touch them and that’s the way they should be. Those globes got sold and stayed in the community but they did this again in many other communities so if you look them up on line you can find them in Jerusalem and Boston had them on the Boston Common a few years ago and each community creates their own. Play Me I’m yours is a program that was initiated in 2008 in the U.K. and this gentlemen, Luke Jerram, he’s an artist and he was saying that he would go to the launderette every Saturday morning and the same people would be there and nobody talked to each other and he kind of thought this must be the way a lot of urban environments get to be where people don’t talk to each other so he put a piano into that launderette just to change the dynamics and get people involved and expressive. Lynchburg, VA is a city that I’ve been to and it’s a beautiful little city. The next slide is in Fargo, SD and we have a piano store so it would be so cool to put a piano right on Main Street and have the opportunity for people to play. Boston did these in their parks a couple of years ago and they had 75 pianos that they put all throughout their parks. It’s just one more opportunity, there’s 1,300 pianos based on this one particular program. In Denver, CO there were shopping bags on the sidewalk near Main Street that had the name of the store on the shopping bag and it was really cool. A lot of communities use bike racks so there are different examples bike racks. There are some colorful paper clips for a stationary store, you could have a whisk for a kitchen store and you can set these up so you can install them and change them if you want, they don’t have to stay that same way forever. In Germany I have a stack of books in front of the library and it’s got to be 30’ tall. There’s a bike rack in Nashville that’s a microphone which is perfect for Nashville. The one that I am really disappointed that I can’t show you is the one from Portugal with the umbrellas although you may have seen it on-line. Mayor Lozeau Kathy, why don’t you turn the computer around so the members can see the pictures. It’s a very interesting shot. They have hung umbrellas over a sidewalk in a way that it lights up and it the sun goes through it. Ms. Hersh The contract that is before you tonight is to…the products of that contract would be four pieces of public art in the landscaping beds and two events that are public participatory events similar to what Jerry Beck does. The City Arts Nashua, if this contract is approved, will be hiring the Revolving Museum and Jerry Beck to man the project. I think it would be very exciting; again, it’s a very public participatory thing. Jerry doesn’t come in and say I’m the artist so I know what you should want, he comes in and wants to meet with everybody and get a feel for the community and get people involved. He wants to make it “our” public art program not his public art program. Finance Committee – 07/15/15 Page 3 Mayor Lozeau The four pieces of art, based on the meeting that we had in the presentation last week, you had talked about whether they were planting beds or not and based on what you had shown us I actually took out the language about the planting beds so we had more flexibility. I have talked to Public Works about maybe being able to put heavy anchors like a chunk of a granite block that can go on the sidewalk in a certain location where something could be affixed to that so it wouldn’t move yet we wouldn’t damage the sidewalks. The members aren’t going to see that in the contract tonight that they are going to be located in a specific place. Ms. Hersh The other thing that is in the contract that’s important is that nothing will be installed or created without the approval of the administration and the Director of Public Works. Alderman Chasse From what I gather some of these are going to be permanent fixtures and some are going to be seasonal? Mayor Lozeau No, none are permanent. Alderman Chasse Who makes the decision as to what piece of art you are going to put on Main Street? Does that fall under the Board of Public Works? Mayor Lozeau Well, the Director of Public Works, which would mean the Board of Public Works, would likely play a role. Alderman Siegel Point of order, Madam Chair, should I read the motion about this at this point since it sounds like we are going back and forth? Mayor Lozeau I wanted to let Kathy finish with the concept of public art and then allow the people that have come tonight that might want to comments on it to comment and then why don’t we read the motion. Then I’m sure we’ll be available for questions. Alderman Moriarty So looking ahead its $25,000 for four pieces of art? That’s pretty expensive for a single piece of art considering something like Positive Street Art was able to throw up a pretty nice mural for free in like a matter of hours. I like the presentation first of all, thank you very much. I am imaging in my head what I’ve seen at museums where you have the nine planets and the sun and it takes up basically something that is equivalent the size of the downtown and you can locate them anywhere. My number one absolute must for me to vote yes on any of it is that you have as much as this stuff off of Main Street as you have on Main Street. We have to include Pearl Street, Water Street, Elm Street, and Factory Street. The focus is downtown and not Main Street. The focus has got to be to get people off of Main Street so if you are having Finance Committee – 07/15/15 Page 4 four pieces of art two of them have to be off Main Street for me to be on board with this. That will get people to travel around. Mayor Lozeau I think one of the things that sold some of us on it when we were having the conversation last week; Alderman Moriarty is that the idea of having an artist on board from a community that has already done this sort of thing to really engage people in what they are. That dragon and movie, each of those discs’s came from an individual who then had their family come and see what was created from that. It brought people into an area. One of the reason’s that I took out the planters and I even took out the number four is because we want to see how it evolves and I think it’s got to be what in this community is inspired by the people that want to be engaged with the artist. The umbrella’s that we would have liked to have shown you were exactly that, they were on a side street. We talked about boy that made you think of West Pearl Street and East Pearl Street, a nice location that you might want to check out. This is more about not saying there is going to be this many numbers, it’s more about it’s going to be this program that we are going to try to bring some energy around in the downtown, not necessarily just Main Street but in that area. Ms. Hersh The other thing you mentioned was about four works of art but the other part of it is those two events that are big participatory events. That’s what really drives this project. Alderman Donchess I assume this will take place this summer? Mayor Lozeau Everybody is anxious and would like to get started as soon as possible. Alderman Donchess You mentioned that the Board of Public Works or the Director would have authority over the artworks that would be exhibited. To me that seems a little out of their area of expertise and why won’t we give City Arts the authority to move forward and if approval is required, to approve whatever is going to be done? Mayor Lozeau The only reason for their role at all is because they have to provide the foundations if it’s going to be a sculpture or an anchor on a sidewalk. We don’t want people who are trying to help the artist be drilling things into planting beds and sidewalks. All of the sculptures that have been put in the city have all been done with the help of Public Works and that’s why we kept it in there. Alderman Donchess So they are not overseeing the artistic content? Mayor Lozeau No, it’s just to put things in place in a safe manner. Finance Committee – 07/15/15 Page 5 Alderman Donchess I think it sounds good and it’s definitely worth trying and we could create some excitement downtown. I think that Kathy and the commission have done a really good job. Alderwoman Brown When you say temporary art you mean it will be up for several months and that would really draw people into the downtown and we could also engage them away from Main Street and draw them to other vendors and stores. I think it’s great. I will vote for it. Mayor Lozeau The other thing that I think Nashua has that is exciting is the river. Imagine doing art floats down the river and making it a cool event by the river walk and have people lined up in Bicentennial Park. I think there are some really fun things we can do. We tried to put fire in the river for celebrating on the holiday strolls, I think it was the 20th anniversary but it was a huge undertaking for something that ended up being small and not as fabulous as we would have liked but I think there’s a lot of opportunity. Alderman Chasse Art is a funny thing. You can twist a piece of metal and you call it art, I’ll just call it a piece of twisted metal and we don’t have any say as to what is going to go downtown. If you remember that art that was put at Foster Square, well, we all know what that looked like except for one little kid who said it looked like tooth. Mayor Lozeau Well, and one big kid that said it looked like a tooth. Alderman Deane It’s the rock on the hill at Artillery Lane and it’s sitting next to a fence near the ballfield. Mayor Lozeau It’s been removed from the location where we put it? Alderman Deane They put a backhoe at the top of the hill and just rolled it down. Alderman Sheehan I believe played a major role in having that removed, did she not? Mayor Lozeau I thought its location next to the Centennial pool. I thought the kids in their wet bathing suits’ playing on it was kind of fun. Alderman Deane It’s nowhere near the swimming pool. Mayor Lozeau Okay. Finance Committee – 07/15/15 Page 6 Alderman Chasse Then you have a clothes pin in a rotary around Ward 6 and 7. You call that art, I just call it a big piece of rusted metal sitting in the middle of a rotary. I don’t see any art in that. I’m not into the arts really big but I’m telling it like it is and there are a lot of people out there like myself and I don’t know if I want to give it to the Art’s Committee or should it stay with Public Works; that’s a dilemma and I still feel that the Board of Aldermen should have some kind of say in it. I’m not the expert on art, I’ll make that known but there are some people on this Board that are big with that, I just don’t want to see anything not classy going downtown. Mayor Lozeau I can understand that and art is an acquired taste I have come to learn. Ms. Hersh Our intention is to form a committee of various interests for this project because I agree with you; I certainly don’t want to be the one making the decisions on what’s art and what’s not art. I think it should be a well- rounded committee with some artists and some not. I asked Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja who has been interested in this issue if she would be interested in serving on that and she said yes. There are other members of downtown, Paul Shea and Mary Lou Blaisdell who is on the Downtown Improvement Committee. Mayor Lozeau The Art’s Commission shouldn’t be left out, right? Ms. Hersh The Art’s Commission of course and anybody else who is interested honestly so that we have art that is appreciated by most people. I just have to say that not every piece of art is appreciated by everybody but one of the good parts about this is that it’s temporary art. Alderman Chasse Is the clothes pin going to be temporary? Mayor Lozeau Well, it’s actually being relocated into the Millyard. Alderman Moriarty There used to be a floating object creature in the river. Mayor Lozeau We lost it, it disappeared. Alderman Moriarty It is temporary art and there will probably be an art removal day. Finance Committee – 07/15/15 Page 7 Mayor Lozeau In Washington, D.C. at election time they have done paper machete donkeys and elephants. I was just in San Francisco and they had an initiative where they put hearts everywhere to signify “I left my heart in San Francisco” and different people sponsor them and they were in different places. I bumped into a family who was trying to find all of them and get their family photographs with them. There are really some unique things. There are some sculptures that we have here in the city that I like better than others, some that I understand and some that I don’t but the concept I think is an interesting one. Alderwoman Brown Well, we’ve already approved this in the budget but well, for Downtown Improvement Committee. We set aside money and this is what the Downtown Improvement is asking, is that correct? Mayor Lozeau Yes. Are there any further questions for Kathy Hersh? There were none. PUBLIC COMMENT Ms. Mary Lou Blaisdell, Member, Downtown Improvement Committee Just one thing, to Alderwoman Brown’s point, Kathy presented the entire slide presentation to our committee. I think prior to that there were maybe 60/40 in favor of going forward with something like this and after the presentation our committee unanimously voted in favor and we will participate with her on this. COMMUNICATIONS From: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau Re: FY16’ Purchase of Downtown Public Art and Beautification (Value: $25,000) MOTION BY ALDERMAN SIEGEL TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND AWARD THE CONTRACT TO CITY ARTS NASHUA IN THE AMOUNT OF $25,000. FUNDS ARE AVAILABLE IN DEPARTMENT 183, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT; DOWNTOWN IMPROVEMENT COMMITTEE ESCROW FUNDS ON THE QUESTION Alderman Siegel I appreciate the presentation and I’m sorry about the technical difficulties. All my concerns are not about the value of public art. I absolutely agree that public art is valuable and I thought that the public art that we saw was very interesting. In the Finance Committee we are here to look at a contract and to determine whether or not we are getting value out of a contract and whether the contract meets the requirements of the Finance Committee. One of the things that I have a concern about is that this was sole sourced. This is a $25,000 contract and there doesn’t seem to be a specific justification why this was sole sourced. There are plenty of artists, there is a lot of creative people around, not necessarily Positive Street Art as my first choice but a very good example of a Nashua art community that can certainly present things, again I’m not sure it would be appropriate but there is a lot of potential out there and I’m sure there are a lot of artists that would be creating things for $25,000 fee. The other thing is that I have problems with this contract in the nature of it being a contract. Exhibit B which is supposedly the exhibit which is the deliverables and the performance is not the kind of thing that I would typically associate with a contract of deliverables. We have a provision for requiring anchoring of some indeterminate number of pieces of art work. Four was talked Finance Committee – 07/15/15 Page 8 about but in this contract, again, if you can call it that, it says a minimum of four and the city is going to provide anchor points. We don’t really know what we are anchoring and where we are anchoring it or what the cost of the anchors would be and that’s a concern. This contract also has a $9,000 immediate payment provision with no clawback provisions for non-performance. Again, I think everyone’s intentions are good, I don’t think someone is going to go out and say I’m out to rip off the city but nonetheless if we are signing a contract it’s because we are trying to have an agreement between two parties about what is going to be delivered and what the expectations are. Right now if we are signing this it says here’s $9,000 and we have absolutely no expectations of anything in return that we have a right to make a claim on. It’s not in here. I’m not saying to outright kill this idea because I think it makes sense if it will bring people downtown but as an entity that we as a Finance Committee are voting on and the mechanism by which we are being presented with, it doesn’t fit the criteria with something that we would normally want to approve. I’ll leave you with that and I urge you at the very least to not approve it in its current form because it’s just not a contract. Honestly, I don’t believe this was fully vetted by the Legal Department, there’s no way this could have gotten through them based on my experience with them. Alderman Moriarty I was originally just going to reiterate my emphasis on it being a large scoped event in the downtown but putting all of that aside I definitely prefer the idea of bidding it out. If nothing else aren’t we somewhat obligated to do that? Mayor Lozeau Well, actually Alderman Moriarty, if you look at this as professional services, there’s not many groups in the City of Nashua, Positive Street Art is a group that has done a lot of work with the city for a lot of different projects but City Arts Nashua is the largest umbrella group in the city that has people represented in all different arts across the city so the visual arts, the performing arts and all the different types. They have a solid reputation in the community and their idea of coming in and contracting with this artist that they have identified that has been able to accomplish the kind of work that he has accomplished in another community, was enough for some of us to feel confident that this was the right way to go for our first time trying this. We are required to have an understanding of our scope of services; we are required to have a price. Under professional services we are not required to bid something out; we are allowed to choose an organization to work with and while I understand that this is a little bit more nebulous than we are used to. I think because there are so many people involved in watching this project unfold that it’s a learning year for most of us. If you look at most communities, $25,000 is a small amount of money for what we are asking for a deliverable. I think City Arts Nashua is out there taking a risk as well because they want to see how it unfolds. It might cost them way more in time than they anticipate or it may cost them less. I think the key is going to be how this unfolds this first year, see what it is, have the Downtown Improvement Committee, the Art’s Commission and all of the different groups involved have a better understanding. We had a great turnout at our presentation that we did a couple of days before we presented it to the Downtown Improvement Committee and there were artists from other organizations there including Positive Street Art who were all enthusiastic about this approach to getting this done. That’s why I am comfortable with it. We will probably put a little bit more meat on the bones to make sure that Legal doesn’t have a problem but overall we haven’t violated any regulations. Alderman Deane Something needs to be done about the contract. It’s the content, it’s the way it’s laid out, and it has got to be corrected. Mayor Lozeau Okay. Finance Committee – 07/15/15 Page 9 Alderman Deane I’m not going to vote in favor of this until such time as the Legal Department looks at this and makes the necessary corrections so that it’s appropriately because this is not currently…that’s just my opinion. Getting back to your sole source, I guess you can look at different professions; you looked at professional services. I go back, Alderman Moriarty, when we did the skate park, there was plenty of people who could place concrete but they didn’t know how the elevations and how the fixtures would work for the flow of the park so if you hired some guy the poured concrete floors in people’s houses all day you wouldn’t get a usable product. You would find out really soon that it wasn’t functional so we went out and sole sourced somebody to do a design, similar to this. At the time I was on the Board of Public Works and I had to sell the Board of Aldermen on that idea and Kathy Hersh was around then, I think she was the President of the Board at the time. It was the same type of situation and I don’t have a lot of heartburn with that but I do have a lot of heartburn with the language in this contract. I think the Legal Department should take a look at it. The language pertaining to the art location and duration will be reviewed and approved by the Director of Public Works. The Director of Public Works like any Director of Public Works works at the pleasure of the Mayor. Then there’s a Board of Public Works who is the employer Board who gives direction to the Director which is what you have the ability to do with not only that Director but other Director’s within the city. I just look at the politics behind this; I mean where does it end? Mayor Lozeau It’s not intended to be political, Alderman Deane. Alderman Deane I’m not saying that it’s going to be but there is a potential that it could be. I mean if you don’t like something then you have the ability to make sure that doesn’t happen. If the Board of Public Works doesn’t like it because they are the employer Board and you are a member of the Board of Public Works and the Director works at the pleasure of the Board. I’m just wondering why this language is even in here. Mayor Lozeau It’s simply in there to ensure that the things are installed properly. Alderman Deane But that’s not what it says. Mayor Lozeau It’s not approved for artistic taste. Alderman Deane “Including the type of art, location and duration.” It does. Mayor Lozeau It relates to the obvious, Alderman Deane. If it’s winter you not going to have a globe on a corner where a plow truck is going to go. If it weighs 800 pounds you are not going to install it on a planter. That’s what the intention is. Finance Committee – 07/15/15 Page 10 Alderman Deane Thank you. Mayor Lozeau You are welcome. Alderwoman Brown What I see is that engaging and involving Public Works is that they would have to approve the ability to put a particular art sculpture somewhere so that it wouldn’t be damaged by plows or whatever. I see this as City Arts Nashua, which is Nashua’s City Arts organization, would put together a committee and Downtown Improvement Committee and also get input from the public. It says in the first memo that there would be four works of art created by local artists. I think that’s a win/win. In terms of getting approval from the Legal Department, all we would have to do is add an amendment upon approval of the Legal Department. In my humble opinion, I don’t see this as a huge obstacle. I think it’s a very creative way of using the funds that we have already set aside for the Downtown Improvement Committee. There have been comments that we have heard about the flower baskets and this, that and the other thing so this is different. This is thinking out of the box and I applaud an approach like this and I am fully in favor of this. Alderman Chasse I don’t vote on intentions and I think the Legal Department ought to look at it. MOTION BY ALDERMAN CHASSE TO TABLE Mayor Lozeau Well, I believe Alderman Donchess and Alderman Siegel had their hands up. Alderman Chasse There’s a motion on the floor to table. Mayor Lozeau I’m not going to accept that motion and cut off debate. Alderman Siegel I’m okay with the motion to table. Mayor Lozeau Alderman Donchess, did you have a question? Alderman Donchess I just had a… Alderman Chasse It’s not debatable. Point of order. Finance Committee – 07/15/15 Page 11 Mayor Lozeau We are not debating your motion. Rules are in place, Alderman Chasse, to give people an opportunity to speak. We are not debating whether we are tabling it or not. What I am telling you is that I have recognized people that have raised their hand and I’m going to give them an opportunity to speak. You will still have an opportunity to make your motion. Alderman Donchess A couple points have been raised, number one is the sole source issue and number two is the scope of work. First of all although technical sole source I think City Arts Nashua has become aware of a number of artists who do public art and after reviewing the work of a number of artists has determined who they would like to work with. It’s technically sole sourced but there’s been a broader review than the narrow term sole source would suggest. Number two, I think the deliverables are difficult to define because we are actually engaging someone to undertake a process. As described by Ms. Hersh, the person who is being engaged here, Mr. Beck would engage with the community and based upon what happens would come up with a product. The first sentence says that City Arts Nashua will manage to downtown public art’s program. It gives them authority to help direct this process but at this point we are not buying anything specific other than the process that Mr. Beck is going to go through to come up with public works of art that neither he nor anyone else really at this point knows what they are going to be. MOTION CARRIED Division Taken Alderman Donchess May I ask a question of the maker of the motion and the majority? Is the purpose for the review to get legal review or is it something broader than that? Alderman Chasse It’s so legal can take a look at it. Alderman Moriarty I think it’s a great idea but I think it could be very easily accommodated, a quick change in the next Finance Committee meeting; I don’t see there being a problem with me at least. Alderman Siegel It’s not that I object I just object to the contract so yes, I’d like the Legal Department to give us a real contract to vote on. Alderman Deane Mr. Galligani’s memo states that the contract has been reviewed by the Legal and Risk Departments. Did that actually happen? Mayor Lozeau It did. I’ll work on getting more meat on the bones. Finance Committee – 07/15/15 Page 12 Alderman Deane That’s what it needs Mayor. From: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau Re: Contract to Purchase Emergency Repairs at Northgate Pump Station for the City of Nashua (Value: Not-to-Exceed $40,000 and $20,000 for a total of $60,000) MOTION BY ALDERMAN SIEGEL TO ACCEPT AND PLACE ON FILE MOTION CARRIED From: Dan Kooken, Purchasing Manager Re: Contract to Purchase Emergency Sludge Dewatering at the Wastewater Treatment Plant for the City of Nashua (Value $31,500) MOTION BY ALDERMAN SIEGEL TO ACCEPT AND PLACE ON FILE MOTION CARRIED Alderman Donchess What is going on, is seems like there are so many leaks springing out at the treatment plant? What kind of condition is the plant really in? Mayor Lozeau This is not a leak at the plant, this is a leak at a pump station up off of Broad Street and basically we had a pipe that had a blowout. We had staff out there doing some work and they had a neighbor that came over and let them know that there was an odor that they had been noticing and the staff made a call and took a look and found the problem and we had to do an emergency repair. We did that emergency repair on a Thursday which was July 2nd and we finished it on July 3rd but then when they went back on Monday to take a look at everything they determined that there was a leak further up from that leak. One of the things that happen, Alderman Donchess, particularly on sewer pipes and pipes of this nature is once you have a problem, sometimes you end up chasing it so we replaced the entire pipe from the original leak all the way to the pump house. It’s been completed and it’s doing well. As a matter of fact, as part of the project, we put some well heads in so if there is another problem we don’t have to go through some of the same things that we went through on this last one. As far as the one relative to emptying the sludge tanks, it’s because one was offline and as we had people testing and looking at other things, it filled up faster than they had anticipated. Alderman Donchess It does seem like there is something going on at the treatment plant. One of the descriptions is that the emergency work will consist of mobile temporary sludge de-watering. Alderman Deane You have to bring a piece of equipment in to de-water it. Alderman Donchess Of a blended primary and secondary digested sludge at the city’s Nashua Wastewater Treatment Plant per the attached quote. Finance Committee – 07/15/15 Page 13 Mayor Lozeau It’s because you want to take out the water that’s in the sludge so that the sludge that you are taking off site doesn’t cost you as much as it would if it had not been de-watered. Alderman Donchess I’m not disputing any of this; I’m just trying to understand what is happening. Mayor Lozeau The plant is aging, we are making a lot of changes, we are putting in new equipment and updating a lot of things and as part of that process one of these tanks was out of service and so the others filled up faster than they expected. It was a holiday weekend and people were worried that we would have a significant problem and so we sent in a crew to empty them. Alderman Deane They had no choice but the de-watering, Alderman Donchess, they bring a machine in, it’s a press basically that pulls the affluent out and separates it. It costs $13,000 to mobilize that piece of equipment. When they were replacing the presses before they had one down there for quite some time. It’s not like we can turn a valve and send everything somewhere else. From: Dan Kooken, Purchasing Manager Re: Purchase of Nashua Police Department Bulletproof Vests (Value: $21,750) WITHDRAWN From: Dan Kooken, Purchasing Manager Re: Purchase of Nashua Police Department Police Ammunition (Value: $71,104) WITHDRAWN From: Dan Kooken, Purchasing Manager Re: Purchase of Ogontz Advanced Tactics Course (Value: $30,000) MOTION BY ALDERMAN SIEGEL TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND AUTHORIZE THE PURCHASE FROM OGONTZ IN THE AMOUNT OF $30,000. FUNDS ARE AVAILABLE IN DEPARTMENT 150, POLICE; NEW HAMPSHIRE DEPARTMENT OF SAFETY HOMELAND SECURITY AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT GRANT; 55, CONFERENCES AND SEMINARS MOTION CARRIED From: Dan Kooken, Purchasing Manager Re: FY16’ Purchase of B5 Biodiesel Fuel for Nashua Transit (Value: $218,730) MOTION BY ALDERMAN SIEGEL TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND AWARD THE CONTRACT TO EAST RIVER ENERGY IN THE AMOUNT OF $218,730. SOURCE OF FUNDING IS DEPARTMENT 186, TRANSPORTATION; TRANSIT GRANT; 61, SUPPLIES AND MATERIALS ON THE QUESTION Finance Committee – 07/15/15 Page 14 Alderman Deane Do they service any other municipalities with this quantity of fuel? I know that the director had put in that it’s a reputable and responsible company. Mayor Lozeau I believe they have done worth with the City of Keene who also uses this product. Alderman Deane Okay, thank you. Alderman Moriarty What is this? Is it used vegetable oil or used cooking oil, I’m just curious? Mayor Lozeau I believe that it is a by-product of food oil that’s at this level of the B-5. Alderman Moriarty So it comes from the manufacturing plant that’s just sort of low grade oil that no one wants to use? Mayor Lozeau I didn’t ask them where they got it from. Alderman Siegel Every restaurant that has a fryer has an oil recovery system and it’s serviced and that oil is taken out and often the restaurants are paid for that, although less lately and then it turns into exactly what we are trying to burn here. MOTION CARRIED UNFINISHED BUSINESS – None NEW BUSINESS – None DISCUSSION - None RECORD OF EXPENDITURES MOTION BY ALDERMAN SIEGEL THAT THE FINANCE COMMITTEE HAS COMPLIED WITH THE CITY CHARTER AND ORDINANCES PERTAINING TO THE RECORD OF EXPENDITURES FOR THE PERIOD JUNE 26, 2015 THROUGH JULY 9, 2015 MOTION CARRIED PUBLIC COMMENT - None Finance Committee – 07/15/15 Page 15 POSSIBLE NON-PUBLIC SESSION ADJOURNMENT MOTION BY ALDERMAN CHASSE TO ADJOURN MOTION CARRIED The Finance Committee meeting was adjourned at 8:06 p.m. Alderman Ken Siegel . Committee Clerk Chicago Il Image courtesy of Arterial, LLC Image courtesy of Arterial, LLC Cool Globes In 2007, Chicago was the debut site for an event called Cool Globes. More than 100 "globes" were crafted by artists and sponsored by area organizations and businesses. The result was a dynamic public art display, drawing attention to global warming and other environmental issues. This sculpture was sponsored by ‘World’s Largest Laundromat,’ highlighting their use of solar power. Play Me, I’m Yours a program initiated by Luke Jerram in 2008 More than 1,300 pianos have already been installed in 46 cities across the globe. Lynchburg VA Fargo SD Salt Lake City UT Denver CO Long Beach, CA Amsterdam Netherlands Portland OR Washington DC Outside a coffee shop Washington DC Berlin Germany Nashville TN Agueda, Portugal San Francisco CA Market Street Prototyping Festival An open call for creative ways to improve Market Street yielded hundreds of submissions from citizens and organizations. Fifty of these submissions were chosen to create rough models, or “prototypes”, that demonstrate how their idea would work. From April 9th – 11th, Market Street came alive with these ideas. San Francisco CA Six sided ping pong table Tirau New Zealand Corrugated Creations Durban South Africa United Nations Climate Change Conference Durban, South Africa 2011 Chicago IL Bonney Lake WA Cribbage benches London England Paris France Public chairs Chairs2share Chairs2share is a Brisbane Australia City Council pilot program activating their city’s green spaces. Times Square Philadelphia PA Portland OR Philadelphia PA 90 floating, neon orbs are lit by sensors on land that detect viewers every movement. Sydney Australia Australian Centre for the Moving Image West Palm Beach FL Asheville NC Population 87,000 Nashua NH