Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee

SPECIAL PERSONNEL/ADMINISTRATIVE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE JULY 1, 2010 A special meeting of the Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee was held on Thursday, July 1, 2010, at 7:00 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chamber. Chairman Ben Clemons presided. Members of the Committee present: Alderman Kathy Vitale, Vice Chair Alderman Arthur T. Craffey, Jr. Alderman Paul M. Chasse, Jr. Alderman Richard P. Flynn Members Not in Attendance: Also in Attendance: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau INTERVIEWS Historic District Commission Sally Grigas, Alternate (New Appointment) Term to Expire: June 30, 2013 Mayor Lozeau Thank you Mr. Chairman. I am happy to introduce to you tonight Sally Grigas. Sally comes to us tonight because she reached out to my office to let us know that she was very interested in serving on the Historic District Commission. Sally is a local artist with long family ties to the community, very interested in our neighborhoods and the visual aesthetics throughout our community whether it is a house, a business, or landscape project. It certainly catches her eye and she has an eye for that. We had a discussion about the characteristics that I look for that this committee has heard more times than you need to hear again, and I believe that Sally will be a very professional objective member of this committee. I think that she will bring an eye to the committee that I think will be very much appreciated. I am happy to introduce Sally Grigas to you this evening. Sally Grigas Thank you for having me. Chairman Clemons Sally would you like to say a few words? Sally Grigas I am very pleased that the Mayor has considered me and that I am here to speak to you and have you get to know me to some degree tonight. I think that the Mayor expressed pretty much my feeling about the community and that my very strong interest is the visual landscape of the city. I have always felt that carried more weight than even my art or any visual art. That is the visual art of the world. We function in it on a day- to-day-basis and I think it is important that it be maintained so it contributes to the community. It stimulates us really in unknown ways, but it is important that it be maintained. I think our connection with the past is critical. I think one case in point is the Labine building. I was very interested in that. I am certainly very sad about the fire that occurred and very happy to see that some consideration was being given to possibly receiving a grant Special Personnel – 7/1/10 Page 2 and restoring it or restoring part of it. These are the kinds of things that are meaningful to me. I thought well I think I have something to contribute and being that I am an artist, I have schooling and a background in this, and I would say that my whole life is based on good design. Alderman Flynn We have two very different resumes here tonight. Your resume shows you have a different type of background. Your resume has a lot of adjectives, a lot of verbs, and it shows a lot of enthusiasm. It is almost like you have a little craft in the way that you write your resume. Sally Grigas I like to write actually. Alderman Flynn This isn’t really a resume it is more of a letter of introduction I think. That is what this really amounts to, but as you read through this, the three or four paragraphs that you have given us, you get the feeling of how sincerely you would like to be involved. I get the feeling as I read this that you are very genuinely interested and certainly are reaching out to the city to let you get involved in this. It is very well written. Looks like you certainly have the right credentials for this. I appreciate your willingness to get involved. Sally Grigas Thank you for your reception. It is quite sincere. Rather than just write a letter to the editor, I thought maybe I could become involved. Maybe it is a process of aging too, I am not sure. Alderman Flynn You write very well. Sally Grigas Thank you. Alderman Flynn I can tell you, you have a craft for that as well as your own artistic background. Sally Grigas That is very kind of you. Thank you. Chairman Clemons I would just like to say thank you for stepping forward and volunteering your time. It is always nice to see when folks to that in the community. Being a history major myself I appreciate the value that we place on it, Special Personnel – 7/1/10 Page 3 and I think it is something that we want to preserve and also learn from as well. Some of the things that we do in our historic district we can take those lessons and hopefully move them maybe even outside of that area. Sally Grigas Absolutely. Chairman Clemons Thank you for coming forward. We will be taking up your nomination later this evening. Sally Grigas I appreciate that. Thank you. Hunt Building Board of Trustees Scot Weisman (New Appointment) Term to Expire: December 31, 2012 Mayor Lozeau Thank you Mr. Chairman. Scot comes to us much the same as Sally; very interested, wrote into the office, expressed his particular interest in the Hunt Building and his experience there, which I will let him share with you. But, one of the things that I considered when looking at this next member for the Hunt Board is all of the work that is going to be happening at the Hunt. We talked a little bit about that when the last appointment, Claire McGrath was appointed, and her kind of organizational skills, her sense of how things work in the city and what she brought to the table. Mr. Weisman brings a financial background to the table, which I think will be very helpful in discussing some of the budgeting and other things that are going to go on as they determine best use for the building, ways to be self-sustaining after we invest in the building along with while the building is being built any opportunity for cost savings or things that he may have an eye for I think would be very helpful. I think as this board is developing we are bringing in a nice mix of people that are there for its historical value and their love of the building from being in the community a long time. People that share that same love of the building but also bring additional skills in other fields that are going to make a difference to that building’s future. I think Mr. Weisman represents that quite well this evening. Thank you for considering him this evening. Chairman Clemons Mr. Weisman would you like to say a few words? Scot Weisman Thank you for taking the time to come tonight and Mayor thank you for your support. The reason I am interested in the Hunt Building; I didn’t grow up in Nashua and five years ago I was engaged and looking for a place to get married and my father said to me why don’t you go to the Hunt Building. I thought he meant the Hunt Community and I thought I don’t really want to get married there and he said it would be a nice place. He explained the old library on the hill. I said what old library on what hill. We came, saw it, loved it, and we got married there. A few weeks later my father got very sick, spent a couple of weeks in intensive care, and he passed away. Where this isn’t where I grew up and have my childhood memories from my father, the Hunt Building is the Special Personnel – 7/1/10 Page 4 only place in town that really reminds me of him. I was very close to him. I was married there. It is an important building to me. When I decided I wanted to get involved with something in the city, I went to the city’s web page to look to see what kind of opportunities were available and the instant I saw that I just knew that was what I wanted to get involved with so I contacted the Mayor. Mayor Lozeau I couldn’t have done that story justice. Alderman Chasse Where were you brought up? Scot Weisman Framingham, MA. Alderman Chasse What was your Father’s name? Scot Weisman Joseph Weisman. Alderman Chasse Wrong guy. I thought I might have known your Father. Had to be a pretty good guy seeing to the Hunt Building. Of course that used to be a library once upon a time. Alderman Flynn Mr. Weisman your letter of introduction is just the opposite. You can sense that your focus has been on your education. You talk an awful lot about your success in your studies. Very impressive to see that you graduated summa cum laude. There is a very small percentile of people that do that. For me, that is the highest credential you could come with is education. Education is terribly valuable here. As you read through this, you have a little bit of talk about how you are on a racing team I think, but basically I just see you as someone carrying around books, working hard, committed to your education, and the results certainly show in these other extra curricular activities you have been involved in over your life experiences. I would say all of us have some memories of the Hunt Building somehow. We have all talked about it here before. I was thinking about it driving in here tonight. I don’t remember how old I could have been, I don’t know if I was 8 years old or 18 years old, I think I was closer to 7, but I remember going to the library and taking out 15 books. They probably all had 4 pages in them, but somehow we got a stamp or something at the end of the summer if we read 200 books or something as an 8 year old or something. But I remember going there religiously with my Mother once a week or twice a week. We were always going and somehow we Special Personnel – 7/1/10 Page 5 were getting stamps or something or little flowers on some card or something that we had done a lot of books during the summer. That library has a lot of memories for many of the citizens of the City of Nashua. I think you have yourself a tough project here trying to make this library into a self-sustaining entity, but I certainly think you have the support of most of the community hoping that there is some way to turn this into something more than just a cash grabber, but something that can sustain itself over the years and remain not just a memory for the community but become something that adds value to the city overall. I think this is something more like what I would have written. It is very focused. It is not embellished; it is just right down to details. I like the way you presented yourself in this letter of introduction. Good luck on your new position. Scot Weisman Thank you. Chairman Clemons Anything further? I would just like to say you certainly went to a great university. I graduated from Franklin Pierce as well. I think the Mayor said it best; we couldn’t have done justice to that story. That is just great. Again, thank you for stepping forward and donating your time to the city. It is certainly honorable. I think you will be a good addition to the Hunt Trustees. Scot Weisman Thank you. Chairman Clemons Thank you and we will take up your appointment in a couple of minutes. Thank you Mayor. APPOINTMENTS BY THE MAYOR Conservation Commission Nicholas S. Frasca (Re-Appointment) Term to Expire: December 31, 2012 1 Blue Jay Hill Nashua, NH 03064 Historic District Commission Sally Grigas, Alternate (New Appointment) Term to Expire: June 30, 2013 86 Almont Street Nashua, NH 03060 Hunt Building Board of Trustees Scot Weisman (New Appointment) Term to Expire: December 31, 2012 90 Bartemus Trail Nashua, NH 03063 MOTION BY ALDERMAN CHASSE TO RECOMMEND THE FOLLOWING APPOINTMENTS BY THE Special Personnel – 7/1/10 Page 6 MAYOR: TO THE CONSERVATION COMMISSION THE RE-APPOINTMENT OF NICHOLAS S. FRASCA FOR A TERM TO EXPIRE DECEMBER 31, 2012, TO THE HISTORIC DISTRICT COMMISSION SALLY GRIGAS, AS AN ALTERNATE, FOR A TERM TO EXPIRE JUNE 30, 2013; AND TO THE HUNT BUILDING BOARD OF TRUSTEES SCOT WEISMAN FOR A TERM TO EXPIRE DECEMBER 31, 2012 MOTION CARRIED NEW BUSINESS – RESOLUTIONS R-10-30 Endorser: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau ESTABLISHING POLLING TIMES FOR THE STATE PRIMARY ELECTION ON SEPTEMBER 14, 2010 AND THE STATE GENERAL ELECTION ON NOVEMBER 2, 2010 MOTION BY ALDERMAN CHASSE TO RECOMMEND FINAL PASSAGE MOTION CARRIED DISCUSSION Alderman Flynn If you would give me just a little latitude; three of us Aldermen; myself in Ward 7 – I have all of my ward or just about all of my ward has their trash and recycling picked up on Monday. I think there are some in Ward 8, Alderman Melizzi-Golja’s ward, and some in Alderman Chasse’s ward, which is Ward 6 – we all were reminded, as a courtesy, by the Mayor’s Office that the city is picking up trash on Monday. I usually think of a holiday as there is no trash on Monday pickup, but if you go to the city web site and look at the city policy for picking up trash, if the holiday falls on a Sunday, even though most people celebrate it on a Monday, the holiday is on a Sunday they still pick up trash on Monday. If you are going to some parade or are not going to be around for very long on Monday morning and are not going to hear the truck coming down the street you better be paying attention to what we are talking about now and remember to put your trash out on Monday. If you are going away for the long weekend, you have to find someone to take care of that for you. I know I certainly was surprised. I actually ended up calling up the Mayor’s Office and trying to understand why we were changing the policy, but I guess I have to get myself more skilled at understanding how the trash pickup works. In any case, Monday is a trash pickup day for the City of Nashua and that affects Ward 7 specifically, but part of Ward 6 and part of Ward 8 so hopefully somebody will share the word. Thank you. Chairman Clemons Thank you. Is there any further discussion? ADJOURNMENT MOTION BY ALDERMAN CHASSE TO ADJOURN MOTION CARRIED The meeting was declared closed at 7:20 p.m. Alderman Arthur T. Craffey, Jr. Committee Clerk