Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee

PERSONNEL/ADMINISTRATIVE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE DECEMBER 8, 2011 A meeting of the Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee was held on Thursday, December 8, 2011, at 7:03 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chamber. Chairman Ben Clemons presided. Members of the Committee present: Alderman Kathy Vitale, Vice Chairman Alderman Arthur T. Craffey, Jr. Alderman Paul M. Chasse, Jr. Alderman June M. Caron Members Not in Attendance: Also in Attendance: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau Alderman-at-Large Mark S. Cookson Chairman Clemons I would like to welcome the newest member of the committee, Alderman Caron. Thank you very much for taking over for the late Alderman Flynn. We appreciate that. Alderman Chasse I feel for Alderman Vitale. I feel honored I have somebody on my side. Alderman Vitale And I can know what you feel like today, but not all the time. Alderman Chasse Now you know how I felt all year. PUBLIC COMMENT - None INTERVIEWS Chairman Clemons I would ask the Mayor to please come forward. Planning Board Richard LaRose (New Appointment) Term to Expire: Coterminous with the Mayor Mayor Lozeau Thank you Mr. Chairman. I am completely aware that the gentleman sitting to my left needs no introduction to this committee, but I will take a moment to just share my reasons for the consideration of Dick LaRose for this position on the Planning Board. As I note that you can all appreciate, the Planning Board is a pretty significant board in this community and we constantly strive on both the Planning and the Zoning Board, along with many of our other boards, but particularly Planning and Zoning, to find people that are in a position to really do their homework, be professional, understand what is at stake, and operate on the City’s behalf in the best manner possible. Personnel – 12/08/11 Page 2 When I think of Dick LaRose I think of somebody that is a very thoughtful, well respected and regarded member, who for years has served representing this board on the Planning Board. When I spoke with my designee or my representative I guess is how it is called on the Planning Board, Jody Wilbert, earlier in the year and she talked about being interested in stepping down having served 4 years in that capacity, the first thought that she had was Dick LaRose, and I said I can’t believe you said that because I was thinking about just appointing him as a regular member. As my designee, I would be honored to have him work on my behalf. I am happy to present him for your consideration tonight for that role. Thank you. Richard LaRose Thank you Mayor for the kind words. I appreciate them. The ironic thing is this is sort of the third time I’m on the Planning Board. I was a member of the public on the Planning Board and then when I became an Alderman 8 years ago, I represented the Board of Aldermen, and now I’m representing the Mayor’s Office. I’m wearing three different hats. But I understand what the Planning Board is about and what we need to do. We have to balance the needs of the developer and the needs of the community and the people who abut the properties. Sometimes we have to make decisions that the abutters do not like. But we have to go by what our land codes are and what the State laws are. That is what we strive to do. It is, as you are aware, is a quasi judicial committee, it is not a political type office like the Board of Aldermen is. I think I’m qualified to do that, I’ve done it, and I’m happy to do it again and on behalf of the Mayor. Thank you. Chairman Clemons I will open it up to any questions. Alderman Craffey I don’t have a question, just a comment; I think this is a very well qualified appointment. I know I have had many questions I’ve asked Mr. LaRose on issues regarding the Planning Board. Being the Alternate I always wanted to know just in case he wasn’t going to be there in case issues had come forth. He has been a great help when I did have questions. I think this is a great appointment and it is both a value to the Mayor, the Board of Aldermen, and to the citizens of Nashua. Richard LaRose Thank you. Alderman Vitale Having sat in your seat when you couldn’t be there my first term, I know you do a great job. The one thing I was thinking of and maybe coming from your position here, is many times we hear something come up and you have to make a decision that is related to zoning and sometimes that is the time that you see that things need to be tweaked here and there and everything and I just wanted your thoughts on that because we have talked a number of times about things that take place at zoning and planning and what we maybe should do to update our code book. Personnel – 12/08/11 Page 3 Richard LaRose I have given that a lot of thought at different times when certain things happen. I always come down to the conclusion that maybe we should leave it alone instead of trying to tweak it and to try to make it applicable to the situation that you are in. There is a reason why you have the ability to waive certain things, and I think that is the best way of going about it instead of trying to tweak it so much that you end up by making it more difficult to do anything. I know that in the past we have had some Aldermen than felt that whatever the people wanted that is how you should vote, but we can’t do that because both sides have rights, and what we have to do is balance those rights and try to accommodate both sides. I think many times we are able to do that. Obviously sometimes some people have dug in their heals that they will not change their mindset and that is unfortunate, but that is the way it is. I think that the Planning Board that we have, and I have been on it for a long time and a lot of different people, but we have had some real great Chairmen that would bring us through the whole process. I think that in the long run we have been fair with everybody. Alderman Vitale Thank you for that because that is along the lines I think that sometimes our zoning book is not meant to be specific to everything but more or less as a guide to everything so it gives some latitude depending on what is going on. I have watched you at the Planning Board and I have sat there and I would agree with that. I look forward to having you on the board. Alderman Chasse I will just make a comment; definitely qualified for the position and you have my blessing, but I would like to know you left the Board of Aldermen over here; do you have the blessing of your Wife for the position? You more or less semi-retired, you… Richard LaRose I want to answer that question. I wish my Wife was watching. Instead of watching she is jogging. The truth is she said I knew the Mayor was going to appoint you to something, and I’m glad. Alderman Chasse Well you are definitely qualified Dick. Richard LaRose Thank you. Alderman Chasse I look forward to working with you. Chairman Clemons Is there anything further? I will just echo what has been said. I had the pleasure of getting to know you the last four years on the Board of Aldermen and I have seen your work on the Planning Board, and I think you will continue to do a great job on that board. I wish you the best. Personnel – 12/08/11 Page 4 Richard LaRose Thank you. Emergency Management Director Justin T. Kates (New Appointment) Term: Indefinite Term at the Pleasure of the Mayor Mayor Lozeau Thank you Mr. Chairman. I thought about how I would approach describing where we are at tonight and I think what I will do is remind the members many of whom have heard me talk about emergency management for a couple of budget years let’s say, pointing out why I thought it was so critical that we looked at putting in a full-time position for emergency management, particularly as the weather continues to surprise us let’s say. I considered that and as I said then, that we would have more not less of the kind of storms that we have had over the years as I started as Mayor. As you also know, I tend not to, as I refer to it, settle to just fill a position because it is available, to fill a position quickly because you don’t want to be criticized that it is vacant, and it takes me some time to find the right fit for a position. Let me just tell you a little bit about the process that was used in determining that Mr. Kates was the right person for this job. I put together a group of staff from the City; from the Fire Department, from the Police Department, actually 2 from the Police Department because I asked Mr. Lecius to join because he had a lot of emergency management experience, Mr. Sousa who had acted as emergency management for a time, a Captain from the Police Department, a Deputy Chief from the Fire Department, the Fire Marshall who had also served in the position, and our Director of Public Health. I asked that group to go through the resumes that came in for this position and to choose a group that should be interviewed. They did that. As a matter of fact they did it twice. When they completed that task, three members of that group were asked to do the interviewing in the first round. That was Deputy Chief Galipeau, Captain Nichols, and Kerran Vigroux, our Director of Public Health. When they were done, the second interview team was myself, the Fire Chief, and the Police Chief. I wanted to make sure that everybody understood the role this position was going to play; I wanted to make sure that we didn’t blur the lines between the Police responsibilities in an emergency and Fire’s responsibilities in emergencies. When we completed that even before Mr. Kates left the office that day, we asked him to wait and we regrouped as the three of us and we had a quick discussion about wow looks like a great fit, let’s run through the process. He left the office, went to the Police Department, was fingerprinted, and went through the whole background check through the Police Department. We talked about him and we spoke with the fire interview team and we unanimously agreed that he was the best fit for the City. Now as I tell him frequently don’t let his youth surprise you, his background is quite extensive and I am finding that he is very well respected by the people that he is serving with because of what he knows. When I presented the budget to you I talked about four particular areas that I wanted us to concentrate on so what I have asked Mr. Kates to do tonight is to just walk you through a little bit about his background and experience and then those items that he is concentrating on right now when he is not doing storm business, which is actually still being done as you know. If you wouldn’t mind, I would ask him to do that for the committee now. Thank you. Personnel – 12/08/11 Page 5 Chairman Clemons That would be great. Justin T. Kates Thank you Mayor and Mr. Chairman. I do want to give you a little bit of my background experience so that you as well as the board can kind of get an idea of where I come from and some of the things I have dealt with in the past couple of years. I started in this field since high school and that is why I look young. I have been doing this for quite a while, but I started at an early age. It gives me an interesting perspective towards this field. Most emergency management officials out there across the United States come from background in the police or fire or from the military. I am a professional emergency manager. I went to the University of Delaware. I got a degree in emergency management and public administration. I graduated with a Bachelors in 2010. This is my field, this is what I came to enjoy. Even prior to that I was a volunteer in the emergency services field. I was a volunteer firefighter, I was a Red Cross volunteer, and I was involved in amateur radio emergency services. It gave me a different perspective to know all of the different volunteers that we have out there that support the community during a time of crisis and how important they are when it comes to an emergency response. Since I have been in this field I have been involved in 20 different drills or exercises, 10 different planned events. One of the big things in Delaware was we had a huge Nascar race every year that required incident management team training, planning, and actually carried out; all of the festivals, all of the major planned events that we had, I was involved in each one of them as well as 5 different real storm events that we had within the State of Delaware. As you know, within the past 5 months that I have been on the job here I have had 2 Federal declared disasters that I have been responsible for coordinating all across the board from the State as well as the Federal agencies that work with us. It has been interesting to see it from that perspective as well. As the Mayor talked about, emergency management really follows a basis of the four phases of emergency management. We would like to develop this comprehensive emergency management program here within the City of Nashua along those phases. They work as a complete circle starting with the mitigation project. Typically mitigation projects are things that you try and reduce the risk to building structures and communities prior to an event; things like the Nashua River dam project that we’ve got going on where we are trying to reduce the size of the dam, lower it down to allow for more water to go through prior to a storm. It is a mitigation project. Promoting the idea of sewer backflow valves in people’s homes and the education behind that that is a mitigation project because it reduces the risk in the community. The second phase is preparedness. Preparedness is going out and educating the community on things that they can do to prepare themselves and their families from a disaster. The key behind that is to educate them on developing an emergency supply kit, make sure they have water, non-perishable foods and things of that nature, but as well as an emergency communications plan; how they are going to communicate with their family, their loved ones, their friends after a disaster. That is a key thing as we have seen within the past couple of events. The next phase is the response phase, and this is typically what emergency management is known for; being out there and coordinating the assets, the resources that are out there in our community. The City of Nashua can’t do it all so it requires a lot of coordination with our surrounding municipalities as well as the State, and as the recovery phase comes into it, we have to deal with the Federal Government quite a bit. Personnel – 12/08/11 Page 6 The fourth phase, as I mentioned, is the recovery phase, and that is the reimbursement process, making sure that we get all of our money back from FEMA as well as making sure our community is back up and running properly; making sure that the roads are clear and that the communities that are around us know what the next steps are in making sure that they have the right resources to get back up and running. We have a couple of priorities within those four phases that I see within the next couple of months to start working on, hopefully after these storms have passed us. Obviously the main one is to ensure that we complete our FEMA reimbursement process and to ensure that the City of Nashua has fully recovered from both storms that we have had in the past 5 months. We’re also looking at redeveloping our emergency operations plan within the City, and making sure that it follows the National Incident Management System guidelines that all across the United States people have been following now after 9/11. In addition, we are looking at trying to recruit and develop a cache of volunteers that are out there in our community, which we know is the citizen core program. Those are the kind of people that we can really rely on during a disaster to try and support our shelter and support some of the debris management missions that are out there within out community. Then obviously with all of this great planning that takes place we have to exercise and drill it, so it is important to educate our responders and our city officials on emergency management protocols and make sure that we exercise those with our emergency operations and on a regular basis. I appreciate it. Chairman Clemons Thank you very much. I will open it up to the committee for any questions. Alderman Vitale I know that I got to meet you over at the shelter during the October storm and you looked like you were doing a good job. You came in with the Mayor and you were speaking to everybody, and I know that was appreciated by the residents that were at the shelter. In that storm, what would you say was our number one problem? Justin T. Kates I would say our number one problem was dealing with outside organizations like PSNH in the response, making sure that we all had the same picture. Our City does a great job when it comes to communicating internally. The previous emergency managers had done a great job at developing good relationships with all of the city agencies and the city agencies are very knowledgeable about what they need to do during an emergency. The big thing is PSNH doesn’t know what we are doing and we don’t know what they are doing, and I’m sure as you have seen in the media, PSNH is receiving some of the brunt because of that. One of the things that I think we need to work on is trying to develop some similar protocols to PSNH and make sure that they are on the same page as us during an emergency. Alderman Vitale Thank you. Alderman Chasse I’m very impressed. You didn’t have a resume in front of us or anything, but your four steps and everything, very impressive. Personnel – 12/08/11 Page 7 Chairman Clemons I thought we did have the resume. Mayor Lozeau If the members don’t I would be happy to make some copies. Alderman Cookson Thank you. Good evening Mr. Kates. Justin T. Kates Good evening. Alderman Cookson Thank you for giving us that quick summary. I appreciate that. It certainly gives us an insight into your expertise and knowledge. You said you managed some events in Delaware, I think you said about 5 storms. You have had 2 here in the last 5 months that you have had to deal with. And in your description of the two storms in the last 5 months, you said that there is good internal communication. You mentioned that there might be some development that is needed for that external communication with other agencies, you mentioned PSNH. I’m wondering is there also a role or would your role also include communication to the citizens of Nashua? Is that part of the responsibilities that you see as part of your job? Justin T. Kates Absolutely. One of the big parts of communicating with the citizens, as you know with today’s variety of types of media that are out there and with the advent of social media now, there are a huge amount of ways that you can communicate with the citizens, and it is important that you communicate across all means, everything from warning sirens from the civil defense days to the social medias, the Facebooks, the Twitters, and others. During an emergency, the emergency management direct or as well as the political officials of that jurisdiction are really the spokespeople. They are really the ones that are in front of the camera and letting the citizens know the things that need to go on and kind of give an idea of some of the procedures that need to take place within their own homes to make sure that they are prepared. Typically behind the scenes you will have somebody like a public information officer that is helping to develop those press releases, making sure that they are keeping up on the news as well as the social media systems that are out there today, and ensuring that all of those reports that are coming in via those methods are being processed through the emergency operation center. My main role is to try and find people that can fill that public information role so that I can coordinate the incident, but also to serve as a spokesperson during that emergency. Alderman Cookson And would you say that during those 2 storms since you have been here in the last 5 months, is that something that we have done effectively or is there some opportunity for improvement to utilize new technologies? Personnel – 12/08/11 Page 8 Justin T. Kates There is always opportunity for improvement. I will tell you I’m one of the people that I’m never satisfied with how good we can do and that was one of the reasons why I came to Nashua. There are a lot of emergency management officials that are out there that really don’t understand how much we can do to make emergency management a professional discipline. There are a lot of capabilities that I see out there that really would be of use here within the City of Nashua as well as the whole State of New Hampshire; one being I participated in a seminar this past weekend called Random Hacts of Kindness. I don’t know if you are familiar with is, where you get a lot of hackers out there that are really good on these new technologies and find ways to support humanitarian and emergency response missions that are out there. One of the big things that they are looking at is what they call crowd sourcing and gathering all of that information that is out there in the community from people that are reporting trees down, wires down, and making sure that gets to the emergency response officials that need it. I would love to implement something like that here within the city because I think people would really adopt it out there in the community, but not only that our responders would adopt it. There is a lot of technology out there that we could use for public information. Alderman Cookson Thank you. Alderman Caron I also am very impressed with your qualifications, and if you can handle 2 major events in 5 months and survive, you are going to do very well here. Justin T. Kates Thank you. Chairman Clemons I want to just say I’m also impressed. I thought that the storm, particularly in October, was quite devastating to the City and, as the Mayor said, it was actually worse than the ice storm that we had in 2008. The fact that we got through it and got, for the most part, the power back within a week’s time I think for 99% of the city, I think says a lot. I can think back to the ice storm and there were people without power for 2 or 3 weeks. We have definitely improved that aspect. It is like you say I think that there are other things that the city can certainly do with outside agencies. I guess my question is we’re very familiar with the typical disasters if you will for New England, which typically come in the form of either ice or snow, but as we know there are other threats; for example, the tornado that came through Springfield, MA is something that most people in New England it never crosses their mind that it can really happen. I guess my question to you is what types of planning are you doing for other types of events that could potentially happen here in Nashua, and what is the path to getting us prepared for that? Justin T. Kates First I should kind of give a little bit of information about the process of our emergency planning. One of the best practices behind emergency management right now is to develop all plans in what we call all hazards. Essentially when we open up a shelter for a tornado we would open up a shelter for an ice storm the same way. So we look at planning in sort of an all hazards kind of mentality, which helps us to reduce the burden Personnel – 12/08/11 Page 9 on the planning but also to allow us to be familiar with doing it one single way and then know how to tweak little certain areas to make it fit within that certain hazard. Obviously there are hazards out there that don’t fit within any of those scenarios. You’re familiar as well as everybody else on the board is familiar with the types of hazards that we are accustomed to every year now it seems, but there are a lot of interesting scenarios that are coming out within the last couple of months that are of particular interest to me. I’m sure you have seen some of the rides over in the U.K. over the past year as well as the occupy movement that is going around the United States. Those kind of movements whether they are peaceful or not create a huge burden on emergency services, and it is important to really do some detailed planning on how that affects the community; the transportation flows of the city, the economic aspects of those organizations protesting or occupying certain areas. It is important to look at the plans behind how you deal with a huge surge of people within your downtown area. Then what happens if you have a real emergency at the same time? It is really important to think about some of those unique scenarios that happen out there. Terrorism is still, as we have seen within the past couple of months, still a major issue across the world. You are getting more lone wolf type scenarios that we really are having a tough time really documenting. That is also a key area that we need to work with when it comes to the Homeland Security Mission and emergency management plays a big part in that. Those are certainly things that I’m dealing with as well. After 9//1 the Federal Government really promoted the Homeland Security Mission and sort of left out some of the natural hazards planning that really is the key and the bread and the butter of the United States emergency management programs. I want to make sure that stays the key here within Nashua. Chairman Clemons Great. Thank you. Anything further? Thank you very much for your service to the City. You have done a really good job and I’m sure that you will continue to do so. Thank you. Justin T. Kates I appreciate it. Thank you. Chairman Clemons Next up we have the Downtown Improvement Committee of which I am being appointed so what I’m going to do is invite all of the members up, I’m going to step down, and ask Alderman Vitale to please continue with this portion of the agenda. Chairman Clemons stepped down and Vice-Chairman Vitale presided: Chairman Vitale This is the Downtown Improvement Committee and we have everybody seated. Would you like to go ahead and introduce everybody? Downtown Improvement Committee Mary Lou Blaisdell (New Appointment) Ben Clemons (New Appointment) John Koutsos (New Appointment) Personnel – 12/08/11 Page 10 Richard Lannan (New Appointment) Sy Mahfuz (New Appointment) Mayor Lozeau Thank you Madam Chair, I appreciate that. As you know, legislation came forward for this new Downtown Improvement Committee and their charge is to advise the Mayor and the Board of Aldermen about how to spend a certain amount of money above our customary income for parking meters right now. When I looked at the 9 member requirement in this legislation, I gave some thought to which direction we wanted to go with bringing both some new ideas to the table and looking at some members who had been serving us through the Services Advisory Committee. As you know, that committee was seated a couple of years ago now I think, and they did a significant amount of work and made recommendations back to the board. In essence, that committee is pretty much wrapped up unless the Board of Aldermen chooses to implement a BID. If they do, those members may be called on again, if not, new members might be appointed, however it might play out. But in the meantime, I thought the Downtown Improvement Committee would be well served by starting with a base of people who had spent the last two years putting in countless hours really looking at the downtown. I remember telling the committee when I appointed for your consideration the members of the Services Advisory Committee that I really went out of my way to have a mix of people; so there were 3 faces that everybody was very familiar with with downtown and 3 faces that I don’t think most people were familiar with with downtown, some of whom had strong feelings about yes a BID or no a BID and some who had no feelings at all. When I looked at this committee I’m interested in taking a similar approach. Before you tonight is the first group of members that I’m asking you to consider; to my left is Mary Lou Blaisdell. Mary Lou has a history in the City in volunteering both as a Board of Assessor’s Chairman now I think for quite some time and with other committees within our community. She also owns a retail store downtown. She really has a sense of things and ended up Chairing the Services Advisory Committee. I think she brings a great deal to the table. To her left is Mr. Sy Mahfuz who owns the Persian Rug Gallery very close here to City Hall. He was also on the Services Advisory Committee. He brings a perspective, and I don’t mean to diminish others about the downtown, but his perspective is also I think so much greater than Nashua. One of the things that he has done over the past 5 or 6 years I believe is travel throughout the country putting on seminars on customer service and appraisals and all the sorts of things that relate to his business and how it is successful, which has given him another opportunity, which is to take a look at other downtowns and how they are operating and what communities are doing and what their approach is, and things that might or might not be successful. I think that is another benefit to the committee. Sitting to his left is Mr. Richard Lannan, who actually was a new face when we seated the Services Advisory Committee. As you can tell they have developed a rapport. Mr. Lannan, although he has been in business for many many years, he really in the last 4 years or so started becoming a property owner in downtown Nashua. Having him at the table I think is very important, and again a member of the Services Advisory Committee. To his left is Mr. John Koutsos who I know that you all know the owner of Alec Shoe. John did not sit on the Services Advisory Committee, but somehow still gave up a lot of his time to come and participate and pay attention. You know that he has been to many of your meetings when recommendations were made. I thought it was a good opportunity for him to be an official member of a group that is really going to look at things. Personnel – 12/08/11 Page 11 In addition, these four members represent the community of downtown where people are very comfortable talking to this group about what is on their mind and what thoughts they might have. Way over to Mr. Koutsos’ left is of course Alderman Clemons. Now when Alderman Clemons brought in the legislation I don’t think he ever considered that he might be considered for a position on this committee. Alderman Clemons has put a significant amount of time looking at the downtown, listening to this board, understanding what are the things that are on people’s minds, and of course he certainly knows the ins and outs of how things operate in the city, and I think he would be a great assist to the committee. It is my pleasure to give him the opportunity to continue to serve the community. There are 4 other positions on this committee; one is the Economic Development Director who is stated in the legislation and then 3 other positions. I have not yet made determinations on who I will ask to be seated for those 3 positions, but I can tell you that I am spending time considering and talking to people that are residents of the downtown, some that are in more of a service oriented business downtown, maybe some that are not on Main Street, I think that is important as well. It is not easy to try and find all of the things we would like to have around the table, but I’m going to keep doing that. Mr. Art Bruinooge was on the Services Advisory Committee. He was a new face to the Services Advisory Committee and he owns Sadler Insurance in Railroad Square. I have not yet had the opportunity to talk to him about being considered for this, but I do intend to have a conversation with him and see if he is willing and interested in serving. What he brought to the table of course was another end of downtown that often times doesn’t get thought of in the downtown. If not him, I will focus on that area as well to bring that to the table. I think we have a really great start here, and I would again publicly thank all of you for all the time and dedication that you put in to doing the right thing for downtown. Even if it was a little controversial from time to time, even if some of it might still be controversial, but you were willing to get out there and take a chance for the right reasons. I very much appreciate that. With that Madam Chairman, I present to you the members that I’m prepared to support. Chairman Vitale Thank you very much. Maybe we will start with Alderman Clemons and work our way around. Alderman Clemons Mayor thank you for the opportunity and to the committee thank you for having me this evening. This was legislation that obviously I drafted and am very proud of to have passed this board. I think that the charge of the committee is going to be one where next year I don’t think there is going to be much discussed to be perfectly honest with you because I don’t know that we’re going to hit that $728,000 or be very much over that. However, I think that gives us an opportunity to talk about what are the things that we would like to see and to also get a sense of sort of how we want to, what vision we want to have for downtown and come up with a series of plans that hopefully will come to fruition when we do have further funding. I don’t think that necessarily diminishes the role of the committee simply because there are no funds. As we know, the Mayor put a significant amount of money into downtown improvements in the budget this year, and I’m hopeful that there will be some of that next year as well. I’m really honored to be a part of this group, and I think as time goes on we’re going to have a more significant role to play in the city. I look forward to working with the board. I think it is going to be a really good experience, and I think a lot of good things are going to come out of this. Personnel – 12/08/11 Page 12 Chairman Vitale Thank you Alderman Clemons. Is there anybody that would like to ask any questions? Alderman Chasse Can we go all the way through and then take the questions after? Chairman Vitale We certainly can. Mr. Koutsos? John Koutsos Thank you very much Madam Chairman. I’m very honored to be appointed by the Mayor. Thank you Mayor Lozeau for giving me the chance to serve the City. As I am sure you are aware of, I have been downtown pretty much my whole life. Our store has been in business since the ‘30s in downtown Nashua so I’m really looking forward to being able to contribute to the future of the downtown because I think the downtown now it is at a point where it could use a little bit of focus on it to keep it going. There are a lot of vacant storefronts downtown. We could use a little bit of some infrastructure improvements and things of that nature. I think we have a great group of people here to get it done. It seems like the board has been receptive to focusing on the downtown a little bit. I think it is a great idea to have Alderman Clemons on the committee. He seems to understand the downtown very well. I look forward to it. I look forward to and I will le you know for myself I am all about things that I think are about fairness for all downtown. One concern that I think you might have, my business is on Main Street, it is sort of on the 50 yard line of Main Street and in no way will that influence me to have just things done on Main Street. I think we really need to concentrate as well on the side streets of downtown Nashua to keep those viable because if the side streets are healthy then the Main Street will stay very healthy. I thank you for the opportunity. Chairman Vitale Thank you. Mr. Lannan? Richard Lannan Thank you Mayor for appointing me again, on this committee. I’m not a resident of Nashua. I haven’t been involved prior to this appointment from the previous committee in much in downtown Nashua, but I have learned a lot. It has been very interesting. I represent a lot of tenants and residents. I have a dozen retail tenants on Main Street and probably 30 some odd offices from attorneys to artists and 32 apartments. I represent a lot of various groups on Main Street as far as I’m concerned. A lot of them don’t give me a lot of input, mostly my retailers, but it is interesting to hear their input; good, bad, and indifferent. I think we have done a lot so far, but there is obviously a long way to go and it will be interesting to continue the process through a new committee. There is a lot of work to be done, and I’m looking forward to working with some of the people I have worked with for the last couple of years and obviously some new people, and try to move Nashua forward. Thank you. Sy Mahfuz This isn’t a paying job? I thought it was a paying job. I have been coming downtown like Johnny since I was Personnel – 12/08/11 Page 13 probably 4 or 5 years old, and knew at 8 years old I was going to take over my father’s business so I was always going to be downtown. Not too long ago I was giving a presentation to a group of the downtown businesses and it came to me during that discussion that I spend more time downtown than I do at home, and that downtown is my neighborhood. We drive home, we’ve got our beautiful homes, our house is painted, our shrubbery is cut, and if we drive home and there are leaves on our lawn we get out, put our sweat clothes on and rake them up. We drive into town where we spend more time, my second neighborhood, and we kind of ignore all of the obvious things that are wrong. One of the things that I’ve really committed myself to is trying to notice those things, make sure that I’m looking at my business like I’m looking at my home. If we all think of this as our neighborhood, we will all treat it differently. We have, we are on the cusp, we are at a time where downtowns are going broke, closing down, and the peripheral cities are doing much better. I was with Mike Buckley today and he said something very interesting, he said you can have a big big city, but the downtown is the face of the city. He is absolutely right. We heard him say this and we all looked at each other and said wow that is just so, it is just the truth. Because I have never seen a picture of a downtown, I have never seen a picture of a community that was a mall. The only picture of a community I have ever seen is landscape whether it be New York City, whether it be Chicago or whether it be downtown Nashua. I don’t have time for this, but I have to have time for this. My son is the fourth generation of my business. I can’t afford to not commit, to make sure that he is successful because moving is not an option. This is our home, it is where we grew up, we have to make it better. So the sidewalks that people are tripping on, the trees that are overgrowing, the facades that need work, the meters that have to be changed, those things are all important, those things have to be done one at a time, we don’t have the money to do them all at once, but we have a Mayor and we have a Board of Aldermen and we’re all committed. What I think we have to do is be committed to working together and figuring this out, having a long range plan so that our neighborhood is prettier ten years from now than it is today. I’m really honored to be here. I’m honored to be working with everybody plus I get 10% off at Johnny’s place if we’re on the committee. It is really exciting. Truthfully, I’m honored to be here, and I think that if we can make a difference then that is really all we’re asked to do, a positive difference. Thank you. Chairman Vitale Thank you. Mary Lou Blaisdell Thank you. I also thank the Mayor for reappointing me. I have had a great time being part of the Services Advisory Committee. I have learned a great deal about downtowns. I have learned more about parking than I ever though I would know. I have talked to downtowns all over the eastern seaboard about what works, what doesn’t work. All of us on the committee did, and it has been a great learning process. I am excited to be part of a group that will move our downtown forward to revitalize and to keep us going forward as we need to. I think we’ve got a great committee started and I think that there is a lot of work to be done, and we work well together. There is a lot for us to learn and there is a lot for us to do as Sy said jointly. It is something that has to be joint work between the committee, the board, the Mayor, all of us working together to get it done. We have factors come at us from various different areas; the outlet mall in Merrimack, towns that surround us, and in order to keep our city thriving well we do need to keep downtown thriving. I thank all of you for working with our committee and I look forward to working with you in the future and bringing us to the next step. Thank you. Personnel – 12/08/11 Page 14 Chairman Vitale Thank you very much. Thank you everybody. Questions from the committee? Alderman Chasse I believe this is a question to the Mayor; are there any terms on these positions? Mayor Lozeau The legislation requires that they have three year terms, but that they be appointed with staggered terms to begin with. I have not made a determination on whose terms would be what yet; I thought I would wait until I have the whole group ready. Alderman Chasse Okay. Great group. I want to thank you for giving your service to the City of Nashua and I wish you the best of luck. Hopefully Nashua’s downtown will be revitalized and make things happen. I remember when I was a kid I used to hang around with Sy on Thursday nights. Downtown was active back in those days. Sy Mahfuz Couldn’t even move downtown it was so busy. Alderman Chasse Mary Lou I heard you say something about great people to work with. I still don’t understand how you can work with Sy. That is another thing. You have to put up with a lot. Mayor Lozeau If I could Madam Chairman, I just want to make sure that I understand. I think all of the people here tonight, perhaps with one exception, are probably willing to do the full three years right away, but with the other members I want to see if I can mix it up a little bit. I just wasn’t prepared for that yet. Alderman Chasse They won’t have to come in front of us again when they get the terms? Mayor Lozeau Not for the terms no. Alderman Clemons Just a point of order on that, we will need to have those terms determined by the Board of Aldermen meeting when the appointments are taken up because we need to have them in order to confirm the…we don’t need them in committee, but we need them so that we know we can make that motion at the full board what the terms are. Personnel – 12/08/11 Page 15 Mayor Lozeau Okay. Alderman Clemons You said you were waiting for the whole thing to be appointed, but we need to have… Mayor Lozeau Because I’m thinking about the other three, and I don’t want to…okay. Alderman Clemons Okay. Chairman Vitale Thank you. Any other questions? Alderman Cookson Thank you. I guess this is more for the Mayor again; just looking at the legislation, you’ve already identified that the Economic Development Director is going to be part of this committee and that is the first statement within this particular ordinance. The second piece is the Mayor shall appoint and the Board of Aldermen shall confirm 4 members who shall be city residents and at least one of those four members shall live in downtown. You are, I’m assuming based on that qualification you are still looking for that individual. Mayor Lozeau I am. Alderman Cookson Okay. And then the Mayor shall also appoint and the Board of Aldermen shall confirm 4 members who shall be any of the following; consumers of businesses, non-profits located downtown, one zone district, business owners, or employees of businesses located in the downtown one zoning district, non-profit employees or volunteers doing work within the downtown one zoning district, and then owners of properties located within that zoning district or residents who live within the downtown, so with the exception of the one we just identified up above that has to live within the residence, you are still looking for 2 or 3 others to be part of that committee? Mayor Lozeau I am. Alderman Cookson Based on… Personnel – 12/08/11 Page 16 Mayor Lozeau All of my appointments fall within the requirements of the legislation. Alderman Cookson Okay. Mayor Lozeau The legislation required the Economic Development Director so that was a pretty easy one. But the parameters that you just read, most of the members here fall within that category with the exception of being a resident. Alderman Cookson Exactly. Mayor Lozeau As I said earlier, a resident of the downtown I’m talking to different people and I haven’t made that decision yet… Alderman Cookson Very good. Mayor Lozeau …then I have 2 other appointments that can be made so there could be more than one resident, it could be a different business… Alderman Cookson Understood. I just wanted to get an idea of where those other members were going to be coming from based on those qualifications. Then I wanted to compliment Alderman Clemons on the fourth point of the ordinance. I think it is really important that that Liaison or that Alternate Liaison are non-voting members of this commission. I think it is vitally important that they remain neutral, they act as that communication between the committee as well as the Board of Aldermen, and sometimes we have seen in the past where a member has been a voting member of a particular committee or commission and then they get another vote at the committee level and then a third vote at the Board of Aldermen. It just seems like there is a just a little too much influence once they become voting members of a particular commission. I actually like the fact that they are non-voting members of that particular committee. Then finally two points that both Sy and Mary Lou made about working together and coming together, it reminded me of a quote that I often use, and I have no doubt this is very apropos to this particular situation. It is a quote from Anthropologist Margaret Mead who says that never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has. I think that this small group of dedicated individuals are going to make a significant influence and change to what we have in downtown. I think Fouad is going to be very successful and he is going to have a better Nashua tomorrow than he does today. Personnel – 12/08/11 Page 17 I appreciate the effort that you guys and ladies are going to put into this. It certainly is an undertaking, but we certainly appreciate the time and the effort and the dedication that you will contribute over whatever term it is that you have. Thank you. Alderman Clemons I just wanted to make a point, something that I should have mentioned in my opening. Although it is not stated in the ordinance, one of the things that I think that is very important that this group does, probably the most important thing, is to once we are appointed and the group meets, it becomes our job to be the watchdog if you will of the Board of Aldermen in the sense that the ordinance that was passed is non-binding so while the committee part of it is binding, the funding part of it is not. So if for example not this year but the next year we get $500,000 or $600,000 in that parking revenue, it becomes our responsibility to make sure that the Board of Aldermen keeps that commitment that is laid out in the ordinance in that that portion above that $728,000 actually goes to downtown and it doesn’t go somewhere else. I honestly believe that is something that we will be tasked to do. I have full faith that the current Board of Aldermen would do that and hold up that commitment, it is more of as the board changes and as time goes along, if times get tough in the budget, we need to be that voice to say this was the original commitment, this is about downtown, this is the reason that people took that leap of faith to raise those parking meters, and to say that well we are going to swallow that pill, we are going to pay that extra $.50 or we are going to pay that extra $.25 depending on where they are parking, because we know that extra $.25 is coming downtown. I just wanted to say that in my opinion, in my view, that is probably the most important thing that we’re going to do in the future. Chairman Vitale Thank you. Alderman Cookson Just one other clarifying point; there was another caveat to that legislation, which I thought was important, and that was there was a trigger to evaluate. If the anticipated revenue didn’t happen, if instead of $500,000 there was only $75,000, there was a trigger in place to come back and evaluate what it is that may have resulted in that shortfall or even if we had over anticipated, if we had in fact received a million dollars instead of $500,000, we have that trigger in place that will bring it back to the Board of Aldermen to evaluate. That $728,000 was, in my estimation, an artificial cap. It said no matter how well this parking district does, the City is only going to recognize $728,000. This trigger put in place will evaluate and will be able to fluctuate that $728,000 up or down depending on how well the additional revenue kicks in. I thought that was another nice piece that was added. Chairman Vitale Any other questions? Alderman Craffey I just want to comment that I look forward to working with this group. The downtown comprises most of my ward or I should say most of the downtown comprises my ward. I look forward to working with each and every one of you. Feel free to call upon me. I know Sy has numerous times called on me to ask questions and propose legislation. Feel free to call on me. I’m offering my hand now. Thank you. Personnel – 12/08/11 Page 18 Chairman Vitale I do appreciate everything that you’re bringing to this committee. I think it is really important for the City and the opportunities available to us can be endless as our imagination can be and how we work together. I look forward to hearing what you discuss and bring forward, and thank you very much for contributing your time. COMMUNICATIONS - None APPLICATION TO LICENSE HAWKER'S, PEDDLER'S, ITINERANT VENDOR'S LICENSE - None APPOINTMENTS BY THE MAYOR MOTION BY ALDERMAN CHASSE TO RECOMMEND THE CONFIRMATION OF THE FOLLOWING APPOINTMENT BY THE MAYOR: BEN CLEMONS TO THE DOWNTOWN IMPROVEMENT COMMITTEE MOTION CARRIED Alderman Clemons Abstained Vice-Chairman Vitale stepped down and Chairman Clemons presided: MOTION BY ALDERMAN CHASSE TO RECOMMEND THE CONFIRMATION OF THE FOLLOWING APPOINTMENTS BY THE MAYOR: TO THE PLANNING BOARD, RICHARD LAROSE FOR A TERM COTERMINOUS WITH THE MAYOR’S TERM, AS THE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR, JUSTIN T. KATES, FOR AN INDEFINITE TERM AT THE PLEASURE OF THE MAYOR, TO THE DOWNTOWN IMPROVEMENT COMMITTEE, MARY LOU BLAISDELL, JOHN KOUTSOS, RICHARD LANNAN, AND SY MAHFUZ ON THE QUESTION Alderman Cookson Just noticing the addresses of the final two candidates that were identified, Rich Lannan and Sy Mahfuz, I just don’t want there to be any confusion. At least I know that Taggart Drive is a business and I know that the address on Main Street is also a business. Is it common for a business address to be identified? It will not conflict with the requirement within your legislation? These two won’t be confused to be residents of Nashua? Chairman Clemons Correct. They will not, and it is common that the business address is used. I know that in the past we have had appointments where they have used their business address for whatever reason as the address to be listed for their contact information. But no it will not be confused in the ordinance as far as where their residence is. Alderman Cookson Thank you. Alderman Craffey On this motion, should we mention that the terms for this should be determined prior to the Board of Aldermen? Personnel – 12/08/11 Page 19 Chairman Clemons We can, but the motion that is going to be made by the full Board of Aldermen is going to have those terms anyway. We’re just making a recommendation to approve the appointments. That motion is going to have to be separate anyway at the full board. Alderman Craffey Thank you. Chairman Clemons Is there any further discussion? MOTION CARRIED UNFINISHED BUSINESS – None NEW BUSINESS – RESOLUTIONS – None NEW BUSINESS – ORDINANCES O-11-91 Endorser: Alderman-at-Large Mark S. Cookson RELATIVE TO ALDERMANIC COMMITTEE CHAIRS MOTION BY ALDERMAN CRAFFEY TO RECOMMEND FINAL PASSAGE ON THE QUESTION Chairman Clemons Since the primary sponsor is here I will open up the floor to him. Alderman Cookson Thank you very much. Very simply, this piece of legislation says that the position of a committee chair for any of the Aldermanic committees would first be offered to an Alderman-at-Large and then if he or she were to decline that then the committee chairs would be open to the Board of Aldermen. It is a very simple piece of legislation. The Alderman-at-Large may have a broader perspective, they have a longer term through the election cycle, it is a four year term versus a two year term, and I thought that this might be an appropriate way to differentiate between; another differentiation between an at-Large Alderman and a Ward Alderman, and that is through the committee chairmanships. Again, it doesn’t preclude any Ward Alderman from potentially chairing, it just says that the Alderman-at-Large has first right of refusal. Alderman Chasse Under no circumstances will I be in favor of this ordinance, and I will tell you why. First of all if we have an election and we have 3 brand new Alderman-at-Large that come in at the same time, and they are green, they have never been to a committee meeting and you are going to say you are going to offer them the opportunity to go to a meeting and become the chair? That doesn’t sit with me. The other thing is we are all equals on here because an Alderman-at-Large has one vote, and I am a Ward Alderman and I have one vote and that is the way I look at it. There is no reason. It is up to the discretion of the President of the Board who makes Personnel – 12/08/11 Page 20 these decisions, and it has been that way maybe when I was still a twinkle in my daddy’s eye or something, but me I will not support this whatsoever. Chairman Clemons I will only say that I fully agree with the previous speaker. I think that being an Alderman-at-Large the only difference, there are two differences between an Alderman-at-Large and a Ward Alderman and the difference is that an Alderman-at-Large can serve in the leadership of the board and an Alderman-at-Large has a heck of a tougher race in the elections than a Ward Alderman. Those are, to me, the two distinctions. Yes the terms are different, but our terms on the board as far as our organization is concerned are two year terms so despite the fact that we are elected as an Alderman-at-Large to a four year term, as far as the organization goes and as far as the rules in which we conduct ourselves, it is a two year cycle. For me this legislation I think unfairly gives an advantage to an Alderman-at-Large who as Alderman Chasse said, coming in may not have the qualifications to chair a committee. Who is to say that even though they don’t have the qualifications that they would turn down the honor. I know that coming in four years ago when I came in, I wouldn’t have known how to…I probably could have worked through it, but to conduct a meeting no I wouldn’t have been a good chairman four years ago. I have the sense that I would have probably turned down that opportunity had this been the ordinance in place, but I don’t think it is appropriate when there are folks on this board that are more than capable and just by reason of the fact that they are elected to one particular district we’re going to turn down their experience and their knowledge, I just don’t think that is a smart thing to do. Alderman Vitale I have to agree with what Alderman Chasse said, and one of the things I would like to say is when we went around to the various wards one of the questions I was asked was well why are you here, it is not your area of the city, and what I told each of the residents that asked me that question I said when it comes down to voting on issues of the City I might get the questions in from my ward, but when I go to vote I need to know what is going on in the whole city and be listening to everybody in the City when it comes to voting. Each of us are an important aspect of the board as a whole. I do believe that we each carry an equal vote. Alderman Caron I concur. I feel like we would be treated as second class citizens just because we happen to be a Ward Alderman, and you are right there are people that sit as Ward Alderman that have experience as chair people and you’re not giving them the opportunity to run these committees. I wouldn’t vote for this. I am very surprised that something like this would come up as legislation. Chairman Clemons Is there any further discussion? Alderman Cookson I would just add there was no intention of making anybody feel like a second class citizen. That is completely absurd. I take the stick of judgment to it. It simply was a piece of legislation that I offered that was open for discussion. Personnel – 12/08/11 Page 21 Chairman Clemons Is there any further discussion on the motion? The motion is to recommend final passage of O-11-91. Alderman Craffey I was just going to say that I support the legislation. I happen to agree with Alderman Cookson. Chairman Clemons The motion is to recommend final passage of O-11-91. MOTION FAILED MOTION BY ALDERMAN CHASSE TO TABLE O-11-91 MOTION CARRIED Division Taken Alderman Chasse Mr. Chairman, did you have any other intentions of something else with this ordinance? Chairman Clemons The motion has carried, but my intention was to recommend indefinite postponement. That would have been what I would have chosen to do, but I think either way… Alderman Chasse Either way it is towards the end of the year and it won’t matter. Chairman Clemons Tabled in committee we have several items, which much like the previous one…we are probably going to have one more meeting; it is a special meeting. It is going to be for the Pennichuck directors though and I assume that is going to take up a lot of our time. If there is any reason to take anything from the table, now would be a good time to do it although we would have that opportunity at that meeting, but I’m guessing the focus is going to be on the other. Is there any desire to take any of this from the table? Alderman Cookson I will just say I have no intention on speaking to R-11-111 this evening. It makes absolutely no sense. We tabled it at the committee last time and so it wasn’t my expectation. I only had come to speak about O-11-91. Chairman Clemons Anything further? Personnel – 12/08/11 Page 22 TABLED IN COMMITTEE R-11-111 Endorsers: Alderman-at-Large Mark S. Cookson Alderman-at-Large Barbara Pressly Alderman Arthur T. Craffey, Jr. REQUIRING BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR DIRECTORS AND INTERIM OFFICERS SELECTED TO MANAGE PENNICHUCK CORPORATION • Vetoed 10/4/11 • Reconsidered and Referred to Personnel – 10/11/11 • Tabled 11/10/11 O-11-75 Endorser: Alderman-at-Large Barbara Pressly RELATIVE TO THE USE OF ELECTRONIC DEVICES DURING MEETINGS • Amended & Tabled - 9/8/11 O-11-77 Endorser: Alderman-at-Large Barbara Pressly RELATIVE TO PUBLIC PARTICIPATION DURING COMMITTEE MEETINGS • Tabled 7/14/11 O-11-83 Endorsers: Alderman-at-Large Barbara Pressly Alderman Arthur T. Craffey REGARDING RELEASES FROM JOB CANDIDATES • Tabled 10/13/11 O-11-84 Endorser: Alderman-at-Large Barbara Pressly RELATIVE TO RECORDED AUDIO OF PUBLIC MEETINGS • Tabled 10/13/11 DISCUSSION Alderman Chasse All of the other ones that are tabled could have been indefinitely postponed because I don’t think there is any intention of bringing any of these up at the next meeting when we have the individuals from Pennichuck here. Chairman Clemons Right. Any further discussion this evening? Alderman Vitale Just a reminder, I won’t be at that other Personnel meeting, but if there is anything that comes up that I feel I have to read in the minutes, that I need to discuss, I can bring it up at our full Board of Aldermen meeting. Chairman Clemons Okay. If you feel the need you can always call in as well and participate that way if … Personnel – 12/08/11 Page 23 Alderman Vitale I might. How much notice do we need to give for that? Is there a notice? Chairman Clemons We can arrange it that day if you want so just let Sue know. Alderman Vitale I will find out what is going on when I get there, and… Chairman Clemons And I haven’t even scheduled it yet. I have to talk to the Mayor and make sure everybody can be here at the same time, but we will certainly let you know when it is going to be and if you can phone in then of course, as any Alderman is, you are more than welcome. Alderman Vitale Okay. Thank you. Chairman Clemons Is there anything further? Alderman Chasse You are getting to be just like Alderman McCarthy scheduling special meetings. Chairman Clemons It will be my last opportunity to schedule a special meeting. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity Alderman Chasse. I just want to say actually that I really have enjoyed my last four years particularly these last two chairing this committee. I have enjoyed working with all of you. It has been a definite learning experience for me. I think we have done some really good things in this committee. We have met some really great candidates that the Mayor has brought forward. I will miss my time on the board, but it was really great. I really appreciated that time. Alderman Chasse I have been on this committee for 5 ½ years because I filled out a term for somebody else, and in 5 ½ years there is only one person that came in front of the Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee and was rejected and none in this Mayor’s term. The people that she is bringing in front of us, just that young man tonight; very articulate and he knew his stuff. I was very impressed, and like I said we never had a resume in front of us so we knew nothing about this young man until he sat down and he didn’t need a resume, and I think she picked a good individual there and all of the other people and everybody else. I think Alderman MacLaughlin said at one time we were getting close to 200 people in the previous term, and that is a lot of people coming through this committee and a lot of hours. Thank you. Personnel – 12/08/11 Page 24 Alderman Vitale Compared to my first term here, the candidates coming before us for interviews have been very good. I know that there are going to be quite a few coming up too because I have heard that a couple of committees are going to need to be placing people. I thank you for chairing this committee… Chairman Clemons Thank you. Alderman Vitale …I think you have done a very fine job. Chairman Clemons Thank you. Alderman Craffey I just want to say thank you. My first term on this board you have been both a friend and a colleague, have taught me a lot, and I wish you well. Chairman Clemons Thank you. Alderman Chasse For the next meeting when we have the Pennichuck people, I have all of the resumes here and I went through them and I am going to pass them over to Alderman Caron so she can take a look at them so she has a little bit of knowledge of who is going to be up for the running… Chairman Clemons Thank you. Alderman Caron Thank you. Alderman Chasse …and I want it back please. PUBLIC COMMENT - None REMARKS BY THE ALDERMEN - None Personnel – 12/08/11 Page 25 ADJOURNMENT MOTION BY ALDERMAN CHASSE TO ADJOURN MOTION CARRIED The meeting was declared closed at 8:23 p.m. Alderman Arthur T. Craffey, Jr. Committee Clerk