Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee

PERSONNEL/ADMINISTRATIVE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE AUGUST 26, 2013 A meeting of the Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee was held on Monday, August 26, 2013, at 7:03 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chamber. Chairman Paul M. Chasse, Jr. presided. Members of the Committee present: Alderman Arthur T. Craffey, Jr., Vice Chair Alderman June M. Caron Alderman Kathy Vitale, Arrived after Roll Call at 7:10 p.m. Alderman Diane Sheehan Also in Attendance: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau Alderman-at-Large Barbara Pressly PUBLIC COMMENT Paula Johnson, 15 Westborn Drive. I’m here tonight in regards to the appointment to Corporation Counsel, and I’m going to give you the reasons why I don’t think he should be appointed. As we look back to this past March when Corporation Counsel was sitting over there, Assistant Corporation Counsel, we had a little issue about an alderman on a conflict of interest. I, not a sitting alderman, had to call him on the carpet on that saying that it is a conflict of interest. You should know better. I’m going to challenge you on that. You cannot have somebody who sits for an organization or non-profit putting their name on a piece of legislation as a sponsor. He should have known better than that. I think it’s sad that our legal department doesn’t know the difference between conflict of interest and non-conflict of interest. Given the fact that when I was a sitting alderman, and alderman-at-large, every time there was a piece of legislation, anything came up about the employer, I always had information on the desk talking about what is a conflict of interest and who can and cannot speak about it. Also, O-13-51, Prohibiting Members of the Board of Assessors from Serving in any other City Elected or Appointed Position. I think it’s really sad that we had to have an alderman write a piece of legislation talking about a person that is a commissioner on the Board of Public Works, appointed to two positions in the city, an assessor and I think as the Review and Comment Committee. I could be wrong on that, I stand corrected on that one. It takes a piece of legislation for our city attorney to know it’s in the Charter already and that he’s served in those positions for two years. We’re asking that this man to become now corporation counsel for $113,556, a $12,000 increase. Gee, in this city we just spend money like crazy. No matter what, there’s always an increase. I also went and talked to Attorney Bennett regarding the lease that we’re talking about with Southern New Hampshire Medical Center and CVS. I wanted to know where we got that figure of $720,000 over 15 years. He told me I had to go to the Mayor’s Office to get the information. I asked him before we went. I spoke to him. Can I get a piece of paper and a pen so I can just jot down notes. He said I didn’t need to. At the end, I was recapping everything with Mr. Bennett, and he told me I was just going around in circles. If I wanted to know what the value of the property is worth, go down to the Assessor’s Office and see if they would do an appraisal. I went down to the Assessor’s Office. We know that the Assessor’s Office does not do appraisals. They assess property in this city; they do not appraise property. You’d have to get an outside appraiser. When I ask questions, I don’t get straight answers. When you know there’s a conflict, it doesn’t come out as a conflict. When an alderman has to write a piece of legislation to have somebody be removed from appointed positions that he should have known as soon as this person was elected to the Board of Public Works. As I said in the past, when I was a sitting Board of Ed member and I ran for Alderman-at-Large my first question was: If I win, what happens? I was told if I win that night, I can resign as of the next day or a minute after I got sworn in. But we didn’t know this? An alderman had to write a piece of legislation. So I’m asking that this committee does not approve his appointment and that we look for another attorney to become corporation counsel for this city who has the knowledge. Thank you. Personnel – 08/26/13 Page 2 INTERVIEWS Art Commission John Egan (New Appointment) Term to Expire: September 1, 2016 Donna Metzger (New Appointment) Term to Expire: September 1, 2016 Mayor Lozeau Sitting to my right is Mr. John Egan and sitting to his right is Donna Metzger, both of whom have approached me interested in the Arts Commission. I think Donna was asked by some of the members of the Arts Commission if she’d be interested. Mr. Egan some time ago had suggested that he would be interested. I think that he may have forgotten until I happily reminded him. If you look at his bio that I believe everybody has, he has been very involved in our community for a very long time, all the way back to the Sanders days. What I think is particularly interesting for this group is not only his business background but also his arts background. If you look at his wife’s involvement, which of course then means his involvement , in the arts over the years in this community, I think he brings a lot to the table, has the time and has a perspective that would be very welcome with the group. I would say with Donna she also has both business and professional experience in the arts, has been very involved with ActorSingers in this community, and has a very nice way about her that I think will also be very welcomed on the group. I present them tonight for your consideration. Ms. Metzger I’m very excited about being appointed. I think it will be fun and interesting being on the committee. I’ve been part of ActorSingers since 1982 and I’m currently the president. Mr. Egan We came up here 40 years ago from the suburbs of Washington. My wife didn’t want to come. She thought it was a vast wasteland. We show up and she’s been a volunteer violinist in the ActorSingers, in the Nashua Symphony, in the Nashua Chamber organization. We’ve raised our family and we’ve been here for 40 years. I’ve just been very impressed with the volunteerism that exists in the arts. I was a part of the old arts and science endeavor which the city was sort of trying to sponsor which died. I’ve become sort of a skeptic in terms of you can’t have a facility without a viable method of sustaining it financially. I’m very much interested in both the business side and the creative side of the arts because the arts in a community is a place to draw people and have a great place to grow a family and to enjoy yourselves. Alderman Sheehan Directed to Mrs. Metzger just out of curiosity, The Color of Water, is it the Anita Shreve one or the James McBride? You have listed that you were in extra in The Color of Water. There’s two books by that name. Anita Shreve wrote one about an island off of New Hampshire. James McBride, who two years ago, One City One Book author, wrote one about being raised by a white mother in Harlem. Ms. Metzger The first one. Personnel – 08/26/13 Page 3 Alderman Sheehan I was just curious. You have an extensive resume, and I think you’ll bring some different perspective to it with the performing arts. Thank you both for your interest in doing this. Alderman Vitale Both resumes are obviously very good. I like the fact that there’s both the interest in the business side and the performance side because I do think they have to go hand-in-hand to be successful in any community. I’m glad to hear that part. Thank you. Alderman Craffey I remember the other appointments that have come before us, Madam Mayor, and these have again started to round out the committee. Mr. Egan, I’m very impressed with your bio here. You bring a nice historic perspective to the committee. It will be a welcomed view to bring some of the old perspective into the new and to help guide the committee a little bit. What used to work back then kind of works even now today. And we’re not a wasteland. I have an uncle that shares the same view. He lives south of the cape. There’s the cape, Boston and then there’s everything else. He had the same type of view until his son moved up here and he found out it wasn’t’ that far. It’s not really a wasteland; it’s a very beautiful place. There’s an article in the Telegraph this weekend that Alison Cote wrote that talked very well about the millenniums and things like this. I think this arts commission is going to be sort of a key in attracting the millenniums we need to do and your perspective will be very, very helpful in that perspective. As far as Ms. Metzger, having a actor on this thing and a choreographer will provide a different prospective. This is a very unique group of individuals the mayor has pulled together. We have them from all walks of life on this commission. She’s done a great job of putting this together. I highly wait to see some of the stuff that they are starting to pull when you all get together rand start to pull everything and meet ad a group and start planning the future of the arts in the City of Nashua. Every great city has a great arts problem. I’m already looking forward to actually seeing what actually comes forward out of this group that she’s put together I really like your resume. It’s pretty impressive. I want to thank both of you for your time and your willingness to volunteer. Alderman Caron I’m not going to repeat what Alderman Craffey said because he said it all but I really would like to thank you both for wanting to be on the arts commission and volunteering. I think that’s great. Mr. Egan, I agree with you that we have wonderful volunteers throughout this city for a lot of different programs. From reading your resumes, I think your both going to bring some great things to the art commission and I’m looking forward to seeing what you guys come up with as a group. Thank you again. Alderman Pressly I don’t get to vote on this committee since I’m not a member. I’m here for something that comes up later on the agenda. But I do vote at the full Board. I’m happy to be voting for both of you. But I wanted to speak because I think I’ve known John for 35 of those 40 years so it’s a pleasure to have you on this committee. Did I understand you correctly? I think for those 35-40 years there’s been talk of a location for an arts center. Did I hear that in your speech tonight or did I mishear you? Mr. Egan I’ve become very sensitive to how you support a facility because we participated in the Capital Center for the Arts in Concord, the Palace Theatre in Manchester, Portsmouth has a great facility that brings in other things. Personnel – 08/26/13 Page 4 Nashua does not have a facility. One just can’t willy-nilly go out and decide that we’re going to create a subsidized enterprise, whether it’s a ballpark or an arts center unless one understands how one sustains it. Overtime basically that is a major issue that just should not blind people as to why the arts cannot just proceed themselves. Our big problem quite frankly is outreach. A lot of people even the blogs in the local area don’t know what’s going on. There is very little visibility by virtue of the fact that most of the art groups are self- contained and have a constituency which basically use social networking facilities to understand what’s happening. If you’re a millennium and you’re in a new area and you come to town, you haven’t a clue of what’s going on. The outreach in terms of publicity and opportunities to participate is one of the real things that I would like to understand better because I’m only involved, as you pointed out, the two orchestras that exist. I’m familiar with those but the rest of them are hidden gems basically, both the performing arts and the creative arts. We live next to Greeley Park. The Nashua Arts Association that has this Greeley Park endeavor, oh by the way, since we’re close to Greeley the shell is used all the time. We’re so close that I can sit in my backyard and not even go over there and hear the event. I enjoy the arts wherever it is. Alderman Craffey One of the things I’m looking to come out of the commission is some sort of plan, somehow develop all the arts so they all connect so we all know what’s happening. One of the things that Mrs. Cote did point out in her article is that the only way she found out about the arts going on in Greeley Park was she was driving up the street and saw the signs. I’m hoping this commission can link all the arts together and provide some sort of social calendar, either through the mayor’s office or the daily calendar that gets put out through the city’s website, something that we’ll be able to know that something is happening in the city so people can more enjoy it. And from there, bring forward a foundation in which we can support an arts center in the long run. I’m not saying right now but the ultimate goal being some sort of an art colony or an art center in the area so people can enjoy it. Chairman Chasse I’m very impressed with both resumes. I want to thank you for your willingness to serve. The only question I would have is: Ms. Metzger, are you acting right now or is this the real you, tonight? Ms. Metzger This is the real me. Business and Industrial Development Authority David M. Denehy (New Appointment) Term to Expire: September 1, 2016 Mayor Lozeau To hear the story of what his history has been and why he’s interested in the Business & Industrial Development Authority will be interesting to all of you. He’s really had quite a colorful time. He came to the last BIDA meeting to be able to get a sense of what was happening in that meeting and gave the group a bit of his history. He approached me. I had never met him before. He approached me, talked to me about his interest here. His project management skills that I think will be very helpful for the undertaking that the Authority is taking on now. As you know the Renaissance project on Bridge Street and other work in the area of East Hollis Street that I think needs some attention, that the committee is looking at. I think that he brings a skill set that will be very helpful to the committee. Personnel – 08/26/13 Page 5 Mr. Denehy I have no formal remarks other than to say thank you for this opportunity and I welcome your questions. Alderman Pressly I would just like to comment that I attended that meeting so I had the chance to meet this gentleman before. He seemed to fit right in with the group that exists there. It seems like a group fit, and it’s nice to see you again. Alderman Craffey You and I have once met, believe it or not. Mr. Denehy I apologize, I don’t remember. Alderman Craffey You probably wouldn’t. It was such a long time ago. I was looking over your military service. You were a Squad Leader at Co. 1, 3/18th, 187th Infantry. I happened to serve at HAQ at the 187th Infantry. Mr. Denehy Forgive my memory that was close to 20 years ago if not more. I hope it was a positive impression. Alderman Craffey I can’t remember if it was positive or not. I’m glad to see that you want to volunteer on the committee. Your project management skills will be a welcomed addition. Having your ideas to be able to prioritize and to set work schedules and help them through the idea of tasking and priorities. Those are important skills that people tend to overlook sometimes. As a project manager, myself, I understand. Welcome aboard and I look forward to seeing you. Mr. Denehy Thank you and I hope to see you sooner than 20 years from now. Alderman Vitale With the background that is shown here, the Business & Industrial Development Committee will definitely welcome you. I can foresee that you will bring up quite a few conversations from the different areas that you’ve served in and you’ve lived. It’s nice to get new perspectives of people on the committee, and I think you’ll be able to do that with your background. I appreciate your volunteerism. Ethnic Awareness Committee Jared Barbosa (New Appointment) Term to Expire: September 1, 2016 Personnel – 08/26/13 Page 6 Mayor Lozeau I am pleased to introduce you to Mr. Barbosa. As you can see from his resume he has been working at the Boys & Girls Club since 2011. He has been participating with the Ethnic Awareness Committee for quite some time, back and forth to meetings. The Chairman, Mr. Tom Lopez, is on the benches here to support this new addition to the Ethnic Awareness Committee as well. Jared is very involved obviously with youth in the community and, as I said, has just been coming and volunteering his time and energy to the Ethnic Awareness Committee which I think is really quite remarkable. Certainly not something somebody has to do if you’re not an appointed member, but we have quite a group that has done that. I think he brings a perspective that’s a little bit different to the table. I think again, like the others that I’ve introduced you to tonight, it’s a valuable perspective. One more view to the table that I think will be welcomed. I am pleased to introduce him to you this evening. Mr. Barbosa I just want to say it’s a pleasure and a honor to be amongst such intelligent and influential people in the community. I know you guys don’t think so, but I do. It’s a pleasure. Thank you. Alderman Sheehan Thank you for wanting to participate in this. It’s nice to see the committee really starting to take shape that does action as well as just theory. I’m happy to see that the people that have been up for nominating are people that are doers, that are actually in the community and working in roles that make a difference. I welcome you and I’m excited to have you here. When Janeth gets here, she has a similar background too, so I’m looking forward to seeing what you guys are going to do next and where it is going to go. I know you’ve been working with the different programs coming up like the block parties. Your group has been very instrumental with getting some volunteer action behind that. I like seeing more of that so I’m exciting with the direction things have been taking so thank you for participating. Alderman Craffey Thank you for volunteering. I like the idea of having a youth perspective on this committee. You’re one of the youngest members. I think you are the youngest member on the committee. It’s a different perspective. The perspective of the youth is very important when dealing with ethics. So what type of perspective do you bring? Mr. Barbosa Just as you said, I think about the youth a lot. I like the saying: "Our youth is our future." I’m invested in them. I think being part of this group will provide a lot of opportunity for me to open some doors for the youth in some of the activities that we’ll be doing. Mayor Lozeau I’ve come before you often with trying to get members for the Ethnic Awareness Committee, some of whom early on got involved. While the committee was trying to figure out what role it could play, we lost some members. As of late, the new chairman has been really trying to find specific things that a committee can feel a part of. There’s no faster way to lose volunteers than for them to feel like they don’t have a purpose. We’ve talked about events they can do, cultural competencies that they can do. I really think you’re going to see some momentum moving forward with the group. As Alderman Sheehan was saying with the block parties, them getting involved, and with other cultures. Often times the Ethnic Awareness Committee will focus on Hispanic and Latino cultures. We have a huge Indian population and they’re already doing a lot of cultural Personnel – 08/26/13 Page 7 things in the community. We have large Asian population. Of course with refugee resettlement conversations taking place, it’s really an opportune time to really have this committee be busy. Alderman Melizzi-Golja has been talking to me a great deal about rounding out the membership on that committee so that there are worker-bees to pull off some of the initiatives that they are trying to do. This is a great opportunity for that to continue with that momentum. Alderman Craffey No one is more well aware of that than me in my ward. I probably have the most diversity in the entire city. I have the downtown ward so nobody is more aware of that diversity than I am. That’s why I asked the question: What will you bring. I’m looking for more diversity out of the committee. That was the purpose of the question. Mayor Lozeau I understood. I just wanted to help him out with that. Alderman Craffey I wasn’t putting him under any pressure. Mayor Lozeau I know, but I wanted to make sure Jared understood. Alderman Craffey When we take your nomination up, please feel free to reach out to me. I’m the ward 4 alderman and I do have the downtown ward so please feel free to reach out. Alderman Pressly Last I heard we had like 57 different cultures and languages. Maybe the number has gone up, Mayor Lozeau, but I’m impressed with the variety of languages that are spoke in our city. It’s great to see that you’re willing to reach out and include those people, not only the children but their parents. It’s so important to bring them in and make them feel welcome and to help them learn our culture so than you for volunteering. Historic District Commission Robert Sampson (Reappointment) Term to Expire: September 30, 2016 Michael S. Tehan (New Appointment) Term to Expire: September 1, 2016 Mayor Lozeau A very familiar face here in the city, Mr. Sampson, the current chairman of the Historic District Commission who is now seated to my right. Next to him to his right is Michael Tehan. Mr. Sampson, I always find him quite direct, interesting and remarkably dedicated to all things historic in this community. I feel often times when I meet with him that I’m a student learning a little of this and a little of that. It’s quite enjoyable. I appreciate, as I know you do, the amount of time that he has put into this committee and continues to be willing to serve. As I mentioned to his right is Michael Tehan. You will see that Michael’s wife, Karen was on the agenda earlier this evening and couldn’t join us. She’s being nominated to the Business & Industrial Personnel – 08/26/13 Page 8 Development Authority. What you might find interesting is both of them reached out to my office right away before they had even moved to the City of Nashua to say we’re coming up from Connecticut. We want to jump in with both feet in this community. We’re going to be living in a house in Concord Street. His wife is the new branch manager for the TD Bank downtown. He is an attorney as you can see from his resume. They came in and met with me together and talked about their interests and the things that they would be willing to do. Even though they are not familiar with the community, the fact that they wanted to get involved right away and expressed their interest in the two different committees, I think speaks very well of them. I’m sure that you join me in welcoming him to the community and recognizing just how much we value our volunteers here. Mr. Sampson It’s always a pleasure to be with such young people. I think somewhere in my resume it says I lived in Nashua all my life. That’s not totally true. I’m not dead yet. I expect to be here for another year or two. It has been a pleasure and interesting and instructive to serve on the Historic District Commission. I look forward to further service on that commission. I appreciate the Mayor asking me to continue and all of you for considering that recommendation. Mr. Tehan I’d just like to say that it’s been a pleasure so far to be in Nashua. I’d like to thank you for the opportunity to serve on this committee. I was actually just looking at the wall and looking at the gentlemen on the wall and thinking every one of them contributed to the history of this city. I look forward to working with everyone on the committee. I think it’s an important committee. I think it’s a committee where fair matters. With my experience, I can take a look at the law and apply it to the facts and the situation and try to be fair to everybody involved. Alderman Sheehan I’m going to say that Mr. Tehan and his wife jumped right in because as soon as they moved here I met them at a charity event where he was the roulette master for Kentucky Derby. They jumped in both feet first. That’s not the only time I’ve seen them there. We were just saying on the Historic District this evening that we needed a lawyer. This is gratuitous timing so thank you for that. With land use types of issues sometimes it’s nice to be able to have a resource available who might have a good idea of where we need to scope things. I welcome you to joining that. Mr. Sampson, I can’t express enough how in addition to what the Mayor said, how amusing he is when you’re with him. It’s very, very entertaining. You do always leave knowing things you didn’t know before. He’s been a huge asset to the district and to the commission. The historical perspective that he brings, just knowing all the history of Nashua, has been very enriching to myself. think has been good for the historic district which has come quite a way in the last few years. I enjoy working with him and I’m pleased that he has agreed to serve a little longer. Thank you. Alderman Vitale Mr. Tehan, you moved up from Connecticut. Did you do anything with the historical areas of where you lived in Connecticut? Mr. Tehan The historic thing is new to me other than I probably read about 50 different biographies on folks and history has always been very interesting to me. I thought it was a way to really get to know the city and maybe be impactful in a positive way. The Historic Preservation Society will be a relatively new area of the law to me. It’s a challenge I look forward to. Personnel – 08/26/13 Page 9 Alderman Vitale And your home fits within that area I’m guessing. Mr. Tehan We had the privilege of being able to move into the Sarah Hall. It’s a gorgeous neighborhood. Alderman Vitale Very good. Maybe Mr. Sampson can say what is the biggest challenge right now that’s facing the committee. Mr. Sampson I think personally and I think most of the members of the commission would most like to see is some expansion of the district to include not only some other areas in the north end, Berkeley Street for instance, but also other areas of the city that has historic buildings or neighborhoods. I think with no disrespect to the drugstore when that beautiful house on Main Street with the cupola on it was torn down to make way for a drugstore, I think a lot of us felt that was kind of sad. That is at least my focus on seeing what we can do to make more parts of Nashua a historic district and I hope preserve them for future generations and go forward in that respect. Alderman Vitale That will probably take some collaborative efforts between the historic committee and the board of aldermen and the land use boards. Mr. Sampson All of the above, yes. Alderman Pressly I have to comment that you and your wife have moved into a house that I lived in for 20 years. I’m sure that the Mortellaro’s recruited you for some of this activity, but it’s wonderful. I will tell you the first job I had in the city was to serve on this Board. It launched for me a political career of 35 years. It’s a great springboard to do exciting and wonderful things throughout the whole state. It’s a great career opportunity. I’m very pleased to meet you. We can talk later about some of the secrets of the house. I know quite a few of them. Welcome to Nashua and to 80 Concord Street. Alderman Caron First of all thank you both for volunteering and Mr. Sampson, thank you for wanting to stay on this group. I know that they’ve done a lot of good things for the area. I think having Mr. Tehan will add to that group. Mr. Tehan, you and your wife, will be very busy if she gets put on the other committee. So welcome to your new home in Nashua. What a way to start so thank you. As we said before volunteers are a very intricate part of our city’s viability. Thank you again. Personnel – 08/26/13 Page 10 Zoning Board of Adjustment Jonathan Currier (Reappointment) Term to Expire: September 11, 2016 Gerard A. Reppucci (Reappointment) Term to Expire: September 11, 2016 Mayor Lozeau The two gentlemen coming up are clearly familiar faces to everybody on this committee and to everybody I would imagine on the Board of Aldermen. I think it’s a good opportunity to talk just a moment about the zoning committee and where they are today and the benefit of the two gentlemen to my right. Mr. Jack Currier who has served for a very long time, has served in positions of chairman, vice chairman. Mr. Reppucci to his right who is currently serving as the chairman. As you know planning and zoning are very high commitment committees. You have to put a lot of time in. You have to be willing to do the homework before the meetings. You have to be willing to stay late. I’m looking at Alderman Vitale because she has been a member of those committees. You have to really be willing to understand that if there’s only two sides to an issue it’s a gift because there’s usually multiple facets. It has been hard to find people that can commit the time and that can round out the committee in a way that you have a five-member committee each and every time that applications come before them. I really think that we’ve accomplished that, that we’ve come up with a Board I think that works really well together and that manages to almost always have five members present, pretty close to it. I’m working on trying to get a few more alternates. I look to the two gentlemen to my right and I am proud of the work that they do, the approach that they take on the committee, the way they treat the public, the fact that the public feels an opportunity to speak and more than that to be heard. I think they are both very direct, and I think the other thing that I appreciate is that neither one of them are afraid to have a position that’s different than their colleagues when they believe it’s the right thing to do. In addition, I think it’s really great that neither one of them have a problem with other members who don’t feel the same way they do which is really important to the comradery that’s necessary to spend that much time together on some really controversial issues. It’s my honor to offer them again for reappointment tonight. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Currier Thanks for the opportunity to be here. I have served awhile. I was trying to think of the year. All I could think of it was at the tail end of the Davidson administration when I came on and the beginning of the Streeter administration. I guess I’d just like to say my resume, I work in the private industry as an engineer. My resume speaks to that, but I do spend quite a bit of time on each and every case. Each case is important and I site walk each case. As Mayor Lozeau said, I’m not afraid to be a dissenter. I think if you look at my record, I probably dissent more than anyone else on the Board. I call it as I think the law should be. I also feel it’s important to welcome each opinion to the Board because we have everything from real seasoned lawyers to much more so just lay people who are there to speak what’s on their mind. Chairman Chasse Do you know who you replaced on the Board back then? Mr. Currier I think it might have been Judy Nessett. Chairman Chasse I think it probably was me. Personnel – 08/26/13 Page 11 Mr. Currier I didn’t know that. Mayor Lozeau And he’d like to thank you for that. Mr. Reppucci Thank you for taking the time for this, and thank you, Mayor, for the kind words. I think she summed it up pretty well. I’m happy to be back, and I enjoy serving on the Board. I hope it continues. We have great comradery on our Board and I think we all share respect for each other at a very high level, and it’s a pleasure to serve on it. Thank you. Alderman Vitale I enjoy working with both of you very much so on the Zoning Board. In addition, Mr. Currier and I served together on the Conservation Commission too. I’m very well aware of the value you bring to the Board and I’m glad you’re there. Thank you. City Solicitor Stephen M. Bennett, Esquire (New Appointment) Indefinite Term at the Pleasure of the Mayor Mayor Lozeau Joining me is our interim city corporation counsel, Attorney Steve Bennett. As you can appreciate the Mayor’s Office and the position and the responsibilities with that run the gamut of everything from the smallest detail to the biggest problem, from contracts that didn’t work out the way you would have hoped and how do you fix it, to issues about appointments and nominations. We’ve been very fortunate to have three attorneys in that office for a long time. As you know when I came in, I was thrilled to be able to bring to the Board the nomination of Jamie McNamee. It was actually Attorney McNamee that hired both Dory Clarke and Steve Bennett many years ago to that office. When Attorney McNamee was unable to continue serving, I knew it was okay to work with both Steve and Dory in that office and that we would get through deciding how we were going to move forward. When Attorney McNamee at the end of that first year made it clear that he couldn’t return to work, I put a lot of time and thought into what was the best thing to do next. Was it better to go out and find an attorney in the community to put in that position or was it better to look within. I actually invited Attorney Bennett and Attorney Clarke to the table to have that discussion with me as well as Attorney McNamee over the months leading up to the decision to talk about what’s the best next thing for this city. When that was said and done we, as you know, posted for another attorney for that office. We have hired an attorney who is fitting in beautifully. One of her strongest skills is coming from the private sector and being a contract attorney. Contracts, real estate, very helpful addition to the office. I think that was the right move. Clearly I’m confident about it or I wouldn’t be sitting here tonight. But I want to go a step further. One of the things that really important to me and my job is to not be surrounded with people that just agree with me or say yes when I want something. Now often times I will say: Okay, I know the answer is no, but how do I get to yes? Sometimes it’s this is how we could do it or there’s just not a way to get to yes. We have had arguments and disagreements and brought other people on the staff in to talk about it and to really try to make the best decision for the city. Not because I wanted it to happen but because it was the right thing to do, whether it was the city Charter, ordinances, changes, problems we were trying got overcome. I have to tell Personnel – 08/26/13 Page 12 you that our attorneys are no different than the rest of us. Sometimes we get it right, and sometimes we don’t. I can tell you that more often than not having three attorneys and a very direct mayor has served us well. I think the end result is often a good result. I have come to have a very healthy respect for the man sitting to my right. I think his dedication over many years for this city is evident. I think his approach to things is really well thought out. I do tell him sometimes that you can’t fix everything. It’s something that I learned. We both tend to be the type of people that when you see a problem, you get right in and try to figure out how do you fix it. I really have come to look to Steve for his opinion because it’s an honest opinion and we need that. He understands how the city works and right now at this time in the city I think the choice that we made to bring in a new attorney to bring something else to the table was the right one and for me to bring to you Attorney Bennett because I respect him, I admire him. I don’t as I said always agree with him nor he me, but I think the end result of those discussions serves our city well and I hope that you see it the same way. He does have a strong sense of loyalty to the city and to those that he works with. I know I can count on him respecting confidentiality with all the members of this Board. As you know this is the department that I always make sure that you understand if you go and talk to one of the attorneys upstairs, that’s none of my business. If you talk to any of my directors, public works or community development, that is my business. But it’s not my business when you talk to city counsel and I think that you know that when you meet with our attorneys upstairs. They respect that until the information becomes public. With that, Mr. Chairman, I don’t really think he needs an introduction to this group, but as I said, I’m honored for you to consider my nominee, Stephen Bennett, for city corporation counsel. Attorney Bennett I have served the city for almost 15 years now. It will be 15 years in October. I must say that I’ve enjoyed almost every single minute of it. There has been minutes I must say I don’t enjoy but overall I enjoy the people we work with. I think Nashua is really a wonderful city. I had the pleasure of working in Manchester for ten years before this as a public defender. Never knew much about this city. My wife worked down here in the public defender office. She would constantly tell me what a nice place Nashua was, but I never really came down here much. Over the last 15 years I’ve come to think of Nashua as my home city. I live in Mont Vernon, but like all the communities around here, we have to come to Nashua for many things. We occasionally have an operating general store in Mont Vernon but that’s about it. We come here to do our business, and I have a lot of friends here. A lot of my friends are in the local government. I couldn’t give you a handful of people in this city, and I’ve worked with a whole lot over the last 15 years, who I haven’t enjoyed working with. I think we have an amazing group of people, and I think the city shows it. We have a very nice city. As the Mayor noted, we don’t get everything right all the time but we do try. Dory Clarke and I have worked together for 15 years now. Celia Leonard, the new attorney, has fit in just great. I think we have a well rounded department and a department that knows this city and how it works. It’s been a pleasure at least for me for the 15 years to work with all of you present members of the Board of Aldermen and all the past boards. I thank you for your consideration. Alderman Caron Steve, I worked with you when I worked for the city. I always found you very kind and considerate and understanding. When we had a lot of issues and questions, especially about signage and things like that, you were always able to help us and give us the right answers so we could go back to those people requesting things. You have always been right there and upfront. If we couldn’t do it, you would tell us. You wouldn’t hem and haw. I think you’re a great asset to the city’s corporation counsel, and I’m pleased to have you put up for the top job. Thank you. Personnel – 08/26/13 Page 13 Alderman Sheehan I think that it’s important when we are looking to hire in the city that we hire and then promote from within. I think when you have career employees versus people who you look at their resume and they have moved every two or three years, we can assume that that trend continues. I would have been disappointed if it were not Attorney Bennett or Attorney Clarke that was here before us this evening. I think this is the right thing to do. I think the historic perspective that somebody in the job brings to your job in particular is important because there has been a lot of developments. As things grow, you’re able to look back and say we did it this way back then because. It’s just the historical perspective that’s brought and to have somebody who is interested in having a career position versus a short-term position, I think we get a very different outcome. I think we can point to people we’ve brought in at high levels and what happens when they leave shortly thereafter. I don’t always agree with Attorney Bennett either, and I’m also a very direct person at times. But he stays in the conversation and we’re able to get to where we need to get to. I respect the job that he does, and I respect him as a person and I’ve enjoyed working with him as well. I’m going to support this nomination as well. Alderman Pressly I have some questions. The first one is as far as the division of labor in the office. I know for many years you really were the school specialist. Do you intend to continue as the school specialist or will that be designated to the new attorney? You serve many masters. You serve the school, you serve the police, you serve fire. You have to become an expert in all sorts of areas. Who’s going to take over the school or is that going to be one of your areas? How are you going to divide up the different specialty? Also the other one would be the contracts, the labor contracts. If I recall there is someone in your team of three that would sort of be in charge of the labor contracts. I may be wrong. Would you let us know tonight how you plan to divide up the work? Attorney Bennett I can’t say when I first began there was any grand scheme for dividing up the work when I came here 15 years ago. Again that was with Jamie McNamee. He hired Dory Clarke first and then I came about a little less than a year later. I can’t say that I was assigned anything. I can’t remember how we ended up where we are. I had been the school district’s attorney for the last 15 years. I will keep that work. There’s a lot of specialties there. There’s special education which I do for the school district. I also handle their employment issues that go beyond their HR Department. I have a good working relationship with the folks over there. I’ve known many of them for 15 years. Alderman Pressly So did you say you do plan to stay on as the education specialist? Attorney Bennett Yes. I do the bulk of the negotiating for the city. We do not do school negotiations. They have their own negotiating teams over there, but I handle police and fire, library. Attorney Clarke right now is handling the public works unions. Celia Leonard has been with us now for about four months. The first thing she was assigned, for lack of a better word, were contracts. She’s done an excellent job. That’s her background. I also have her sitting in on tax abatement issues and I’ve introduced to the world of planning and zoning also. She has a background in real estate, not necessarily in the planning and zoning specifics. Those are areas that she is looking at now. Attorney Clarke, as you know, does the bulk of the legislation as well as most of the financial work that comes our way. She works closely with Mr. Griffin and his department. I can’t say that there’s a plan as to how to divide up the work but that’s how it’s fallen. We’re all pretty comfortable with it right Personnel – 08/26/13 Page 14 now. As you know, Dory Clarke and I handled all of it for a little over a year or so. We’re both somewhat converse in all areas. Again when we work in our department and you ask an opinion of us, it’s vetted by everyone there. It’s not an opinion by one attorney. We do pass it by everybody. Just like the mayor explained, we don’t always agree. We’ve had dissenting views but with three attorneys, at least we come up with a majority opinion of three attorneys. We do that often. It’s quite a process when we get a question. We like to have everybody know when we give you an answer, everybody knows what it is in our department. Mostly it saves everybody work if somebody else calls up for that same question. Everybody already has the answer. You won’t’ get different opinions from two attorneys in the department. Alderman Pressly When we call up to do our work, you do often discuss it? The three attorneys discuss it together in composing legislation and that sort of thing? Attorney Bennett Yes. Alderman Pressly So your confidentiality is with your legal department? Attorney Bennett Yes, it’s within the department. Alderman Pressly I’m sure as you know and everyone will find out later as I tried to explain, the confidentiality has been broken as we know recently with the situation that will be coming up. Maybe you’d like to stay and talk about that. Attorney Bennett I can address it right now, Alderman. That has to do with a piece of legislation that you requested be introduced regarding Board of Assessors holding other city offices. Chairman Chasse Can we keep to where we’re supposed to be on the agenda. Please. We’ll take that up later. Mayor Lozeau Mr. Chairman, I would agree with that. My only concern is we were talking about confidentiality. That calls into question Attorney Bennett’s and my earlier comments that confidentiality is not broken. If we could just maybe not talk that specific subject matter but address it. Not talk about the legislation but to say that the confidentiality was not broken in that instance. I think we can talk about it in a general sense if that’s allowed. Chairman Chasse You’re putting me on the spot. Personnel – 08/26/13 Page 15 Mayor Lozeau And I don’t mean to, but that’s pretty serious. Chairman Chasse I think I’d like to stay with the interview. He’s here for an interview and that’s the main goal on this one. We’ll take the other thing up later when it comes on the agenda. Alderman Pressly Maybe they would like to remain for that discussion. Chairman Chasse That’s there prerogative. Attorney Bennett I’d be glad to. I’ll be here if the chairman will allow me to speak. COMMUNICATIONS From: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau Re: Corporation Counsel Appointment  Referred to Cmte – 8/13/13 MOTION BY ALDERMAN CRAFFEY TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND RECOMMEND THE CONFIRMATION OF STEPHEN M. BENNETT, ESQUIRE, TO THE OFFICE OF CITY SOLICITOR FOR AN INDEFINITE TERM AT THE PLEASURE OF THE MAYOR ON THE QUESTION Chairman Chasse This is my alley of work. This is what I do for a living. I work in personnel. I’m human resources and payroll. If I was looking at his resume for this position, I would probably pass it right along. It would not get my approval. First of all he’s more criminal than city government. I know he’s been here a long time. I’m a firm believer that we should hire within the City of Nashua. I’ve always mentioned that. I have nothing against Attorney Bennett, but my feelings aren’t good with this one. MOTION BY ALDERMAN CHASSE TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND FORWARD THE CONFIRMATION OF STEPHEN M. BENNETT TO THE FULL BOARD WITH NO RECOMMENDATION ON THE QUESTION Alderman Vitale I support Attorney Bennett’s recommendation for the position. Although because it is the position that it is, I do think it is appropriate maybe for a slightly different reason for the full Board to discuss it and to approve it. I don’t see why we couldn’t take a vote. If the vote goes forward, one against, two against, whatever the final Personnel – 08/26/13 Page 16 count is. I don’t see why we wouldn’t just take a vote at this Board. I approve it. If we take a vote, I don’t see the harm in that. Whether we do an approval by the majority of this Board or not, the full Board is going to be discussing it at the end. Alderman Craffey I read his resume also. I would agree with you if you just look at the resume but given his history and the job that he has done, if you look at the man in the job, I would support your motion at this time. Chairman Chasse You would support my motion? Alderman Craffey Yes, I would. Alderman Sheehan I can appreciate the perspective that you both offered. However as somebody who’s also hired hundreds of people what I find to be more relevant is the recent experience. We’re talking about experience since 1998 versus experience in the early 80’s in a public defender office. We’re looking at ’92 forward and being a staff attorney for the New Hampshire Public Defender until ’92 but after that being in an administrative governmental role. I’ve worked in fast food as a teenager which is the same time period. I don’t think that is even on my resume anymore. I managed call centers, I’ve done distribution management, I’ve done other things that I think is a lot more relative although I can tell you how to feed 1500 people in an hour and a half if you’re having an event. I still remember how to do that but that’s not my most relevant or recent experience. While I can appreciate some of the things that were discussed here tonight regarding has anybody ever made a mistake before or done something differently than we might have agreed with, it is human beings that we are dealing with. I think we can go back through the annals and find it through any administration where something was drafted by somebody who then had to recuse themselves from voting because their husband benefited or what have you. The ongoing day-to-day, this is a person with the most experience at this not only would I not pass it by because of the historical knowledge that he has and the network relationships that he has, this is the most relevant experience we’re going to get for this position short of Attorney Clarke. To me that is the two best candidates that we’re looking at. To me to say that what happened in the early 80’s and late 70’s is more important, I don’t see it. I think the more recent experience carries more water for me in this decision-making process. I can understand wanting to have the whole Board to vote. I do understand that. I think he represents for all of us as well. I think that would be a reason I’d say that the whole Board should vote more so than his older experience doesn’t qualify him for ht job now. That’s where I’m coming from. Alderman Caron I have to agree. I think because of this position that the full Board should vote for it but there’s got to be a way of us approving this confirmation to go to the full Board for a final count because I think you’re right. You’re experience that you have now has nothing to do with when you were 16 or 17 and just starting out. I believe in this recommendation and I will want to approve it. As Alderman Chasse said, I think the full Board needs some weigh in but there’s got to be a way of doing this so we can do a vote and send it to the full Board. Personnel – 08/26/13 Page 17 Chairman Chasse Like I say, I don’t have anything against Attorney Bennett, and it’s not all his old history that I’m considering. The conflict of interest that came up that was mentioned tonight. There were a couple of other things. A couple of times we’ve asked him during the meetings and we’ve gotten the wrong answers. There are some other people on the full Board that are going to have more concerns about that. MOTION FAILED MOTION CARRIED TO RECOMMEND THE CONFIRMATION MOTION BY ALDERMAN CRAFFEY THAT THE RULES BE SO FAR SUSPENDED AS TO ACCEPT AND PLACE ON FILE A COMMUNICATION FROM ALDERMAN PRESSLY PLACED ON THE DESKS THIS EVENING MOTION CARRIED APPLICATION TO LICENSE HAWKER'S, PEDDLER'S, ITINERANT VENDOR'S LICENSE - None APPOINTMENTS BY THE MAYOR MOTION BY ALDERMAN CRAFFEY TO RECOMMEND THE CONFIRMATION OF THE FOLLOWING APPOINTMENTS BY THE MAYOR: TO THE ARTS COMMISSION; JOHN EGAN AND DONNA METZGER FOR TERMS TO EXPIRE SEPTEMBER 1, 2016; TO THE BUSINESS AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY: DAVID M. DENEHY FOR A TERM TO EXPIRE SEPTEMBER 1, 2016 AND JOHN H. STABILE FOR A TERM TO EXPIRE SEPTEMBER 13, 2016; TO THE ETHNIC AWARENESS COMMITTEE: JARED BARBOSA FOR A TERM TO EXPIRE SEPTEMBER 1, 2016; TO THE HISTORIC DISTRICT COMMISSION: ROBERT SAMPSON FOR A TERM TO EXPIRE SEPTEMBER 30, 2016 AND MICHAEL S. TEHAN FOR A TERM TO EXPIRE SEPTEMBER 1, 2016; TO THE REVIEW AND COMMENT COMMISSION: JEAN C. GOTTESMAN, FOR A TERM TO EXPIRE SEPTEMBER 1, 2016; AND TO THE ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT: JONATHAN CURRIER AND GERARD A. REPPUCCI FOR TERMS TO EXPIRE SEPTEMBER 11, 2016 MOTION CARRIED UNFINISHED BUSINESS – None NEW BUSINESS – RESOLUTIONS - None NEW BUSINESS – ORDINANCES O-13-51 Endorser: Alderman-at-Large Barbara Pressly PROHIBITING MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF ASSESSORS FROM SERVING IN ANY OTHER CITY ELECTED OR APPOINTED POSITION MOTION BY ALDERMAN CRAFFEY TO RECOMMEND FINAL PASSAGE ON THE QUESTION Personnel – 08/26/13 Page 18 Alderman Pressly I was trying to learn how to deal with the city website better. I was going through various commissions and boards and was quite surprise to pick up on the Board of Assessors. I know very little about the Board of Assessors, that’s probably the most mysterious, unknown board that there is. But come to find out, it really is a critical board. They deal with all the abatement cases. Every single taxpayer in the city at some time or other may have to deal with the Board of Assessors if they challenge what their tax rate is. I looked at it and I became concerned because I realized that they had three appointed assessors and then one alternate. Two of the people, one of the officials Assessor, and the alternate were very, very prominent political activists. I thought it could be really difficult if somebody had an abatement to go before a committee if they had actively disagreed with one of the assessors or the alternate. One of them is the Broad Street Parkway and the other is the downtown sidewalks. I know I get more inquiries about those two issues than just about anything. It seemed wise for me, so I put together a one sentence suggested change. It was that anyone that serves on an elected or an appointed position could not be on the Board of Assessors. Unbeknownst to me what I believe happened is that when it got to legal and got to Mr. Bennett, he recognized that based on my submitting this request for legislation, they discovered that in fact one of the members should not have been serving that already there is a law that exists. What I did to help you guys understand, because it took me awhile to, in the packet that you accepted, I pulled up the legislation and according to our Charter on page 28, under 59-a, the Board of Public Works qualifications for office, I underlined it so you could see it: “no person shall hold any other city office during his tenure as an elected member of the board of public works.” It turned out one of the people who would have been affected by my legislation was serving I don’t know if you’d call it inappropriately or in contrast to the Charter, but unbeknownst to me apparently the city attorney felt obligated, and he’s here to speak to this, felt obligated to go immediately to the mayor and discuss it with her. I’m not sure what happened after that, but I did not learn of any of this until much later. When I submitted the legislation, there were two people that would have been affected by it but before it even got filed, one had been asked to remove himself because they were serving in appropriately. I don’t know if the resignation was asked for. I don’t know what took place. That leaves us with one. In this case, clearly the confidentiality did not take place because apparently they felt there was a major violation of the Charter based on what I had asked for and so they took action before I even knew any of this. As time got closer for the filing time I did call and by then Dory Clarke was on vacation so I dealt with Mr. Bennett. He explained to me what had happened. He felt that there was a major violation and they had to act on it immediately. Apparently the Mayor worked out with Commissioner Moriarty and he chose apparently to resign. Chairman Chasse No names, please. Alderman Pressly Oh, okay. The commissioner who was simultaneously serving on the Board of Public Works and served on two other committees in contrast to what the Charter permitted that issue was taken care of before I even knew about it. To go further this whole thing has motivated me to look into more things. The other thing that I found really, really interesting is if you go to Page 18, which I also included in the Charter, I underlined the important part. It turns out that according to Charter, each assessor shall prior to his appointment have demonstrated knowledge of property appraisal or assessment and of the laws governing the assessment and collection of property taxes which I thought was really a very high requirement for qualifications to be one of the assessors. Then you read the next sentence, it’s even more frightening. “It shall be the duty of the board of assessors to assess all taxable property in the city in accordance with general law and such administrative regulations as may be promulgated pursuant thereto to maintain a standard system assessment records, and to perform such other duties as the board of aldermen may prescribe by ordinance.” That again is a huge responsibility for these three Personnel – 08/26/13 Page 19 assessors. I don’t have any idea if they do that or not. I’ve been trying to educate myself. The third part of what I submitted, I did ask the city clerk if he could put together a history for me. I also learned that in municipal law you have to incorporate not only the municipal rules but the state laws so a lot of what we read about in what we do is the city clerk’s, how would you describe it, he must incorporate a lot of different laws within it. I thought this two-page history was really quite interesting. It goes back to 1853. It’s sort of interesting in those years every ward had an assessor. Then it was changed in 1915, changed again in 1969 and 1996. I have the strong impression that the three Board of Assessors members that we have, I don’t know if they are qualified by this standard of the Charter or not. I did ask the Chief Assessor today if I could have a copy of their resumes. He said that he does not have a copy. He referred it to the Mayor’s Office. I was told that she doesn’t have copies either. I don’t know how we find out if people like this are qualified by the Charter or not or how important is the Charter. I’m extremely confused. Chairman Chasse The Assessor’s Office, we do not hire them. That is human resources. Human Resources is the ones that put the individuals in there. It’s not the duty of the Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee to go out and look at resumes or hire anybody other than the fact that they come in front of us and we approve them and send them to the full Board. We do not do any interviewing, screening or any of that. That doesn’t fall under this Board. Alderman Pressly Yes we do. We’re talking about different things and this is what confused me too. We have the Chief Assessors and we have all of these employees that are hired in the way you speak of. But we have a governing board called the Board of Assessors that are appointed by the Mayor. They are appointed by the Mayor in perpetuity and approved by the Board of Aldermen. Chairman Chasse I understand that. I’m saying we do not go out and solicit candidates for the Board of Assessors. That is not my job. That is not this Board’s job. This Board is to recommend the approval to the full Board. They are all brought in through the Mayor’s Office. Alderman Pressly Through the Mayor’s Office. Chairman Chasse That’s correct. So that’s our job. Alderman Pressly But our job is to see that the Charter is upheld. Chairman Chasse That is not the job of this committee. That is the job of the full Board of Aldermen to make sure that the Charter is upheld. Personnel – 08/26/13 Page 20 Alderman Pressly What I find interesting is that the Board of Assessors, these three boards that are appointed by the Mayor and approved by the Board of Aldermen, are in the same category as the city clerk, the attorney that we hire. Who else? That’s in that memo too. They have a standard of requirement. We would not hire a lawyer unless they had a law degree. We would not hire the city clerk unless they had some clerking skills. I think what has happened over time, right or wrong, through the different mayors, they just hire someone they know. Chairman Chasse We have no say in that in who they hire. Just like when Attorney McNamee hired Attorney Bennett. The Board didn’t have any say on that. Attorney McNamee brought in Attorney Bennett. Attorney Bennett came in front of Personnel and then the full Board and now he’s on the job. Alderman Pressly These people are appointed board members. They approve what the people you’re speaking of suggest. I’ve gone back. I’ve tried to study the minutes of this group. They have enormous power to approve or deny abatements. They’re like a zoning board in that they approve or deny abatements. If someone challenges their denial, they go into the state system. By Charter these people have an enormous amount of power and authority. I’ve gone through some of their minutes and their meetings sometimes just last about 20 minutes. The impression I have, and maybe we should find out just how it works so we, as elected officials understand it, but I believe the staff, the Chief Assessor and all the employees who are very talented and are educated in this field, they suggest the abatements that should be accepted and those that should be denied. Then this governing board either approves them or disapproves them. I’ve tried to learn from other people. I’ve talked to people who file a lot of abatements. They say that they don’t even appear before this Board. It’s usually that this Board approves whatever the Chief Assessor and his experienced team suggest. I’m think we either need to change the Charter or we need to change our ways of doing things to make sure that we’re living up to the Charter. I think it’s one of these areas of city government that no one really pays a lot of attention to. I know I never have. I filed an abatement once. I didn’t even know I was invited to go to a meeting. It was approved so it was not challenge. But I think it’s an area, probably the most sensitive area, it’s how much they pay for their taxes. Since this happened I have even thought what is the legal standing if we had a member of this board serving on these abatement cases and was serving inappropriately. What happens to those decision? Do they have to all be thrown out and start over again? I don’t have answers to this. What I’m saying is it really took me by surprise. Attorney Bennett is here to speak. He said he’s never had anything like this happen before either. By the time I got a copy of what I was sponsoring everything had changed because of my initiation with the legal department. Alderman Sheehan There’s a couple points to lead with. I think the one I’m going to start with is my understanding is when the commissioner was elected, he sought legal counsel. To me the fact that he’s also responsible for giving him accurate information. If he found out he had given him some inaccurate information, at a later date it’s come to his attention, I think it was appropriate for him to inform somebody as soon as it was at his attention that the information previously given was inaccurate. This is what you need to do. I also think it was his choice on which board to keep. I was hoping to come here tonight and find out about a case that had happened where somebody had felt that they were unable to do something. Instead what I’ve heard is that while someone was looking around on a website they found that people were on a board that she deems are politically activists on things that she is not a support of. That to me is wrong. That is not the reason to initiate legislation. Personnel – 08/26/13 Page 21 Alderman Pressly You’re challenging my motive. I object what she’s saying. Alderman Sheehan You specifically led with Alderman Pressly I’m objecting. You are challenging my motive. That is wrong. Alderman Sheehan What you said was it bothered you that somebody that’s a politically activist person who is dealing with subjects that you’re getting most questions about, which you said was the Broad Street Parkway and the Downtown project, are going to make people feel uncomfortable if they come in. If someone decides later you’ve got political bumper stickers on your car, Alderman Pressly Oh please. Alderman Sheehan It either needs to be that this is a case that has happened that people have come forward and they don’t feel comfortable because people are involved in other things, that hasn’t happened. If someone isn’t approved they do go to court. The Sheraton Tara former property was a recent thing that made headlines. When these things are not approved there is a follow up because this is a quasi-judicial so people do have recourse if they don’t feel it. It bothers me that we’re doing this because we’re seeing who’s doing this assessing responsibility versus that this has come up, people are uncomfortable with it. There has been no case that’s been presented to say that it’s bothersome to go because I don’t feel like they are giving me a fair shake because I’m on the opposite side of this. That hasn’t happened. I don’t think that we ought to be inventing problems where there aren’t any or inventing something to Alderman Pressly Excuse me, it uncovered a problem. Alderman Sheehan I’m still speaking. Chairman Chasse She’s talking about the ordinance. Alderman Sheehan I’m not seeing that a problem has happened with the Board of Assessors. Granted something else came up where somebody had to step off of one or more boards and that’s fine. That should have happened to begin Personnel – 08/26/13 Page 22 with. I don’t think that the Board of Assessors rises to the level of being an elected office which has that same provision. If we wanted to change the Charter to prevent this from happening, my suggestion would be that we make the Board of Assessors an elected position as well. But where it’s an appointment and it’s a quasi-judicial, I don’t think that’s the way to go. Understanding that if there were problems that had come up and we’ve had a lot of things get overturned in court, that hasn’t been the case. People get their assessments, they are happy. There’s been some major ones that have had high profiling, but to me that is not the reason to go after a Board of Assessors when you notice that the people that are on it are involved with things and not agreeing. That was the reason you said this came up and not because there’s been a particular case. I’m not comfortable with this at all. I don’t think this is the reason to change the way that we’re doing it. Alderman Vitale The way I read this is there’s three assessors. They are appointed by the mayor with the confirmation of the Board of Aldermen. Their terms are indefinite terms and there’s an alternate that has a term of three years which is different than the three main members. I can understand at different points in time both with this board and with any other board that you might get somebody that gets put into a position and you find out later that there might be a conflict even when the best intentions are there to put people in a position where there’s no conflicts, that meets the ordinance, meets everything there. I can see with the amount of boards and everything within the city that once in awhile you might have somebody put in that maybe doesn’t meet the qualifications or what the Charter does say. I think that was found out, action was taken to rectify that and that’s what should have happened in my mind at that point in time. I have a little problem also with the appearance of a board being looked at for the purpose of having somebody taken off. Maybe the appearance is wrong and we found it out and its rectified. I think the way the Charter is written, I don’t think we need to change it. We have it there, now we know what people can serve on at the same time. Now we know it. It’s come to our attention. We’re going to remember it. I think everything is in place that should have been there. This is just something that was missed in this case. That’s going to happen from time-to-time. You rectify it as soon as you know that it’s there. That’s the right thing to do at that point in time. To make a change, I don’t see that as a necessity. The assessors, we all know what they do and what they should be able to accomplish when they meet as a body and the decisions they have to make. The processes are in place for abatements. You can go down to the assessor’s office and get information on what different qualifications are taken into account to have an abatement approved or disapproved. That’s information that’s out there for each citizen in the city to take advantage of if they think their taxes need to be looked at and possibly abated. I don’t see where there really needs to be a change. I think something was discovered that needed to be rectified and that was done. Chairman Chasse I have a question for Attorney Bennett. We know that there was a problem with this certain individual. I’m not going to mention any names. I think he was on three boards or committees. I know your office was in turmoil at that time with Attorney McNamee being ill. That was definitely an oversight. During any of that time were you aware that he was on all these three committees or was it just something that somebody just accidentally came upon? Attorney Bennett I didn’t focus on that issue. It wasn’t something that came to my mind. I knew Mr. Moriarty was on two boards. I wasn’t asked directly; it just didn’t come up in my mind until Alderman Pressly brought in some legislation which wasn’t directed at this individual. At that point because of the nature of her legislation, it clicked that there was a problem. I don’t have any excuse for missing that. I don’t’ focus on everybody who runs for election. Those things aren’t generally run by our office. Personnel – 08/26/13 Page 23 Chairman Chasse One of those boards was an elected position, correct? Attorney Bennett It was. Chairman Chasse And the other ones? Attorney Bennett Were appointed. The first position he held he was appointed. Then the individual ran for an elected office. Chairman Chasse And it’s his option if he has to leave one of the boards, he has a choice? He can leave even the elected one and take the other one if he wanted to. Attorney Bennett Right. I wouldn’t run for the office if he didn’t want to take that one. Chairman Chasse But it’s his option. At the present time right now, is there anyone else that you’re aware in the City of Nashua that’s possibly on two separate boards? Attorney Bennett There may be individuals on more than one board, commissions or committees but none of those are prohibited as far as I know. I have not done an exhaustive study of every elected official though and their various positions. Mayor Lozeau I thought it was important to be here to respond to the confidentiality question. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been here. I appreciate that you recognize that there was some turmoil in the office upstairs. All of the assessors with the exception of the most recent one had been appointed before I got here. I confirmed their appointments when I came in my first year. At some point one of the assessors was interested in serving in another capacity. My understanding is that commissioner asked the legal department, at that time, Attorney McNamee whether there was a problem. He’s pretty certain that he got an answer that there wasn’t a problem. That was very close to the time that Attorney McNamee was leaving due to illness. Maybe there was a mistake made, maybe there wasn’t. Subsequent to being elected to the Board of Public Works and continuing his service on the Board of Assessors, which by the way he did a great job, he got interested in the Review & Comment Commission. He was serving on that prior to the election of the Board of Public Works. Then subsequent to that was reappointed to the Review & Comment Commission by this Board. Nobody caught then, nobody caught it before, it wasn’t a problem. The current member is an alternate member who serves on the Board of Assessors and serves on the Downtown Improvement Committee. There’s no prohibition against that. The prohibition had nothing to do with Personnel – 08/26/13 Page 24 the Board of Assessors; it had to do with the Board of Public Works. As far as confidentiality goes, I had no idea that Alderman Pressly had legislation in. Imagine that. What I was told by city counsel was he had determined that there was a problem based on this appointment and I might want to call my appointee and let him know. I did that. Not in the context of the legislation, but in the context of him determining that there was a problem. I called that individual, made him aware that as a Board of Public Works member he was not allowed to served on any other board or commission. He made the decision that he made. I didn’t ask him to. It was his decision. He provided that decision very quickly. He sent in his letter and we understand that’s the decision he’s made. It was after that that I learned that the reason that Attorney Bennett discovered that was because of the legislation. I think that’s a very important distinction. If you’ll indulge me before I head out and hopefully Attorney Bennett can head out as well, I’ve looked at the Charter too. The Board of Public Works, the Board of Aldermen, Board of Education, those are the three boards that say if you’re on this Board you can’t be on anything else. I think that’s probably fine. The Board of Assessors, if you’ve got somebody that’s willing to serve on the Board of Assessors and volunteer on an advisory committee, I’m not sure why that’s a problem. As far as the qualifications for the assessors, I nominate people. They come to this Board. We all make a judgment call on whether we think they can carry out those duties. I’m going to go out on a limb and say when this Charter was put in that gave them that significant amount of responsibility that was before we had city staff that did this work. Now I think it’s a good check and balance. I would argue against electing people to be on the Board of Assessors because taxes and how that calculation happens should not be the function of a separate board beyond this board. Their function should be administrative only. They hear the case and they make a decision. It’s much the same as I’ve always opposed electing judges in the State of New Hampshire. I see it the same way. They sit in judgment of the recommendation made by the assessing department and then determine whether the taxpayer that’s requesting the change, and they have all the facts, and they make a decision. It’s already after the staff has made that recommendation. I think the way we have it works well. I know that the commissioner involved in this feels badly that there was a problem but felt like he got an answer and moved forward. It’s unfortunate that we didn’t catch it. Chairman Chasse I think in the future this committee will probably ask anybody that you bring in front of us: Are you on any other boards or are you on any other committees? Mayor Lozeau There are only three so you’ll know whether they’re on the Board of Ed, you’ll know whether they’re on the Board of Public Works; and, you’ll know whether they’re on this Board. Those are the three Boards. Chairman Chasse It’s probably still nice to know if they are on six committees. Mayor Lozeau There are some that serve on multiple committees. Alderman Craffey I just want to echo that I don’t feel that confidentiality was broken. I think Attorney McNamee noticed the problem. If you or I were in that same situation in our own corporate offices, if we would have noticed a problem, we would have gone to our superior and said: Listen, we have a problem. That’s all he did. In the private sector if you let it fester, it could have cost you money and profits and all sorts of legal problem. He happened to close a loop. I don’t think the confidentiality is broken in that way there. He took the problem and Personnel – 08/26/13 Page 25 went forward from there. I don’t think we need to fix the legislation. As the mayor pointed out, there are only three boards this effects: The Board of Aldermen, the Board of Education and the Board of Public Works. Mayor Lozeau And fire commission I just discovered. That’s an elected Board. Alderman Craffey So four. Once we find a problem the first thing we tend to do is overreact and try to legislative it. We end up over legislating and creating more problems. We know now that we can’t have this happen. I know that you will take a good purge through the files and make sure that people that are serving on the correct boards are not sitting on other boards. I trust that will happen. Attorney Bennett I don’t think there are anybody else on those Boards right now that there are a conflict. Alderman Craffey I would assume not over legislate. Use common sense as the best way to do this so I don’t’ think I could support this. MOTION BY ALDERMAN CRAFFEY TO RECOMMEND INDEFINITE POSTPONEMENT ON THE QUESTION Alderman Caron I have to agree. I won’t support this. I really think the approach after I read this and heard this is corporation counsel did the right thing by going and telling this person that there was a problem and they needed to correct it immediately. I agree with Alderman Craffey. Sometimes we bring in laws for the sake of brining in laws and we just can’t keep doing that. The other part here is if you’re sitting on the Board of Assessors you can’t be appointed to any other volunteer committee or commission. I don’t think that’s fair either because volunteers make this city what it is. If someone is volunteering to be on the Board of Assessors, if they want to be on Review and Comment, I don’t think that should be an issue. The Board of Assessors really take their information based on the rules and regulations that are put forth by the head assessor as to whether an abatement should be approved or not, just like the zoning and planning. They follow certain criteria before they say yea or nay to any requests that come into them. I, myself, will agree with Alderman CRAFFEY to indefinitely postpone this. Alderman Pressly I’m very happy with you doing that also. I basically agree with all of you. I was going to suggest that we explore the possibility of eliminating the Board of Assessors. If you look at the history of it, times have changed so dramatically that I don’t think we can live up to the Charter. I think we have to change the Charter or do something so our Charter agrees with what we’re doing. It’s in the Charter that these people, the three, serve indefinitely, which also is very interesting. They serve the same way that the city clerk and the attorney and I think the finance people serve. It takes a current mayor to actually ask them to step down I presume. It’s interesting. I think it’s an unusual position because they really don’t have that much to do today. We have professional people that do all the work so I totally agree with you. They are quasi-judicial. I put them sort of in Personnel – 08/26/13 Page 26 the same category as zoning because they do have power. Zoning affects more people than just the applicant because it involves the abutters and it involves changing public land. This involves a very private matter, but it certainly is as the mayor has said a quasi-judicial board. I don’t know what the rule should be. I think it would be good if our Charter was the same as what we do. If you don’t think the Board of Assessors have to have all these requirements that the Charter says they have then change the Charter to remove that. I don’t think the zoning board has such strict requirements. What this led to was just sort of a study on the Board of Assessors. I think it is a mysterious board that we need to be aware of. I’m glad the error was found, and I don’t mind that he took it to the Mayor or remedied the situation. I found out about it because I called to find out what happened to my legislation. That’s how I did find out. It would have been nice to have a call to say we found an issue with this. I would have been happy to delay the whole legislation if it was brought to my attention early on too. So I don’t care what you do with it. I do care that we have a Charter that we sometimes follow and we sometimes don’t follow depending on how we feel about it. MOTION CARRIED TABLED IN COMMITTEE R-13-95 Endorsers: Alderman-at-Large Jim Donchess Alderman-at-Large David W. Deane Alderman Arthur T. Craffey, Jr. Alderman-at-Large Mark S. Cookson Alderman-at-Large Barbara Pressly Alderman Diane Sheehan Alderman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO THE CITY CHARTER RELATIVE TO MEETING TIMES OF THE BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS  Tabled 2/25/13 MOTION BY ALDERMAN CHASSE TO TAKE FROM THE TABLE R-13-105 MOTION CARRIED R-13-105 Endorsers: Alderman Daniel T. Moriarty Alderman-at-Large Barbara Pressly Alderman-at-Large Mark S. Cookson Alderman Arthur T. Craffey, Jr. Alderman-at-Large Jim Donchess ESTABLISHING A COMMUTER RAIL FEASIBILITY STUDY AD-HOC COMMITTEE  Tabled 5/6/13 MOTION BY ALDERMAN CHASSE TO FORWARD R-13-105 TO THE FULL BOARD OF ALDERMEN WITH NO RECOMMENDATION ON THE QUESTION Chairman Chasse This was requested by Alderman Moriarty; that’s why I’m doing it. Personnel – 08/26/13 Page 27 Alderman Sheehan I don’t want to support that for a few reasons. The reason he gave for inventing the ad hoc committee was he said that he had to do the research anyways so he may as well do it in committee and he doesn’t have time to go to the meetings. When I asked which studies he’s read already, he hadn’t yet. When I asked him if he had discussed what was going to be in the study with anybody at the NRPC or Executive Council, he said he hadn’t . When I asked him if he knew what date the study was going to come back, he said he didn’t know. We’re talking about something that’s 15 months away from now. I think as it gets closer that would be the appropriate time to do it. But forming this now, and I forget the number of people he wanted on the committee, but potentially we’re looking at a change of people that would be on that committee before it could even be established. It seems kind of foolish to set up a committee that might meet for a month before we’re going to have all new committee people and a year before we’re going to have even a scope of where it’s going to go. It didn’t seem to me a good reason to form an ad hoc committee at this time. The timing of just our session coming to a close and how many people were supposed to be on it and two outside people may very well be that that’s something we look at doing at some point, but when you don’t even know what the state is going to do, it doesn’t seem to make any sense to have a bunch of people spend a lot of time when a lot of us has already done some of this research. Some of us have decided I’ll do the research if it looks like it’s going to move forward. But spending time for the sake of spending time when we’re getting multi-million dollar expert opinions coming shortly, I think that’s when we invest this much time into this kind of work. I will be voting no on a no recommendation. I’m happy to vote to table indefinitely but I don’t think that this is the time. Chairman Chasse I’d like to strike my motion to forward it to the full Board without a recommendation. The reason being I will make a motion because Alderman Moriarty is not here to defend himself, I will make a motion to table R-13- 105. MOTION BY ALDERMAN CHASSE TO TABLE MOTION CARRIED O-13-39 Endorser: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau AMENDING SEWER USE FEES RATES AND CHARGES  Referred to Budget & Tabled 5/6/13 O-13-40 Endorsers: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire CHANGING THE LICENSING PROCESS FOR PARADES AND ROAD RACES ON PUBLIC STREETS  Also assigned to Board of Public Works; Favorable Recommendation Issued 5/9/13 O-13-44 Endorsers: Alderman Michael J. Tabacsko Alderman Diane Sheehan Alderman Kathy Vitale Alderman Richard A. Dowd Alderman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja RESTRICT LOCATIONS FOR MID-YEAR TAXICAB INSPECTIONS  Tabled 6/17/13 Personnel – 08/26/13 Page 28 DISCUSSION – None PUBLIC COMMENT – None REMARKS BY THE ALDERMEN - None POSSIBLE NON-PUBLIC SESSION ADJOURNMENT MOTION BY ALDERMAN CRAFFEY TO ADJOURN MOTION CARRIED The meeting was declared closed at 9:03 p.m. Alderman June M. Caron Committee Clerk