Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee

PERSONNEL/ADMINISTRATIVE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE MARCH 16, 2015 A meeting of the Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee was held on Monday, March 16, 2015, at 7:00 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chamber. Chairman Paul M. Chasse, Jr. presided. Members of the Committee present: Alderman Ken Siegel Alderman Michael Soucy Alderman Sean McGuinness Members not in Attendance: Alderman June M. Caron Also in Attendance: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau Alderman-at-Large Brian S. McCarthy Alderman-at-Large David W. Deane Alderman David Schoneman Alderman-at-Large Daniel T. Moriarty (7:12 p.m. arrival) Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja (8:10 p.m. arrival) PUBLIC COMMENT - None COMMUNICATIONS – None INTERVIEWS Cultural Connections Commission Maria Bola-Ferriero (New Appointment) Term to Expire: February 28, 2018 Dominique Boutaud (New Appointment) Term to Expire: February 28, 2018 Fouad Mahfuz (New Appointment) Term to Expire: January 31, 2018 Mayor Lozeau As many of you know, the Cultural Connections Committee is really trying to change what it does in the community and bring more attention to some of the cultures and opportunities that are here. Chairman Tom Lopez has worked diligently on bringing other folks to my attention and I have had folks come to me expressing interest of being on this committee. To my left is Maria Bola-Ferriero who is very interested in being on the committee. Maria approached me on her own and we talked about different committees in the city and she was very interested in being actively engaged. She brings quite a range of experience to the table from administrative to supervisory. I am excited that she reached out. To her left is Dominique Boutaud who received a Key to the City because she has been recognized on the world stage for her art and other things and I find it very interesting that she has been working with the Cultural Connections Committee not with just her artist hat on but with her love and dedication to the Franco Nice’ in our community and the different events that she’s been working on over the years to try to bring that love of culture to our community. Across the room is Fouad Mahfuz who owns the Persian Rug Gallery and has been very active and engaged in the community and again, I think it’s an opportunity to bring a young voice to the table as well as somebody that has a history of understanding what it’s like to have a family bring a business to this community and work Personnel – 03/16/15 Page 2 hard from many different perspectives, including the challenges that a different culture brings to a community like ours that has grown in its diversity over the years. I think all three are really terrific hard working members and I am happy to present them for your consideration. Mrs. Maria Bola-Ferriero I immigrated to this country almost 27 years ago. I came as a political refugee and I got a lot of help from this wonderful country and after hard work and dedication I am what I am and that’s why I decided to volunteer my time even though I have a family; a husband and a child I, want to participate and be part of the community and help the community as much as I can. Besides being a Sr. Program Specialist with the United States Department of Agriculture, I am also a certified medical and legal interpreter. I speak six languages and I thought that would be of help reaching out. The Mayor very graciously nominated me and I really appreciate that. Mrs. Dominique Boutaud I was born in France and I came to the United States in 1996 in Massachusetts and I moved to Nashua in 2009. Since I have been in Nashua I have been involved as an artist and I organize La Francophonie in past years and I am passionate about New England and the history of the Francophonie here, people coming from Quebec and also to all of the Francophone country here and united between Francophonie countries and the states. I am very happy to participate in our city and to bring people here and to help the city. Mr. Fouad Mahfuz I am honored that the Mayor and Tom would think of me for the committee and that I hope I can bring something to the table, to bring some of my skills to what they are trying to do there, which I am still trying to figure out having only been to one or two meetings so far. Thank you for having me. Alderman Siegel Thank you all for your willingness to serve. It’s tremendous with all of the languages that are spoken. I just really want to say thank you. Alderman McGuinness I would echo what Alderman Siegel had to say. Mrs. Bola-Ferriero, what are the six languages that you speak. Mrs. Bola-Ferriero I speak English, Romanian, Moldovan, Aromanian, Greek and Spanish. Alderman Siegel My wife speaks Tai, Comer, Lau, Vietnamese, Spanish and English. Mrs. Bola-Ferriero That’s amazing. Alderman McGuinness It’s nice to see such enthusiasm. Personnel – 03/16/15 Page 3 Chairman Chasse I want to thank you for your willingness to serve and we will take up your appointments in a few minutes. Historic District Commission Christopher Barrett Term to Expire: January 31, 2018 (Moving from Alternate to Full Member) Edward Weber (New Appointment) Term to Expire: March 31, 2015 (Planning Board Representative) Mayor Lozeau I did not realize that Mr. Barrett was not going to join us tonight. I have not heard from him. He is currently an alternate that I was moving to a full member and perhaps Alderman Schoneman might be able to speak about him and what he offers along with what I could. If you want to take up his appointment tonight with him not here we can do that but if you would rather wait until the next meeting we can do that as well. Chairman Chasse Alderman Deane, under the ordinance, does the alternate have to come in front of us if they are going to a full member? Alderman Deane I believe so but we can waive our own rules. If it’s just a basic re-appointment we ask. Chairman Chasse He was in front of us prior so it’s not like a new person. Alderman McCarthy Those rules are basically just guidelines. Alderman Siegel Since I am the one that drafted the change to the ordinance, personally I am fine with proceeding. Mayor Lozeau Mr. Barrett has been a committed member of the Historic District Commission and I think he has served well as an alternate. When looking for full-time members not too long ago, the committee was looked at to make sure all of the appointments and actions taken by the committee were done properly. That brought a few things to my attention so we’ve made some changes and that’s why I recommended him for a full position. Sitting to my left is Mr. Edward Weber who has been our Planning Board for three years. I had asked the Planning Board a few times for their appointment to the Historic District Commission and they have now found someone willing to serve. I was a little concerned that he was absent one night and that’s why they nominated him but that’s not the case. I think that he would bring a nice perspective to the Historic District Commission. Thank you for the consideration. Personnel – 03/16/15 Page 4 Mr. Edward Weber I am a retired carpenter and during my time as a carpenter I worked on several Stark Buildings, Harvard’s Memorial Hall built in 1871; as a carpenter I got to refurbish it right back to its original state. I worked on the Sprague House in Malden, MA and since then it no longer has vinyl siding, it’s gone back to its original Sprague House and because of that it is on the Historical Society’s register. As a superintendent of construction I also worked with historical architects and people that were part of the Historical Society in the Back Bay of Boston. Alderman Schoneman I am not sure how long Mr. Weber has been an alternate but he has been to most of the meetings. An alternate is not always required to go but he participates and has a good sense of the value of the Historic District and a desire to preserve with a well-balanced with the necessity for developing when that time comes. He always gives very careful consideration to the issues that have come before us and votes carefully. I highly recommend him. Chairman Chasse Mayor, do you know the last time Mr. Weber was before us? Mayor Lozeau I believe that he has not completed his term as an alternate so I would say it’s been close to three years. Alderman McGuinness I have served with Ed and he is a wonderful man. I would highly endorse him. Chairman Chasse Thank you, we will take up your appointment in a few minutes. Hunt Memorial Building Board of Trustees Brenda Baron (New Appointment) Term to Expire: December 31, 2019 Mayor Lozeau The Hunt Memorial Building has seen its share of changes over the last few years. The city invested about $1 million into the renovation of that building and it’s really working on the path of trying to be at least self- sufficient for its operating expenses. At some point I’d love to see their revenue meet their expenses and find a way to save towards future costs of maintain the building so the city is not in a position to have to do that again. We’ve done a lot but I think it’s also important for the trustees to understand what’s been done there and what the future holds and that they work together as a team and that we have different skills around that table. I met Brenda on the Holiday House Tour for the Symphony. I went into her home that was on the tour and was so impressed with a home that had been vacant for a period of time and what she done. I remember walking out of her house saying boy, it would really be great if she could be on the Hunt Memorial Board so I called her and asked her. At first I thought what she brought to the table was an eye for what it takes to maintain something and an eye for design. When I sate and met with her as you can see from her resume, her level of skill as it relates to operations and projects and all of the different things that she brings are going to be hugely helpful to the Hunt Memorial Building. I have learned that if she takes on a task she’s in 100% which is something I really look for when bringing people on board to committees. I look for three things, professionalism, objectivity and attendance. I think I have found all three with Ms. Baron. Personnel – 03/16/15 Page 5 Mrs. Baron I am honored to be considered for this position. My passion is in interior design and architecture however I can still implement the business side of me. I am a Nashua native and to be able to take part in something like this, it means a lot. You get to a point in your life when you have to give back and I’ve probably waited to long but I’d love to be able to do something to give back. Alderman Siegel Thank you very much, I am excited that you have decided to step up to the plate and I’m sure you will do a great job for a great building. Chairman Chasse Thank you for your willingness to serve and we will take up your appointment in a few minutes. 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 APPOINTMENTS BY THE MAYOR: TO THE CULTURAL CONNECTIONS COMMISSION: MARIA BOLA-FERRIERO AND DOMINIQUE BOUTAUD, FOR TERMS TO EXPIRE FEBRUARY 28, 2018; AND, FOUAD MAHFUZ, FOR A TERM TO EXPIRE JANUARY 31, 2018; TO THE HISTORIC DISTRICT COMMISSION: CHRISTOPHER BARRETT FOR A TERM TO EXPIRE: JANUARY 31, 2018, AND EDWARD WEBER, FOR A TERM TO EXPIRE MARCH 31, 2015; TO THE HUNT MEMORIAL BUILDING BOARD OF TRUSTEES: BRENDA BARON, FOR A TERM TO EXPIRE DECEMBER 31, 2019; AND TO THE PLANNING BOARD: ADAM VARLEY AND EDWARD WEBER FOR TERMS TO EXPIRE: MARCH 31, 2018 MOTION CARRIED APPOINTMENTS BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN Auditorium Commission MOTION BY ALDERMAN SOUCY TO RECOMMEND THE CONFIRMATION OF JOHN J. MCALLISTER TO THE AUDITORIUM COMMISSION FOR A TERM TO EXPIRE DECEMBER 31, 2017 MOTION CARRIED UNFINISHED BUSINESS – None NEW BUSINESS – RESOLUTIONS R-15-119, Amended Endorsers: Alderman-at-Large David W. Deane Alderman Ken Siegel DECLARING A MUNICIPAL SPECIAL ELECTION TO FILL A VACANCY ON THE CITY OF NASHUA BOARD OF ALDERMEN, ESTABLISHING THE TIME PERIOD FOR FILING NOMINATION PETITIONS, ESTABLISHING POLLING TIMES AND ISSUING PRECEPTS TO THE SELECTMEN OF THE CITY WARDS Personnel – 03/16/15 Page 6 Alderman Siegel I believe it was amended from the original resolution at the full Board of Aldermen meeting last time. So any reference I’ll make will be to that golden rod copy that should be in front of us. MOTION BY ALDERMAN SIEGEL TO ACCEPT AND PLACE ON FILE THE GOLDEN ROD MOTION CARRIED Alderman Siegel I’d like to make a motion to change the polling times. Right now the polling times are 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. I had a discussion with one of our fellow committee members, Alderman Caron, who couldn’t be here. I also had a discussion with City Clerk Paul Bergeron and Assistant Clerk Patricia Piecuch. The feeling was that doing a 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. polling time for a special election is more than reasonable and much less strain on the people that have to run the election. So I’d like to make a motion to amend the golden rod copy before us. Where it says “FURTHER RESOLVED that the polls for the Municipal Special Election on June 23, 2015 shall be open between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. and precepts shall be issued to the selectmen of the city wards directing them to issue their warrants calling meetings of the voters in their wards,” I’d like to make a change so that reads the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. MOTION BY ALDERMAN SIEGEL TO CHANGE THE HOURS THAT THE POLLS SHALL BE OPEN TO READ “BETWEEN THE HOURS OF 7:00 AM AND 7:00 PM” ON THE QUESTION Alderman McCarthy I guess I have some concerns about it. It’s always been 6 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. If you’re at the polls at 6:00 a.m., there are a lot of people who stop there on the way to work. What I’m afraid of is people will arrange their day around the traditional polling hours and then find out that those aren’t correct and not be able to compensate for that on that day. I’m not really concerned about the 7 to 8 at night because that’s usually a pretty quiet time but I am very concerned about 6 to 7 in the morning. That’s fairly busy. Alderman Soucy Although I appreciate my colleague’s opinion making it easier for the polling people by doing it from 7 to 7, I have to agree with Alderman McCarthy. I, too, have seen that a large number of people do show up especially for the early one at six o’clock, between 6 and 7. I, myself, tend to leave for work pretty early like to utilize around that hour. Also, I don’t think it’s that great of an inconvenience going from 7 to 8. Even if it’s five voters, it’s going to be a small election. I think we should stay with the past and allow an opportunity for everybody who wants to vote. Alderman McGuinness Although I have the greatest respect for what my colleague, Alderman Siegel, is trying to accomplish, I too am very sympathetic to the status quo. I worry a little bit not so much as Alderman McCarthy suggested that it’s the morning hours that are critical, but the evening hours. I’d like to make sure that everyone can make it home from work and vote. Small elections, there are certain folks that are probably very busy. I hesitate to change what everybody understands. The elections are always at a time certain that you can reasonably depend upon except when we have a special election. Then it’s different. I just wonder about that. It concerns me. Personnel – 03/16/15 Page 7 Chairman Chasse Mr. Bergeron, would you like to give your feelings on this? Clerk Bergeron I thank Alderman Siegel for putting this forth because I know a number of my election officials have requested that the Board consider reduced hours during the special election. We did try this back in 2001 in the Ward 4 special election for state rep. At that time the hours were 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The biggest objection to those hours was actually the early morning hours. There was little complaint on the other end because we were open to 8 p.m. I view this as a policy decision of the board and we defer to that. Our office doesn’t have any position on it. Chairman Chasse My understanding is Nashua is the only city that has the long hours compared to the rest of the state. Clerk Bergeron I believe that’s true. I think there’s one other city that goes 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., but other than that, we have the longest polling hours of any city or town in the state. Chairman Chasse I understand why this was brought forth. The people that work the poll, when you go in there to vote and happen to be the aldermen, they say why are we here so long. I agree with Alderman McCarthy. After 7 o’clock at night, there’s nobody there. I stand there with my signs and nobody comes in; one straggler here, one straggler there. Alderman Soucy I’m in agreement that the late hour there are stragglers. Typically what I’m seeing is around 7 or 8, maybe up to ten in the last hour. This is going to be a small election, a very small election. Every vote is going to count. I’d like to see the opportunity for everyone who wants to vote to go. To extend it one more hour, this is what we do in public service. My opinion is I’m going to vote no on this change. I’d like to see it stay the way it was in the past. Alderman Siegel I believe Alderman Soucy has touched on a very good point as Alderman McCarthy. There may be a very light turnout. Even those one or two voters that might trickle in, and this is a city-wide election, could make a very big difference. I’d like to withdraw my motion and effectively leave the wording as it is on the golden rod copy that’s before us. MOTION WITHDRAWN MOTION BY ALDERMAN SOUCY TO RECOMMEND FINAL PASSAGE OF THE GOLDEN ROD COPY ON THE QUESTION Alderman McCarthy I want to repeat what I said at last week’s meeting. I’m not sure at this point that we have any opportunity to change it but I think there is a concern that basically with an election date that is at the end of June we will go Personnel – 03/16/15 Page 8 through the entire budget process with a Board that is short by one member. That may impact some votes that are taken on this Board. I’m not sure how that reflects in the public eyes. Chairman Chasse The reason that the date is June 23rd is because we would not need a policeman and school will not be in session versus the other date where school would not be in session but you would still need a policeman. Is that the thought process? Alderman Deane I spoke with the city clerk, the police department along with the school district. Just so the public understands that in my years on this Board, I have watched our municipal operating budget be voted on numerous occasions with less than 14 people in the room; in some cases there were only 12. I can understand the concern that Alderman McCarthy has but it’s happened in the past. The reason behind it was the testing that is going on, the police department overtime, with the requirement of the police if the children were in the building and the snow days. There were a lot of attributes prior to this being filed that were looked at prior to this being filed. The city clerk can probably speak to that better than I can. Mr. Paul Bergeron, City Clerk I think the points that Alderman Deane raised are those that were discussed among myself, the Aldermen and Superintendent Conrad. He did indicate that he preferred that the election not be scheduled during the months leading up to early June because of the amount of testing that goes on. He also requested that it not be held on the last day of school because there is a lot of activity going on that day. That left us with two dates, over April school vacation; which I believe would have been Tuesday, April 28th, or June 23rd. If you wait until June 30th you are now in the week of the July 4th holiday and that would ensure a low turnout. I think you could hold it over April school vacation but you would have to limit your filing period to three days. Our Charter provides a window of 30 to 40 days prior to the election to hold the filing period and since we have had this Charter amendment in place since 2006, we have always allowed for those 7 business days/10 calendar th days to have the filing. If you count back from April 28 we are now looking at only being able to have a 3 day filing period which would occur immediately following next weeks’ regular Board meeting. Those are the best of the options in my opinion otherwise we would have to schedule it on a school day. Alderman Soucy I think the Alderman position we are replacing; first of all, that Alderman was not on the Budget Review Committee. If I remember right, last years’ budget didn’t get approved until late July so there’s no reason why the new successful candidate can’t be seated and to vote on the full budget, which I believe will probably be July again this year. I would encourage all candidates to come to the Budget meetings and keep yourselves informed. I don’t think this is going to affect the vote one way or the other. We will have 15 seated by the time the budget comes to the full Board. Alderman Siegel th Just to follow up with some data I ran, it was July 28 that the actual budget was discussed at the full Board meeting. It was only one meeting, we didn’t kick it back and the vote was by roll call 11 – 4 so even if we were missing an Alderman at that point we would have passed that budget. I think it is safe to say that there will be some more difficulty this year but we don’t necessarily have to count on that. Another thing I did was that there were twelve meetings of the Budge Review Committee between the time that the budget received its first th th th hearing on May 13 and July 28 . We had our first budget meeting on May 19 and our final budget meeting on July 14th. Obviously our Budget Committee was full at that point and that hasn’t changed. As you know, other Aldermen can attend and I did a little bit of a calculation. I went through all of the twelve meetings and tried to figure out how many Aldermen attended meetings. Four Aldermen attended zero meetings 1 Personnel – 03/16/15 Page 9 Alderman attended one meeting, and there are various, up to twelve that was three of the committee members that attended all of the meetings. My point is that it certainly did not affect our ability to have an intelligent discussion. I think it’s safe to say that the members of the Board that did not attend the meetings prepared themselves by either reading the minutes or watching. In fact, any member of the public would have been as prepared if not more prepared and in their opinion heard. Based on the history we will have a seated member of the Board prior to the final vote, nothing is changing that and given the constraints of trying to fit an election into an April vacation, never mind the fact that we potentially disenfranchise some voters by them not being here and requiring them to submit an absentee ballot which doesn’t usually work very well. I’m a little bit concerned so based on that our best bet seems to be June 23rd. In fact if I had not tried to put this legislation in, we would not have a date. I asked the legal department just as the legislation went to the legislative office if anybody had inquired about this and tried to suggest a different date and they had not. Alderman McCarthy Two meetings ago when I brought it up at the Board of Aldermen, Alderman Deane had indicated that the legislation was in the works and would be introduced and if that had not been the case I would have introduced something. We have passed the budget in late July but that’s not the way it is supposed to work. st st Our fiscal year runs from July 1 to July 1 and we are not supposed to start the year without a budget. It would be much cleaner if we could get budgets done July. I don’t even want to get into why that happens because there’s a host of things that we should do differently. It’s difficult to say to the public that you are not going to have a representative you were entitled by the Charter to have until after the budget should have been passed and should be in effect. In my opinion it’s way too late now to do it over April vacation leaving the month of May and that would involve what apparently is some problems for the school department so I don’t know that we have an alternative other than the one that’s in front of us. I’m not proud of the result. Alderman Deane Do you have an alternative to offer, Alderman McCarthy? Alderman McCarthy I don’t know that I do at this point because of the issues with the schools. The issue of whether or not we need detail officers to be in the schools is I think one we can work with, paying for that would not be that much of a burden although everything is a burden at this point in time. I think the bigger issue is whether the schools can handle it at any point during that time. I am not prepared to offer a date because I didn’t have a discussion with them but I think earlier would have been better. Alderman Chasse We have to act of this and bring it up to the full Board and that will give you time to talk to the School Board and then you can bring your suggestion to the full Board. Alderman McCarthy I’m not sure I want to do that other than here. If we come out of here with June 23rd I think that’s the date. Alderman Deane I want the public to now and that it to be abundantly clear that there was no malice. Alderman McCarthy I don’t think I have implied any malice. Personnel – 03/16/15 Page 10 President Deane I am not speaking to you, Alderman McCarthy, there have been other comments and it seems like…I mean I spoke with the city clerk and he was kind enough to speak with those actively involved in this whole process and this is what came back. This is what was offered through the form of legislation, this isn’t something…I even talked to Mr. Bergeron about even a later date and then I realized it was the 4 th of July and then we were looking at the snow days, the testing and the police; there were all these little things involved, this wasn’t just something that I put together this was the end result of what others within the city could manage. I endorsed it but this is what was made available to us so I don’t want anyone to be mistaken that this was done intentionally because it was not. Alderman Siegel I would echo Alderman Deane’s comments. There has been some background radiation about this like there’s some grand scheme here which is a little bit insulting. This is more driven by when Alderman Sheehan happened to resign. That sets a point at which we can even start to do something and we just didn’t have convenient times to slot up, it’s just a fact of life, this is the earliest time we could do it. Alderman Schoneman I am not on this committee but I would like to endorse the June 23rd date. I think that it’s a date that was arrived at by good process and while we might like to have it sooner if possible I think it’s a date that makes the most sense. I also agree with what Alderman Deane said earlier about passing a budget with fewer people, that’s entirely possible. I think we are charged to do the city’s business on behalf of the taxpayer’s and we can work through the issue where required to get a budget passed in my opinion. MOTION CARRIED NEW BUSINESS – ORDINANCES O-15-038 Endorsers:Mayor Donnalee Lozeau Alderman-at-Large Daniel T. Moriarty Alderwoman Pamela T. Brown AMENDING THE COMPOSITION OF THE CABLE TELEVISION ADVISORY BOARD MOTION BY ALDERMAN SOUCY TO RECOMMEND FINAL PASSAGE ON THE QUESTION Alderman Moriarty The Cable Television Advisory Board was created in a time when a lot of the emergency management functions were happing in CTAB so it was purposefully set up so that there were certain members on it, in particularly, the fire department, police department, Chief of the Fire Department, Chief of Police Department and the Director of Public Works were on there. Currently they will be represented by the Emergency Management Director. The second issue is the difficulty in getting a quorum because a few of the members on this committee are not available as often as they would like and a couple of them are simply no longer needed. As it stands, it’s a fifteen member Board and if we can reduce it to eleven then it will greatly improve matters for both of those reasons. The amendment that I would like to suggest is to on line F, formerly line I, but now line F. “The membership of CTAB will consist of fifteen members’ in total.” The ordinance that is before us reduces that to ten member’s total. We need to make it eleven members and then the second sentence of the original legislation says “the six members who are appointed by the Mayor shall serve 3-year terms and the piece of legislation as it was submitted changes the number six to five and we want to leave that Personnel – 03/16/15 Page 11 at six. The change the legislation as its proposed eliminates Corporate Counsel, the Chief of the Fire Department, and the Chief of Police as a member. On the back page it eliminates the Director of Public Works as a member and it eliminates the Mayor or the Mayor’s designee. The last sentence says “one member representing the Emergency Management appointed by the Mayor” changes to the Emergency Management Director. The one change after talking to the CTAB members, there are a few people, one of them that has traditionally represented the police is one of the most reliable attendees and he would like to remain on the CTAB. I was talking with the Mayor about this and the way to do that is to make him one of the residential members. Currently it says “four members who are Nashua residents appointed by the Mayor and approved by the Board of Aldermen” that would remain. In order to allow for a little more flexibility I would recommend we amend that to say five members, at least three of whom are Nashua residents. So we would like to make three changes to the ordinance. Change the ten to an eleven; change the five to six; and to make it five members, at least three of whom are Nashua residents. Chairman Chasse Who is the representative from the Board of Aldermen to the CTAB? Alderman Moriarty It is me. Chairman Chasse The way it works is that those people were appointed by this committee and when they come up for re-election or to be appointed again the Mayor tells us they are impeccable on their attendance so I’d like to see the attendance for the last year on all fifteen members of that Board. I would hate to take someone off of the Board that is one of the individuals that shows up at the meetings and that was Alderman Caron’s concern because she knows someone that you are trying to remove and that is one of the individuals who is always at that meeting. Alderman Moriarty Yes and we want to keep him on. Chairman Chasse Unfortunately she could not make it here tonight so I would like to see the attendance record before I make any changes. Alderman Moriarty There used to be six members who were appointed by the Mayor who shall serve three terms will remain the same. The fact that there are members on CTAB that you haven’t seen is because they were people that don’t come through this Board anyway like the fire chief, the police chief and corporation counsel or their designees. In the process of simplifying the CTAB and getting rid of this historical baggage, one of the member’s, Ed Lecius, is one of the guys who had been representing the Chief of Police and he’s got really good attendance and he’d like to continue so that’s why I made a point of saying if he’s not a Nashua resident, for you to consider of the members that the Mayor appoints we will allow it so that they don’t all have to be a Nashua resident. Alderman McCarthy I assume that none of the ex-officio people that we are taking off of it with the exception of Mr. Lecius have any problem about not having to attend that meeting. Personnel – 03/16/15 Page 12 Alderman Moriarty Correct. Alderman McCarthy The legislation anticipates changing the six appointed members to five and the amendment is to put it back to six so that Mr. Lecius can be appointed as a sixth citizen member. That means there is one of the citizen members who is getting dropped because there are six citizens plus Mr. Lecius now in the membership, right? Alderman Moriarty Currently there is someone that is un-appointed so there is a vacancy on the Board so we really only have 14 people. Alderman McCarthy I guess the other comment I would make is if Mr. Lecius is there primarily in his connection to the community policing effort then that probably should be an ex-officio position and not just another citizen appointed position because if he were to leave and someone else took that positon you would want them to be representing that function at CTAB. I am not sure which of those cases are true I just offer that he should be in there as an ex- officio member and not just one of the citizen members. Alderman Siegel It seems like the changes, at least that particular one, have been crafted to get Ed Lecius to stay around and when Ed retires are we then going to have legislation to amend this to change things. I understand trying to get the CTAB smaller to make it more attractable so that you have a quorum but it just seems like that change is simply to accommodate somebody who is very interested. I am not comfortable voting on it that way right now. Alderman Moriarty It doesn’t bother me one way or another but I would like to point out that we have had quite a few people come through this committee who have not been Nashua residents. In fact, I was one of the people who had been a pest recently asking for individuals home addresses. I have always been one to have people who are being nominated for all of these different commissions throughout the city that are not residents of Nashua, at least have their actual non Nashua address on record but that doesn’t mean I am against having people outside of Nashua on commissions; I actually like that idea. The idea of changing this so that of the residents that are appointed, they don’t all have to be Nashua residents which adds the flexibility to be able to appoint someone who is not a Nashua resident. The idea was inspired by the fact that here we have someone who happens to want to be involved and is not Nashua resident. Specifically, someday Mr. Lecius will retire but it would be nice to have somebody be on CTAB that’s not a Nashua resident. Alderman Siegel I guess I am not so much hung up on the Nashua residency, I just think it would be nice to have people of CTAB that understood cable television. While I respect Mr. Lecius his primary expertise is law enforcement and not cable television. I guess I don’t see this compelling need to keep a law enforcement presence as an award for good attendance unless I am missing something. Personnel – 03/16/15 Page 13 Alderman McCarthy When we look at residency we need to look at why we are putting people on a committee in the first place. In the cases of the Zoning and Planning Boards we want them to be residents because they are representing the community. Some of the other committees we are looking for people with particular expertise and limiting ourselves to someone that lives in the city may cut out people who have great interest in the city and have skills that we are looking for. In this case I think the citizen members of the CTAB are there primarily to look out for interests of Nashua. I think keeping the Nashua citizen requirement where it was is fine, although I am always available to hear someone who is really good for this committee because there are a lot of people that fall into that. I think we should leave it in as a designee from the police department. I can see where the fire department probably doesn’t much care about this at this point. We threw a very wide net out when the committee was created and it’s clear that some of those people don’t have much of a vested interest in it. My suggestion would be to just eliminate four of the positions and change the rest of the language to leave the police chief’s designee in there and allow Mr. Lecius to continue to serve in that position. Alderman Siegel It sounds like there might be some crafting that’s worth doing. It almost sounds like a motion to table might be appropriate to think about this a little more. MOTION BY ALDERMAN SIEGEL TO TABLE MOTION CARRIED Chairman Chasse Alderman Moriarty, can you please provide us with the attendance records for the CTAB for the past year. Alderman Moriarty Yes. O-15-040 Endorser: Alderman-at-Large Brian S. McCarthy AMENDING THE COMPOSITION OF THE STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE MOTION BY ALDERMAN SOUCY TO RECOMMEND FINAL PASSAGE MOTION CARRIED O-15-044 Endorser: Alderman Ken Siegel REGARDING PURCHASING PROCEDURES FOR CERTAIN TYPES OF GENERALLY AVAILABLE COMMODITY ITEMS MOTION BY ALDERMAN SOUCY TO RECOMMEND FINAL PASSAGE ON THE QUESTION Alderman Siegel I put this legislation forward to solve a particular type of problem. We see in Finance commodity items come up that are bid against state contracts. One item in particular came up which was just a Cisco router, a completely vanilla purchase which you could get any number of places on the internet. But because of the way our ordinances are drafted and the purchasing procedures we’re forced to purchase through a state-buy Personnel – 03/16/15 Page 14 program which cost the city over $2,000 for no particular purpose. All this ordinance is trying to do is to say to the extent that things are generally available and advertised on the internet or other media’s, such as newspapers, there really is in effect an open bidding process. It’s fairly bulletproof against lawsuits saying it wasn’t fair, why did you select that. Well, you’re advertising a higher price. It’s merely that type of convenience. I think it can save us some money. I really don’t’ see that it has any downside. Alderman McCarthy I just want to agree with Alderman Siegel. For something that a billion of them are sold every year, there’s a pretty competitive market out there anyway. I trust our people to pick the lowest price they can find on the internet. God knows everything tries to put the lowest price in front of you. MOTION CARRIED TABLED IN COMMITTEE MOTION BY ALDERMAN SIEGEL TO REMOVE FROM THE TABLE R-14-054 MOTION CARRIED R-14-054 Endorser: Alderman-at-Large Diane Sheehan ESTABLISHING A TREE STUDY AD HOC COMMITTEE  Tabled – 8/25/14 MOTION BY ALDERMAN SIEGEL TO RECOMMEND INDEFINITE POSTPONEMENT OF R-14-054 MOTION CARRIED O-14-017 Endorser: Mayor Donnalee Lozeau ADOPTION OF AMENDMENTS TO MERIT EMPLOYEE RULES AND REGULATIONS EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2014  Amended & Tabled 4/21/14 MOTION BY ALDERMAN SIEGEL TO REMOVE O-14-020 FROM THE TABLE MOTION CARRIED O-14-020 Endorsers: Alderman-at-Large Diane Sheehan Alderwoman Pamela T. Brown ESTABLISHING A GREELEY PARK ADVISORY COMMITTEE  Also assigned to the Board of Public Works; Tabled 4/24/14 MOTION BY ALDERMAN SIEGEL TO RECOMMEND INDEFINITE POSTPONEMENT OF O-14-020 ON THE QUESTION Alderman Schoneman I think it’s a good idea to pull some of these things out. Greeley Park, it’s clear we have to be very careful what we do with that park. I like the motion to indefinitely postpone. I think there are other committees and groups in place, certainly concerned citizens that are strong advocates. I think the idea of protecting the park right now is a very broadly based concern. I think we will see the park protected for future generations without this. Thank you. Personnel – 03/16/15 Page 15 Chairman Chasse Many years there was a Park-Rec Commission that was there. When it first started up it worked pretty good. Over the years, they were bucking heads with the regular Park-Rec. and it was demolished. They got rid of that because it was no longer useful. MOTION CARRIED MOTION BY ALDERMAN CHASSE TO TAKE O-14-025 FROM THE TABLE MOTION CARRIED O-14-025 Endorsers: Alderman-at-Large David W. Deane Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire Alderman Ken Siegel AMENDING THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE TRUSTEES OF TRUST FUNDS  Tabled – 8/25/14 MOTION BY ALDERMAN CHASSE TO RECOMMEND O-14-025 ON THE QUESTION Alderman McCarthy The amendment I just handed out, and I have to say I got these printed today, but I haven’t read it in a couple of weeks, basically what it does is to move the approval of the items that are covered by CERF to this board as part of the budget process. At some point likely in this year’s budget, we would get the entire CERF schedule submitted and take a look at it. What we would see on a yearly basis are the changes, if there are any, to what’s in the CERF schedule. We would basically when we approve the budget also know what we are going to replace in the following year and what it is going to cost and where the funds are, etc. Then during the year the administration would be able to make those replacements. If there are substitutions, for example, which has happened occasionally or something changes, that would require coming back to the Board of Aldermen and submitting a resolution to change the CERF schedule so something else could be bought. Alderman Deane I have a couple of concerns. As part of the CERF Committee now where other people’s terms lapsed, some of them seven years ago and nothing was ever done about it. That’s rather concerning, number one. Number two, I attended a CERF Committee meeting. The school district comes in. They want to replace a van, a cube van and things of that nature. They come in with nothing in the way of bids on any of the equipment. Mr. Mansfield came in the same way. I said what are you buying and how much does it cost? The answer was there’s $40,000 in here for this van. I just need the money for that van. They put nothing out to bid. They had no specs. I’m like come back with the equipment bid. Now we have no authority over the school district. It doesn’t come to finance. In essence, we’re just letting go of $40,000 or whatever the end cost would be. By the time they get done getting the bid on it, it was $8,000 less than what was in that account. My major concern was they didn’t know what they were buying to begin with and didn’t bring anything in to present to the CERF Committee to show them what they were purchasing. I don’t think that’s anyway to run a business. I’m a little concerned about that. Mr. Mansfield did the same thing, and the others. There were three groups that came in. It made me wonder how long that had been going on for. They came back and got their vehicles. Those who had to come before Finance came to Finance. There are subsequent changes as Alderman McCarthy alluded to earlier. I agree. Sometimes you might fund for something and then find out. We’ve done it this year already. We moved things around and purchased different pieces of equipment with different money where they got more value for what they needed in the end. They needed one 10-wheeler and deiced to forgo purchasing two 6-wheel dump trucks or whatever. The money was still there. They Personnel – 03/16/15 Page 16 retired the vehicles and that was the end of it. The changes are forthcoming. My concern is I’d like to better understand what they are buying and what things are spec’d out for. Then the counter argument will be how can a group of three people or five people or however many people that are on the CERF Committee at any given time have the authority to approve or not approve something to move it forward. The administration has the authority from the get-go the way the CERF was set up. There’s one alderman, which is the board president. Then there’s the treasurer, the mayor and two other appointments. Basically the administration sets the agenda. If they don’t want to have a CERF meeting, they just don’t have one. That’s something else. Do I object to it being part of the budget process? Not really. I think that would work fairly well as well as in the end we had a clean process of the way they are bid out and what the cost of each piece of equipment is as it goes out. It does not have to come back to us through the finance committee. Thank you. Alderman Siegel I appreciate that Alderman McCarthy has put some time in to do this, but unfortunately not having had any advance notice of it, it’s just difficult to make an intelligent vote. It might be the most wonderful thing in the world, but I really would like to be able to digest what I am looking at. Alderman McCarthy We’ve been waiting for several months. I don’t mind holding it again. I would like to make a couple comments though. With regard to Alderman Deane’s points, having sat on the CERF Committee, I agree. I don’t’ know that the process that we’ve got now is that great. Are you saying the CERF stuff does not go to the finance committee after it’s been approved? Alderman Deane If the school district buys trucks. Alderman McCarthy Oh, the school district. Ya. That’s a separate issue. We have to figure out how to do that. Regarding CERF, itself, since CERF only meets once a year even when people come in with I have bids for this; they may come in with bids for something that they aren’t going to purchase for an additional eight months afterwards. The bids may not be particularly valid at the time that the purchase actually gets made. Moving the planning part of that out to what kinds of equipment do we need and where do we get the money to pay for those from the actual selection and have the process of coming in to buy the truck and having to bid for it come to the finance committee makes more sense because that’s what the finance committee is there for. I like the idea of budgeting it in the budget and then spending in the finance committee more than the existing committee structure. I don’t know how to deal with the school district issue, but it’s also not very big. The school district doesn’t have that much stuff in the CERF schedule, I don’t think. Alderman Deane All of their vehicles are found in there now, the same as solid waste. They got rid of SWERF; they got rid of WERF for wastewater. Everything is in CERF now. Between your six-wheelers and all their service vans, and maintenance service vans. They bought their cube truck for food service. It’s just a little alarming to me. They have a three to five percent accelerator in there for yearly. Then they come in and say there’s $40,000 in there. Well, how much is a cube van? I don’t know; I haven’t gotten a price yet. I just need the $40,000. After they spec’d it out they came back and it was $32,000. I’m not saying they are going to take the $8,000 and go spend it somewhere else. It just falls to the bottom line in CERF. CERF has met a couple of times. It’s been more than once a year. I do agree with you. When you look at some of the prices, they go out and get bids on all of these things. The street department is a perfect example. They got bids on all these trucks. We bought them, and we could have used them this winter. They are being delivered. They might even be here this week or the beginning of April. Having to go through the budget and then go through finance, I really Personnel – 03/16/15 Page 17 don’t have a problem with that either. I think in the end, we’re buying the equipment. The subsequent changes of equipment that are found in CERF, although it has been purged out. There were a lot of things that were taken out of there. We were funding for replacement of things we were never going to buy again. They moved things around, more functional pieces of equipment that we use on a daily basis. There’s always going to be those subsequent changes anyway. For the most part, everything is pretty clean in there. Alderman McCarthy If we want to hang onto this, I’ll actually talk to legal. I suspect there may be something we can do. If the school is purchasing stuff that is being funded out of CERF, it’s basically the city buying it and assigning it to the school department. Alderman Deane Right. Alderman McCarthy We may be able to make that go through the normal finance process. Let me see if we can do that. That would resolve the other concern, I think. I think the questions Alderman Deane raised is one that I can bring up with legal and see if there’s some way to handle it. Alderman Deane Regardless of the budget approval, if we roll this over into the budget and we get rid of CERF then any vehicle requests still have to come through the administration through via the finance committee agenda. None of that is going to change. Alderman McCarthy Not as far as I’m concerned. The expenditures still have to go through the finance committee by Charter, I assume. Alderman Deane But the items still have to make it onto an agenda as well. Alderman McCarthy Right. MOTION BY ALDERMAN SIEGEL TO TABLE MOTION CARRIED DISCUSSION Alderman Soucy For the record, Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja joined us at 8:10 p.m. PUBLIC COMMENT REMARKS BY THE ALDERMEN Personnel – 03/16/15 Page 18 ADJOURNMENT MOTION BY ALDERMAN SIEGEL TO ADJOURN MOTION CARRIED The meeting was declared closed at 8:15 p.m. Alderman Michael Soucy Committee Clerk