2026-10-21 - Finance Committee

00:00And we also have

00:02Venge Fluta. I haven't heard from her.

00:05But I believe we have quorum, right? 1 2

00:073 4 guys. 6 7. Yeah, we've got four.

00:09We've got quorum.

00:11>> All right, we're going to call the

00:11meeting of the Finance Committee to

00:13order on October 21st, 2026. Madam

00:17Clerk, would you please call the roll?

00:19>> Absolutely.

00:21Alderwoman Smith.

00:24Alderman John Sullivan.

00:29Alderman-at-Large Alicia Gregg.

00:35Alderman-at-Large Clemens.

00:36>> Here.

00:38>> Alderman-at-Large Wilshire.

00:40>> Here.

00:42>> Alderman Cleese here.

00:44Mayor Donchess.

00:45>> Here.

00:46>> You have four in attendance.

00:48>> All right, great.

00:49Uh first issue is public comment

00:51regarding any of the items to be acted

00:53on tonight.

00:57I don't see anyone, so we will go to

00:59communications.

01:01Uh the

01:02first and only being from Amy Gerard,

01:05purchasing manager. Alderwoman Clee.

01:07>> Uh thank you.

01:09Um from Amy Gerard, purchasing manager,

01:12regards to subscription

01:15Veeam Data Platform Foundation Universal

01:18License in the amount not to exceed

01:20$36,630.78 funded from general fund

01:25{slash} 54 property services.

01:27A motion to accept, place on file, and

01:30approve a renewal contract with

01:32She International Corp for Veeam

01:35backup software utilized by the

01:37Information Technology Department in the

01:39amount not to exceed $36,630.78. Funding

01:44will be through Department 120

01:47Technology Maintenance Fund General Fund

01:5054 property services.

01:53>> Uh Miss

01:55uh Mr. Mysewich.

01:56>> Thank you, Mayor Donchess. Nick

01:57Mysewich, Chief Information Officer for

01:59the City of Nashua.

02:01Uh, before you is our annual renewal for

02:05the Veeam software that we use to back

02:08up the city systems and data.

02:10Uh,

02:12[clears throat]

02:13we originally had two separate contracts

02:16because we purchased them at different

02:17times. So, this is to get both contracts

02:22contracts co-termed, which will throw us

02:25over the threshold amount, which is why

02:28that I'm here this evening.

02:32>> All right, any questions?

02:35All those in favor of the motion say I.

02:37>> I.

02:38>> Motion passes. Thank you.

02:41Uh, we're on now to new business, uh,

02:43resolutions. Uh, Alderwoman Cleary.

02:46>> Uh, yes.

02:50>> And we have R-26-075.

02:52>> Thank you.

02:54R-26-075 authorizing the mayor to enter

02:59into second amended federal

03:01aid project agreement with the state of

03:03New Hampshire and the town of Hudson for

03:05the purpose of rehabilitating the Taylor

03:06Falls and Veterans Bridges and to accept

03:09an additional $231,941.29 for the

03:13project. Mr. Mayor, I motion to

03:16recommend final approval

03:19final approval.

03:20>> Mr. Hudson. [clears throat]

03:22>> Good evening, Dan Hudson, City Engineer.

03:23So, this is, uh,

03:24kind of some final housekeeping for this

03:26project, the rehabilitation of the

03:27Taylor Falls and Veterans Bridges.

03:30Um, where we rehabilitate concrete deck

03:32and, uh, bridge joints and sidewalk and

03:34other elements. Uh, this allows us to

03:36accept some additional federal share

03:39into the project and it and, uh, and

03:42basically, uh, true up and finalize all

03:44all the numbers. DOT, uh, wanted us to

03:47bring this at the end of the project

03:48when we had all the final numbers, and

03:49so that's why we're bringing this now.

03:51I'd be happy to address any questions.

03:58>> All right, all those in favor of the

03:59motion say I.

04:00>> I.

04:01>> Opposed? Motion passes. Thank you very

04:03much.

04:05Uh now we have uh new business

04:08ordinances. There aren't any tabled in

04:09committee. There isn't anything record

04:11of expenditures.

04:13>> Uh Mr. Mayor, I motion to

04:16I'm sorry, I motion that the finance

04:18committee has complied with the city

04:19charter and ordinances pertaining to the

04:22record of expenditures for the period

04:24from October 2nd, 2026 through October

04:2615th, 2026.

04:32>> All those in favor of the motion say I.

04:34>> I.

04:35>> Opposed? Motion passes.

04:38We now have general discussion. Any

04:40general discussion?

04:44Uh

04:45No, so there's public comment. Does

04:48anyone want to speak to the finance

04:49committee?

04:58>> Lori Ordway Nashua. Um

05:01you know, a couple things. I got a

05:04ruling from the court yesterday that

05:07um

05:08my speech can remain my speech when I

05:11address my government officials, whether

05:13it's in a board meeting or in my city

05:14hall.

05:15The city had asked the court to issue a

05:17protective order against me to limit my

05:20speech when I talk to people in city

05:22hall or I write my requests.

05:25And that was denied. And so that was a

05:29really important um

05:32win for me. Uh it's something that I

05:34have thought an awful lot about.

05:37Um and I think it's a right I do have

05:39and I don't think the city ever really

05:41much respected what I um spoke to.

05:45I'd like to ask the committee to

05:48um consider adapting and reducing the

05:51amount for

05:53um

05:54approval by the fi-finance committee

05:56from 25,000 down to 15. And I would like

06:00to see the committee

06:02look at contracts when we're hiring

06:04outside attorneys to do employee

06:06investigations, that those be brought to

06:08the finance committee. Because Director

06:10Cummings has signed off on various

06:13contract with attorneys to do fi-um

06:16investigations of employees. One of them

06:18ended up being 32,000, but it was never

06:20brought to the finance committee. The

06:22one with Amy Serino that just finished

06:25on the electrical contractor, I think

06:27that's a big one. I haven't been able to

06:28get the records. And I think that should

06:30be reduced. Um I also think all legal

06:34contracts signed by legal to use outside

06:37counsel to pay for and defend litigation

06:40should come before the finance committee

06:42of any amount. First of all, it used to

06:44be they'd have to write an attorney if

06:46they exceeded $10,000, and that's what's

06:49in their letters even now. But 10,000 is

06:52a pretty low threshold when you're

06:53charging 500 or in the case of the art

06:56center suit, you had two attorneys

06:59totaling almost a thousand bucks an hour

07:01for the work they were doing. So from um

07:04Foster and um um Joe Foster and Stedman

07:08from McLane Middleton. You know, there

07:10are suits that and and um contracts that

07:13legal signs for litigation that I think

07:16are very unusual, and the art center one

07:18was very unusual. The outside legal

07:20costs for that ended up being like

07:22700,000. That's very unusual. When I

07:25called Manchester and asked them how

07:27they deal with cases like that, and I

07:29spoke to their legal office, they said a

07:31contract like that would go to our

07:33finance committee. We would let the

07:35board know we were engaged in that type

07:38of

07:39late litigation cost. And I think this

07:42board I think our legal office should

07:44have told this board about those costs.

07:47I know you hung it all on me for wasting

07:49a lot of taxpayers money, but I don't

07:51think that was ever fair or fair

07:53representation for a project that you

07:55know I believe was very fraudulent. And

07:58I think you hired the best of the best

08:00specifically for that reason because you

08:02knew you had a problem over there.

08:04Anyway, I can tell my time is up. I'll

08:06speak to you at the next meeting.

08:09>> All right. Remarks by alderman? Any

08:11remarks by alderman?

08:14Uh Alderwoman Clee.

08:15>> Uh thank you. Um Mr. Mayor, I'd like to

08:17first of I'd like to uh

08:19uh thank Public Works for a lot of

08:21different things that they've done. Um

08:23one of which was the uh Boo Bash this

08:26weekend. It was incredible to see all

08:28the people

08:29um there and um

08:31they they put on a heck of a a heck of

08:34an event and uh I was actually surprised

08:36by how many children said they didn't

08:37want candy.

08:39It really kind of shocked me. Um, um,

08:42the other thing is I also want to thank,

08:44um, both Community Development and, um,

08:46Public Works because I had an incident,

08:48uh, today where,

08:50uh, someone had removed some trees and

08:54left them in the street, um,

08:56on a dead end and, um,

08:58were stopping people and had not gotten

09:00permits and everything; but they, they

09:02got on the ball and took care of it and

09:03were very responsive. So, I so

09:06appreciate that and I want to ask um

09:10Alderman Smith, I didn't see what time

09:11you came in.

09:12>> Oh yes, I'm sorry. We should have

09:13recorded you here.

09:14>> Yeah.

09:15Do you know what time it was that you

09:16came in?

09:17>> I've only been here for about 4 minutes

09:19or so.

09:19>> Okay, that's fine. Thank you. I just

09:20want to make sure that

09:21>> Alderwoman Smith came in at uh 7:05 p.m.

09:25>> Thank you.

09:27Thank you.

09:28>> Any other remarks by alderman?

09:32Um all right. We have a non-public

09:34session.

09:36Who has has the motion? Is it

09:38>> I have it here.

09:38>> Okay. Alderwoman Klee.

09:41>> Oh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. At this time

09:44Make sure I have this right.

09:46I want to make a motion that the Finance

09:48Committee go into nonpublic session by

09:51roll call pursuant to RSA 91-A:3, Roman

09:55numeral(2E), consideration or

09:58negotiation of pending claims or

10:00litigation which has been threatened in

10:01writing or filed

10:04by or against the public body or any

10:06subdivision thereof, or by or against

10:10any member thereof because of his or her

10:12membership in such public body, until

10:14the claim or litigation has been fully

10:17adjudicated or otherwise settled. Any

10:19application filed for tax abatement

10:22pursuant to law with any body or board

10:24shall not constitute a threat threatened

10:27or filed litigation against any public

10:29body for the purposes of this

10:32um subparagraph.

10:33>> I'll second.

10:36>> All right. Now, we um

10:38could you call the roll?

10:39>> Yes.

10:44Alderwoman Smith.

10:45>> Present.

10:47>> No. Um whether or not you agree to go

10:49into That's okay.

10:51So, yay or nay?

10:53>> Yay.

10:54>> Thank you.

10:55Um

10:56Alderman Clemens.

10:57>> Yes.

10:58>> Alderman Wilshire. Alderman Klee says

11:00yes and Mayor Donchess.

11:01>> Yes.

11:03>> You have five yays.

11:04>> All right. We're going to go into

11:05nonpublic session.

```*