Human Affairs Committee Meeting - April 21, 2026: CDBG Allocations and Grant Acceptances
Human Affairs Committee Meeting - April 21, 2026
The Human Affairs Committee met on April 21, 2026, at 7 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chamber to consider the Fiscal Year 2027 CDBG/HUD Annual Action Plan, including recommended awards for public service and public facility grant requests. The committee also accepted three federal grants for transit and fire services. Key discussions centered on the transparency of the CDBG process, project delays at the Mary Sweeney Home, and the ineligibility of the Ledge Street Playground project for CDBG funds.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Kristen Wilson (Mary Sweeney Home, 50 East Pearl Street) presented the agency’s FY2027 CDBG request for $100,000 to replace 40+ year-old windows. She noted that funding for previously approved projects (ADA doors, kitchen refurbishment, Wi-Fi, re-keying, HVAC) from FY2024/2025 has not yet been disbursed due to radon testing delays. Committee members expressed concern and asked Community Development for a timeline on the outstanding ADA door installation.
- Laurie Ortolano (41 Berkeley Street) raised several questions about the CDBG process: whether the city has a formal written scoring methodology, what internal controls exist to prevent subjective selection, how contractor conflicts of interest are identified, and whether environmental reviews are completed before contracts are executed. She noted that the Mary Sweeney Home application was missing from the online portal and urged the committee to require full documentation before voting.
Discussion Items
- CDBG Update and Ledge Street Playground Ineligibility – Director Matt Sullivan reported that the Ledge Street Playground project ($50,000 in CDBG funds) is ineligible because the school district’s restriction on public access during school hours conflicts with HUD requirements for public use. The project will be removed from the contemplated list. Mr. Sullivan took responsibility for not communicating this earlier. The committee requested future communications be more timely.
- Mary Sweeney Home Delays – Mike Jungers, Urban Programs Manager, explained that delays in disbursing prior awards stemmed from federal radon testing requirements, late HUD allocations, and staffing changes. He stated that four previously awarded projects (National Children’s Home, Nashua Soup Kitchen, Mary Sweeney Home, Police Athletic League) are now moving forward. The soup kitchen contract is signed with work starting May 4; children’s home bids are due this Friday; PAL is awaiting radon mitigation bids; and Mary Sweeney Home needs an updated ADA scope for its kitchen. Director Sullivan noted the department is understaffed due to diminishing HUD allocations and cannot currently fill a vacant project administrator position.
- Resolution R26018 – Transit Grant (Senior Free Fare Program) – Acceptance of $377,874 from NH DHHS for senior free fare transit passes for FY2026-2028. Approved unanimously.
- Resolution R26024 – Fire Grant (Hazmat Planning & Training) – Acceptance of $41,600 from NH Department of Safety for hazardous materials team long-term planning and conference attendance. Approved unanimously.
- Resolution R26025 – Transit Capital Grant – Acceptance of $678,300 (SFY2025) and $425,000 (SFY2026) from NH DOT to replace five paratransit buses. The funding repurposes an anticipated grant that did not materialize. Approved unanimously.
- FY2027 CDBG Public Service Allocations – The committee considered requests totaling $120,000 against a cap of $96,692.85. After debate, they recommended:
- Overnight Winter Warming Station: $50,000 (full funding)
- Family Promise of Southern NH: $34,305.07 (partial)
- Financial Empowerment Center: $0 Motion passed 2 yes (Sullivan, Lopez) and 1 abstention (Kelly).
- FY2027 CDBG Public Facility Allocations – The committee considered requests totaling $771,000 against available funds of $319,000 (after administrative and other deductions). After discussion, they recommended:
- Nashua Children’s Home (boiler replacement): $83,923.50
- Nashua Center (roof replacement): $57,214
- Gateways Community Services (deck at Atherton site): $57,214
- Police Athletic League (water intrusion): $30,000
- Front Door Agency (elevator): $46,069.85
- Gloria Timmins Community Center (HVAC): $9,500
- All other projects funded at $0 (including Boys & Girls Club, Mary Sweeney Home windows, soup kitchen generator, Nashua Children’s Home entry door, etc.) Motion passed 2 yes (Sullivan, Lopez) and 1 abstention (Kelly). Chair noted that the recommendations would return as formal legislation for final action.
Key Outcomes
- Unanimous acceptance of three federal grants (R26018, R26024, R26025) for transit and fire services.
- The Ledge Street Playground CDBG request was withdrawn due to ineligibility.
- Committee recommended public service allocations totaling $84,305.07 and public facility allocations totaling $283,921.35 for FY2027 CDBG.
- Community Development committed to improving transparency via the online project portal and to providing quarterly updates to the committee.
- Director Sullivan and Manager Jungers accepted responsibility for communication and project delays, while noting staffing constraints due to reduced federal allocations.
- Public commenter Ortolano’s requests for documentation (CAPER reports, instand records) were partially addressed; the 2024 CAPER is complete and the 2025 CAPER is in process with HUD.
- The meeting adjourned at 9 p.m.
Note: This meeting occurred on April 21, 2026, though the transcript indicates the session began on April 20, 2026, and continued past midnight. The agenda and minutes were not available.
Meeting Transcript
This is 15 minutes. There you go. 7 o'clock. Good evening, everybody. It is April 20th, 2026. We are holding a meeting of the Human Affairs Committee at 7 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chamber. And duly noticed in two places, including the city's website, in accordance with the requirements of RSA 91A, colon 2, Roman numeral 2. So let's start by taking a roll call. All right. Alderman Senate is here. Alderman at large Morgan. Alderman Woman at large, Oshana Kelly, Vice Chair. I'm here. And Alderman Lopez, Chair. I'm here. We have three in attendance also joining us this evening is uh Matt Sullivan, Community Development Director. Mike Jungers Urban Programs Manager. I also saw Director Liz Hannem, Economic Development Director, and Alderman Paula Johnson also with us. Okay. And Alderman Morgan had reached out and said there's an illness in the family and that she had to take care of her child. So all right, so starting out. We have public comment, including comments related to the development of the FY 2027 HUD annual action plan. Members of the public, please feel free to approach. Just identify yourself and the agency you're with, as well as your address, please. Uh hello, I am Kristen Wilson. I'm here on behalf of the Mary Sweeney home at 50 East Pearl Street in downtown Ashua. We had filed a CDBG request, uh 2027 request, and I was unable to attend the uh early March meeting, so I wanted to take advantage of tonight. So if anybody had any questions about our grant fund requests. For anybody who is unaware of what the Mary Sweeney home is, we're uh residents for low-income senior ladies from the Nashua area. Um we have 31 apartments, and all of our residents are between the ages of 65 and right now. I have a lady about to turn 93. Um so our request this year was for new windows. Our building, part of our building is from 1975. The other part, which was originally the convent for St. Patrick's Church, that was dormitory style at the time. They converted it into apartments. Um, and then the other part of the building, which is on East Pearl, uh was built in I think 1984. So the windows have not been replaced, so they're 40 plus years old. Um the ladies have trouble lifting them in their apartments. Um it's the same windows throughout the building, and that's what the funding would be used for. Okay. Um how have your other projects gone? Um, we have several projects that we are still waiting to receive the funding to complete. Uh we haven't gotten our funding from 2025 yet. It was approved, but we're waiting for the actual money to complete the projects as well as last year's money. And that was the automated ADA doors, if I remember right. Uh last year was the actually several projects. We're still waiting for the money for uh the handicapped doors for the uh front door and side door where the ladies come in with their groceries from the parking lot, as well as um the money to refurbish our kitchen, um the money to do run the Wi-Fi to the uh three floors above um to re-key the doors because the apartments are so old and they've uh throughout the years they've changed locks on some of them. They're unable to say whether like one key opens several apartments, so we had asked for funding to re-key for safety issues.
openpublica.com