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Record of Proceedings

Capital Improvements Committee Meeting - August 10, 2026

Board of Aldermen MeetingsMonday, August 10, 2026
BodyNashua, New Hampshire
SessionBoard of Aldermen Meetings
DateMonday, August 10, 2026
StatusNEW · FILED
Video Record

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Transcript — Verbatim
2:03

Oh, did you unmute it?

2:04

Yeah, I just unmuted it.

2:05

Thank you.

2:07

Do I have to press record?

2:09

Yes.

2:09

Yes.

2:10

Just hit the record and then let off another red light should show up.

2:14

Did that work?

2:15

Yes.

2:16

Okay.

2:16

Okay.

2:18

Again, for the record, Tim Cummings, Director of Administrative Services.

2:23

So for this evening, I'd like to walk through the plan as it's been developed to date and then walk you through the work that our finance team has done to show how the plan uh corresponds and correlates with previous uh guidance that have been given by uh uh the Board of Alderman and the committee in the in the past.

2:47

Um the ultimate goal is to try to get to some sort of consensus this evening as I'd like to present to the Board of Alderman tomorrow night.

2:56

Um and then ultimately what we really need to do is file bond uh resolutions for the September uh meeting.

3:04

So we are really starting to to cut it tight.

3:08

So uh you'll see a a couple handouts were on the table.

3:12

Hopefully every everyone has received them.

3:14

Um essentially um uh they are the outline that I'll go through from the PowerPoint uh this evening and the various charts and graphs that we will go over in in detail.

3:28

So um just as a reminder, um previous guidance and we're continuing forward with these with these recommendations is to um uh file our bond resolutions uh uh concurrently or right after the the fiscal year operational budget.

3:47

Capital improvement spending through the operating budget.

3:50

Um we're we're in and around one point five million dollars right now.

3:54

We're looking to increase the appropriately year over year to try to increase our cash we use for various capital uh projects.

4:05

Uh previous guidance was limit new debt sales to approximately twenty-five million a year using a twenty-five million average over a five-year period plus inflationary factor.

4:14

Uh I'll note this is something we may want to go over and talk about uh depending on what the uh the body's priorities uh are.

4:23

Authorize additional spending with surplus through supplemental appropriation in that fall time period.

4:29

Lastly, I just want to note this is something I brought up at the last meeting, but I do think it's worth reiterating again is uh any any discussion uh about the plan before us is gonna require us exempting uh debt from the cap calculation.

4:43

So that's something that has been done in years past.

4:46

I think it's gonna be something that we're gonna need to do again to be able to adhere to to the various um uh financial constraints that we have uh before us.

5:00

So, with that being said, I'd like to call your attention to the handouts that that um have been provided to you.

5:05

And I originally provided you this geo bonding plan at the last meeting.

5:12

I provided that draft to you, and I solicited input and I heard some commentary about some changes and tweaks that you would like to see.

5:21

So I've updated the plan accordingly.

5:25

Um I'm gonna go through line by line and talk about these uh changes and also make some editorial comments for you to keep in the back of your mind, depending on what your priorities may be.

5:36

There may be ways to potentially drive uh uh our our planning our projects down from uh a five-year average perspective, or increase it depending on what your what your pleasure may be.

5:50

So uh starting off uh just at the top, we have approved resolutions with bond authorization where we are selling the debt.

5:58

Um first is the continuing our general paving.

6:03

All right, let me just um interrupt uh for a moment.

6:06

Um the record should show that uh Alderwoman Johnson has arrived.

6:23

Thank you.

6:29

Uh so again, right at the top here.

6:31

Uh we have approved resolutions with bond authorizations, and we need to sell the debt.

6:36

And so first we have continuing the general paving program.

6:40

This was originally done in 2022 for 37 and a half million dollars.

6:45

We uh have uh expended almost all of that.

6:49

We have about 7.5 million still to spend over the next two years, and it's accommodated appropriately.

6:55

Next, we have the uh infrastructure, uh general infrastructure improvement of Walnut Street and the West Pearl Street, uh, the Walnut Street Oval and the West Pearl Street Streetscaping Project.

7:06

And so we have some debt still to sell on that project, and that's noted in FY27.

7:13

We have the parking garages, both high in Elm Street parking garages, uh originally a $15 million bond authorization.

7:20

We have about $3 million of debt still to sell.

7:24

Uh continuing on that West Pearl Street uh streetscaping and walnut street oval project, we have about six hundred thousand dollars of debt still to sell in a separate authorization.

7:34

We have the DPW garage and fleet maintenance uh facility project where we are authorized three million dollars, and we anticipate selling that at least two million this year and and a million dollars next year.

7:50

Uh library design, we have one million dollars uh authorized and uh anticipate uh selling one million dollars.

7:58

Uh citywide infrastructure signal implementation project, we have a million dollars uh authorized, and I believe we will be spending that in a couple of years from now when it's slated to come up in FY29.

8:14

Uh home and stadium uh total project cost uh is I believe something like seven million dollars.

8:22

We've authorized three, and we have uh anticipate that debt to be sold uh in FY29 and FY30.

8:33

Then moving on to unauthorized debt and programmed in the over the next five to six or so years.

8:43

You can see here we have the DPW garage and fleet maintenance facility for 43.5 million dollars, and it is outlined accordingly.

8:53

We have the fire general deferred capital maintenance uh program.

8:58

Uh this would be reoccurring deferred capital maintenance that needs to be spent of about 1.5 million.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Capital Expenditures███████████████████████████████31%
Debt Service██████████████████████████26%
Public Works█████████████████████████25%
Procedural█████████9%
Public Engagement█████████9%
Summary of Proceedings

Capital Improvements Committee Meeting - August 10, 2026

This was a meeting of the Capital Improvements Committee (CIC) to review and potentially approve a five-year capital improvement plan and associated bond resolutions. Director of Administrative Services Tim Cummings and CFO Don Enright presented updated project lists, debt service projections, and target bonding guidelines. The committee voted on a split question to approve projects, with Alderwoman Kelly abstaining from the DPW garage vote due to a conflict of interest. They also adopted draft guidance reaffirming the $25 million annual bonding target with a 5% inflationary increase. The meeting adjourned at 7:05 PM.

Discussion Items

  • Presentation of Capital Plan: Director Cummings walked through the plan, which included approved bond authorizations (e.g., general paving, Walnut Street/West Pearl Street streetscaping, parking garages, DPW garage, library design, citywide signals, Holman Stadium) and unauthorized but programmed projects (DPW garage for $43.5M, fire deferred maintenance at $1.5M, school deferred maintenance at $2M, citywide paving at $4M starting FY29, SURF at $4M, library renovation at $44M, Pine Hill Fire Station at $35M, Holman Stadium continuation at $4M, ERP system at $10M, pools at $5M, hydro regulatory improvements at $15M, cell block at $3M, and pedestrian bridge contractual obligation). Unprogrammed/unauthorized items included the resource center, school parking lot, non-regulatory hydro improvements, citywide car wash ($3M), general school renovation placeholder ($30M), Keefe Auditorium (under active planning), 14 Court Street, Court Street Theater, Riverside Athletic Fields, new fire station, and passenger rail station.
  • Debt Service Projections: CFO Enright presented the target bonded debt service plan (starting at $25M in 2025 with 5% inflation, e.g., $27.5625M in FY27) compared to the current planned schedule. The planned schedule averaged $39M over five years, leading to higher year-over-year increases (up to 10% in years four and five) before converging to target in later years. Director Cummings suggested potential adjustments, such as reducing paving or fire deferred maintenance, to bring the plan closer to target.
  • Priorities and Grading: Projects on the spreadsheet included CIC grades (1 being highest). Alderwoman Johnson questioned the overall tax impact, while Alderwoman Kelly requested separate consideration of the DPW garage (item 12) due to a conflict of interest. Alderwoman Clee sought clarity on using cash for smaller projects (under $1.5M) to avoid bonding costs. CFO Enright explained that surplus determinations would be available in a few weeks and that bonding excludes projects from the tax cap calculation.
  • Paving Program Impact: Director of Public Works Lisa Foto stated that reducing the paving allocation below $4M would jeopardize road maintenance, potentially leading to full road reclamation. She noted that the city needed $5-6M annually to keep pace. Director Cummings suggested a long-term policy discussion to shift some paving costs into the operating budget gradually.
  • Keefe Auditorium: Director Cummings noted that the Keefe Auditorium Commission is actively planning and will present to the full Board of Aldermen in the fall; no dollar amount was included in the current plan to avoid bias.

Key Outcomes

  • Vote on Items 13-26 (all projects except DPW garage): Motion by Alderwoman Clee to approve items 13 through 26. Approved by voice vote (ayes heard, no opposition). Alderwoman Kelly participated in this vote.
  • Vote on Item 12 (DPW Garage and Fleet Maintenance Facility): Motion by Alderwoman Clee to approve item 12. Approved by voice vote (ayes heard, one abstention from Alderwoman Kelly).
  • Adoption of Draft Guidance: Alderwoman Clee moved to adopt the draft guidance reaffirming the $25 million annual bonding target with a 5% inflationary increase, with specific amounts for FY27 ($27.5625M). Approved by voice vote. CFO Enright agreed to add a note showing the percent change in tax rate for clarity.
  • Next Steps: The committee directed staff to present the plan to the full Board of Aldermen the next evening. Bond resolutions are to be filed for the September meeting.

Meeting Transcript

Oh, did you unmute it? Yeah, I just unmuted it. Thank you. Do I have to press record? Yes. Yes. Just hit the record and then let off another red light should show up. Did that work? Yes. Okay. Okay. Again, for the record, Tim Cummings, Director of Administrative Services. So for this evening, I'd like to walk through the plan as it's been developed to date and then walk you through the work that our finance team has done to show how the plan uh corresponds and correlates with previous uh guidance that have been given by uh uh the Board of Alderman and the committee in the in the past. Um the ultimate goal is to try to get to some sort of consensus this evening as I'd like to present to the Board of Alderman tomorrow night. Um and then ultimately what we really need to do is file bond uh resolutions for the September uh meeting. So we are really starting to to cut it tight. So uh you'll see a a couple handouts were on the table. Hopefully every everyone has received them. Um essentially um uh they are the outline that I'll go through from the PowerPoint uh this evening and the various charts and graphs that we will go over in in detail. So um just as a reminder, um previous guidance and we're continuing forward with these with these recommendations is to um uh file our bond resolutions uh uh concurrently or right after the the fiscal year operational budget. Capital improvement spending through the operating budget. Um we're we're in and around one point five million dollars right now. We're looking to increase the appropriately year over year to try to increase our cash we use for various capital uh projects. Uh previous guidance was limit new debt sales to approximately twenty-five million a year using a twenty-five million average over a five-year period plus inflationary factor. Uh I'll note this is something we may want to go over and talk about uh depending on what the uh the body's priorities uh are. Authorize additional spending with surplus through supplemental appropriation in that fall time period. Lastly, I just want to note this is something I brought up at the last meeting, but I do think it's worth reiterating again is uh any any discussion uh about the plan before us is gonna require us exempting uh debt from the cap calculation. So that's something that has been done in years past. I think it's gonna be something that we're gonna need to do again to be able to adhere to to the various um uh financial constraints that we have uh before us. So, with that being said, I'd like to call your attention to the handouts that that um have been provided to you. And I originally provided you this geo bonding plan at the last meeting. I provided that draft to you, and I solicited input and I heard some commentary about some changes and tweaks that you would like to see. So I've updated the plan accordingly. Um I'm gonna go through line by line and talk about these uh changes and also make some editorial comments for you to keep in the back of your mind, depending on what your priorities may be. There may be ways to potentially drive uh uh our our planning our projects down from uh a five-year average perspective, or increase it depending on what your what your pleasure may be. So uh starting off uh just at the top, we have approved resolutions with bond authorization where we are selling the debt. Um first is the continuing our general paving. All right, let me just um interrupt uh for a moment. Um the record should show that uh Alderwoman Johnson has arrived. Thank you. Uh so again, right at the top here. Uh we have approved resolutions with bond authorizations, and we need to sell the debt. And so first we have continuing the general paving program. This was originally done in 2022 for 37 and a half million dollars. We uh have uh expended almost all of that. We have about 7.5 million still to spend over the next two years, and it's accommodated appropriately. Next, we have the uh infrastructure, uh general infrastructure improvement of Walnut Street and the West Pearl Street, uh, the Walnut Street Oval and the West Pearl Street Streetscaping Project. And so we have some debt still to sell on that project, and that's noted in FY27. We have the parking garages, both high in Elm Street parking garages, uh originally a $15 million bond authorization. We have about $3 million of debt still to sell.

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