I have added another portion to our website focusing on the Greeley Park Bandshell.
You may find more information under the Issues Tab or by clicking the following link: http://aldermancookson.com/issues/greeley-park-bandshell/
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions please don’t hesitate to contact me
By PATRICK MEIGHAN
Staff Writer
NASHUA – Often a city official will view the fruits of his work – be it a public building, park or street – with a sense of pride.
Barbara Pressly, however, looks on one of the fruits of her labor with embarrassment.
“It has bugged me for 22 years that I supported something that is so unattractive,” said Pressly, who is now serving her second stint on the board of aldermen.
Two decades ago, Pressly was one of the board members who backed the creation of the band shell in Greeley Park. The structure, intended to be covered with a flowing tent-like material, was never finished because money ran dry.
Bad aesthetics are only part of the problem.
In the ensuing years, residents of Swart Terrace, Berkeley Street and other streets near Greeley Park say they’ve suffered from high-decibel, incessant noise from concerts staged at the park’s skeletal band shell.
The source of some of the noise, residents say, has been the woofers and tweeters from the cranked-up sound systems of amateur rock bands, who sometimes have played day-long shows to a handful of youthful followers.
Now, the board of aldermen seem poised to take action. What action, however, remains uncertain. Continue reading “Board member regrets band shell – NashuaTelegraph.com” »
Associated Press – August 27, 2010 5:35 AM ET
NASHUA, N.H. (AP) – New Hampshire is holding a session Sept. 9 in Nashua, N.H., to put businesses in contact with state officials to learn about state services.
It will be the fifth regional business outreach session organized by the state. Previous sessions were held in Lebanon, Laconia, Manchester and Berlin.
Gov. John Lynch said the sessions provide business leaders with an opportunity to get questions answered directly by state agency heads.
The idea for the sessions came out of Lynch’s Jobs Cabinet Roundtable series of meeting with business leaders who said they wanted more information about state services and regulations.
The session will be at Nashua Community College beginning at 7:30 a.m.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
© Copyright 2000 – 2010 WorldNow and WCAX
O-10-21 — Relative to the Definition, Roles and Responsibilities of an Aldermanic Liaison
August 11, 2010
From: Mark S. Cookson, Alderman-at-Large
To: Distinguished Members of the Personnel & Administrative Affairs Committee:Tomorrow evening I will be joining you to request a favorable recommendation from the Committee to the full Board, as well as discuss O-10-21 — Relative to the Definition, Roles and Responsibilities of an Aldermanic Liaison.
First, I believe we inherently know what a liaison is and what they should do; however, I believe our Aldermanic Liaisons have, at best, been inconsistent with their efforts to keep both the Board of Aldermen and the board, committee, or group of which we may be a liaison to connected so that a mutual understanding may be established and maintained.
There may be several reasons why this is occurring. First, I would suggest to you there may be no clear expectations provided to or communicated with the Liaison or their Alternate when they are assigned to a board, committee, or group. Some may feel that by attending, or by watching a broadcast of the board, committee, or group meeting they have fulfilled their obligation as a liaison. Unfortunately, if we look at the definition of a liaison we will see they have in fact only fulfilled half of their obligation.
I submit to you the following definition of Liaison (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/liaison):
1. the contact or connection maintained by communications between units or of any other organization in order to ensure concerted action, cooperation, etc.
2. a person who initiates and maintains such a contact or connection.A liaison, based on this definition, is clearly supposed to provide a maintained connection between the two bodies – the Board of Aldermen and their assigned liaison role.
Therefore, the purpose of O-10-21 — Relative to the Definition, Roles and Responsibilities of an Aldermanic Liaison — is to clearly express minimum expectations to every member of the Board of Aldermen, now and future Boards, regarding their roles and responsibilities as a Liaison or Alternate.
The Primary Role of a liaison then may be expressed as – The Liaison shall communicate with the other board, committee or group and report back to the Board of Aldermen, and vice versa, so that a mutual understanding will be established and maintained.
I would also further suggest to you the following minimum responsibilities for your consideration:
- The Liaison, or their Alternate, shall be expected to attend meetings of the other board, committee or group in person;
- The Liaison, when unable to attend the meeting of the other board, committee or group in person, shall make arrangements with the Alternate Liaison for their attendance;
- The Liaison, in collaboration with their Alternate, shall submit a monthly written report to the Board of Aldermen;
- A Liaison and their Alternate shall not be a voting member unless otherwise established by statute, ordinance or resolution.
This Ordinance would also amend our Board of Aldermen’s Order of Business so as to include a section dedicated to accepting and placing on file Reports from Liaisons.
I extend to each of you the opportunity to share with me your concerns, questions, comments and/or suggestions regarding O-10-21 — Relative to the Definition, Roles and Responsibilities of an Aldermanic Liaison – so that I may appropriately address them tomorrow evening at your Committee meeting.
Thank you for your consideration.
Mark
Alderman-at-Large
I wanted to share with you that I have added a Legislation Tab which I plan to populate with legislation I have filed.
I will provide you with a link to the actual Ordinance or Resolution, as well as my rationale for submitting the legislation.
The first legislation I have placed in this new tab is O-10-21 — Relative to the Definition, Roles and Responsibilities of an Aldermanic Liaison.
Find the link above or click http://aldermancookson.com/legislation/ to read more about why I have introduced this.
By MICHAEL BRINDLEY
Staff Writer
NASHUA – Roughly $800,000 could be left over in the school budget, which had been budgeted to pay for retiree severance packages. The question now is what to do with the funds.
The School District had set aside $1.8 million in this year’s budget for severance packages, after under-budgeting in the account the past two years.
But as of the beginning of this month, Superintendent Mark Conrad said the district only has $391,885 in liabilities. Conrad said there are typically a few retirements during the school year, but it’s unlikely those would run more than another $100,000.
Realizing there would likely be money left over, the Board of Education had already tapped $480,000 from the account earlier this summer to restore 15 teaching positions at the high schools. Bringing back the positions meant being able to avoid a controversial plan to force credit reduction and mandatory study halls for freshmen and sophomores.
Based on Conrad’s projections, that would leave about $800,000 in the severance account. Conrad wants to place a “large portion” of the money into a school severance trust fund. Conrad said setting aside the money would give the district flexibility in an area of the budget that can be difficult to predict. Continue reading “$800k could be left in budget – NashuaTelegraph.com” »
By TOM WEST
Correspondent
NASHUA – A 13-acre eyesore left by former developer John Picard at 502 W. Hollis St., the old site of WSMN radio, will be cleaned up under a proposal approved by the Planning Board on Thursday.
Scudder Development will finish the 40-cluster condominium project approved by the city in 2004 and clean up the mess left by Picard by the end of the construction season, said Eric Swanson, an engineer for the developer.
According to city planner Chris Sullivan, the site is covered with piles of rubble, debris, stumps, boulders, loam and logs.
Picard said he couldn’t finish the project because there was too much ledge beneath the soil. Residents said his argument was ludicrous, and the project eventually drove him into bankruptcy. Continue reading “Condo plan finally approved – NashuaTelegraph.com” »
By MICHAEL BRINDLEY
Staff Writer
NASHUA – The “help wanted” section is still plenty deep for city schools, with spots to be filled for everything from a fourth-grade teacher to a special- education teacher working with intensive needs students.
There are 23 full- and part-time teaching jobs left to fill before schools reopen Aug. 31. With a month left, Superintendent Mark Conrad said this is where the district typically would be in the hiring process over the summer.
District administrators have filled 45 positions and another 24 are in process, which means a candidate has been identified and the recommendation is moving forward to the Board of Education, Conrad said.
Of the 23 positions left to fill, interviews are scheduled for all but one Continue reading “23 teaching jobs remain unfilled – NashuaTelegraph.com” »
By PATRICK MEIGHAN
Staff Writer
Staff photo by Bob Hammerstrom Bruce Tasker, right, from Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc., answers questions from Nashua area residents during an informational meeting Monday night, August 2, 2010, at the Welcome Center off exit six of the F.E. Everett Turnpike.
NASHUA – A half-hour into the drop-in informational session Monday, nearly 50 people already had shown up to browse the maps and charts and chat up the city, regional and federal officials on hand.
This was another turn of the screw in the decades-long process of building a cross-city roadway that would link Broad Street near the Exit 6 Welcome Center, where the session was held, with downtown neighborhoods.
Some of the people attending scoured maps to see how the Broad Street Parkway, in its current configuration, would impact their homes and neighborhoods.
But the biggest questions were these: When would the first shovel hit the ground signaling the start of construction, and when would traffic start rolling down a stretch of pavement 30 years or more in the making?
The answers, respectively: next spring and by the end of 2014. Continue reading “Broad St. impact is issue – NashuaTelegraph.com” »
By PATRICK MEIGHAN
Staff Writer
NASHUA – Mayor Donnalee Lozeau on Monday expressed disappointment but said she’s not surprised the governor vetoed a bill she spearheaded that would have created an exception in the state’s Right-to-Know Law.
Lozeau also said she doubts there will be enough votes to override the veto that Gov. John Lynch announced mid-afternoon Monday.
Nashua is in a different situation than other communities when it comes to the process of approving labor contracts, Lozeau said. The city has a large number of labor boards that must approve a proposed contract, and then the Board of Aldermen must ultimately OK any labor contract, she said.
Nashua’s bill, HB 379, was drafted when Lozeau asked Nashua lawmakers to file it Continue reading “Mayor sad Lynch vetoes city RTK bill – NashuaTelegraph.com” »
We need your help!
I know this may be a difficult time for many of us and understand if you are not able to donate. However, I ask that you please consider supporting the Strong Kids Campaign...a campaign which offers individuals and families opportunities to participate at the Y when they may not have the resources to do so on their own.
As a member of the YMCA of Greater Nashua Board of Directors I have established a personal goal to raise $3,000 in donations to support this campaign. This is where you come in...if each of my friends decided to support me you would just need to find $4.60. That's less than a "Happy Meal" and would be even more meaningful to the child or family you just helped.
Thank you in advance for your generosity!
Mark
