Mayoral Candidates in Nashua

Chris Williams began, and advised he is a member of Rotary West, and thanked Rotary for allowing them to speak today.  For 10 years he was CEO of the Chamber of Commerce and has been able to see Nashua from that unique perspective and see what attracts businesses.  He has also worked with many service organizations in the city and was able to work with those organizations to understand what the citizens served by those organizations need.  He was only 30 when he was hired and has come to understand what attracts young professionals to our city, and is able to see the opportunities and challenges for all the citizens.  He thinks Nahsua is a good city but wants to take us from good to great.  There are only 38 babies born in the entire state each day.  We are not producing or attracting young people.  The boomerang effect is not happening anymore.  Our public safety is an issue, and there are troubling signs, including the heroin epidemic and the crime resulting from that.  Budget constraints are rising, and taxes continue to creep up.  These are the storm clouds that we need to think about, with rising costs and shrinking revenues.

 

Three opportunities to address this:

1. Raise fees and property taxes, water, and sewer

2.  Control spending and cut from the budget

3.  Increase the tax base by getting more taxpayers into the city

 

Chris wants to work with option 3, and you can see his detailed plan at his website www.movenashuaforward.com

 

Jim Donchess thanked everyone for coming and to Rotary for hosting.  Jim has lived in Nashua since late 70’s, knows the city very well, and knows the budget.

 

Wants to maintain the stable budget to maintain our services.  He has passed 7 budgets and served 8 years on the Board of Aldermen.  When he was mayor, we had good schools, had the lowest tax rate of the cities, and brought Clocktower Plaza and Pheasant Lane Mall to the city.  He feels his record makes him the best choice for mayor.  Nashua’s tax base is the FMV of all of the real estate, both commercial and residential in Nashua.  When he was mayor he grew the tax base more than any other time in the history of Nashua.  They added many other developments, including 850 million to the city’s tax base.

 

Our current base is 8.5 billion, so 10% was added at that time.  In the last 10 years it has declined by 1.5 billion from 10 billion to 8.5 billion.  It is impacted by the real estate market as well.  He contends he is the best candidate because he has already done it.  He has visited 1000s of people in their homes to find out what people need,   He has informed people about what was going on and solicited their views.

He has proposed legislation to make contract reviews an open process.  He will comply with the budget and spending cap.

Over the next 4 years

 

We need to make our econ development program more effective

     Out reach:  find businesses that need to move here

    Expand our existing businesses

Next were the questions submitted by Rotarians:

 

Question from Hudson Jack Atkinson:  Are you in favor of a roundabout at the Nashua side of the northern bridge to Hudson?

Williams:  The big question is the cost, but there are other projects on the radar screen that may take priority and the Broad Street Parkway has a significant bond to pay.  He feels the next priority is the southbound exit at Exit 36.  The roundabout is a big opportunity but there are additional priorities ahead of it.

Donchess:  There is a proposed housing project north of the bridge, and we need improved traffic flow in order to make that project work.  A roundabout would be mostly funded by fed and state money.  He feels there are better ways than a roundabout.  The people involved in Renaissance will be proposing another solution.

 

Question:  Carol Farmer:  how will you improve transparency in conducting the business of the city?

Donchess:  first improve working relationship between the board of alderman and the city staff.  The board should be able to talk to any staff whenever they wish.  He feels there was a good relationship when he was mayor.  As an alderman he would like economic development staff to periodically report to the public what they are trying to achieve, every 6-12 months.

Williams:  There are tugs of war between Mayor and Board of Alderman.  When he was CEO of Chamber had a board and a staff.  He was happy to have any board member reach out to any staff member with a cc to him to keep him in the loop, it should be easy to have an open flow of communication with tools currently available.  Email, File sharing and other web applications already exist and we should implement these easy means of communication already available. 

Between city personnel and the board, it is incumbent on them to be open with their communication.  Facebook, and other communication channels with the public are very easy and cheap to set up.

 

Question addressed to Donchess:  Why did you vote against Rail in the past and why did you change your mind?

Donchess:    When he was mayor he helped support a study promoting rail at that time.  He voted for purchasing the study, and testified in favor of the rail system.  When rail from Concord to Boston was working he was a big proponent at that time.  He has always supported Rail service.

Williams:  in 10 years he has actually done things to move the issue forward.  It is a great opportunity to move the city forward.  2006-7 worked with Dave Gottesman to get the rail authority created.  2008 worked to put a liability cap in place for any rail operations.  In 2012 he helped raise 120000 to fund a feasibility study.

 

Question from Paul Hebert:  What is a component of your opponent’s platform that has the most merit?

Williams:  Jim is a supporter of passenger rail, they agree on the merits, but Chris feels he actually does something to move it forward.

Donchess:  Chris feels the need to expand the economy through existing businesses and bring more here, and retain our young people, we are the 4th oldest state in the US demographically.

 

Question from Mike Aquino:  What specific things would you do to attract new businesses and professions to Nashua?

Donchess:  it is key because the way jobs get created is by small businesses being created which can then grow to employ more people.  How?  Make Nashua a place where people want to live and work:  Good school system, Rail service, making downtown more vital, we need housing and arts center downtown.  We need to reach out to bring jobs in for our existing population.

Williams: Focusing on 20-somethings:  1. They need a job that pays well and is located in a city like ours.  Where the Jobs are:  the result of a nationwide study concluded they are startups that are providing these jobs.  And we have to have those types of jobs.  The Millyard has close to 8000 sf of space empty or underused.  We need two things there:  A business incubator and the UNH School of Law.  2.  Affordable housing in an urban walkable environment:  again the Millyard.