This is a formal complaint regarding the conduct of Kim Kleiner. At my request, the police showed up at City Hall and I gave a statement regarding the verbal assault of Ms. Kleiner against me at the end of the Board of Assessors Meeting.
I was in a conversation with Dan Hansberry and at some point, Ms. Kleiner entered the space of the discussion.
When I finished, she pointed her finger at my face and shouted, “you listen to me.” I told her I was not entering into a discussion with a woman yelling at me. She then shouted that she could have me removed from City Hall because I shouted at Jen downstairs in Assessing. I said, “you were not there” and she responded that another clerk was. I believe she is incorrect.
Under RSA 91-A, please provide the video surveillance recording of the Nashua Assessing office customer service area for February 3, 2022 for the time period of 9:15 am to 10:15 am.
Is this the type of de-escalation training your senior managers receive in addressing a public concern or a perceived angry citizen? I can only imagine that if I pointed my finger at her face, and shouted at her, I would be accused of hitting her and assaulting her.
Her performance was so unprofessional and clearly lacked any good judgement.
Please stop the mask mandate. The 1+ thick glass partitions, along with face masks, and echo chamber spaces in City Hall has led people to believe they are being shouted at or they are being whispered at when in fact the verbal volume of our conversations are being significantly impacted by our environment.
Let me give you some examples:
Yesterday, when I came to your office to file a complaint, Kathleen came to the door but did not open it. I had to shout through the glass, mask and hallway echo to speak with her. As she addressed me behind the glass, I could not hear her and told her that she had to speak louder. I then apologized for speaking loudly, but explained that the echo up the stairwell is deafening.
Today, in the Board of Assessors meeting, I provided public comment. After I finished, Dan Hansberry responded to my comments. He was mumbling through the mask and not close enough to the mic and again there was loud noise coming from the 3rd floor hallway that made it impossible for me to hear. I approached the table and asked him to repeat what he said. This is on film.
While in the building department office, I asked the clerk for the permit file for 78-84 West Pearl St. She repeated that I wanted the file for West HOLLIS st. I said no – West Pearl St. She asked me to speak louder because the mask and glass were preventing her from hearing. I raised my voice to give the address.
So, when Ms. Kleiner accuses me of shouting at the clerk in assessing, I believe she is misrepresenting the situation. I did tell the clerk that I did not believe I was shouting but I did lower my voice and tell her that I have a hard time hearing myself with the hallway noise. The customer service area is right at the base of the stairwell and adjacent to the mechanical room and it is an echo chamber.
I have had a loss of hearing for some time now and I have considered asking for an exemption for hearing loss. Does City Hall allow an exemption from masking for hearing impairment? My husband has complained for years that I am deaf and he is, in part, correct. If you listen to much of the public comment I participate in, I speak ratherly loudly. That is because of my hearing. I am under a lot of scrutiny for behavior that I believe is unjustified. I would like you to inform those in City Hall that I can have a mask exemption and I would like to be granted an exemption. Early on in this pandemic and because of my own fear, I kept the mask in place and dealt with the hearing issue. I thought this masking mandate issue would be over a long time ago; now I believe that City Hall will most likely keep masking a permanent requirement of visitation. I am no longer fearful and have researched a great deal on masking; my medical provider never believed in it. I want to stop having to raise my voice because of the mask.
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The meeting entered a nonpublic session. I went downstairs to assessing to get a printout of the Property record card for the NPAC and request to see the property record file. Jen did not know how to get a printout (I managed to figure that out on my own) and left to find the file. She came back and said some files have been returned and some are out. I told her that I have always been able to obtain files that are boxed or inhouse. She said everyone was watching the Board meeting on Zoom and she would have to wait until Rick Vincent was out.
I left without obtaining my copy because I did not have a dollar on me. I got money and went back downstairs to pay for the card copy. On that exchange, another clerk was with Jen. They could not make change so they gave me the copy free of charge.
I went to the Building permit department and collected all the permit data on the Art Center Building. Mark was great and the young girl was helpful. I never have had problems with walk-in requests in that office.
I went back to the board of Assessor meeting to see if they finished nonpublic and they had. That is when Kim Kleiner lost it and started shouting at me and pointing her finger.
Under RSA 91-A, please provide the video surveillance records of the Auditorium from 9:45 am to 10:00 am for February 3, 2022.
These are abuses that citizens should not have to endure when coming to city hall to participate in public meetings or inspect public records.
I am requesting an apology from Ms. Kleiner and believe city wide customer service training might be in order.