This email was sent to the Board of Aldermen, City Clerk, and Corporation Counsel for the City of Nashua, NH. Residents should hope that the City of Nashua does the right thing for its residents
Re: Formal Request for New Public Hearing on Resolutions R-26-019 and R-26-020 – 14 Mulberry Street Acquisition – New Material Information Affecting Taxpayer Financial Liability
Dear President Wilshire and Members of the Nashua Board of Aldermen:
I am writing to formally request that the Board of Aldermen schedule a new public hearing prior to any vote on the acquisition of 14 Mulberry Street. This request is based on significant new material information that was not disclosed to the public or to the Board at the April 15, 2026, public hearing, information that directly affects the City’s financial obligations and taxpayer liability in connection with this transaction.
A vote on this matter is scheduled for the special Board of Aldermen meeting on Wednesday, April 22, 2026. I respectfully but urgently request that this vote be postponed and a new public hearing be scheduled at which all material facts are placed before the Board and the public before any final action is taken.
Attorney Bolton has blocked my emails to his office. This is a critical and expedited matter that US Mail will not satisfy. Please forward this email to Attorney Bolton.
I. TWO RESOLUTIONS — BOTH REQUIRE FULL PUBLIC DISCLOSURE
The Board is being asked to act on two related but legally distinct resolutions:
1. Resolution R-26-019 — Authorization for the purchase of 14 Mulberry Street for $730,000.
2. Resolution R-26-020 — Authorization for the Mayor and City Treasurer to issue bonds not to exceed $900,000 for the purchase, design, and renovation of 14 Mulberry Street as a resource center.
The April 15, 2026, public hearing addressed the bond authorization under R-26-020. It is my understanding that the underlying purchase resolution R-26-019 was referred to the Planning and Economic Development Committee and the Planning Board on April 9, 2026, but that no separate public hearing was held specifically on the purchase itself at which all material facts pertaining to the property were disclosed.
Both resolutions must be considered together and both require that the Board and the public have complete and accurate information before any vote is taken. Both required notices for the April 15, 2025 Public Hearing. The material information described below was absent from the April 15 hearing and must be addressed before the Board can make an informed decision on either resolution.
II. NEW MATERIAL INFORMATION: HUD LEAD ABATEMENT LIEN FAILURE AND FEDERAL RECAPTURE LIABILITY
The property at 14 Mulberry Street received a $75,000 HUD lead abatement grant under the federal Healthy Homes Lead Hazard Reduction program. Work under this grant was completed on or about May 5, 2024. Federal HUD grant requirements mandate that the City record a lien on any property receiving these funds, enforceable for a 3-year recapture period during which the property may not be sold without triggering an obligation to repay the federal grant funds.
In September 2024, the City filed a lead abatement completion certificate with the Hillsborough County Registry of Deeds. However, a search of the Registry conducted on April 16, 2026, confirms that the City never recorded the required HUD lien on this property. Document attached.
The consequences for the City are direct and serious:
3. The closing on 14 Mulberry Street is scheduled for April 30, 2026, less than two years after the lead abatement work was completed and well within the mandatory 3-year federal recapture window.
4. Because no lien was recorded, there is no automatic legal mechanism to alert the closing attorney, the title company, or the Board itself of the federal recapture obligation, meaning the sale could close without HUD being notified or compensated.
5. The City of Nashua, as the grant administrator, remains liable under the grant agreement regardless of whether the lien was recorded. If this sale proceeds and HUD pursues recapture, Nashua taxpayers could be required to repay $75,000 in federal grant funds out of the City’s general funds.
6. The April 15, 2026 Public Hearing only captures the issues associated with bonding. It did not address the other financial taxpayer obligation that could potentially require general fund payment.
This is precisely the kind of new, material, taxpayer-affecting information that requires public disclosure and deliberation, through a public hearing, before a final vote. The Board of Aldermen cannot make a fully informed appropriation decision without understanding this liability.
III. THE CITY ATTORNEY’S OWN STANDARD REQUIRES A NEW HEARING
It has been the City Attorney’s stated position in prior matters that when new information emerges after a public hearing that materially changes the financial implications of a resolution, particularly information that could affect taxpayer obligations, a new public hearing is required before final action may be taken.
That standard is directly applicable here. The HUD recapture liability is new information that was not part of the public record at the April 15 hearing. It is material, it could add up to $75,000 in unanticipated financial liability to a transaction already being financed by a $900,000 bond. And it directly affects Nashua taxpayers. The City Attorney’s own standard compels a new hearing.
IV. MAYORAL OVERREACH: THE PURCHASE AND SALE AGREEMENT WAS EXECUTED WITHOUT PRIOR BOARD AUTHORIZATION
Under the Nashua Charter, the Board of Aldermen serves as the City’s legislative authority, controlling appropriations and authorizing expenditures, while the Mayor functions as the executive who carries out those decisions and executes contracts on the City’s behalf. A real estate purchase is both a financial obligation and a binding contract, and therefore requires prior authorization by the Board before execution.
By signing the Purchase and Sale Agreement for 14 Mulberry Street on March 28, 2026 before the Board had approved the acquisition, the Mayor reversed this required order of authority, effectively committing the City to a transaction before legislative review and approval had occurred. This raises serious concerns about compliance with the Charter and the proper separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches of City government.
The Board is now being asked to ratify a transaction that was already contractually executed, without its knowledge or approval, by the Mayor. The Board deserves to consider this procedural irregularity as part of its deliberations, and the public deserves an opportunity to comment on it at a properly noticed hearing.
V. THE PLANNING BOARD’S 3-2 VOTE AGAINST PURCHASE REQUIRES SERIOUS CONSIDERATION
On April 14, 2026, the Nashua Planning Board voted 3-2 against this purchase, explicitly citing the City’s failure to conduct adequate due diligence and fiscal oversight. This is not a routine procedural concern; it is a formal finding by an appointed advisory body that the City is moving too fast without sufficient scrutiny.
The HUD lien failure described above is a concrete example of exactly the kind of due diligence gap the Planning Board identified. The Board of Aldermen should treat the Planning Board’s dissenting vote as a signal that further review is warranted, not as an obstacle to be overridden at a special meeting with no public comment.
VI. DUE PROCESS REQUIRES FULL DISCLOSURE BEFORE A BINDING VOTE
Under RSA 91-A, all actions of public bodies must be taken with transparency and with adequate opportunity for public participation. Under established constitutional due process principles, a public hearing is only meaningful if the public has access to complete and accurate information about the matter being decided.
A vote taken on April 22, 2026, without disclosure of the HUD lien failure and its financial implications, along with the public questions and answers, would be a vote taken on an incomplete record. Members of the Board who vote in favor of this purchase without that information cannot be said to have exercised the informed legislative judgment that the Charter and RSA 91-A require of them.
VII. REQUESTED ACTION
I respectfully request that the Board of Aldermen take the following actions:
7. Postpone the April 22, 2026, vote on Resolutions R-26-019 and R-26-020 until a new public hearing has been held at which all material facts are disclosed.
8. Schedule a new public hearing on both R-26-019 and R-26-020 at which the Board and public are fully informed of: (a) the failure to record the required HUD lien on 14 Mulberry Street; (b) the potential $75,000 federal recapture liability; (c) the Mayor’s execution of the Purchase and Sale Agreement prior to Board authorization; and (d) any other compliance matters associated with the property.
9. Direct the City Attorney to provide a written legal opinion to the full Board prior to any vote on: (a) whether the City faces HUD recapture liability in connection with this transaction; (b) whether the Mayor’s execution of the Purchase and Sale Agreement prior to Board approval was consistent with the Charter; and (c) what steps, if any, the City must take to satisfy its federal grant obligations before closing.
10. Direct the City Solicitor to notify HUD of the lien filing failure and the pending sale, and to seek guidance from HUD on the City’s recapture obligations prior to the April 30, 2026, closing date.
I am a Nashua resident and taxpayer and a transparency advocate. My sole interest in bringing this matter forward is to ensure that the Board has complete information before committing the City and its taxpayers, to a transaction with unresolved federal compliance obligations. I am available to provide additional documentation and to answer any questions.
Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.
Respectfully submitted,
/s/Laurie Ortolano
Laurie Ortolano
Nashua, New Hampshire
cc: City Clerk, City of Nashua
City Solicitor/Corporation Counsel
Mayor James Donchess
Attachments:
1. Screenshot – Hillsborough County Registry of Deeds confirming absence of HUD lien on 14 Mulberry Street (captured April 16, 2026)
2. September 24, 2024, Healthy Home Lead Abatement Certificate filed with the HC Registry of Deeds
3. Purchase and Sales Agreement – 14 Mulberry Street, signed by Mayor Donchess, March 28, 2026
