Nashua citizens will be voting to choose two Public Works Commissioners on November 2. Three out of the four candidates have no conflict of interest holding the office. Candidate Paul Shea has a clear conflict of interest holding that office.
Mr. Shea is the executive director of Great American Downtown. The city of Nashua contributes a substantial amount of money to his organization. The organization would likely not survive without city funding. Mr. Shea acknowledges his conflict of interest and promises not to vote for anything related to downtown. That prevents him from voting on many issues such as downtown sidewalks, barriers, snow removal, and any other downtown City plans.
Furthermore, Mr. Shea has substantial interaction in directing public works employees performing decorating duties for all downtown events. This could create a difficult situation since the Board of Public Works (BPW) is an employer board responsible for personnel matters. As such, any misunderstood employer/employee interaction could result in a grievance.
We want to thank Kelly Friedland for this Op-Ed. If you have an Op-Ed or LTE
you would like us to consider, please submit it to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.
An additional conflict is that the Mayor is the chair of the BPW. Since Mr. Shea’s livelihood and organization’s future relies heavily on taxpayers’ money, it is likely that he will never stand up to the Mayor. The commissioners answer to Nashua citizens, not the Mayor. The BPW does not need a rubber stamp. It is amazing the city’s legal department has not pointed out this conflict of interest.
Nashua voters should reject Mr. Shea’s candidacy and vote for two of the other three candidates who have no conflict of interest.