MANCHESTER, N.H. – Tuesday’s Manchester Board of Mayor and Aldermen (BMA) meeting finished with a bang following a series of votes during the meeting’s new business section.
The board first considered a return to meeting in City Hall, a move for city boards that has been stymied by technical difficulties in the past and by Barbara Shaw (Ward 9) contracting COVID-19 earlier this month, the third member of the board to get COVID-19 following Jim Roy (Ward 4) and Keith Hirschmann (Ward 12).
Despite recent CDC guidance indicating that it is now safe for vaccinated individuals to safely be indoors in public places without a mask, Manchester Health Director Anna Thomas referred to guidance from New Hampshire State Epidemiologist Dr. Benjamin Chan recommending wearing masks indoors as an extra level of protection, even for those who are vaccinated.
However, Thomas added that it would be acceptable for anyone socially distanced to not have to wear a mask when at City Hall.
The proposed in-person meeting, with members of the board participating remotely if they so choose, was deadlocked at a 6-6 vote. Kevin Cavanaugh (Ward 1), Will Stewart (Ward 2), Pat Long (Ward 3), Anthony Sapienza (Ward 5), Ross Terrio (Ward 7) and Bill Barry (Ward 10) voted in favor of the return, which would take place on June 1. Voting in opposition was Roy, Shaw, Hirschmann, Sebastian Sharonov (Ward 6), Normand Gamache (Ward 11) and Dan O’Neill (At-Large). Joseph Kelly Levasseur (At-Large) abstained.
Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig broke the tie in favor of the motion to return.
After this vote, Sharonov made a motion to remove the mask mandate within city buildings. This resolution failed 9-3, with only Sharonov, Levasseur and Hirschmann voting in favor, but it spurred reconsideration of the return to in-person meetings. Levasseur said that he would not be in favor of in-person meetings if masks were required and Sapienza said that he would not be in favor of in-person meetings if masks were NOT required.
The vote to reconsider failed 7-5. Roy, Sapienza, Sharonov, Hirschmann and Levasseur voted to reconsider and Cavanaugh, Stewart, Long, Sapienza, Shaw, Barry and Gamache voted against reconsideration.
Next, a vote to change July’s meeting date from July 6 to July 20 also failed 7-5. This vote was identical to the reconsideration vote with the exception of Sapienza (now voting no) and Terrio (now voting yes). Supporters of the proposal felt that postponing the meeting would give time to see further decreased COVID-19 rates, making it safer for in-person meetings, but Sapienza said that people already had scheduled plans for that week and it was unfair to force a change of plans with such short notice.
After this, Long then responded to a request from the Queen City Pride Festival asking for a waiver of their $300 permit fee.
Manchester City Clerk Matt Normand said that it was common for non-profits located in Manchester to received a waiver of the fee, but that the Queen City Pride Festival now had an address in Pembroke.
Supporters of the measure felt that it was appropriate to help the group while opponents felt that it was inappropriate to make arbitrary exceptions to the rule, particularly given the Pembroke address.
The motion to waive the fee failed 6-5. Cavanaugh, Long, Levasseur, Barry and Gamache voted for it, and Roy, Sapienza, Sharonov, Terrio, Shaw and Hirschmann voted against it. However, it appeared that Stewart tried to vote for it and could not due to technical difficulties.
Cavanaugh asked someone in the majority to reconsider the motion out of courtesy to Stewart, who managed to return to the meeting. The reconsideration was unanimous, but now Hirschmann found himself locked out, leading Sapienza to ask for a reconsideration of the reconsideration. At this point, Craig stepped in and said that the vote could be taken by phone poll the next day.