While the primary focus for the Board of Mayor and Alderman during the month of June 2026 was finalizing budgets for Fiscal Year 2027, which starts on July 1. However, there were other items that were discussed during the board’s June 2nd meeting. Here is a recap.
Firefighters honored at beginning of meeting
Firefighters and emergency medics were honored by Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais at the beginning of the full board meeting for their actions on March 27. Five Engine 5 members learned en route that they needed to help with a cardiac arrest incident. They assisted the patient promptly with the help of a 9-1-1 interpreter, as the patient and their family spoke to the firefighters solely in Spanish. Additional support from American Medical Response was provided as the patient was successfully transported to Catholic Medical Center. The patient later had a successful outcome.
Lieutenant Carl Ludwig, Firefighter John Ameen, Firefighter John Berry, Firefighter Thomas Welch, Paramedic Dave Rideout and Emergency Medical Technician Kieran Remillard were referenced by the mayor in the citation he presented honoring the efforts to assist that Manchester resident.
Retirements
The board acknowledged the upcoming retirements of City Assessor Lee Ann Provencher and Manchester City Library Director Denise Van Zanten.
Provencher, who serves as the city’s commercial property assessor, informed the Aldermen of her retirement earlier this year. In 2022, she became the first-ever female member of the Manchester Board of Assessors since it was established in 1905.
Van Zanten has worked for the Manchester City Library for 28 years, leading the library since 2006. Before coming to Manchester, she worked at the South Country Library in Bellport, NY, for almost 11 years, with an interlude working as a library assistant at Ohio Northern University in the mid-1990s.
The two employees will officially retire on July 31, and August 1, respectively.
Elderly and Disabled Tax credit modification in the future
One recurring theme from opponents of any budget that required a tax cap override was the impact such a budget would have on elderly people living in homes with a fixed income. Given that point, there was a brief discussion during new business about the likelihood of revisiting tax credits for the city’s disabled and elderly populations. No details were solidified.
Recap on MSD audit results
Earlier in the evening in a special meeting of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen’s Committee on Accounts, Enrollment and Revenue Administration, Aldermen received an overview of the results from an independent audit of the Manchester School District.
Ruais made independent audits of the Manchester School District and several city departments as one of the key goals for the year in his inaugural address, and they supplemented annual audits of the school district that have a separate focus.
The details from the audit can be found below.