MANCHESTER, NH – Near the end of Tuesday’s Manchester Board of Mayor and Aldermen (BMA) meeting, two of Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais’ key initiatives – to dissolve the Department of Housing Stability and sell off surplus property – received approval.
The first of those initiatives was the dissolution of the city’s Department of Housing Stability, with Ruais seeking to transform the director position of that department into the Director of Homelessness Initiatives. That director position, and the Director of Homelessness Initiatives, had been held by Adrienne Beloin before she recently resigned from her post.
Ruais believed the best place for the homelessness initiatives position would be within the mayor’s office rather than in the Fire Department or Health Department as it had been in the past. Ruais added that this discussion was necessary since the funds for the original position had been provided by the American Rescue Plan Act and those funds are set to expire in the near future.
This move received voices of concern from several members of the board. Ward 5 Alderman Anthony Sapienza voiced worries that moving the position into the mayor’s office would make it political rather than administrative, with new directors coming and leaving with every new mayor rather than based on their performance. Alderman At-Large Dan O’Neil also was concerned over the advertisement for Beloin’s replacement and whether the change in title could impact prospective applicants.
A voice vote for the item was not unanimous, with Sapienza, Christine Fajardo (Ward 4) and Pat Long (Ward 3) appearing to voice their opposition. Long stated that his opposition stemmed from a motion to suspend the rules and advance to the third reading of the proposal, allowing it to circumvent the committee process.
The other initiative moved forward a proposal by the mayor to sell several surplus properties for development of housing, with all proceeds after taxes and other realtor’s fees going into the city’s affordable housing trust.
As with the first proposal, BMA Chair Joseph Kelly Levasseur made a motion to suspend the board’s rules and place this proposal directly into its third reading, allowing it to be finalized on Tuesday. Sapienza voiced his opposition here as well, stating that the rules were in place for a reason. Levasseur replied that in this situation, expediency would provide additional time for the properties to be marketed to potential buyers, with a limited window before the market cools as the weather gets colder later this year.