Fiduciary Responsibility – An Interview with Gardner Mayor Michael Nicholson – June 2024

Poegel: Now in the past you’ve said the city has to set an example. What city buildings have you targeted to do something about, let’s say in the last few years?

Nicholson: I mean, you look at Prospect Street School. We sold that so that that could be developed so we don’t have to worry about that falling into disrepair because now someone else is taking a vested interest in it. We don’t have to worry about Helen Mae Sauter, we’re working on right now to see if we can fix that up and get something happening there so that building doesn’t fall into disrepair. Elm Street School is moving forward with different, you know, entities being in there. We have a superintendent’s office and GALT and the Boys and Girls Club. Stuart and Nadeau Street Factory at 73 Stuart Street. The City Council passed the money order to get that fully demolished so that we can clean that up and it’s already been put up for surplus by the City Council so we can sell that soon. And then of course Waterford Street School where we’re looking at constructing our new community center. It’s been a little bit longer of a process than we had hoped, but as things come up you deal with them as they, you know, these problems or these issues or concerns or, you know, temporary roadblocks arise and you adopt, adapt, and, you know, improve for the better as a result of it and you just got to continue pushing forward.

Poegel: A part of looking out for the city and doing this fiduciary responsibility the way it’s supposed to be done is sometimes you propose things and you know it’s a good idea but you get criticized for it at the time. One of those things was Park Street Park. People aren’t criticizing you for that anymore are they?

Nicholson: No, a lot of people are quite in favor of it now and actually once you can actually see it, it becomes a tangible item that people are, you know, really excited about and can actually see the benefit of what’s happening. So it’s something that, you know, sometimes there’s some growing pain but you have to just get to where you need to be and put as much information out there so people can understand as much as possible and then see the final product in the end.

Poegel: Now right now you’re getting criticized for Maki Park which is, of course, they’ve started construction on it. Can you explain to the public how fixing up that land for a good purpose not only benefits Gardner but also protects the City of Gardner?

Nicholson: Absolutely and I will say too for every person who, you know, may criticize that project or call or email or mainly Facebook posts, we probably had two for every one also say that it was a good idea and they’re actually looking forward to seeing it in the city. When we have funding like this to spruce up some areas and make areas that were unusable before which, you know, the park at the former Maki lot was completely unusable because the grade was too steep so we didn’t comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act so therefore it could not be used for anything. This makes it so that it is actually a usable space. It’s not a buildable lot. It was too small for that so there’s nothing really else we could do other than leave it so that it was a small grassy hill that no one could ever use or actually make it some functional space in the downtown.

Poegel: And then there’s the Waterford Street School. Not used as a school because of issues and insufficient capacity but in your view too good to let it go the way of the Greenwood indoor pool building. Mayor Nicholson, is it worth all the flack?

Nicholson: It is. The product that’s going to be in there I think is probably one of the best things that we’re going to see in the city for quite some time. There’s, you know, it increases capacity for so many important groups that we have in the city. Growing Places is already active and in there right now with their processing center, putting the senior center all in a one-floor building so that there’s no worries about stairs or how slow the elevator is going or the elevator maintenance that needs to happen. The other programs that are going into the site, it really just increases what these nonprofit and social services programs are able to do in our community and get these resources out to the community in a better way.

Poegel: Now, GAAMHA had a license and I understand they got a bit too enthusiastic and really fixed up the area they licensed. Why did that cause a problem?

Nicholson: You know, there’s just certain things that you have to go through a process and if the process, you know, misses a step or people get a little too eager and just jump forward, things have to be, you know, adapted and corrected and that’s exactly what we did. We found out that there was a problem that happened in the way that certain, you know, bills were getting paid to certain people and we immediately, you know, corrected it. We had a meeting with city staff that were involved in these type of processes. We contacted the Attorney General’s office and the Inspector General’s office and said, you know, this is what the situation we’ve just been made aware of. How do we rectify it? What do we need to do? And is there any other thing besides those things we have to think about moving forward in the future so we don’t repeat these things? And we just followed exactly what they said. They said this isn’t really something that’s uncommon to see in certain projects because, you know, these processes are complicated in some cases, but so long as we work to correct it, then we would be all set and that’s exactly what we did. We followed the playbook to the T that they gave to us and it’s all been corrected and things are moving forward. There’s construction happening back in the building now as we speak.

Poegel: Now, just so people understand it, if you or I hire a contractor, let’s say for a private project, we can pay X amount, but when the city does it or if it’s a city building, it has to be at a prevailing wage. Can you give some people an idea of the differences involved dollar-wise?

Nicholson: Yeah, so prevailing wage is actually set by statute. The Department of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance does a survey of the trades across the state and set a rate based off of the results of that survey that says this is the rate for plumbing and this is the rate for carpentry and this is the rate for this trade and that trade and we have to pay those specific rates. We can’t pay, you know, a negotiated price. That’s what the state says we have to pay with those, but when you’re talking about the average across different municipalities, you know, you’re going to be paying a lot more in Boston what you normally would pay in Gardner and basically what it did is it turned a $150,000 bill into a $550,000 bill because of those changes that are there. But again, the corrections was made, everything’s all set now and they’ve already been back in the building working.

Publisher’s Note: The City of Gardner worked in consultation with the Attorney General’s office to make sure Waterford was handled properly with the least risk and cost to the City of Gardner while at the same time following the law. Attached pdf is a communication from Gardner City Solicitor John Flick confirming some facts in the matter, CLICK HERE.

Poegel: Now let’s take the other side of the coin. Let’s take somebody who doesn’t care about doing the right thing in some mystical city somewhere. If you hadn’t acted in the appropriate manner like you did, if your department heads hadn’t acted properly, isn’t it true that the city of Gardner could have been out a lot more money from any of a number of issues that could have arisen?

Nicholson: Oh, absolutely. I mean the audits that we get every year that we have to do with an outside firm that would have flagged it for sure. The Inspector General’s Office has certain finding opportunities that they can do in such case like this. There are different other financial implications it could have for the city in the long run, but that’s why, you know, we reached out to the people to say how do we correct this and what’s the process? And that’s exactly what we followed to a T. And, you know, people make mistakes. No one’s perfect, everyone’s human. The agencies understand that, we understand that, and it’s something that, you know, so long as the problem gets corrected and everything gets back on track, it may, you know, push it behind schedule just a little bit, but it also gets us to where we need to be and it puts us in a stronger spot moving forward.

Poegel: Well, there is a silver lining and that is that people were really enthusiastic about that community center and really got into it.

Nicholson: Exactly, and there’s still that sense of passion in terms of that project because, again, it really, the benefits to the community as a whole in terms of getting these new services out into the public outweigh, you know, any of the headaches that we’re going through right now.

Poegel: Now, once you discovered the issue and you knew what had to be done, do you appreciate the good character of the members of the Gardner City Council and their decision to help you do the right thing and approve the funding?

Nicholson: I do, I do. It’s one of the things that when the City Council was, you know, voting to approve the funding on it, they understood the issue and, again, when you get the roadblocks from the agencies who are in charge of overseeing, you know, the enforcement of these measures, you just follow that map and that’s exactly what the council did, just like we did in the administration.

Poegel: So why do you think there’s people out there that are criticizing you for exercising your fiduciary responsibility, protecting the taxpayers of Gardner and protecting the residents as a whole? where is the disconnect?

Nicholson: You know, Werner, I honestly just think it’s a lot of misinformation that other people try to throw out there and people just not looking at things for themselves. I think if you actually did the research and looked into everything that, you know, happened and all the information that’s already been put out there, you’d understand the process that was followed and actually see what’s been done. But I think a lot of people just don’t do the research and rely too much on what they see on social media for their information.

Poegel: Now people are very excited about the coming Waterford Community Center. What still needs to be done at Waterford in the coming months and do you have any idea of when you can anticipate the Community Center being fully open to the public?

Nicholson: My guess would probably be next fall for an opening date of some type of big measure. There’s definitely going to be openings before, but in terms of the full building being occupied in some way, shape, or form, I’m guessing next fall. And the reason being for that is the legislature is still, you know, progressing on the bill that would allow us to create and enter into those leases. Our City Hall offices are working at the same time in tandem of that process on getting the different requirements together for those leases so that we can, you know, bid things the right way or enter into those new leases the right way and then be able to move forward there. There is still some construction that needs to get done. It was, you know, discontinued as a school for a reason. Those issues are currently being corrected and there’s some work that needs to be done still too. You’ll start seeing work being done on the new entrance doors probably within the next week or two. There’s new bathrooms that need to be replaced because the bathrooms right now aren’t ADA compliant as well. So there’s some other jobs that need to be done. Again, Growing Places is already in there. We’ll probably see them fully operational by September. That’s a government September, so it may be sooner, but just to be conservative out that way. And we’ll see a lot of different openings throughout the year, but my guess is by next fall we should have most of the building filled.

Poegel: Do you anticipate any more challenges arriving at your door in the next couple of months?

Nicholson: You know, Werner, if there weren’t challenges at the door, it wouldn’t be a mayor’s office. There are things that come up a little bit here and there, but that doesn’t mean we can’t, you know, work through these problems. There’s not, you know, these challenges that come up, yeah, they can be frustrating at times, but you get a better product at the end of it. And that’s exactly what we anticipate to happen, not just with this project, but any project we go forward. You get more public input, you get a better understanding of the full impact of the project itself, and you plan for those. And you adapt if you need to, and that’s how you get the job done.

Poegel: How do you feel about the readiness of your team to meet the challenges that come up?

Nicholson: I’m very, you know, I’m very optimistic on that. Everything that I’ve seen from my team, from the department heads down to everyone underneath them, are always willing to do what’s in the best interest of the city, and that’s exactly what we have here in Gardner. And I’ve got no doubt as these challenges arise in any capacity in the future, that the team will do what they’ve done before and just get the job done. I always think of that phrase from Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll, where she says, you know, local government is the get stuff done branch of government. And that’s exactly what we have here in Gardner, is a team that’s ready to step up to the plate and just get the job done when it needs to be done.

Poegel: Now, speaking of things, you got a little surprise about a month or so ago, found out that the prospect of horse racing in Gardner might come about again. Now we hear that Bay State Racing LLC had been courting GAAMHA for months for the purpose of purchasing the property, perhaps at 827 Green Street. GAAMHA recently signed a contingent purchase agreement, and then it was brought to you because the city of Gardner would have to have a host agreement and all that. So, so how do you feel about that? It got thrust back in your lap again, and how do you feel about your responsibility? Because it could mean some money for Gardner.

Nicholson: It does, and I am in favor of the project, and I would urge the city council to vote to approve the aspects before them of the project, both in approving me to sign into the host community agreement and to allow racing to occur on this parcel. And there’s a couple reasons why, and I’m going to get into those, because at first I’ll tell you I was very skeptical. But talking with officials at the state, talking with, you know, the city’s law department, there are so many protections in place, both for the city, for the animals on the site, and for those who are involved, that the benefits that are associated with this far, far, far exceed any of the potential, you know, downsides, because the downsides really are all thought of and covered for. The horses are protected under both Gaming Commission regulations, Massachusetts state law, Massachusetts gives both the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Animal Cruelty and the American Society of the Prevention of Animal Cruelty jurisdiction to go and inspect the site at any time. The Gaming Commission has to inspect it annually. The FTC, under federal law, the Federal Trade Commission, has to go and inspect the location periodically. There are so many protections for these horses. Quite frankly, they’re, you know, better regulated than people in some cases. Those are all taken care of. The conservation concerns, any manure on the site has to be kept on a concrete slab and truck off on a certain interval basis, where right now it’s not because it’s not a commercial. The type of farm it is right now, the manure is just stored on site, so that allows for additional protection and alleviates any concerns of any potential pollution at the site. So you’re taking now care of the animal concerns, you’re taking care of any pollutant concerns and conservation concerns. The Conservation Commission will still have to review everything there in terms of buffer zones and surface water protection zones and all the regulations that they already have to deal with, so it will have to have regular jurisdiction by the Conservation Commission. The Planning Board will have final site plan approval, so the layout of the track will all be governed by the city and reviewed in that manner. The financial benefits to the city of at least $500,000 a year for the next at least 20 years. Gardner needs to just find ways to grow our revenue, and this is something I’ve been saying for months now, is that we know there’s expenses that are going to be increasing. We know our school bus contract is going to do nothing but go up. We know that our labor costs go up. We know that our capital costs go up and up and our capital improvement list gets longer and longer because we just haven’t caught up to it. Same thing with the roads that we need to pave. Yes, it’s great we’ve paved over a quarter of all the roads in the city, but that doesn’t mean the other roads don’t need to be taken care of too, but we don’t get to all of that if we keep relying solely on property taxes as our main source of revenue. You can only take so much water out of a stone, and at some point in time we need to find another way to pay for what we need to do, and that I think is the benefit from this project like this. This is a private sale. This is nothing the city went out and sought. This is nothing that we even continued with after the conversations were done last year, because again, if you remember last year, it wasn’t this project that prompted all the things last year. It was us seeing what other commercial enterprises we could bring to Gardner. Home Depot was interested. There was a hotel that was interested. There were some other restaurants that were interested, and then Bay State Racing was interested, and once they were there, they just continued to be persistent and find another place in Gardner once the parcel that we were looking at was found out to be protected. All of the concerns that I could have ever had with the property have been alleviated, and the monetary benefit is there, and it helps move the city in the right direction.

Poegel: Now you also should tell everybody about the great lengths that the City of Gardner went to as far as that host community agreement. You know, while it has to be approved by the City Council, you have the assistant solicitor hook up – That’s a long agreement.

Nicholson: Oh yeah, there’s info on everything. Traffic concerns, pollutant concerns, animal care concerns. If you can think of it, it’s probably something in that document. It’s over 120 pages, you know, addresses those and fixes those up and gets things to where they need to be, and I’m very proud of the work that, you know, Vincent Pusateri did as an assistant city solicitor, and it just, again, all the questions get answered in that document. Proposed Host Agreement on PDF, CLICK HERE. —- 187 pages of information on proposed Racetrack from City Council packet of 6-17-24

Poegel: Now I have a question for you because I think there’s something that you missed mentioning, and that is when you have an attraction in a city, aren’t there other benefits? I mean, don’t they go to other parts of the city and maybe spend money over here, or maybe they stay the night at a lodging facility, and doesn’t the City of Gardner get a share of those through some of the tax revenues?

Nicholson: Yeah, well, exactly. If someone’s in Gardner for an event like this, they stay in Gardner, and there’s things that, you know, people will consistently do. You know, if they come for a race, they’re gonna have to eat somewhere. If they’re coming from a long way away, they’re gonna have to stay somewhere, and these are all financial benefits that the city has through the meals tax, through the hotels tax, but also just in getting our businesses more support. If, you know, everyone who goes from the racetrack goes downtown or around the city to eat, that benefits all of our restaurants, that benefits all of our local businesses if they decide to stop somewhere before or after the race. There’s long-term benefits, and you can’t look at anything in a silo. Everything has to be in the big picture, and it’s all there.

Poegel: So tell people what the process is from here. I understand that City Councilor David Thibeault-Munoz objected, so it’s going to be taken up in July?

Nicholson: Yes, so the July 1st meeting, what an objection means is under the city charter, any councilor can object to any item, and any item can be objected at most one time if that item requires one single vote for it to pass. So an ordinance couldn’t be objected to, but a vote that only requires one vote could absolutely be objected to, and what that means is it forces more time by automatically staying the item and moving it to the next meeting. So what will happen is the council at their meeting on July 1, if they choose to, will vote to send it to a public hearing. That’s the process that’s next. State law requires that a public hearing must be held on the project. In hearing what was presented at the last meeting on Monday, the council looks like they’re going to be having an informal meeting before the hearing so that information can be presented, and then questions asked on the project at the public hearing and other comments accepted at that time, and then sometime after the hearing, whenever the council chooses to take it up, the council would then vote to either allow racing to happen or not on the site. Now I want to emphasize that this is not a vote to, you know, to allow gambling. This is not a vote to allow horses to be stored there. This is solely a vote to allow racing to take place on this specific parcel. Everything else falls under the Gaming Commission of the Commonwealth that would, after the council votes, if they choose to pass it, the Gaming Commission would have to come out and conduct their own public hearing within the City of Gardner’s limits, and then they decide whether or not to grant an annual license to the applicant as to whether or not they can operate a full-fledged horse racing track in Gardner. I emphasize the fact that the Gaming Commission’s license is an annual license because that means every single year the Gaming Commission would have to come out to Gardner and find a way to hold another public hearing, and then after each public hearing every year, give them back that annual license every year. So this is something that we have a, you know, oversight over every 12 months. If there’s any concern or opposition to the track, those concerns or opposition can be voiced every year before the Gaming Commission, and there’s a lot of things that can be done to help, you know, protect the City that way. There’s also an Oversight Commission that’s put in place that the City gets a seat in the Oversight Commission. So those are the different protections that the City has, and there’s different ways to make sure that the proponent and the business owner actually stays accountable to the City through all of those protective measures, too.

Poegel: Mayor Nicholson, you’ve set an example of that doing the right thing is always the right thing. Exercising your fiduciary responsibility to really check things out and make sure things are in the best interest of the City. So what advice would you have for today’s young people as they take on difficult decisions in their lives?

Nicholson: You know, it’s just trust your gut. If something doesn’t feel right, there’s probably a reason why, and you probably just need to do a little more digging or research into it. But like you said, the best thing you could always have is just to do what you feel is right in the moment, and if you get corrected later on, that just means that, you know, you have to admit you made a mistake sometime. But again, no one’s perfect, and everyone’s going to make mistakes here or there, but so long as you can, you know, justify that what you did you felt was the right decision to make, then that’s what you need to do.

Poegel: Are there any projects coming down the pike that you’d like to talk about?

Nicholson: You know, I think they’re paving the Uptown Rotary today, so that’s moving forward as we speak. You know, work is continuing on expanding the bike trail, so hopefully we’ll be able to get that bridge sometime soon from MassDOT off of the Traffic Improvement Program list. There’s a lot that’s happening in Gardner right now, and so just keep an eye out over the summer and see if there’s any changes that you notice.

Poegel: Well, thank you very much for your time today. I really appreciate it.

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