City treasurer outlines plan to activate Trustees of Trust Funds; residents raise questions about Art Center account

Dawn Enright, the City of Nashua treasurer and tax collector, told the Board of Aldermen on Jan. 14 that she will move to activate a Trustees of Trust Funds and Capital Reserves board under RSA 31 and RSA 34 and that Mayor Jim Donchess will present two citizen appointees for the panel.

Nut graf: Enright said the trustees — which state law contemplates as a 3–5 member body — would create a single investment policy, solicit a single financial adviser by RFP, and meet quarterly to review performance. Alderpeople asked whether the change would alter existing boards’ authority and whether the city’s filing practices with the New Hampshire Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Division of Revenue Administration (DRA) had been accurate; several public commenters later urged correction of an Art Center account they said had been set up incorrectly and not earning interest.

Enright said the trustees would be “purely oversight of the investments” and would not replace agents of expenditure such as existing boards that direct spending from individual trusts. She said the trustees would include the board president, the mayor, the treasurer and two citizens to be appointed at a February meeting, and that the trustees would be required by RSA to approve and file an investment policy annually.

Mayor Jim Donchess framed the proposal as bringing the city “more in line with the way the language is in the statutes, the charter, and the ordinance,” and said the trustees would allow the city to centralize investment oversight while preserving each board’s ability to set portfolio percentages for its funds. Donchess also cited city estimates that expanded outdoor dining produced substantial economic activity in 2024 (discussed elsewhere on the agenda).

Aldermen pressed Enright on several points. Alderman Kebo asked for periodic status updates on implementation; Enright agreed to provide them. Alderman Jetty asked whether the change was intended to cure past noncompliance; Enright said DOJ had historically approved the city’s annual MS-9 and MS-10 filings but that the proposed structure aligns the city’s practice more closely with statutory language. Alderman O’Brien, who serves on the BPW pension board, asked whether the pension or other trustee boards would be terminated; Enright said they would not — the trustees would centralize investment oversight and invite existing board members to trustee investment-review meetings.

During public comment later in the meeting, several residents said the city’s prior handling of trust accounts had defects. Laura Calhoun told aldermen she believed the Art Center fund was set up as a general-fund miscellaneous revenue account in November 2023, contrary to RSA provisions prohibiting intermingling trust funds with other city monies; she asked that the roughly $70,000 be transferred promptly so it could earn interest. Lori Ortolano said she had spent extended time trying to obtain MS-9 and MS-10 records and that the city’s responses to right‑to‑know requests had been slow, and she questioned whether filings had correctly represented the existence of a trustees committee. Enright said MS-9 and MS-10 filings are audited by the DOJ and that the city engages with the DOJ on questions each year.

Enright described the mechanics she proposes: the trustees would draft an investment policy (segmented by type of trust: library, cemetery, pension, capital reserves), then run a purchasing RFP to select a single adviser in order to reduce fees while attempting to sustain or increase returns. She said trustees would have authority under RSA to engage brokers or investment managers and to charge trustee-related expenses to trust funds, but they would not be authorized to disallow expenditures directed by individual fund agents. Enright said the trustees would meet at least quarterly and that the trustees’ initial membership would be the president of the Board of Aldermen (Lori Wilshire), the mayor (Jim Donchess), the treasurer (Dawn Enright) and two citizen appointees.

Ending: Enright asked aldermen for questions and said the mayor would present two appointees for aldermanic approval; later in the meeting the mayor’s packet included reappointments and nominations, and the board accepted and referred many mayoral appointments to the Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee for vetting.

Votes or formal actions recorded in the transcript related to this topic included the mayor’s submission of appointees and the board’s acceptance of mayoral appointments for referral to committee (see Votes at a glance).