Portsmouth City Council — What's on the Table

The Public Art Review Committee (PARC) asks the Council to support releasing up to $3,000 from the Public Art Trust Fund to repair and reinforce the riverfront sculpture in Bohenko Park, which PARC says the original installation wasn't built to withstand the wind off the river. PARC approved the request on January 28, 2026.

PARC's own meeting minutes describe a $2,700 quote to replace the cables the fish hang from. The release is conditioned on approval by the Trustees of the Trust Fund.

Staff recommend raising on-street and lot rates from $2/hr for the first three hours and $5/hr after, to $3/hr for the first three hours and $6/hr after. The Parking Division frames this as keeping on-street parking priced above the garages so it doesn't draw demand away from them. Garage rates were already set to rise for FY27 (Hanover $2→$3, Foundry $1→$2) effective July 1, 2026.

Resident Parking Program rates ($1.25 first three hours, $2.25 after) would not change. The Parking Division projects additional revenue from the change based on its own usage modeling (assuming a modest shift from on-street to garage parking and otherwise flat traffic); that projection is a staff estimate, not an audited figure.

A two-year employment agreement for Deputy Chief of Police Michael Maloney. Per the labor negotiator's memo, terms include a $170,000 initial annual salary, a July 1, 2027 cost-of-living adjustment tied to the City's standard rolling 10-year CPI-U average (capped between 2.0% and 5.0%), benefits consistent with the PPMA or Police Ranking Officers' contracts, and a new requirement that he keep a residence within 15 miles of Portsmouth. The memo states both Maloney and the Police Commission have signed off.

Lease Amendment 5 would extend the Players Ring's lease of the former Heritage Museum (99–105 Marcy Street) from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027. The City says a long-term lease keeps stalling because the building is slated to be relocated under Phase 1A of the Prescott Park Master Plan, making a multi-year capital-improvement schedule hard to pin down.

Under the lease, the Players Ring's "rent" is the capital improvement work it performs, valued at what it would otherwise owe in property taxes. This extension names a storm-window conservation project (~$40,000 total, $30,000 of it from a Moose Plate grant) as the qualifying improvement, with any excess credited toward future obligations.

A narrow refresh of City Council Policy 2009-04 ahead of vending season. The change deletes outdated language and cuts the number of approved downtown cart-vending locations from seven to three, with staff identifying which three each season and posting them on the City Clerk's webpage. Staff note the Health Department reports very few food-cart vendors, and that a broader ordinance rewrite — flagged by the Governance Committee in 2025 — is still to come.

The City describes this as housekeeping. The actual fee increases — license charges from $.05 to $.10 per square foot, encumbrance permits from $50 to $150, and a new $300 extension fee — were already adopted through the FY27 Fee Schedule resolution on June 8, 2026. This ordinance amendment simply adds a reference to that adoption process and, if passed, would make the older Policy 2018-02 obsolete and subject to repeal.

The Council voted in July 2025 to support the Nebi sculpture for Bohenko Park. The artist contract — with Anthony Alemany — was executed May 20, 2026. The Trustees are seeking clear authority to release staged payments of $30,000, $20,000, and $7,500 as the project proceeds, at the City Manager's direction. (PARC minutes elsewhere in the packet note $64,000 raised toward the broader Bohenko Gateway Park work, including a $10,000 Sawtelle Foundation grant.)

Bundled for a single vote: a Pure Barre Portsmouth community event request, the Active City Encumbrances Report, and a request for the 31st Portsmouth Halloween Parade. Any councilor may pull an item out for separate discussion.

Resident Tyler Garzo (Walk Portsmouth) asks whether DPW is required to follow the City's 2013 Complete Streets policy and 2017 design guidelines. His May 12 letter quotes the City's traffic engineer at an April PTS meeting calling the 2017 document "guidelines, not requirements," and cites the Van Buren Avenue design under Elwyn Park Sidewalks & Traffic Calming, which used a 28-foot roadway rather than the 20-foot neighborhood-slow-street width, raising what he calls ADA questions.

Written communications to the Council, typically accepted and placed on file. The packet's written-communication attachments include the Garzo letter, the two event requests, and Commissioner Lieberman's resignation letter (see Item 14B).

Mayor McEachern's item. Marked on the agenda as a verbal report with no attachment, so no supporting detail is available in the packet.

Gary Dozier is proposed to fill the Police Commission seat being vacated by Commissioner Jay Lieberman, serving until the November 2027 municipal election. Under City Charter Amendment E (amended 2019 to match state law), the Council selects the candidate to fill a commission vacancy.

Karyn DeNicola to the Cemetery Committee; Jim Wilson moved from alternate to regular member of the Cable & Broadband Internet Commission; and reappointments of Ash Chicooree and Jeff Abrams to that same commission.

From Councilors Cook, Tabor, and Bagley. Marked as a verbal report with no attachment; no detail is available in the packet.

A motion directing the Planning & Sustainability Department — working with the Housing Committee and Planning Board — to review accessory-dwelling-unit plans other communities have pre-approved, and to see whether Portsmouth could adopt three or four of them for use here. The aim, per Cook's memo, is to let homeowners with enough space build an ADU on a simple permit, without hiring an architect, when no variance or Historic District review is triggered.

The Energy Advisory Committee recommends a communications plan to help residents understand Portsmouth Community Power and their ability to switch between it and Eversource without penalty. The plan's own background section notes that in three of the seven rate periods since 2023 — including the current one — the Community Power rate was higher than the Eversource default, while citing non-rate benefits like renewable options and customer choice. The plan calls for heavy messaging around the July and January rate-change announcements.

An Audit Committee recommendation to extend the contract with CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA) for an additional three years. The attached CLA quote lists all-inclusive fixed fees of $119,000 (FY26), $123,000 (FY27), and $127,000 (FY28), with option years at $132,000, $137,000, and $142,000 — an average annual increase the firm pegs at about 3.85% over nine years. The agenda doesn't specify which three fiscal years the "additional three years" covers; the figures above are the firm's quote, not a settled contract amount.

Routine acceptance of the action sheet and minutes from the June 4, 2026 PTS meeting. That action sheet's "Action Items for City Council" line reads "None." The June 4 agenda included a request to re-examine the Neighborhood Slow Street guidelines, which the committee voted to hold until its next meeting.

17A — FY28–32 Capital Improvement Plan: verbal update on the upcoming submission process (no attachment).

17B — Pease Development Authority: verbal update on the June 16 board meeting (no attachment).

17C — Artist Live/Work Studio Study: a written report back on whether the study qualifies for Below Market Rate Housing Trust Funds. The report is attached; the broader study was funded by a $65,000 trust-fund release the Council took up earlier this year.

A proclamation for American Postal Service Day; recognition of Public Information Officer Stephanie Seacord; the Portsmouth High School Girls Tennis (NHIAA Division II) and Girls Lacrosse (Division I) state champions; and a thank-you to Wilcox Industries and Key Auto Group for the 250th Anniversary Independence Day Celebration.