Board of Public Works

Meetings

• 4:00 p.m.
• City Hall Auditorium
  3rd Floor of City Hall
  229 Main Street
  Nashua, NH 03060

Agendas & Minutes

Agendas are available prior to the meetings. Minutes are available following approval.
View Most Recent Agendas and Minutes

Board Description

The board of public works shall be composed of the mayor and four members to be chosen by the qualified voters of the city at large, voting in their respective wards. [Ch. 59] The said board shall have cognizance, direction and full control (a) of the construction, alteration, cleaning, watering and repair of streets, highways, bridges and sidewalks; (b) of the location, construction, extension, care and maintenance of public sewers and drains; (c) of the planting and care of the shade and ornamental trees standing in the streets and public ways; (d) of the location and supervision of electric power, electric light, telephone, telegraph, and trolley wires; of electric light, telephone, trolley and telegraph poles, and of any gas and water pipes and other conduits, and erection, placing and removing thereof; (e) they shall have all the powers and authority now vested in the committee on highways and bridges and the committee on sewers and drains, as well as full power and authority to contract for and purchase all material and supplies used in the department created by this act [charter]; (f) they shall have the purchasing as well as the care and control of all teams and other property used in the department of public works established as aforesaid. And all powers and duties by law vested in surveyors of highways shall apply to said board of public works when inconsistent herewith.

The board of public works shall also have sole power to select and purchase land for the purpose of the public works department; and when the said board has secured by vote of the board of aldermen an adequate appropriation for the purchase of a specified lot at a specified price, then said board may purchase the same. The said board and the land and buildings committee of the board of aldermen, jointly shall direct the construction of all buildings erected, altered, remodeled or changed, for the use of the public works department; and no building shall be erected, altered, remodeled or changed, unless the plans thereof have previously been submitted to the board of public works and approved by it. Upon completion of such building or after the selection and purchase of land, the board of public works shall have full and complete care and control of the same; and whenever such land or buildings shall no longer be used for the purposes of the public works department the care and control thereof shall revert to the city. [Ch. 60] The board of public works for the City of Nashua, whenever in their judgment the public good requires, shall lay out and construct sidewalks, or repair sidewalks already constructed, about any city square in the thickly settled part of the city of Nashua. Such sidewalks shall be of uniform width on the same street, and, as far as possible, of uniform material.

The cost of such construction or repair may be assessed upon the abutters on such sidewalks in just proportions, not exceeding one half of the same, and all assessments so made shall constitute a lien upon the abutting premises and be collected in the same manner as taxes on real estate; and such sidewalks shall afterwards be maintained at the expense of the city. After such sidewalks are so constructed or repaired, they shall be maintained by the city under the supervision of the board of public works, who may give such instructions to the city engineer as they deem necessary for this purpose. [Ch. 60] The board of public works shall also have jurisdiction, subject to the laws of the state, and to such laws and regulations in the premises, as the board of aldermen may from time to time ordain for its guidance and for the public protection and convenience, to grant, deny and revoke permits and licenses, for making excavations in, moving buildings along, or placing and maintaining poles, wires, pipes or other structure, in, over, or under the streets, highways, or sidewalks of the city; to fix the terms of such permits and licenses... [Ch.63]