Delegation mulling removal of one Gunstock commissioner

GILFORD — The position of one member of the Gunstock Area Commission is in jeopardy, according to court documents.

A motion filed by the commission Thursday states, “(it) received notice of a removal hearing scheduled for Jan. 18, (pertaining) to Commissioner (Gary) Kiedaisch."

The commission was told of the planned removal hearing on Wednesday in a “courtesy notification” from the delegation’s attorney, Bryan Gould, to the commission’s attorney, Thomas Quarles, Kiedaisch and Commission Chairman Brian Gallagher said.

That notice came 12 days after a court hearing at which the delegation’s co-counsel Cooley Arroyo stated that no hearing to consider removing a commissioner was scheduled (a removal hearing which had been scheduled for Nov. 16 was canceled., and five days after Superior Court Judge James D. O’Neill III denied the commission’s request to issue an injunction affecting the removal process.

State Reps. Mike Bordes, of Laconia, and Tim Lang, of Sanbornton, both said Thursday they received an email from delegation Chairman Mike Sylvia on Wednesday telling them that a meeting to consider Kiedaisch’s removal was being scheduled.

In response to an inquiry from The Daily Sun on Thursday, Sylvia texted, “No meeting is scheduled,” and added, referring to what Bordes and Lang had told the paper, “They need to read more carefully. There is NO meeting scheduled.” He said he was willing to provide a copy of the email to the Daily Sun but was not immediately able to do so.

Kiedaisch, who is the commission’s vice chair, said he “vigorously disagreed” with the 12 allegations of improper actions against him enumerated in the memo from the delegation’s attorney.

He said the complaints deal mostly with alleged violations of the state’s Right to Know Law which ensures the public has access to public records and that, with certain exceptions, public bodies conduct their business in public.

Kiedaisch said one allegation states that he improperly paid bonuses to members of Gunstock senior management last year. He denied that charge, saying that he and Gallagher informed Sylvia and state Rep. Ray Howard, the delegation’s vice chair, that the commissioners were considering paying bonuses based on projected financial results from last year’s ski season. He said once the financial figures were in and confirmed, he said the commissioners then followed an extended, three-step process before the bonuses were ultimately paid out last September on a 4-1 vote by the commissioners.

Kiedaisch said he looks forward to proving that no-one on the commission did anything wrong, including himself.

Gallagher said because of the likelihood of the removal meeting on Jan. 18, the Gunstock Commission has scheduled a special meeting for next Wednesday, Jan. 12, at 6:30 p.m. at the County Complex on North Main Street, in Laconia. The meeting will deal only with the removal issue, he said.

Kiedaisch said the notice he received regarding the removal hearing said that he would be given 30 minutes to present his defense, a limitation he called “ridiculous” considering there are 12 charges of improper conduct lodged against him.

“I can’t present any kind of defense in that amount of time,” he said.

Both Lang and Bordes both insisted that Kiedaisch should be given the opportunity to fully defend himself, including being able to call witnesses to testify on his behalf as well as being able to cross-examine witnesses who might be called to testify against him.

Tension between the Gunstock Commission and the delegation has been running high since the commissioners asked the delegation to remove Commissioner Peter Ness for conflict of interest, and for exhibiting rude and abusive treatment of some Gunstock employees, charges which Ness has denied. The delegation declined to remove Ness in October, and the following month was poised to take up a proposal to remove Gallagher, Kiedaisch, and fellow Commissioner Rusty McLear before canceling the removal hearing a few days before it was to be held.

The commissioners have alleged the attempt to remove the three commissioners was done in reprisal for their efforts to have Ness removed.

On Nov. 10 the Gunstock Commission voted to initiate a court action against the delegation to block that delegation from removing Gallagher, Kiedaisch, and McLear without showing just cause, and affording them due process.

Days prior to the Nov. 16 delegation meeting Judge O’Neill denied the commissioners request for a restraining order against the delegation, and on Dec. 30 he denied the commission's request for an injunction blocking any removal.

In that ruling, O’Neill wrote, “... no further hearing has been scheduled by the (delegation) in reference to the removal of the commissioners. Accordingly, it appears the commission now seeks to preliminarily enjoin the (delegation) from removing the (three) commissioners, despite their statutory authority to do so, should a hearing be scheduled.”

The delegation has asked the court to dismiss the commission’s case.

In their objection to the delegation’s move to dismiss the case, the commission argues it is asking “to enjoin (prevent) the delegation from holding a removal hearing that violates due process, including a declaration that biased decision-makers in the delegation must be disqualified from participating in the removal hearing.”

The commission is also asking O’Neill reconsider his Dec. 30 ruling, on the grounds that the judge misunderstood the commission as asking the court to bar the delegation from holding any removal hearings. Rather, the commissioners say, they are only asking the judge block any “removal hearing that the delegation has made clear will not comply with due process, until the commission can secure a declaration from the court that (the Gunstock Commission’s) enabling statute requires the delegation to extend to the commission due process protections including adequate notice, a meaningful opportunity to be heard, and an impartial decision maker.”