Judge weights Strang's request to join second suit against county reps

LACONIA — Attorney Kathrine Lacey, representing the Belknap County Delegation, asked Judge Elizabeth Leonard on Tuesday to dismiss a legal challenge to an August delegation meeting, during which a new member was appointed to replace Dr. David Strang on the Gunstock Area Commission.

Lacey argued the legal action brought by Gilford resident Stephen Peterson was moot and should therefore be dismissed.

Peterson filed the legal action in Belknap Superior Court, seeking to have the court stop an Aug. 1 delegation meeting on the grounds that it had not been announced seven days in advance, which he maintained was required under state law.

But the court did not see Peterson’s suit, which was filed online shortly before the court closed on Aug. 1, until the following day, by which time the delegation had voted to appoint Denise Conroy to fill former Commissioner Gary Kiedaisch’s unexpired term and to accept the verbal resignation of then-Commissioner Strang.

Peterson, who is representing himself in the matter, told Judge Leonard that the meeting was illegal and therefore any action taken by the delegation should be “declared void.”

Peterson filed the suit against Belknap County Administrator Debra Shackett, who posted the notice of the meeting at the request of state Rep. Harry Bean of Gilford, who had obtained the support of a quorum of the delegation’s 18 members to convene the meeting. Both Shackett and Bean were present at Tuesday’s hearing.

Among those in the courtroom to observe the 15-minute hearing were GAC Chair Doug Lambert, Rep. Mike Sylvia of Belmont, who resigned as delegation chair on Sept. 1, and Belknap County Commissioner Hunter Taylor.

Lacey said the meeting was properly called in response to what she argued was a bona fide emergency that Gunstock Mountain Resort was facing, due to the recent resignation of the area’s top management and the likelihood that the organizers of the upcoming Soulfest Christian music festival would sue Gunstock unless it provided all the services spelled out in the event’s contract.

Gunstock staff said it would be a liability and safety risk to operate the Adventure Park and chairlift during the festival without the senior management in place.

Lacey told the judge that Peterson had not been wronged by the delegation’s actions on Aug. 1, because he knew about the meeting in advance. Moreover, she said, even if the judge were to rule that the meeting did not meet the legal noticing requirements, that point was remedied when the decisions the delegation took at the Aug. 1 meeting were ratified when the delegation met again on Sept. 1.

After Gunstock’s senior management resigned in July, they said they would return only if Strang and fellow Commissioner Peter Ness resigned. Ness resigned on July 29. Strang, for his part, said that he would resign only after the delegation appointed a new commissioner in order to maintain a quorum on the five-member body.

Strang, who has filed his own suit challenging his removal from the GAC, sought to join Peterson’s suit on Tuesday.

Strang’s attorney Richard Lehmann told the judge that both Peterson’s and his client’s cases are based on many of the same facts.

But Leonard signaled that the two cases should remain separate.

“I’m not inclined to let you intervene” in the Peterson case, she told Lehmann.

Lehmann argued that the appointment of Conroy and the acceptance of Strang’s verbal offer of resignation on Aug. 1 were illegal because the state’s public meeting — or Right to Know — law states that only the chair of a public body can call an emergency meeting, and that the meeting had not been called by Sylvia, who was delegation chair at that time.

In his own legal case against the GAC and its chair Doug Lambert, Strang is maintaining that he never formally resigned and so his removal from the GAC is illegal. A hearing in Strang’s suit is scheduled for next month.

Leonard took the Peterson suit under advisement. While she did not say when she would issue a ruling, she indicated that she would do so soon.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify the headline. Judge Elizabeth Leonard did not agree to David Strang's request to join Stephen Peterson's lawsuit against the county, but said she would take it under advisement.