AG’s office responds to complaint from former mayor

LACONIA — The state Attorney General’s office has responded to former Mayor Tom Tardif’s complaint alleging city officials abused the public trust and engaged in official misconduct by agreeing in private to spend $342,000 on real estate.

The land purchases appeared in unsealed minutes of nonpublic City Council sessions that The Laconia Daily Sun requested.

Assistant Attorney General Nicholas A. Chong Yen of the election law unit said in a Feb. 18 letter that the portion of the complaint involving an alleged violation of the state Right-to-Know law was outside the scope of his unit’s enforcement authority.

“Should you wish to pursue this aspect of your complaint further, you will need to seek the counsel of a private attorney,” he said.

“The remainder of your complaint will be reviewed by an attorney, and, if warranted, an investigation will be conducted. An attorney or an investigator from this office will contact you if further information is needed.

“You will be informed of the outcome of your complaint once the matter is closed or if legal action is taken.”

In his complaint, Tardif cites Laconia City Charter, Section 5:06, which says, “No appropriation shall be made for any purpose not included in the annual budget as adopted unless voted by a two-thirds majority of the Council after a public hearing held to discuss said appropriation.”

No public hearing was held. Instead, the City Council, meeting in nonpublic session, authorized City Manager Scott Myers to negotiate the acquisitions. The City Council also did not officially announce the deals after they were consummated.

Advocates for government transparency say the public should be in the loop when public money is spent. Such notification is routine elsewhere, including in the cities of Concord and Franklin.

Myers said the charter provision does not apply to the purchases because they didn’t involve an appropriation.

“In one case, funds sitting in an account from land use change taxes were used by the Conservation Commission for their intended purpose,” he said in an email. “In the other, funds already appropriated but not needed for the City’s Worker’s Compensation/Unemployment Insurance coverage because of a premium holiday were repurposed.”

He said he can work to better notify the public of such acquisitions in the future.

Mayor Ed Engler has called the lack of public disclosure for the two purchases “an oversight.”

In his complaint to the attorney general, Tardif said the City Council or city manager “failed to uphold the State Constitution, Laws and the City Charter, all of which resulted in the elected officials violating their oath of office, resulting with funds being illegally withdrawn from the city treasury, specifically after the annual budget was adopted, for new purposes invoking supplemental appropriations mandating ‘public hearing.’”

Gail Ober, a member of the Zoning Board and a former reporter, testified before the City Council on Dec. 23 to complain about how the sales were handled. She said the public should have been notified after a purchase-and-sales agreement was made.

The purchases take in 15 acres on Pickerel Pond Road and a half-acre at 18 Wilson Court.

Tardif called the pond area “swamp land” and said he wished he had the opportunity to weigh in on the value of buying the property before the city made the acquisition.