Alton Selectboard says police chief's finanacial problems none of its business

ALTON — Selectmen issued a formal statement to the press yesterday saying the town of Alton is not investigating Police Chief Ryan Heath's non-payment of property taxes.

"The Chief's personal financial difficulties are not public business and do not affect the Chief's job performance," said the Selectboard in a four-paragraph press release squeezed through so many legal filters that nary a drop of substance remained.

Selectmen also said, in response to unspecified queries, that "there are certain members of the public who feel that they should know the details of everything that happens in the town," however, the "citizens of Alton have to realize that the Town Administration legally must put the rights of its employees above a member of the public's individual desire to know what is happening."

"Therefore," it continued, "the Town Administration will not provide a detailed response to an article but the public can be assured that the town's interest(s) are being fully and completely protected, that the administration is following the law as it relates to the rights of its employees and that if and when any matter being considered can legally be released to the public, it will be."

Selectmen were ostensibly responding to a Right-to-Know request from The Daily Sun to look at the monthly check register to determine if Lt. Richard Vanderhoof was on a paid administrative leave — he is — and to learn if the town has entered into any contract with a private or quasi-private agency to "study" the police department — it has, through town Attorney James Sessler. However, the amount he is authorized to spend and where it is being spent is still unknown.

The Right-to-Know request also asked for contract information relating to Town Prosecutor Melissa Guldbrandsen because she is a candidate for the position of Belknap County Attorney and, at some point, was also Heath's personal attorney.

The information provided was that her firm was hired as a subcontractor in late January of 2010 and the town has budgeted $54,000 for 2011 for her contract.

Information provided from the Town of Alton tax collector and verified with Belknap County Registry of Deeds shows tax liens of $7,099 for 2008 and $7,830 for 2009 on five Cynthia Lane properties owned by Heath's limited liability company Ryan Heath, LLC.

Heath's five properties are tangled in the web of last year's collapse of a Meredith mortgage company (FRM) and are being litigated through a bankruptcy trustee appointed by the federal government.