Alton selectmen accused of holding illegal meetings; court hearing today

ALTON — A hearing is scheduled in Belknap Superior Court today in a civil case brought by local government critic Jeffrey Clay who is charging the town’s Board of Selectmen with numerous violations of the state’s public meeting law.

Clay’s suit also makes similar charges against the Alton Board of Water Commissioners.

In his complaint filed with the court, Clay alleges that for nearly the past two years, selectmen have been violating numerous provisions of the state’s Right-to-Know Law by holding so-called workshops, some of them behind closed doors. The minutes of the public meetings are deficient, while the minutes of the closed-door meetings have been sealed without giving any reason for doing so, according to the complaint.

These meetings, Clay alleges, often have no published agenda, offer no opportunity for public comment, have no audio or video recording of the proceedings, and the minutes are “inconsistent with regular meeting minutes,” Clay alleges.

The board has held 46 such gatherings between January 2016 and October 2018 — 35 of them in public and 11 behind closed doors, Clay alleges.

A call Monday morning to attorney James Sessler, the town’s lawyer, seeking comment was not returned as of mid-afternoon.

"I cannot speak (about the case) because it is ongoing litigation," Town Administrator Elizabeth Dionne said.

A message left for Selectmen Chairman Cydney Shapleigh was not immediately returned.

Today’s hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.

Clay is asking the court to order the selectmen to stop holding the workshop sessions during which, he argues, “much of the people’s business” is being conducted.

Clay is also requesting the court to order the removal of Selectman Virgil Macdonald, whom Clay alleges disclosed confidential information from one of the close-door sessions to someone who was the focus of that meeting.

Regarding the nonpublic sessions, Clay’s complaint states the decisions to go into nonpublic session were made without taking a roll-call vote of the board’s members, and without stating what the reasons for closed-door meetings were.

The state’s Right-to-Know Law requires that any official public body wishing to hold a nonpublic session “shall state on its face the specific exemption under (the law) which is (the reason) for the nonpublic session.” Permissible reasons include discussion of personnel matters, labor contracts or negotiations, sale or acquisition of property, or legal matters such as a pending lawsuit.

According to an amendment to the initial complaint, Clay alleges the selectmen have held nonpublic sessions to discuss matters identified as “Water Bandstand Day,” the “New River Cemetery,” “IT reorganization,” a subdivision and an unidentified issue.

The amendment also alleges the Board of Water Commissioners held 13 nonpublic sessions for which there are no minutes, and five nonpublic meetings where the minutes are sealed without giving a reason for sealing them.

Clay has history of challenging what he considers illegal actions by local officials.

In 2015 he was arrested after harshly criticizing selectmen during one of their meetings. Selectmen argued Clay had exceed the allowable amount of time individual members of the public are allowed to speak. But a District Court judge found Clay not guilty and said the selectmen’s action amounted to “pure censorship.” A year later Clay was awarded $42,500 by the town in settlement of the federal civil rights suit he brought against the town for violating his constitutional right to freedom of speech.

In 2017 Clay was arrested again for disrupting a selectmen’s meeting, by not complying with the board’s rules regarding public comment. He was subsequently found guilty of resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. He has appealed the case to the state Supreme Court which has yet to rule on the matter.

Last year Clay sued the Alton School District Board and the Prospect Mountain School Board for libel following the publication of a letter to the editor by then Alton School Board Chairman Stephen Miller which stated Clay recorded a nonpublic session of the Alton board, an allegation Clay denied. The suit was settled last August, and included a $17,500 payment to Clay. In agreeing to the settlement, the boards denied any wrongdoing on their part.