Amid transparency objections, delegation proceeds with budget process

LACONIA — The sheriff was called to a meeting of the Belknap County Delegation budget review subcommittee Monday after Dr. David Strang, a former Gunstock Area Commissioner, raised an objection to the committee's business.

After discovering that its three work sessions had not been properly noticed to the public, the budget review subcommittee was meeting to ratify the votes taken during those meetings.

“Mr. Chairman, under 91-A I object to what you’re doing,” Strang said to the committee’s chair, Rep. Steven Bogert (R–Laconia). 

Bogert, who had opened the meeting by stating that there would be no public input, told Strang that he was out of order. 

“You have a right to sit down and be quiet,” Bogert said forcefully. Strang, simultaneously, asserted that he had a right to make an objection under the state’s right-to-know law and have that objection recorded in the minutes. 

Bogert promptly recessed the meeting and asked that the sheriff be called to restore order. 

In section 2, II-a of RSA 91-A, the state’s right-to-know law, members of a public body, not members of the public, have the right to object to a discussion if they feel it violates the statute and have their objection recorded. 

At the close of what became a 17-minute recess, Strang left the meeting.

Members of the public who feel officials have violated their right to know have two routes to seek formal relief. As of this year, they may file a complaint with the Office of the Right to Know Ombudsman. They may also file a lawsuit in lieu of, or following, a complaint.

At the March 6 delegation meeting, the committee was set to present its budget recommendations when Rep. Barbara Comtois (R–Barnstead) raised the issue of the improper notice of the budget committee meetings. The delegation adjourned that meeting, delaying its budgetary approval process, until questions about the legality of those notices could be resolved.

The budget proposed by county commissioners includes a 6.6% increase in spending, or about $2 million.

“Ordinarily, all the budget work sessions would be posted in one notice” once they are scheduled, wrote Debra Shackett, county administrator and human resources director, in an email to The Daily Sun. “In this case, it was an oversight — a mistake. My mistake.”

Shackett said Comtois did reach out to her ahead of the meetings about when their notices would be posted. The delegation or committee typically issues meeting notices to Shackett, whose office is responsible for their public posting.

“In order to prevent this happening again, I have provided more training, created checklists to follow for every public meeting, and am hoping to hire an IT coordinator,” Shackett said.

The county budget, which funds the county’s nine departments, is initially drawn up by the three county commissioners. The delegation, however, as holder of the pursestrings, has full license over the budget’s final and official form. Representatives appointed a subcommittee in January to review the proposed budget department by department, and recommended potential changes to the full body. If the delegation does not approve a budget by April 1, the commissioners’ proposed budget goes into effect.

After reconvening, the budget review committee voted to ratify the votes it had taken during its four meetings which occurred Jan. 19, Feb. 1, Feb. 8 and Feb. 15.

Strang’s opposition to this action, he wrote in a statement to The Daily Sun, was what he tried to express at the meeting.

“The purpose of proper public notice, as required under 91-A, is to allow the people the right to hear what is being discussed at the meeting and give input, either at the meeting or afterwards by communicating with the representatives. When proper public notice is withheld, as it was for all 4 of these meetings, the people are deprived of their rights,” Strang wrote. He also objected to Bogert’s efforts to “silence me and all public input last night.”

“A body cannot make legal that which they have done in violation of the law, simply by taking a vote to say ‘all is well,’” the statement continued. “Because the [budget review committee] did not assemble in a properly noticed meeting, the only way to fix the mess that they created is to start over.” 

Comtois, who attended Monday night’s meeting, expressed similar concerns.

My concerns "really [are] about the process and transparency, and that the public feels they can place their trust in us,” Comtois said. Ratification, she continued, does not remedy the spirit of meeting transparency, that citizens can understand the process and reasoning behind officials’ decisions and votes. She noted particular concern about the committee’s Jan. 19 meeting, which was not recorded.

In an interview, Bogert said concerns about public transparency do weigh on him. But, he continued, the “greater good” in the situation is to ensure the delegation can have its say on the budget in time. 

“These meetings were not noticed, which is unfortunate,” Bogert said. “But they were not hidden.” Citizens with questions can go back and watch the videos and reach out to the delegation with questions, he continued. “No one is trying to deny” the posting oversight, he emphasized, and for all those involved, including himself, the situation was “mistakes learned.”

The delegation leaned on this same ratification strategy last fall, and Strang voicing objection to it Monday is a callback to the tumult of county politics in the second half of last year.

Whether the delegation’s Aug. 1 meeting — where a slim majority of then-representatives took action to see Strang’s ouster from the GAC and to consequently bring back the mountain’s senior management — had been legally noticed and called was questioned in a court filing by a member of the public. 

A letter from County Attorney Andrew Livernois at that time emphasized that “The Supreme Court has made clear that in situations where the County Convention mistakenly holds a meeting that was improperly noticed, the defect can later be cured by simply posting another meeting within the statutory deadlines, and then having the members ratify their prior decision.” The delegation held such a meeting on Sept. 1.

In her decision, Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Leonard agreed that the Aug. 1 meeting had not been properly called, but dismissed the case, which Strang had attempted to join, because the plaintiff could not show how short notice of that meeting had harmed the public and also because the delegation’s ratifying vote rendered the complaint moot. Leonard also dismissed a suit by Strang against the GAC. 

Two remote meetings held by Strang as chair of the GAC's audit subcommittee, The Sun reported in October, were not in any way noticed to the public despite acknowledgement by Strang in emails that such notice was required.

With the budget review committee’s business ratified, the delegation will weigh its recommendations ahead of the April deadline at a meeting scheduled for March 29.

Editor's note: This story was updated to include the correct hometown of Rep. Barbara Comtois.