Belknap County Delegation won’t seek legal emails — yet

LACONIA — Revisiting two items that had been tabled in December, the Belknap County Delegation appointed a budget committee and laid aside the issue of emails relating to its legal bills.

At the group's December meeting, Rep. Travis O’Hara (R–Belmont) made a motion that the law firm Cleveland, Waters & Bass “put together a packet of all communications related to Gunstock with the bill for the legal matters” for the new delegation so that it could “make a decision on how we handle communications going forward.”

He withdrew that motion during the meeting Tuesday. Speaking after the meeting, O’Hara said that move was to allow enough time for newly-elected representatives to become familiarized enough with the matter to make an informed decision.

“We have a budget to focus on,” O’Hara said.

It is likely the issue will return to the delegation’s agenda at some point, he continued.

“I want clarity on why they want $50,000 from us,” O’Hara said. And why, as he believes, counsel was in contact with people not on the delegation. 

The firm worked with past delegation leadership in fending off a suit from then-Gunstock Area Commissioners who accused the delegation of angling to force them out. The delegation’s then-chair Mike Sylvia of Belmont and former Rep. Norm Silber of Gilford ran up the bill of $50,000. The delegation had approved only $20,000 for legal expenses on the matter.

The pair acted as a “control group” interfacing with counsel to shield their interactions from other representatives, and by extension the public’s Right to Know. What engagement created such a sum and whether the control group went outside of the scope of the original suit remains a matter of speculation by the rest of the delegation and their constituents.

Budget review

Representatives at the December meeting were also unable to reach a decision about how to review the budget: using a single budget committee or divvying up the budget by department to three distinct review subcommittees. Several representatives and the county administrator voiced concern that the latter method — which had been proposed by Chair Harry Bean (R-Gilford) as a way to include voices from across the delegation’s factions and perspectives — would be inefficient and place extra burden on county department heads. 

At Tuesday’s meeting representatives favored a single, if slightly expanded, budget committee. They elected newcomers Steven Bogert (R–Laconia) and Matt Coker (D–Meredith) to join the five member executive committee, comprised of Bean, delegation Vice Chair Mike Bordes (R–Laconia), Clerk O’Hara and at-large members Juliet Harvey-Bolia (R–Tilton) and David Huot (D–Laconia), in reviewing the proposed budget.

County government structure tasks the board of commissioners with drawing up a budget for county departments but assigns the delegation final control over the purse strings. Commissioners presented the budget they developed in December. It includes a 6.6% bump in county spending, about half of which comes from increases already agreed to by the delegation. 

In reviewing and considering whether to adjust this proposed budget, the committee will meet with each of the county departments. Those meetings are open to the public and to the rest of the delegation. 

Representatives must approve a budget for the 2023 fiscal year by April 1.

Gunstock appointments

The delegation will finally consider candidates to fill the remaining two vacancies on the Gunstock Area Commission at its Wednesday, Jan. 18 meeting. Representatives agreed Tuesday to allow candidates five minutes to introduce themselves followed by at most 15 minutes of questions from the delegation.

One of the open commissioner seats, vacated when former Chair Peter Ness resigned amid Gunstock Mountain Resort’s summer turmoil, is a temporary appointment that expires in 2024. The second, vacated by David Strang — who was temporarily appointed to fill the term of Brian Gallagher after he resigned a year ago — is a full term expiring in 2027. Gunstock Area Commissioners serve five-year terms, and current Commissioner Denise Conroy’s temporary appointment expires late this year.