Contingency fund tapped to pay delegation's legal bills

LACONIA — The executive committee of the Belknap County Delegation dipped into contingency funds on May 23 to pay the excess legal costs associated with the Convention’s defense against a lawsuit by the Gunstock Area Commission.

Delegation members had been reluctant to pay legal expenses that exceeded their appropriation by more than $30,000, but on an 8-7 vote they ultimately approved payment of the outstanding bill at a meeting on May 3.

Since that time, Attorney Bryan Gould, in consultation with the Belknap County Commission’s attorney, agreed to waive $1,125.50 as a “courtesy discount” to make the amount still owed an even $30,000. The delegation previously paid the $20,000 they had authorized for their legal defense.

The lawsuit arose after Rep. Michael Sylvia of Belmont suggested that three members of the Gunstock Area Commission may have engaged in illegal behavior. Acting ahead of a potential removal hearing, the three commissioners sought to prevent their removal through legal action against the Belknap County Convention.

The county convention, under state law, comprises the members of the New Hampshire House of Representatives who reside within the county. Those members are commonly referred to as the county delegation. In the case of Gunstock Mountain Resort, a county-owned recreation area, the county delegation is charged with the appointment and removal of those serving on the Gunstock Area Commission.

When served with the lawsuit, Sylvia, as chair of the county delegation, asked Rep. Norman Silber of Gilford to join him in acting as the “control group” in charge of communicating with the law firm of Cleveland, Waters & Bass to defend against the lawsuit.

The control group did not discuss the mounting legal costs with the full delegation until they were double the appropriated amount. In reviewing the bills, some representatives, as well as members of the public, become concerned that the invoices seemed to reflect questions beyond the scope of the lawsuit.

Sylvia and Silber have deflected calls for the release of their email exchanges with the attorneys, and at Monday’s executive committee meeting, Laconia Daily Sun reporter Jon Decker asked again for their release.

“We believe those should be public record,” Decker said during the public comment period near the end of the meeting. “I’m asking nicely here, but we’re also going to submit a 91-A [right-to-know request] to get them and potentially go further from there.”

Budget discussion

Much of the meeting was a review of the county budget and the staffing problems that are affecting how the departments operate. The Belknap County Nursing Home, in particular, is seeing problems associated with the lack of nurses to fully staff the facility.

Because of the number of vacancies at the nursing home, it has had to limit the number of residents it accepts. County Administrator Debra Shackett reported that the home currently has 56 residents, which she described as “maybe an all-time low.”

Fewer residents mean less income for the county, but hiring nurses has proven to be difficult. Some positions have remained vacant for more than a year, Shackett said.

“The nurse administrator told me that she’s hoping to get back up to 60 [residents] by summer and maybe 65 by the end of the year,” Shackett said. “Still, I think it’s largely driven by staffing, and we are struggling to hire and retain employees.”

If fully staffed, the nursing home can accommodate 92-94 residents, she said.

There was some discussion about a possible new wage scale for county employees, but Shackett said it would need to pass muster with both the delegation and the four unions that represent the employees. Some people would benefit under the new scale, but some would not, she said.

In order to implement a new wage scale, the county would be looking at offering cost-of-living increases, something that was abandoned in the past.

“It was completely eliminated for all contracts back in 2017 or 2018,” Shackett said. “Frankly, in order to give it up, they got significant step increases... Now we’re asking them to go back to lower step increases and a more condensed scale, but get the COLA back, which is, I think, fairly appealing right now because the COLA’s high.”

They also discussed the Sheriff’s Department which has a shortage of dispatchers. Sheriff William Wright wants to increase the pay for part-time dispatchers to make the job more attractive to those with full-time jobs in other police departments. Right now, those willing to work extra hours can make more with overtime wages in their own departments than they would make coming to the county dispatch center, he said.

911 center

Discussion about dispatching led to a conversation about the proposal for a land swap between the state and the city of Laconia. It would allow the construction of a new dispatch center for the 911 system and the Lakes Region Mutual Fire Aid Association on land across from the Robbie Mills Park.

Silber said it would make more sense to screen off the corner of State School land where the dispatch centers currently operate and upgrade what they have than to move to an area where the tower’s line of sight might be a problem. He also questioned whether the American Rescue Plan Act money they are counting on will be approved for the project.

With some towns withdrawing from the fire aid association, the representatives also said the costs for the remaining towns will be increasing.