County Attorney answers Tardif/Lambert lawsuit on JAG grant

County Attorney James M. Carroll yesterday filed objections to a petition filed in Belknap Superior Court that alleges improprieties in the process followed by the county’s commissioners and convention in allowing Sheriff Craig Wiggins to apply for an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant. The petition was filed earlier this month by Thomas Tardif of Laconia and Doug Lambert of Gilford.

Carroll’s response zeroed in on what he described as the difference between an application for a ‘soft’ grant as opposed to a ‘hard’ grant. A ‘soft’ grant is one which requires no matching funds from the grant recipient. A ‘hard’ grant, on the other hand, requires a proportional share of matching funds from the recipient.

The county attorney went on to indicate that acceptance of ‘hard’ grant money might require a supplemental appropriates since it would call for a appropriation of the matching funds. If those matching funds were not to be appropriated, there would be budgetary and tax implications.

The grant that petitioners Tardif and Lambert are complaining about, Carroll said in his response, “is a soft grant, which has no effect on the tax rate and would involve no money coming from the local taxpayer. Therefore, the basic premise of the Petitioners’ arguments of control by the County Convention is misplaced and ought to be dismissed out of hand.”

Carroll’s objection to the petition for a declaratory judgment went on to detail, on a point by point basis, his arguments in favor of dismissal.

For the most part, the petitioners argued that there was a lack of transparency in the process that led six municipal police departments — Laconia, Alton, Belmont, Gilford, Meredith, and Tilton — to enter into agreements with the Sheriff’s Department for apply jointly for the Byrne JAG grant. With the exception of Gilford, none of the local departments sought or received the approval to do so from their governing bodies.

They also argued that the commissioners and convention failed to review the grant application in a public meeting, thereby violating right to know laws.

The lawsuit also put Wiggin under fire for what the petitioners described as her operation of the county’s Special Operations Group, commonly known as the SWAT team, beyond the reach of public scrutiny and authority.