Gunstock case on hold pending vote to fill vacancy

GILFORD — A court hearing to consider the Belknap County Delegation's request that a suit brought by the Gunstock Area Commission be dismissed is on hold. The delegation says the issue may be moot after a new commissioner takes office.

The hearing on the dismissal motion had been scheduled for Wednesday, but the delegation filed a motion to stop the proceeding on Jan. 31. Superior Court Judge James D. O’Neill III granted the request last Thursday.

The delegation said the halt was in order because the current Gunstock Commission is deadlocked and so the delegation is seeking “a stay of this proceeding until there is a majority vote by the (commission) on whether to continue or nonsuit the action.”

At present the commission is unable to decide whether to go ahead with the case or to direct its attorney on how to handle the litigation, the delegation argues in documents filed in Belknap Superior Court.

There has been a vacancy on the five-member commission since the unexpected resignation last month by Brian Gallagher. He was one of three commissioners who voted in November to initiate the legal action intended to stop the delegation from removing Gallagher, and fellow Commissioners Gary Kiedaisch and Rusty McLear. Commissioners Peter Ness and Jade Wood voted against initiating the suit.

Consideration of any removal was withdrawn days afterward, with the delegation deciding only to hire an attorney to represent them in the matter.

The delegation is scheduled to meet this coming Tuesday to consider appointing someone to fill the vacancy on the commission.

The commission is asking the judge to order that so long as the stay is in effect that the delegation must give a minimum two-week notice hearing to remove any of the other commissioners.

The delegation objects to the judge issuing such an order because the commissioners, in their written filings with the court, have offered no evidence that the delegation intends to seek the removal of any of the commissioners.

O’Neill has so far ruled in the delegation’s favor on three occasions. In November he denied the commission’s request for a restraining order against the delegation, and then in December rejected the commission’s request for a preliminary injunction against the delegation. Most recently the judge turned down the commission’s request that he reconsider his December ruling.